by Amy Marie
The wooden planks at their feet wavered.
“Dima doesn’t follow terms,” Caspian whispered, raising his hand to the wall.
The illusion vanished. The smell of seawater and something…off invaded her nostrils.
Her gaze dropped to the bulky object on the floor in the small alcove.
And a piercing scream exploded from her chest.
Chapter 8
Caspian threw up the silencing spell a fraction of a second before Aria’s scream left her lips, echoed by a ground-rumbling boom of thunder. The storm would have muffled much, but the anguish laced in that heart-wrenching sound could have sliced through the wind and rain.
Aria collapsed to her knees and gathered her sister’s body into her arms, against her chest. She sobbed, her tears scorching his soul. She rocked like the motion would bring her sister back from the dead, but the milky protein coating her once blue eyes and the waxy yellow-gray of her skin did not lie.
“Stacia,” Aria cried, brushing lavender strands of hair back from her sister’s forehead. Caspian bit the insides of his cheeks to keep his anger and his grief, grief for Aria’s loss and is own, at bay. Slowly, he lowered to his knees beside Aria, resting a hand on her shoulder. Her head jerked to him, her nose pink and her eyes glowing bright green with swirls of flashing gold. Her power. “She did this? The witch did this to my sister?”
Caspian nodded. “I’m afraid she did.”
Another pained wail poured out of Aria as she lifted her face to the ceiling. Her entire body trembled with her cries.
Jagged lightning cracked and popped across the sky outside, the piercing white glow pulsing through the windows. Caspian glanced over his shoulder, brows furrowing. The lightning didn’t disappear, continued to blaze. He turned back to Aria.
Bolts of gold skittered across her skin, breaking free from the tears streaming from her eyes.
His heart could have stopped as lightheadedness overcame him.
Without a logical thought in his head, he cupped her face and pulled her close, countering the energy from her tears until the lightning outside faded.
It took a few moments for her eyes to focus on his. For her to calm enough to see through her grief.
But the instant she did, Caspian leaned in and brushed his lips across hers, tasting the salt from her tears.
Her sobs softened. Her whimpers quieted.
He didn’t press for a full kiss. Now wasn’t the time. He sighed and pressed his forehead to hers, the tips of their noses brushing.
“A sea demon possesses no morals. None. Her word is worthless. She will strike down another of your sisters each day until I’ve returned.” With a deep breath, he said, “And I will. I can’t bear to see this happen to you. It’s not your battle to fight, and I’ve placed you in the middle of it all. Stacia’s death, her blood, is on—”
Aria pressed a finger to his lips, silencing him. “No. Her blood is not on your hands. It’s on Dima’s, and Dima’s alone.”
A minute tilt of her head with a caress of her breath across his lips weakened him. Her finger slipped along his jaw, down the side of his neck, and her hand came to rest on his shoulder.
“We go together. I won’t let you go alone,” she murmured. “We’ll fight her, you and me. As one.”
“Aria, I won’t allow it.”
Aria leaned back enough to catch his gaze. Fresh tears shimmered along her eyelids and clung to her lashes, but the lightning bolts in her irises were gone. Her lips quivered, and when she next spoke, it was from between clenched teeth.
“She killed my sister.” Aria looked down at the woman in her lap. “Killed her with such brutality. Sharks!”
“Listen to me,” Caspian begged in his most reasonable tone, but his darling princess was already shaking her head. “Yes. You’ll listen to me. I forbid you to return with me. I won’t allow Dima to use you against me. I won’t let her hurt you, too, because she will. She will mercilessly torture you to tear me apart until I do what she demands. And I would, because Aria”—he forced her to look at him, straight in the eyes—“if something happens to you, it will destroy me.”
His throat was raw as he spoke the truest of truths directly into her soul.
“A decade, a century, gods hear me, a millennia could pass, but my heart will always, always belong to you. You can hate me with every fiber in your body, call me the biggest fool to ever live, and it won’t change a thing. Never has a day passed that you haven’t plagued my mind. I stare into the sea every single day and night, and think of you. I’ve had solace knowing you are alive, even if you’re not with me.”
