by Linsey Hall
He was right. I could use his power to ignite my own magical gifts. I wouldn’t be able to control the water like he did, but I could power up some fireballs.
I met his gaze. “Okay. Thanks.”
He nodded, and his magic flared. The scent of the fresh sea and a cool breeze filled the room, and his magic flowed from his hands into me. It warmed my shoulders and filled my soul, making me gasp.
“Fates, that feels good.” I dropped my head back.
A low noise sounded in his throat, and I looked at him.
Heat filled his eyes, but he banked it quickly.
Now was not the time.
A few moments later, he stopped, removing his hands. “That should be enough for a little while. We both have some to use now.”
“Thanks.” I looked toward the clock, which showed that dawn was approaching. And if I wasn’t mistaken, the gems in the ceiling were starting to glow brighter. “We’d better get a move on.”
Iain gave me a searching look, his expression still concerned.
I turned away and climbed out of the bed, doing my best to ignore him. I drew in a steadying breath, then tugged on my normal clothes and boots.
On the other side of the bed, he rose and dressed quickly. He hadn’t felt inclined to wear his full clothing to bed, and I looked away as he pulled his shirt on over broad muscles.
Within moments, he was dressed. “Ready?”
I nodded, then headed to the door. The corridor outside was quiet, thank fates. I wasn’t sure if we were allowed to move around, but the queen seemed confident we couldn’t leave without assistance. We probably had that to thank for the lack of supervision.
“Do you know how to get to the submersible?” I whispered to him. “My tracking potion only works to help me find the Kraken.”
“She mentioned something about a harbor near the kitchens. There will be multiple boats there, though most of them are for trading.”
“So we could steal any of them?”
“Probably. But she boasted about the speed of hers.”
“Oh, that would be good. Lead the way.”
He started down the corridor, and I followed on silent feet. It took us a little while to figure out where the kitchens were, and in the end, it all came down to the smell of food. The corridors were like a maze here, all similar and impossible to differentiate.
Eventually, I just started following my nose to the scent of Cornish pasties, which seemed too good to be true.
“I hear people.” Iain touched a finger to his ear.
I listened carefully, catching the sound of voices and the clattering of pans. We were nearly to the entrance when a Primordial appeared in the corridor, carrying a tray of gleaming golden pasties.
He wore the simple gray uniform of palace staff, and his brows rose as he spotted us. “What are you doing here?”
I didn’t like the way his voice rang with suspicion. “We’re looking for breakfast.”
“Visitors are meant to eat in the main dining room.”
“We’re in search of something to hold us over.” Iain’s tone was low and persuasive. “Are those Cornish pasties?”
“Primordial pasties.”
Okay, that didn’t have quite the same tasty ring to it, but when the Primordial held the tray out toward us, I took one.
“Thank you.”
He nodded, his expression suspicious.
Iain took one as well. “We appreciate it.”
The servant huffed and moved around Iain, heading down the hallway.
“We’d better move fast,” Iain said. “He may alert the queen.”
I nodded and bit into the pasty, nearly spitting it out at what I tasted. “Fish?”
“That’s unusual.” Iain bit into his, then made a considering face. “Not so bad.”
“Just unexpected. Not my favorite though.” But I was so hungry I ate it quickly as we hurried down the hall.
The sound of clanking metal and shouts caught my attention.
“That has to be the harbor,” I said.
Iain nodded. “Look for the ruby red submersible. It should be small and sleek. We’ll head toward it like we belong.”
“Gotcha.”
The hallway gave way to a massive open space with a soaring ceiling. Boats bobbed in the water, surrounded by a stone walkway. Every single one was a submersible, with a curved top and no deck or sails. But I couldn’t spot an exit.
“The exit must be underwater,” I said.
“Through a specially designed tunnel that enters the open ocean, according to the queen.” He nodded his head toward the left. “The queen’s craft is there.”
I spotted it immediately. The paint job gleamed like a ruby, and the vessel was small and sleek. All around, Primordials loaded goods into various ships, not yet seeming to notice us.
We walked to the red submersible, and I kept my gaze fixed on the hull. I didn’t want to make eye contact if I could help it.
We were nearly to it when the first person shouted.
“Oi, who are you?”
Iain and I ignored the thickly accented voice, but it grew closer.
“I said, what are you doing here?”
The shout was impossible to ignore. I looked behind me, spotting a red-haired man hurrying after us. He held a clipboard and wore a pair of spectacles, and his glare was thunderous.
I turned back around to pick up the pace until I was almost running. A blast of magic exploded at my feet, kicking up some of the coral next to me.
“Time to run.” Iain sprinted toward the red submersible, and I joined him, easily keeping up.
He leapt onto the rounded top of the sub and knelt to open the hatch, popping the large lock and swinging it open. He looked up to where I stood on the dock, gesturing down into the vessel. “In!”
Another blast of magic exploded right at my feet, and I knew that if we both got in that sub, they weren’t going to keep sending warning shots.
“I can’t drive it.” I climbed onto the top of the sub. “Can you?”
“I can.”
