I move forward toward where the Alcazar Oceania had stood only a short time ago, the streets scattered with broken sea-glass and the remnants of stained glass windows. I see wood too and I can’t help but cringe slightly because I know where it’s from. The thrones made from the olive trees native to where I was born. I hear a sudden inhale, something broken and strained as I move through the streets. I jump slightly.
“Az…” I swear it’s a call out to me, but as I turn around, nobody is paying me any attention. I look down, piles of sand and glass everywhere.
Suddenly one of them shifts. There’s someone under there. I look behind me again, making sure I’m going unnoticed before I allow myself to fall to the floor. I set about moving sand from the pile, clawing it so it’s behind me, taking care to keep brushing my palm back against the handle of my weapon, ready to grasp if it I have to. As the sand moves away, I realise that what it’s covering isn’t just anyone. It’s Orion.
“Orion,” I exhale. “Not an ideal place for a nap.” I snap, trying to seem mad at him. I can’t have him thinking I’ve gone totally soft.
I work about moving more sand, but in the end I figure it’s faster to pull him out instead. I rest my tailfin flat against the path; it was once lined with glass bottles but is now spiked with their shattered remnants. I feel my scales ripping slightly from my tail as I strain against the jagged glass, but it has to be done. I wince, trying not to cry out. Eventually, after much heaving and grunting, I’ve managed to prop him up against the walls surrounding the alley and away from the main street, that’s when I notice he’s injured.
“What happened?” I ask, moving to touch the stab wound, it’s red and angry in his gut. He winces.
“Saturnus. He…” he winces again, pulling himself so he’s sitting upright properly.
“Saturnus? You mean Solustus…” I begin; the Crowned Ruler is delusional…
Greeeeat, I snipe internally.
“No! Saturnus. He’s evil, Azure. He can glimmer himself. He dropped the city’s defences. He was a Psiren all along,” he is gasping a little. I wonder what internal damage the knife has done. Fortunately for him he has accelerated healing, but it still probably stings like a bitch.
“Saturnus?” I say his name once more. I think back to every time I’d had a dodgy feeling about him. My gut clearly knew more than my brain did. I knew something was off there.
“Okay… I need to get Star. Then we need to get out of here. Can you move?” I ask him and he nods, wincing.
“Yes, I’ll be okay, I can feel the wound healing already,” he goes to rise.
“Rest a moment. Then you need to find anyone who’s still alive and get them out. This is a bloodbath. There’s nothing left for us here.”
“Go… Go where?” He looks up at me, his icy blue eyes full of fear.
“Anywhere you can think of that’s safe. We need somewhere to regroup.”
“How will you find us?”
“I’ll manage,” I promise him. He rises again, putting on his tough face and pressing his mouth into a firm line.
“Okay. Be careful,” he warns me and I cock a brow.
“Says the man who got himself stabbed. Yeah, whatever,” I turn from him, shrugging. I don’t do big emotional goodbyes after all.
I make it to the outskirts of the building where Saturnus’ office resides. Swimming as quickly as I can muster, darting in and out of the shadows while I try to stay out of sight. I am good at this, the high pressure, blood pounding, heart racing type situations are what every day had been like as a Psiren and so I relish my time invisible. I look up at the tower now that I’m here, the noise of a nearby Psiren smashing something makes me jump momentarily.
Okay, so maybe I’m not totally fearless, I remind myself.
I could go in through the door, but that would be too easy and odds are it’s locked. Slowly, I rise up against the cylindrical turret, ascending to just outside the window.
“Psst,” I hiss over the top of the window, not looking first.
That was a stupid idea. I chastise myself.
I place my hand on the ledge and suddenly something is gripping onto it, something pale and with dirty fingernails.
“Can I help you, dear?” Solustus’ tone reaches me, my heart stopping cold in my chest.
“I want my sister. That’s all,” I bite out, yanking my hand away. I ascend further upward, moving back so I can glimpse into the window properly.