He lowered his hand to hers, resting on the thin, slick scales of Stacia’s belly. Aria’s chin creased and trembled, but she managed to keep her tears from spilling. The strength swelling inside her astonished him.
“We can’t stay here. The fire on the ship will draw guards, if it hasn’t already. And I think you created a phenomena in your grief that might raise a few brows.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll explain later, when we’re home.”
Aria sniffled, dropping her gaze to her sister’s body. Caspian released her hand and she tenderly traced the sharp contours of Stacia’s cheeks, the ridges along her forehead.
“I promise you, I will avenge your death. She will pay, Stacia. I will make certain of it, to the fullest extent,” she swore quietly. Caspian silently agreed. “She needs to return to the water. A proper burial.”
“Of course.”
“I won’t leave her here.”
Caspian stood up and held out his hand. “I’ll return for her once I have you home. I’ll bring her to the tunnel under my house by water. It’s the safest way.”
Aria nodded. She hesitantly lowered Stacia to the floor, crossing her arms over her chest and smoothing her lavender hair over her shoulders. She took a few moments to neaten the fan of the multi-hued tail and finally closed her sister’s eyes. After another lingering stare, she accepted Caspian’s hand and he pulled her to her feet.
“How did you find her?” Aria asked, a hand against his chest.
“I didn’t. She was brought off a ship. The sailors said they found her floating on the water’s surface. She was already dead.”
She scowled. “They brought her here for the reward. They’re no better than the witch who murdered her.” She glanced up into his face. “Did you do anything to them?”
“I was in shock when I realized who they had and what had happened. I cast a spell on the coins to keep them quiet about what they’d found, but my priority was getting her body up here where I could protect her until I told you.” He took her hand from his chest, kissed her fingertips, and motioned to the door with a jut of his chin. “We must go.”
As he released all the warding spells, he became aware of the shouts and screams from beyond the sanctuary of his office. A horrifying crackle, followed by a thunderous boom that shook the walls. Glass exploded somewhere nearby. Caspian shifted, keeping his body in front of Aria’s as they crossed to the door. He unlocked the door and pulled it open.
Smoke billowed up from the warehouse’s ground floor. Small curls of fire followed the seams between the wooden planks along the walls. Two of the windows he could spot from the top of the stairs were blown out.
Aria fisted his coat at his back. “Caspian, my sister.”
He surveyed the fire, the damage, listened for the loudest commotion, and quickly came up with a new plan. “Wait here.”
Smoke seeped into the office, climbed along the ceiling in tufts of black. The air filled with the overwhelming smell of bonfires. Heat began to rise in the previously protected area. Caspian gathered Stacia’s body, eased her over his shoulder, and hurried to the door.
“Stay close,” he told Aria, leading the way down the smoke-shrouded stairway. She held his coat at the waist, keeping up with his rushed pace. Fire consumed one wall of the warehouse, eating up inches by the second. The storm pounding outside seemed
to fuel the flames rather than quench them.
A beam overhead snapped and crashed down, bringing a chunk of the ceiling with it. Aria gasped, jumped against his back as he shielded her from the spray of sparks. Rain poured in through the gaping hole, sizzling as the drops hit the burning wood.
“Hey! He’s got a mermaid!”
“Stop them!”
Caspian spun to face the shouts. Royal guards stormed across the ground floor of the warehouse, waving their arms to disperse the smoke.
“Caspian,” Aria breathed.
“This way. Hold tight.”
He turned on his heel and, after ensuring Aria’s grip, ran through bursts of flame and patches of slick water. He kept the side entrance blocked from the outside, locked from within.
Creaks and yawns from above warned of an imminent collapse. The guards yelled for him to stop, to surrender, their demands lost in a cacophony of barks and screams.
“Keep up, princess!”