“Then go. I’ll hold them off and join you once it’s powered up.”
Concern twisted his expression, then he nodded. “Be careful.”
“Always.”
“That’s not true.”
I grinned, then turned to face the man who approached us. A small group had joined him, all palace guard dressed in their gray uniforms. They had identical dark wings that flowed from their back like fins.
The one on the left raised a hand and hurled a blast of magic at me. It distorted the air as it traveled, likely some kind of sonic boom.
I drew a shield from the ether and held it in front of me, trying to time the approach of the boom. As soon as it hit the metal shield, I slammed my arm to the side, deflecting the magic. It was so powerful that I skidded back a few inches.
Quickly, I drew Connor’s bag of potions from the ether and swung the strap over my shoulder. I dug in, looking for the familiar shape of a stunner.
Many of Connor’s potions were for fighting, and he knew as well as anyone that you didn’t have time to look when you were fighting for your life. So he bottled his potions in differently shaped containers that were easy to differentiate with just a touch.
It took half a second, but my hand closed around the round one with tiny knobs, and I yanked it free. I chucked it at the guard on the right, who had his hand raised, about to throw some magic.
It exploded against his chest, dousing him with blue liquid. He stiffened, then fell flat on his face and didn’t move.
“Almost there!” Iain’s voice sounded from within the ship.
“Hurry!”
The clipboard Fae threw another sonic boom at me, and I ducked behind my shield again, grappling with the potions bag to find another bomb. The blast hit hard, driving me back nearly half a foot. If I went much farther, I’d slide right off the side of the boat.
They were nearly to us. Damn, I wanted to create a wa
ll of fire between them and us—just enough to give us time to escape.
But Iain had only been able to give me so much of his power, and I didn’t want to waste it if something else might work.
Finally, the boat rumbled to life.
“Come on!” Iain shouted.
“Get us farther from the dock!” I hurled another stunner, taking out the guard with the clipboard. There were still three left, and I spotted more coming from the back of the harbor. The alarm had been raised.
I dodged a stunning blast, my fingers finally closing around a star-shaped smoke bomb. I chucked it at the ground in front of the guards, and a massive plume of jet-black smoke rose up around them. It reeked of sulfur and I could hear coughing from within.
“We’re ready to dive!” Iain shouted.
We were twenty feet from the dock. I stashed my shield and potion bag in the ether and scrambled through the hatch and down the ladder. It put me in an airlock, and I shut the hatch overhead, pulling hard on the lever to make sure it was fully shut. Once it clicked, the door behind me opened, giving me access to the rest of the sub.
I turned and got my first good look at it. “Holy fates.”
The whole thing was done up in red velvet and gold leather, looking like something out of the queen’s wildest sex dreams. I didn’t know why it made me think of sex, but it totally did. Maybe it was the proximity of Iain and what had happened last night, but this place looked like an underwater bordello.
Iain glanced back at me. “You see it, too.”
“Yeah. Hard to miss.” I joined him at the front of the sub, taking in the massive windows that revealed the underwater portion of the harbor.
“Wow.” The water was clear and devoid of fish here, but the space was huge. “How close are we to the exit?”
“Should be right ahead.”
There was no navigation equipment—this thing was driven by magic, not modern human technology, but the windows at the front were so big and expansive that they provided a great view. Iain looked good behind the controls, too. A natural.
“I can feel the pull of the SoulStone,” I said. “I think we need to go left when we get out of here.”
He nodded. “Just tell me where and I’ll get us there.”
Ahead of us, a massive gate appeared. The iron bars filled a huge hole in the coral, forming the exit from the harbor to the ocean.
Iain searched the simple control panel in front of him, then hit a black button. The gate began to rise slowly, and I held my breath.
Come on. Come on.
The gate stopped few seconds later, leaving too thin a gap for the sub to use to escape.
Iain cursed. “They’ve overridden our command.”
My heart thundered. Shit, shit, shit.
This was so bad. I raced to the back of the sub, passing lush couches and fancy little end tables that were bolted to the floor. The windows at the back revealed nothing but the underwater structure of the harbor.
The queen’s guards were going to follow us, and they would be here soon.
I hurried back to Iain, who was working with the controls. He hit a button, and a blast of magic shot from the front of the sub.
I held my breath as it slammed into the gate, hope surging within me.
The gate just absorbed the power, barely shaking.
Iain tried again, achieving the same result. He cursed. “Even with successive hits, it’s not going to weaken. This thing is for fish or something.”
“Should have stolen a war craft.”
“They don’t have them.”
I sucked in a bracing breath. “I’m going out there.”
He looked up from where he was working with the control. “No. I’ll do it. You don’t like the water.”
“Yeah, but getting caught is worse. And I’m the one with the flame. I’m going to use the power you gave me and melt the metal gate.”
Concern flashed in his eyes, but he just nodded, his jaw tight. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t control me and he knew it.
Also, I was our only shot.
“Be careful.” His voice was slightly rough with concern. “I’ll get us as close to the gate as I can.”
