Page 52 of A Sea of Vows and Silence (The Naiads of Juile #3)

Selena

A egir heaved a wave of water over Thaan. Over all of us.

It blotted out the sun’s heat and light, sending us under the cool curve of its shadow. Taller than the cliffs at our side. A small mountain of wild surf, folding in over us.

Thaan threw an arm toward it, whipping it away.

The entire tide.

My breath grew cold. Frost gathered in the pockets of air around us, fine crystals winking into seaward wind as they expanded, then falling to the sand in flakes of snow under the heavy sun.

“Selena,” Thaan snapped. “Get to the coach.”

“Stay where you are,” Aegir growled. His arm still thrust to the side, he blocked me in, but from the thin view I had of his face, the anger in his eyes, I couldn’t decide if his reach was a shield or a cage.

The drones kept appearing. More and more of them. Standing up from behind alcoves, swinging their legs over rocks, emerging from cresting waves as though the ocean had breathed them out. Aegir hadn’t felt them in his waters. He’d only noticed when the wave surged over Thaan’s feet.

“Selena,” Thaan said.

Aegir’s hand clamped down.

Sindri turned, back to back with Aegir, locking me between them.

“Did you betray us?” Aegir asked.

My gaze shot to the Videre facing my sister’s form. But it was clear, by the quiet anger in his voice, the question was meant for me .

“No,” I said, a sting in my chest at the thought.

The drones stepped closer. Aegir’s hand tightened. “If you didn’t betray us, you won’t go back to them.”

Ten feet from us. Eight feet. Seven.

The longer my feet didn’t move, the darker Thaan’s gaze grew. “Selena.”

“Don’t,” Aegir thundered.

But he didn’t understand. It wasn’t the lull of safety that dragged my gaze from Aegir to the carriage. If anything, safety waited in the sea. Deep in Venusian waters, with Naiads who hated Thaan as much as I did.

Danger waited in that carriage. Along with my only way back to Cebrinne.

The drones stopped an arm’s reach away.

My eyes darted to Thaan. To Sindri. To Aegir. To the coach.

The drones lowered their hoods.

Sindri’s knife flew into the neck of the closest one.

His body dropped. And the world blurred with sand and movement.

They moved like Pheolix. Fast. Sharp. Precise. Fighting with their hands, not water.

One man stepped in, aiming a fist at Aegir. The Videre threw himself to the right. Leaving me a gap.

I ran.

Sand flew under my feet, hot and grainy.

A knife sailed over my shoulder. I lunged to the side, though it had already passed me, sinking into the eye of a drone. But it was enough to force my attention over my shoulder. Slowing my steps.

A body rolled over the back of my legs.

I thought it was dead. It hit me hard and heavy, leaving me in a daze.

But then they grabbed my hands, my waist, yanking me to my feet.

Aegir’s glare loomed over my face, fury steeped in his brows.

Sindri reached us a moment later, anchoring a skull with his bare foot and ripping his knife free.

He pointed it at all the faces that closed in around us .

“Let go,” I said, twisting in Aegir’s grasp.

Aegir pulled me in closer. “If I need to trade one hostage for another, I’d be a fool to let you flee.”

My stomach tightened. A hostage.

I scanned the beach, searching for Thaan.

But all I saw were Naiad drones, following us in silence as Aegir and Sindri moved together to the water.

At the sea’s edge, one of them darted in, reaching for Sindri’s knife.

The Venusian slashed at him, carving a deep gash down his forearm and into his palm.

Blood sprayed across us, showering my face and neck.

The drone stumbled back, but another took his place, grasping Sindri’s blade with bare hands. They fought over it, tugging back and forth. Aegir pulled me along with him, lifting me from my feet.

Someone grabbed my arm, nails digging into my skin as Aegir flung me in the opposite direction.

I flailed as I hit the water, landing with a slap against the waves.

It heaved over the top of me, throwing my balance, sending me sideways almost as soon as I hit.

Arms wrapped around me, and I shoved them away, unsure who they belonged to.

I took a step, and someone grabbed the fabric at my back, pulling me further down, away from the shallows and into the deep.

Aegir.

The drones followed him like a river of angry hornets. But this was Aegir’s sea. Even if they eclipsed him, they didn’t know its language like he did. Its songs and whispers. The way it tossed and turned, the mood of its currents, the places it was shy and the places it raged.

The sea cradled him in, calm where he sliced through. But it became turbulent in his wake, scattering the drones away. He easily outstripped them, dashing right and left, diving straight down.

By the time we couldn’t see them anymore, I’d transitioned to my tail.

Aegir shoved me against the undersea rocks, whipping me around with a hold on my shoulders, a hand at my throat. Pain wavered in his gaze. Betrayal. The sea stole our ability to talk, but his eyes asked what his mouth could not.

Did you know?

I shook my head, his words on the beach returning to me. In the chaos, I hadn’t thought about them deeply enough to understand what he truly meant.

If I need to trade one hostage for another...

Vouri.

He grasped my wrist, tugging me in the direction I knew his colony lay. But his grip was tight, his fingers unrelenting. Constricting. I pulled away.

Aegir yanked back.

I suppose panic set in. That’s the best word for it. Even though I trusted Aegir, trusted he wouldn’t hurt me despite the threat he’d made just minutes before. Some vein in my blood screamed for me to run, and the harder he held, the louder that scream grew.

He was stronger than I was. He was winning.

My hands were my only weapons. I beat and scratched.

The ocean stole any speed, any severity from my attacks.

I punched, but my punches landed in slow motion.

I beat my tail against his, wrestled and spun and wrenched myself side to side.

The Videre clamped down, though I knew I was frustrating him.

His eyes grew wild as he held, and impatience finally engulfed him.

He crossed my wrists and folded them into my chest, strapping me to himself with an arm so he could finally swim.

Down to Venusia. To that room with ancient Naiad text written over the door, magic that kept me inside. To be a hostage for his sister.

What would happen to me if something happened to her?

I’d always had Cebrinne at my back for these moments. Always had my second half, that piece of myself I could turn to. If she were here, she wouldn’t have tried to simply run. She’d have found a way to hit back.

Well, at least we know what your fight or flight response is, Pheolix chuckled into my head .

I froze, remembering the next set of words the drone had said to me that day. My hand flattened over Aegir’s chest. He didn’t notice. His attention was pinned ahead and around us, watching for drones or his own Naiads.

I closed my eyes. Calmed my heart.

Called to the water within him.

And pulled that beating mechanism within him to a grinding halt.