He punched his hand out in front of him and released a strong blast of air toward the exterior door.
The metal door tore off its hinges and flipped over and over, landing somewhere in the stormy night. The barrels and crates that had blocked it lay strewn across the grass and muddy path.
As soon as Caspian stepped outside, he twisted, grabbed Aria around the waist, turned her away from the building, and released a burst of fire that engulfed the interior.
The guards’ barks and screams turned shrill and agonized.
He caught Aria’s shocked gasp as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward a far pier. The wild wind and pelting rain helped hide them as they escaped the villagers and guards trying to put out the ship fire. Stacia’s weight didn’t hinder his speed, but he slowed to place a concealment spell over Stacia’s body.
“Hold it.”
Caspian skidded to a halt at the end of the head of the pier as two new guards marched toward him. He heard the familiar click of guns being loaded at his back.
“What did you do with the mermaid? You just had it,” one guard asked, lifting the barrel of his rifle and aiming it at Caspian. He whipped his arm around, holding Aria close to his back.
“Absurd. If I just had a mermaid, don’t you think I’d still have it?” Caspian asked, a cocky smile stretching his lips. He tipped his head and threw his voice for Aria to hear. “When I say go, get into that water as quick as you can. It’s deep at the wall.”
She nodded against his coat.
Caspian saw more figures emerging from the grass and pathways between his and the next warehouse. The activity on the pier had drawn attention from the burning ship as well.
The guards had almost reached them. Caspian lowered his arm around Stacia’s tail to make it look like he was pressing a hand to his stomach.
“Gentlemen, if we wish to discuss what it was you thought you saw, perhaps I could suggest taking this up somewhere that’s dry and away from the blazes happening a short distance away?” Caspian asked. He flipped his hand, palm up, in a nonchalant motion. “It would be far less dangerous, and more appropriate for this young lady.”
The two guards rounded him and Aria, their guns never lowering.
“If she’s one of your trollops, Caspian, rain won’t hurt her appearance.”
He bristled, his smile growing taut. “All women deserve respect, regardless of their choice of occupation.”
One of the guards jutted his rifle toward Caspian’s shoulder. Instead of striking him, the barrel jabbed into Stacia’s concealed body. The crease between the guard’s brows deepened and he went for another jab. Caspian twisted at the waist, pulling his shoulder back.
“What in the name…What are you?”
Guns rose as more guards reached them, and almost a dozen rifles pointed at Caspian and Aria. Palm still raised, Caspian began to conjure the elemental power of air in a translucent orb.
“Seems we might have a problem,” Caspian taunted. He squeezed Aria’s hip. “But what is a problem you can’t fix?” He uncovered Stacia’s body, using the sudden appearance of a mermaid flung over his shoulder as a distraction for Aria. He hissed, “Go!” wasting no time in drawing more power, building his attack larger and larger as the guards either gasped in surprise and backed away, or held steady in their aim. “Is this what you were looking for?”
He spun around, using leverage from the speed to propel Stacia off his shoulder and into the water. Aria was halfway down the pier when she evidently heard the splash, stopped, and turned to see what had caused it.
Her hood blew off her hair.
“It’s the one the king has been searching for!”
Caspian lunged between a pair of guards and released a blast of power that rushed from him like a bomb, leveling everything in its path.
Aria cried out.
He glanced back in time to see a red splotch spread out over her belly as she toppled into the water.
The rush of air climbed the streets of the village, but he was already diving into the water. Aria struggled weakly in the current, her dress and cloak weighing her down. He reached out, ripping off the cloak, tearing into the dress and shedding it from her body, leaving her in thin underclothing as he brought her to the surface for air. She gulped in a breath and winced, curling into his shoulder, pressing her head against his neck.
“Casp.”
“Shh.” He pressed a hard kiss to her cheek and whispered, “Sleep.”
She didn’t make a sound as she fell under his spell.