“Good, because I can’t hold my breath very long.” I caught his dark gaze briefly, then turned toward the airlock and approached. There were no goggles anywhere that I could see, but I’d manage.
Quickly, I kicked off my boots, then pulled the large gold lever next to the door. It opened, and I stepped inside. Another lever shut the door, and as soon as it sealed, the hatch above me creaked open an inch.
Water flowed down the walls of the airlock, and my heart began to thunder. Cold chilled me, and nightmares of drowning filled my mind.
10
Standing in the middle of the airlock as it slowly flooded was the worst thing I’d ever had to do—ever.
“Chill out.” I drew in some steady breaths.
A heavy weight landed on my shoulder, and Puka’s voice sounded in my ear. You’ve got this.
“Holy fates.” The fox was sitting on my shoulder. “You can swim?”
Not really built for this kind of thing, so no. I’m out of here as soon as this thing floods. But I believe in you. Thought you could use a pep talk.
“Thanks, Puka.” I ruffled her fur, drawing strength from her warmth.
The water was up to my waist now, and the walls all around me made me feel trapped. The hatch created a ceiling above, and I wished it would just blast open so I could swim out. But the weight of the water would crush me.
It was just that this wait was terrible.
Almost there.
The water was to my chest now. I began to hyperventilate, unable to help myself.
Chill out.
I focused on the fox, then turned around to look through the window. Iain stood on the other side, looking at me, his gaze burning with concern. Then the water was to my shoulders.
Good luck. Puka disappeared.
The water reached my chin, and I sucked in a deep breath, cold calm surrounding me. The last of the space filled with water, and I pushed the hatch open, pulling myself out into the cold darkness.
The sea loomed large all around me, and the water pressure made my vision slightly distorted. In the distance, I spotted some shadows.
Guards, probably. Swimming for me as fast as they could.
I just had to be faster.
Heart thundering, I kicked away from the sub and swam for the iron gate. The power that Iain had given me pulsed inside me, ready to be released.
I reached the iron bars and grabbed them, feeding the magic into the metal. The dark water pressed in all around me, cloying and terrifying, but I focused on the warmth inside of me. It felt good to use my fire again, natural.
Under my hands, the metal began to glow red, then orange. I looked behind me, spotting Iain standing at the sub’s controls, his gaze riveted on me.
Lungs burning, I turned back to the gate and kept pushing my fire magic into the metal. It began to sag a bit, slowly melting. The cold water made everything slower, and I called upon every ounce of power that Iain had given me, trying to force it out to fuel my magic.
Something prickled behind me, like a warning. Still gripping the metal bars, I looked back, spotting a group of Primordial Ones moving toward me. Their wings acted as fins at their backs, carrying them swiftly through the water.
Shit.
I kept one hand gripped around the gate and reached into the ether with the other, drawing a dagger. I couldn’t swing an ax down here.
Faster, faster, I tried to push my fire into the metal, keeping an eye on the Fae who approached. One was far faster than the others, a slender woman with blond hair that streamed behind her head. She was a natural in the water, and there was no way I could outswim these Primordials. Or outfight them.
I just needed to be quicker.
Only I wasn’t, and my lungs were burning so badly.
The Primordial reached me, and I sli
ced out with my blade. She darted backward, avoiding the cut, then reached for me, her hands gripping my arm to pull it away from the red hot bars.
I stabbed again, landing a blow to her side that made her jerk.
More Fae came from behind, only a dozen feet away. Panic flared. I could fight off this one attacker, but when they reached me, I was dead.
Come on! I begged the metal to melt, shoving my magic into it as the Primordial tried to yank my arm away.
No way I was letting go, though. I sliced at her again, dragging my blade through the cold water.
The other Primordials had nearly reached me. The hybrid Fae creatures were so powerful in the water…
There was no way I could fight them.
Panic flared.
Just a few more seconds. Then the gate would be melted.
My gaze caught on Iain, who stood behind the glass of the sub, his cloak flowing from his shoulders and his hand reaching toward the attackers who were nearly to me. His aura glowed bright, as if he were calling upon all of his magic.
The Primordial who grappled with me was weakening from the wounds I’d given her, and I kicked out, planting my foot in her stomach and driving her off.
But the other Primordials were nearly to me.
All around me, water began to move. A current of it pushed the attackers away from me, driving them back. Shock flashed on their faces as they were carried away by Iain's magic.
He was protecting me.
Finally, the red-hot metal sagged so much that it melted away, dropping to the bottom of the harbor. Lungs burning fiercely, I touched other sections, giving the heated metal one last blast to complete the melting. We needed just a little bit more space to get the sub through. But my head began to spin as oxygen deprivation hit me.
I sagged in the water, nearly blacking out. It took everything I had to fight my way back to consciousness, but I was too weak to swim. Lack of oxygen had gotten to me, and a cold fear surged through me.
I tried to swim for the boat, but the bottom called to me, pulling me down. The last thing I saw was Iain, standing in the window of the sub.
As I fought death, warmth surrounded me, and the water began to flow faster and faster. Vaguely, I realized that I was caught in a current created by Iain, my body being carried back to the sub.