“Oh, is that all?” Solustus has his pointed chin resting in his long bony fingers like a wistful teenager.
“Yes,” I glance behind his head as I reply and see a flash of icy blue. Starlet’s eyes catch the light and instantly I know the terror she feels. She’s bound and gagged.
“I think not,” Solustus smiles at me, his pointed features cutting me with their cruel response. I know he can’t get to me through the window, it’s too narrow, but I don’t like conversing with him none the less.
“Why? You don’t need her for anything! Let her go!” I retort and he laughs.
“Quite contrary, my dear, but if you want to fight me and my brother and the five guards I have posted outside the door, be my guest, but I have the distinct feeling that would only lead to your death.” He cocks an eyebrow, challenging me with a smile.
I think for a moment, my finger touching the handle of my sword. His eyes trace over me. “You? Think you can beat me with a sword? Dream on girl,” he laughs and draws the curtains, sick of the discussion. I debate stabbing him through it, but I worry he’d situate Star on the other side of the lush red velvet as punishment for my defiance. He’s wicked that way. I could take the door approach, but I don’t have enough strength to take on five guards, Solustus, and Caedes. I could barely handle Caedes on his own.
Instead I hang, placid and useless in the water, I need to launch a rescue mission for Star, but I can’t do that alone. I need mer with offensive magic. I cuss internally, what the hell use is being good if it means you have no power or control? I wouldn’t be in this situation if I’d stayed with the Psirens. I could save her.
Yes. But she wouldn’t want you to. I remind myself that with the darkness Starlet and I would never be Starlet and I, because she wouldn’t want to be a sister to someone so despicable.
I look down on the rubble of the Alcazar Oceania, where Psirens are scavenging treasures from the ruins, moving rubble and picking off the last few mer who remain. I wonder how successful Orion has been in finding survivors.
I look back to the red curtain and hear screams from within. Turning away a single tear falls from my eye, devastated that I can’t save her. I had only just gotten her back. I should have heeded the warnings, the visions sent to me, but instead I had wallowed in my own darkness. I think of Starlet’s face, terrified and sparkling with tears, and my breath catches in my throat. I know we are supposed to be together.
It seems however that destiny, the bitch, has other ideas.
CALLIE
Vex and I propel through the water, leaving the Cryptopolis long behind us, not talking and reaching a speed bordering on urgency. Things are awkward after our kiss. I don’t want to give him the wrong impression, he’s hot and all, but now my form has returned to its old self, I can’t help but feel momentarily repulsed by him. His silver hair is greasy, his skin too pale, and his eyes too intense. He’s striking, but he’s not beautiful like Orion, or like any of the other mermen who were created by Atargatis. The lilac in his eyes is too pale, so much so that I feel shivers run over my skin whenever he glances my way. It’s creep inducing.
“Can you stop looking at me, it’s freaking me out,” I ask him, snapping slightly. An anxious knot has formed deep inside me and he’s only making it worse.
“I liked it better when you were dark. Come here…” he moves to grab me, to kiss me again, but I punch him in the nose with a sudden, and unplanned, jerk of my arm. He swears. “Shit!!! What the hell did you do that for?” He backs away from me and I continue swimmi
ng forward, ignoring him as blood seeps out from his nostrils into the water.
“Don’t touch me,” I mutter, all business as I race through the waves.
“Alright, Love! No need for bloody violence now was there?!” He exclaims, his eyelids fluttering as he pinches his nose. It’s probably broken, but I’m too worried to feel bad.
“Do you realise what’s happening here? If the Psirens succeed they could kill thousands. I don’t have time for your crap, Vex!” I shout at him, not in the mood for banter.
“Alright miss bossy britches. Keep your bloody hair on,” he exclaims, making rage rise up in my throat. I don’t take the bait for another argument though and he doesn’t try to interrupt my rhythm against the water again. The silence resumes.
