Page 48 of A Rising Hope (The Freckled Fate #3)

48

FINNLEAH

“ S o, what now?” Priya quirked her brow up. Her eyes skeptically scanned the surroundings as we anchored our boat in the middle of the ocean. No island, no castle. Just never-ending blue.

“It’s here. I know it,” I mumbled, staring at the map, then at the silver compass, then at the map and the waters again.

“I hate to break it to you, Freckles, but take a good look around, won’t you?” Priya leaned against the wooden helm of the ship. She chucked an apple core overboard, finishing her small breakfast with a snarl.

I folded the map and put away the compass, securing all my weapons tight.

It was here. I knew it was even if I couldn’t see it. So, without another word, I took a large breath and dove off the edge of the boat.

The cold blue waters of the Northern Ocean swallowed me entirely. Salt water stung my eyes as I stared at the bottomless darkness below. With a few swift kicks, I pushed myself back to the surface.

“What the actual hell, Freckles?” Priya scowled, clearly displeased with my actions, scrutinizing me up and down.

“Are you jumping in, or do you not know how to swim?” I taunted her, my arms stretching in large strokes as I swam further away from the boat on my back, watching her.

“Fuck the gods, fuck the Queen, fuck your boyfriend and fuck you for making me do this.” Priya grumped as she slid her bag off her shoulder, shoved her large braid beneath her tight leathers, and dove. “Fucking heaven and hell.” Her teeth clattered, and she propelled herself closer to me, swearing combinations of profanities I hadn’t heard before.

“Suddenly those villages in the middle of nowhere with their terrible plumbing don’t sound too bad, huh?” I chuckled, as our lips turned blue in the ice-cold water.

“Fuck you again, for that matter.” Priya’s teeth clattered. “I am going to fucking kill the Queen and then feed her stupid head to the sharks,” she hissed, swimming up next to me.

“Well, that’s a good plan, granted if the sharks don’t eat you first,” I retorted, carefully scanning my surroundings. We were close. I could feel it with my magic, in my gut, in my entire soul. I was close to him. I knew that.

“Do you have a death wish, Freckles? Because I swear, one more word about sharks and I’ll drown you myself?”

“See but then you’d have to not drown first.” I winked at her pale face and dove again.

If Priya could curse underwater, she would have. Salt water stung our eyes, but I pointed to the little flicker of light far beyond. There, light curved differently, sunrays were swallowed by the darkness below and yet there was a flicker in the depth of it. She noticed it too.

We broke the surface a moment later, replenishing the air in our lungs.

“So, we just go there and knock?” Priya rubbed the water off her long black lashes.

“Something like that,” I mumbled, still staring into the empty nothingness around us. A large wave rolled towards us, pushing our bodies closer to the boat.

“Hell, whatever gets me out of this fucking water.” She looked precisely how I’d imagined a wild cat forced to take a bath would.

Another wave rolled in, and we swam ahead further, occasionally diving to ensure we were following the ripple of light below.

Both of us gasped for air as the far sun warmed our blue noses when we finally reached the barrier.

We floated only a few feet away now.

“Once I touch it, I don’t know what happens next.” I took a jagged breath, meeting Priya’s look. “I don’t know if that notifies him, or the Queen, or even if it’s going to kill us.”

“Yeah . . . yeah . . . yeah . . . my boobs are going to fall off in this freezing water if I have to spend another moment here. So death here by me, or death there by the barrier, sounds all the same to me. Just pick.”

A large wave pulled us under. I kicked my feet, pushing myself to the surface. Priya coughed near me. I rubbed my eyes, taking another moment to think.

I had crossed a clear barrier before. One that held the dark shadows away from Godric, from me. This was no different from that, I calmed myself.

“Well, see you on the other side.” I gave Priya a tense smirk and reached for the unseen barrier. My arm was outstretched, palm extended. I swam closer, blinking only once as I reached for it.

A large wave of power recoiled from me, shoving me far away from the unseen barrier. I was glad we were in the water as my body flew across, landing deep underneath the waters.

Fuck.

I swam towards it again. A single touch and my body was flying deep into the waters again.

Priya’s hand yanked me by my collar to the surface.

“Okay, enough diving, captain,” she jeered.

No matter how many times I tried, the barrier wouldn’t budge. Above the water, beneath it, it was like a brick wall, impenetrable and grand.

My theories built and crumbled just as fast as my body got shoved and jerked back by whatever magic that held it in place.

“I am going back to the boat.” Priya finally ran out of patience, her body shivering from the cold. “You’d think some sharks would’ve shown up and eaten me by now, but I have had no such luck today,” she mumbled, swimming back.

“Wait!” I called out. “I need a knife.” I reached for a safely secured knife at my waist. I flinched and sliced myself deep on my palm. A little stream of dark blood ran down my hand, saltwater stinging the wound.

“Didn’t think you’d take that shark comment seriously,” Priya shot a reply, but paused.