He had to get her back to the house, however long his home remained safe. The sea was no place to bleed. It had been years since he last transformed, but he gladly opened himself to his natural form. The twisting and tearing and molding of bones and cartilage, muscles and tendons could not match the intense urgency that overcame him, panic at the thought of Aria losing more blood. His hands, the partial webs between his fingers and the dark blue claws at the tips, cradled his princess as he surrounded her head with a bubble to provide oxygen for her lungs.
The waves pushed Stacia’s body closer to them. With one hand wrapped around the corpse’s arm, one arm pinning Aria to his chest, he tested the strength in his tail before maneuvering beneath the water’s surface at a bullet’s pace, away from the docks.
Chapter 9
“He is mine, princess. He belongs to no other but me. And tonight, I’ll show you how true my words ring as I tear you limb from limb. I will keep you alive to watch me feed each part to my pets. And I will force you to witness the magnificence of an all-powerful god breaking into tiny pieces until there is nothing left but the shell of a prince.”
She couldn’t escape the kelp bindings. She couldn’t fight the magic that held her prisoner. Caspian, perched on a rock, looked on, his face void of expression. His entire body appeared lax. Uncaring.
But the vicious battle in his eyes speared her heart.
Whatever spell Dima wove, she made him a prisoner within his own body.
The witch swam closer, the kelp forcing Aria to recline horizontally. Her pointed smile and dark eyes filled Aria with terror.
She flicked one of her serrated claws against her front teeth and laughed. “Relax, little princess. I’m going to take my time and savor every moment of your death…”
Aria jolted upright in bed, cold sweat pouring down her face and plastering a nightshirt to her body.
“Easy, princess.”
The deep, familiar voice instantly put her fear to rest as she realized she wasn’t about to be hacked to death by Dima’s nails. No. It was a nightmare. Nothing more.
Caspian lowered himself to sit on the edge of the bed and held out a mug. “Here. Drink this. It’s some concoction of Brack’s that he insists is vital to promote healing.”
“Healing?”
The discomfort hadn’t registered while her mind reeled from the nightmare, but at the mention of a wound, flash memories swarmed her, casting aside the dreamy haze and leaving her with full clarity. She pushed the blanket dow
n enough to lift the edge of the nightshirt and see where a patch of white cloth had been taped to her belly. No blood drained through and she didn’t feel pain. Just a little soreness.
She started to peel back the tape around the cloth, but Caspian stopped her. “Let it be for now. You were shot.”
When he removed his hand, she tugged off the tape and lowered the cloth. Caspian sighed and shook his head, but a half-grin curled the corner of his lips.
A pink circle marred her skin, but there was no hole. No stitches or salves. Just a discoloration that remained the only evidence of her ordeal.
“I think it looks good.”
Caspian leaned forward. His grinned flattened as he repositioned the cloth dressing to see more of her skin. A furrow appeared between his handsome brows. “Well, that’s impressive.” He removed the rest of the tape and brushed a finger over the raised circle of flesh. “Healed completely.”
“Why do you seem surprised? You helped, didn’t you?” When his azure gaze lifted to hers, she had her answer in the silent way he sought something unknown in her eyes. “I did this?”
“You possess more than one elemental gift, Aria. What other gifts do you possess that we don’t know about? You have the gift of water, and fire as well. At the warehouse, right before I kissed you, you were crying lightning pearls. In your anguish, you sent immense lightning to the ground and it didn’t end until I stopped it.” The same finger that brushed over her healing wound traced her brow, tender and filled with wonder. “The fire that started in the warehouse was started by you. And before you allow yourself to feel guilt, I never cared about it. I wouldn’t go back, even if I could. But I, too, unleashed damaging powers that will come down on me sooner rather than later. It’s only a matter of time before the king puts the pieces together.”
This revelation floated around her head. She’d caused that terrible fire? She’d produced lightning? How was that even possible, considering she was merely a daughter of the sea? How was it possible, even with the emotional trigger, to create something so magnificent and destructive when she could barely control a wave or create magic with water?