After a little while we begin to get close to the Occulta Mirum. I make way to see its towering green, sea-glass spires coming into view over the sea floor horizon. I’m fully aware that Vex won’t be able to see them because of the glimmer, but I’m also expecting to see masses of Psirens on the outskirts of the city trying to breach its defences and that he will be able to see. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for the stone edifice, marking the city’s entrance too, but instead I see nothing. As we move closer the Occulta Mirum comes into view, but its towering palace is gone.
“Oh my God…” The palace is a pile of shattered crystalline pieces and even from this distance the area where it was once erected is now crawling with Psirens. My heart drops and a single name screams out within me.
Orion.
I drop to the ground, losing all momentum, sounds lost to me. The city, the city I had loved, that I was supposed to be protecting was a pile of rubble. What had I done? What had happened here? How had the Psirens won so easily? We couldn’t have been more than a few hours behind them, so why was the place in ruins with Psirens crawling everywhere in a swarm of dark black fins and tentacles. I sit in the sand, silent, letting the weight of what has happened sink in as I look down upon the rubble. Suddenly, my senses return to me. This is when I realise that Vex is talking.
“This is what we’ve been fighting for? Looks like a crap-heap to me,” Vex shrugs and I turn to him, finding the strength to rise in the water.
“You can see it?” I ask, desperate, and he nods. He furrows his brow at me like I’m insane. “Don’t look at me like that. We’re too late. It’s all my fault,” I say the words, a cold torrent of realisation drenching me with guilt.
“The Psirens… you mean we won?” He looks hopeful, a spark igniting in the back of his too pale irises.
“No! You can’t want this. The whole human world is now defenceless.”
“So?” He shrugs again and my eyes widen.
“So…” I place my hands on his shoulders, feeling the need to shake him gripping me. “Everyone you ever loved in life, they will die. Screaming, bleeding, they will die… because of this. There has to be someone, someone who meant at least a little to you. Well… with the Psirens in charge the demons will come… and there will be no more sanctuary. Only death.” I sound like an oracle, but in this moment I need him to understand. I watch a memory flash across the back of his eyes.
“Okay, what do I do?” He looks at me, his expression deadpan.
“I know what you can do.” I hear the familiar tone and I turn, whipping my head around so my hair falls around my shoulders, long and blonde.
“Azure,” I utter her name. She looks different. Her eyes are icy blue and her tailfin is coated in chainmail. There’s a helmet on her head.
“So nice of you to finally show up. You missed the show,” she bites at me and I feel her insult sting. She’s right; I should have been here.
“I’m…” I begin to apologise but she holds a hand up. I blurt, abandoning my remorse and addressing the more pressing question at the top of my priorities. “Orion! Did he get out? Is he…”
“He got out, he was a mess though. Stabbed in the gut.” My heart plummets and I feel my breathing quicken. Azure continues, un-phased. “Vex…” She turns to him and I watch his attention focus in on her, his eyes dilate, I’ve seen that happen when they fell on me, too. He’s clearly attracted to her. As his body straightens and his chest bulges forward, I wonder if I should feel jealous that he’s having this reaction, but my insides are desolate.
“Yes?”
“I need a man on the inside. It’s not an easy job, trust me, and you might betray us, but right now, you’re all I’ve got.” I look at him and then back at her, surprised.
“You want him to work for us?” I say it, sounding as incredulous as I feel toward the idea. It’s insane.
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” He looks at me offended.
“It means that you’re not exactly the most reliable man I’ve ever met, you abandoned me remember?” I snipe back.
Azure looks between us and cocks an eyebrow, clearly amused.
“As I said, he’s the best I’ve got. I need someone in there. My sister is inside, Vex, and I need her protected. You up for it?” She brushes some of the sand up off the ground with her tailfin, moving toward us.
“Starlet?” I whisper, horrified. Another one of Orion’s family members is in danger because of me. I think back to the times I had felt jealous of her connection with her brother, with my soulmate, but it all seemed ridiculous and petty now.
“Yes. Solustus…”
“I’ll do it,” Vex cuts her off.
