Page 59 of A Sea of Vows and Silence (The Naiads of Juile #3)

Pheolix

T he tumblers inside the lock echoed across the shadows.

The iron door creaked open.

Thaan hadn’t opened it before. He always stood on the other side, gazing at me through the bars to ask questions about Selena and Cebrinne’s time in Venusia. When I refused to answer, he started visiting wearing Selena’s face.

She peered at me through the shadow, a dark silhouette against the burn of the torch behind her.

My back straightened. My stomach tightened. I could withstand the way he wore her like a mask while the iron door remained closed, cutting me off from him as he mocked me with her voice.

But she stepped inside, and everything in my body constricted in response.

I couldn’t eclipse him. But if he came close enough, I’d kill him with my bare hands.

She glanced around. The cold bucket of water I used to bathe.

The walls, washed long ago with white paint, most of it scratched off by hundreds of hands.

Scratched off until we’d bled. Dried blood patterned every surface, splattered, dripped, and finger-painted on.

I’d grown so used to it, I hardly saw it anymore.

“Pheolix,” Selena said. As if I didn’t recognize her .

I leaned into the cold wall away from her. What game was Thaan playing now? What did he want from me? Information? Action? Was he testing whether I’d run? He’d left the barred door wide open.

Selena took another step toward me. Cautious. “Pheolix. Let’s go.”

A test, then. He wanted to know if I’d make a run for it. My lip curled. Selena took another step toward me. “Pheolix. It’s Selena.”

Something between a grunt and a laugh ejected from my chest. My eyes narrowed. Just a few more steps, and he’d be within reach. He hadn’t even bothered to wear something she’d wear. He’d come in man’s clothes. Pants and boots. The shape of a knife pulled at the side of Selena’s leg.

Two more steps.

I sprang to my feet. She stopped, hands up, as though she’d scared some poor little bird under a bush. “Come with me.”

I spat at the stone floor then flicked my eyes up to meet hers. They filled with surprise.

“Back for another game?” I asked. My hands flexed, itching for the knife strapped to her leg.

Two more steps and I’d be close enough to take him.

But Selena didn’t move. Thaan stared at me through Selena’s eyes, confusion in the blue depths.

As if he didn’t understand my words. Thaan was always playing games. That’s all he ever did.

“I’m Selena,” he said. “Ask me something only Selena would know.”

Two more steps.

Take just two more.

“No.” I fought to keep my gaze off the shadow of the hidden knife. “We’ve played this game. You always know things you shouldn’t.”

His heart rate increased. Whatever his plan had been, it wasn’t working. “Ask me what we searched for last spring. Ask me what happens whenever we’re together. Ask me what you call me.”

I clenched my jaw, unwilling to give him anything. He could have easily called to Cebrinne’s blood and peeled that information from her .

“The stone,” she said, taking another step. “We searched for the stone last summer. It rains when we’re together. It’s raining outside now. And you call me heiress because you know I hate it.”

“I called her heiress to remind myself I couldn’t have her.” I almost laughed. Almost. Disgust flamed through my chest instead, even as her throat tightened. “Come out, Thaan. Put down your magic and fight me with bare hands.”

One step closer, and I’d break his neck.

But something in his eyes changed. He glanced at the door over his shoulder then back to me.

His smooth, feminine posture evaporated.

Thaan straightened, drawing his fingertips together.

“Very well,” he said, abandoning his act.

“I’ve come to collect you. I’m in need of a drone with your capabilities. Follow me. And grab that torch.”

Without a further word, he turned and left me, passing through the open door.

My fingers flexed again. I’d been so close. So close to killing him. A silent heat raked over my skin, a voice in my head filling me with reproach. If he let me get that close again, I wouldn’t hesitate.

Selena waited at the top of the stone steps, boredom in her eyes. “You first,” Thaan ordered. My mouth flattened as he waited for me to take the lead, following behind me. “Hurry up. We don’t have all day.”

I led us out in silence, wondering how to place him where I could see him.

He’d come to the mountains at least every few weeks to interrogate me.

To ask where we’d gone in the weeks we’d spent away from Calder.

What type of plan we’d concocted with Aegir.

What the Venusian had promised us. But he’d always brought the line of questions to Selena.

It was there I drew the line, unwilling to answer. His attempts only grew more contrived.

One minute she’d be kind. Then vicious the next.

Once, he made her cry on the other side of the bars.

Made her describe what it was like to watch me die.

He watched my reactions, recording every flinch, every glare.

I knew enough about Thaan to understand how he worked, using his Naiads against each other.

I’d been waiting for the day he’d threaten to hurt her just to see if I’d do whatever it was he wanted.

I’d expected if he ever let me out, he’d send one of the drones or even Deimos to open my cell. Not him. Not alone. My gaze slid to the side, tracking the sound of Thaan’s steps behind me, wondering what he was planning now.

The base of the mines grew near. Thaan stopped me before I stepped out, pushing me into the wall to study the night beyond.

I should have killed him then. But he stepped out of reach, calling to the guard outside. “Has anyone come or gone?”

“Just the one who was with you,” the human answered.

Thaan glanced back at me. “Come on.”

I didn’t move. Thaan always made us wear cloaks outside the mines. It was dangerous for us not to. Too many Naiads would target us for what we’d done to them. “You don’t want me wearing a cloak?”

Thaan frowned. “Of course I do. Are there any here?”

Yes. In the second cart, the one with the broken wheel. The one he stood directly in front of. He knew where they were. He’d been the one to put them there. Haughty eyes gleamed back at me. Did he think I’d gone mad in the year I’d spent in that room?

Probably. At least, he hoped I had.

I took a step toward the cart, my tolerance for his game thinning by the minute. But instead of moving out of my way, he retreated a step. As though he hadn’t expected me to move in his direction. I pushed forward, and he fell back. All the way to the cart edge.

He was goading me. He wanted me to get close enough to attack.

My mind spun as I wondered why Thaan would bait me into trying to kill him.

So he could hurt Selena with it later ?

I could almost hear his voice in my head as he explained what had happened. Pheolix attacked me. I had no choice but to kill him.

My fists clenched. I pushed forward, and Thaan still didn’t move out of my way. He climbed backwards over the lip of the cart, apprehension thick in the air. I leaned in to lift the false board away, my hand reaching within, feeling for the cloaks stashed secretly below.

He wanted me to attack.

I’d be a fool to.

But he’d let me come so close.

Would I be a fool not to?

Drawing the cloak out, my lips peeled from my teeth. “Where’s Deimos?” I growled. “Why didn’t you send him this time? Why lead me out personally, wearing her face?”

Thaan leaned further from me, fear sparking in Selena’s eyes. True fear. “Pheolix, this is my face—”

Pretending to be her again. Something in me snapped with rage.

Weapons lay in neat rows beside the hidden cloaks. I plunged my hand back in for a knife.

“Pheolix,” Thaan said again. The scent of terror exploded, sour in my nose.

But I’d never get another chance.

My free hand grabbed Thaan’s throat.

He pushed me away, a palm against my chest.

I was already arching my arm, dagger in my hand.

Her fingers pulsed.

Pain in my torso. Pressure over my breastbone. A searing heat through my shoulder.

My heart stopped.