Page 21

Story: Sinister Seas

“I’m sorry. For everything,” he murmured. “I had no right to come into your life the way I did. Under the circumstances that plagued me. What I did was selfish. Irresponsible. I ran from the problem and the problem caught up with me. I had no right to…fall in love with you.”

“Yes,” she whispered, catching his hand before it could drop from her face. “Yes, you did. Youdo. Dima might have found us, but she hasn’t done anything that can’t be reversed. Not yet. I have four days to come up with a solution. Those were her terms.”

Pain sliced through his expression and darkened his eyes. He lowered his hand against her resistance, but folded his fingers around hers. “Dima…doesn’t follow terms, Aria.”

Gods above, grief almost drowned the sound of his voice as he said bleakly, “Come. I’ve something to show you. At the docks.”

Aria didn’t move when he turned away. “Do you see the storm outside?”

He didn’t look out the window. “There’s a reason for it.”

* * *

The rain barely touched them,except for the few drops his magic allowed so as not to draw attention to their dry appearance in a massive storm. Aria kept the new cloak Caspian provided clenched tight to her body, the deep hood pulled over her head. She stayed close to the man in the long, hooded trenchcoat, following his steps across the water-sodden ground and the streams between the cobblestone pathways. Electric lanterns lit many doorways, while others remained dark. Even the lanterns around the castle grounds were only sporadically lit. Flagpoles creaked and the wind howled through the rows of houses and shops, banging signs against walls and rattling loose shutters. Malice and danger struck down from the swirling black clouds in thin, webbed lines of electricity.

The streets were abandoned. Not a single guard. Not a single villager or animal.

No one.

Nothing.

Caspian squeezed her hand. She sidled closer to him, quickening her pace to match his long-legged strides. The determination in his steps did little to ease the nerves that swirled through her belly.

They didn’t slow until they reached the landside entrance of Caspian’s warehouse. Aria took a moment to stare out at the harbour, at the furious waves pouring up over the bank and rocking the piers. The ships and boats bobbed and swayed, the smaller vessels taking on spurts of water that crested their hulls.

Lightning struck a ship’s main mast. The crack of solid wood splitting followed a bright explosion of blue-white sparks. The rain did nothing to snuff out the embers as they fell over the wet, rolled sails.

The first flash of fire erupted barely a breath later.

“Come.” Caspian tugged her hand, leading her into the dry warehouse. He closed the door behind them, snapped his fingers, and created a glowing coil of firelight at his fingertips.

“The ship—”

“Will attract attention. Rain won’t put that fire out.”

“Deity fire…”

Had her mother and sisters escaped? Was this storm her mother’s doing?

She keeps the waters calm. Not violent, and certainly not at a strength like this.

Dima. The stormhadto be her doing.

Caspian brought her up the stairs to his office, locking the door behind them and murmuring an incantation. His ease with magic and spells was intriguing. He seldom spoke when he spun something underwater, but here, if he wished it, all he had to do was touch it, whisper words, or imagine it and it manifested.

No wonder his presence overpowered a room.

The coil of light snuffed out. A single electric lamp popped to life, spreading a dull yellow glow over the dark, shadow-infested office.

Caspian said nothing as he brought her to the back of the room, but his steps turned heavy when they approached a plain, unmarked wall.

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.