“Are you sure? If you promise to do this for me, I’m holding you to it. If you betray me or she dies, I’ll kill you,” Azure looks him straight in the face and gives a small smile as he chortles slightly. She comes up close to him with her sword, pressing it to his throat. “Do you know what takoyaki is?” She asks Vex and he shakes his head, gulping. His Adam’s apple bobs against the edge of the blade and his tentacles still.
“It’s what the Japanese call octopus that they grill and serve up on a platter. Now… listen up and listen good. I don’t care how bad you think you are. I can guarantee you if you’ve done it, I’ve done it fifty times worse. Think you’ve been through a lot? Well, I’ve been on this earth a hundred times longer than what you consider your mighty lifespan, so just think about that… unless you want to end up an entrée,” she threatens and I can tell Vex is on edge, but I think he’s also turned on. Azure drops the blade and gives a casual smile, fluttering her eyelashes. “Great! Thanks!” She’s acting so carefree, I’ve never seen her like this.
“Okay, so Callie are you coming with me?” Azure turns to me and I nod, twisting to face Vex. His sallow skin and sunken eyes are watching.
“This is where I say goodbye. Thanks for…” I don’t quite know what to thank him for. Has he really made me into a better person? Or was my time away from the mer just a sabbatical from sense and reason? My internal voice whispers he took away the darkness, but I shake my head, dissolving the thought. I still don’t understand what happened, why the darkness within me vanished, especially not when he was the epitome of darkness and I was kissing him.
“The tequila,” he finishes my sentence with a wicked grin and my mouth pops open in shock.
My mind flashes back to my lips gliding across his skin. His hands in my hair, pulling my head back. His finger’s clawing into my ass… us smashing in the television, breaking the desk. His expression feral and unyielding and his eyes alight with an eerie lilac glow. His eyes bare into me from memory, scorching themselves into the forefront of my thoughts. No! I snap internally, feeling my heart begin to pound.
I realise my mouth is still hanging open and I quickly return my expression to one that’s uncaring. I don’t have time for his innuendos.
“Sure. Whatever,” I bite out and he recoils, looking hurt.
“You know you can be a real bitch?” He looks me square in the face. He wants me to retort, to return to our normal argumentative banter, but instead I turn, sighing.
“I know,” I mutter as Azure and I turn away from him. Azure looks me in the face, curious, b
efore something passes across her features, an idea or a memory, I can’t tell which.
“Vex, wait!!” She calls out, turning. Vex spins, his tentacles flaring out with his momentum. She moves over to him quickly and they talk for a few moments, I can’t hear the conversation but Vex bursts out laughing at something she says to him.
Behind them the Occulta Mirum lies in ruin. Some of the surface scrapers have fallen and the Alcazar is a pile of rubble. I want to sob for the loss of something so beautiful.
Azure returns to me, her tailfin undulating beneath her. Her brow is furrowed slightly and she’s studying me with a curiosity seldom seen crossing her features because she rarely cares enough for this level of intrigue.
“I don’t know what you got into with him, but whatever it is, you can be sure Orion won’t let him live for long once he finds out,” her eyes fall across my body.
She’s judging me? Really? I take a deep breath swallowing down my instinct to sulk.
“I know. I don’t know what I was doing with him really. It was just… there was no expectation.”
“You don’t need to explain to me, Callie. I was with Titus, remember? I’m not exactly the Queen of great decisions,” she pulls her helmet from her head, shaking out her hair. “We should move on, away from here. I don’t want to know what it’ll be like in these waters once the Psirens get bored of smashing up the city.” She frowns, but her eyes are glassy and as we pass over a small section of coral reef, crawling with crabs, I notice how much she really has changed. She’s no longer twitchy and the veins that once mapped her skin intermittently are gone. Other than that she seems to have found a kind of control over her rage. The Azure I had known before would have tackled Vex to the ground without a second thought. This time she’d only threatened violence. It isn’t a completely new Azure, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. It makes me think about my own actions and I realise I owe her an apology.
The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) Page 29