“Blood,” I whispered, more to myself as my thoughts hastily shaped an idea.

Gideon had blood magic. And his blood and mine matched the powers within the barrier.

Our raw fire magic.

“Give me your hand.” I motioned for Priya to come back as I sliced my other palm. Blood dripped into the water, tainting it.

“Cut your palm. Our blood needs to connect. At least I think it does . . . ” I chewed on my lip, hoping this idea would work. “When we reach the barrier, I am going to try something.” I stared, my thoughts like bricks, one by one building out the plan. “It will probably feel like fire burning in your veins. I am not going to burn you, but I don’t think you’ll be able to pass through without it. We just need a moment to pass.”

Priya clicked her tongue, contemplating.

“I’m starting to understand where the notion to kill all the Magic Wielders came about. You all are so dramatic for no reason.” She released an exasperated sigh, snatching the dagger and slicing her palm.

“Just don’t let go,” I warned, grabbing her hand. The feeling of her hand in mine was so odd given who she was, what we were. I had seen her naked on more occasions than I could count, often times in quite peculiar situations, and yet this was the first time I had ever held her hand.

“Don’t make it weird, Freckles,” Priya snarled, and my lips stretched in a wide grin. We both took in as much air as our lungs would contain and dove deep below the surface.

Air was running low in my lungs, and I held on to Priya’s hand tighter, our blood mixing at the cut.

Closing my eyes, I searched for that comforting fire, letting it wrap around me. My body burned with fire as I opened them. Priya’s hand didn’t move, though the muscle in her temple twitched, the only sign of pain she’d show. Light illuminated from my eyes, and like a burning star, I was ready to explode.

I reached towards the barrier with my bloodied hand, sending a massive surge of power as my hand touched it.

A loud crackle sounded even this deep under water. The barrier shook at my power, sending a ripple through it. A blink, and Priya and I dove through that ripple before it sealed shut.

Triumph roared in me as I let go of Priya’s hand. We both swam to the surface, the air alarmingly low in my lungs as I recalled the fire. Our faces broke the calm waters above, our sights locked in on the harsh rocky cliff with a tall, moss-covered gray castle atop it, plastered amid the waters.

“Well, look at that, the bitch Queen’s castle,” Priya stated victoriously.

We swam towards the pebbled shore, relieved to feel the ground underneath our soaked boots.

There were no stairs around the high cliff leading to the castle above. The Queen didn’t bother with a front door to cater to her guests.

“There.” I pointed to the small opening near the lower half of the cliff. “There is a sewer and then there is a tunnel. If we could climb towards that . . . ” I wasn’t sure if it was the cold or a sense of unease, but my skin was covered in goosebumps as we paused at the bottom of the cliff, shielding our eyes from the sun as we assessed the surroundings. “If we could climb there, we could make it into the castle.”

“Sewers? You’ve truly gone full rebel, haven’t you? What happened to the finesse? To the art of killing? To the artistic touch of an assassin?” Priya huffed, color coming back to her cheeks as the sun warmed our frozen bodies. She begrudgingly followed me.

“Did you ever know?” I asked as we trudged along the path towards the boulders closer to the castle walls.

“Know what?”

I glanced back, shaking off the persistent feeling that someone was watching us. But there wasn’t a single flick of shadows. No Queen . . . nor Gideon to be anywhere seen. Not a soul, except us. Only the ambient sound of ocean waves crashing into the rocky shore.

“That I was a Destroyer?” I wasn’t sure why I asked. It really didn’t matter, but it forced my mind to focus on anything but the dreadful feeling rising in my chest.

“I had suspicions. Most Destroyers burn when I jump in their minds. It’s usually an uncomfortable feeling compared to measly human minds. Your mind felt more like a tingling sensation, less so of a full-on scalding burn. Though there was a time when I did feel that way with you. Once.”

I wasn’t sure why Priya was answering my questions. Perhaps she, too, was fighting through the knot in her stomach as we made our way up the path.

“When?” I probed further.

“The day we got rained on in the village,” she replied, and at the look of confusion on my face she clarified, “The pile of burned bodies, terrible soup . . . And the place with the worst chairs in the world to sleep.”

A little shiver went down my skin, remembering that day.

I recalled exactly the moment she spoke about. The broken rage I had felt that day still burned in my soul, the little embers always keeping the ire and fury fed.

They, too, were on my list to atone for. To bring justice to every single soul.

“What do you think happens after death?” I murmured another question, reaching for the large boulder in our way as we climbed over it.

“How the hell would I know?” she grumbled. “I’ll find out once I am dead and let you know. But I don’t plan on being dead soon, so there is that,” Priya retorted, a step behind. Her tense voice matching my own, apprehension pricking my skin.

“Oh, no need to wait, my dear. I can definitely arrange that for you much, much sooner.” The Queen appeared out of thin air, standing on a cloud of black shadows in front of us. Her perfect, wicked scowl was a clear indication that we were fucked.