Page 84 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)

“ N ext left,” Nephthys directs me.

I ease the speeder into the thinning vein of water, having switched back into acting helmsman after deeming my half hour of recovery much too long a break.

The saltwater rivers leading us down into that heart are a crossword patch of possible waterways and dryland tunnels towards entry.

Only my fifth’s growing confidence in her star-charting abilities keeps my nerves restrained.

I don’t think that prior little distraction with Captain Agni could have cost us more than twenty minutes but in here, every minute counts.

I can feel it when we're close to the last gate. It's like there's a pulsing sensation in the waters beneath our hull. It reminds me a bit of my affinities' own savage beat.

A lip slides between my teeth in anticipation as we round another fossilized coral bend.

The brine-scented tunnel we sail through opens to reveal a very promising archway, just barely wide enough for the moonlighter to make it through.

I grit my teeth while keeping us perfectly steady, so as not to damage the hull or get us stuck.

Us losing out on The Vault because we’re idiotically jammed in too narrow of a passageway would be just my luck. A moment later and the tension in my shoulders eases fractionally in relief as we push out through the other side and into the widening chamber beyond.

That relief is so short-lived, it has to be some sort of godsdamned personal record.

The chamber in question is massive and promising, with an identical archway located at the opposite end.

It looks so similar to the other checkpoints that I’m certain it must be the third.

Our wonderful problem now being the rather large and very powerful whirlpool taking up most of the chamber, effectively cutting us off from the last gate.

The slew of swears I emit beneath my breath at not having my affinity at this very moment in time are damn near lethal. My fucking luck.

Swallowing down my rising temper, I call to Kleio, “Hiraeth— shield . I need to keep the speeder stable to attempt making it around the edge.”

The churning waters echoing around the room drown out much of my voice and I don’t hear Kleio respond.

But then a dim violet hue glitters into existence around the bow.

My pulse thunders in my ears as I gently press down on the throttle and begin creeping closer to the side of the monstrous whirlpool.

The moonlighter takes to the tug of the vortex far too easily, even with Kleio’s shield. I curse before reflexively reversing the thrust in an attempt to resituate our angle. That does me no good, we’re being pulled in even more now.

“LeRoi—what does backtracking look like?” I yell over my shoulder, fighting back panic.

It might be our only way out of this deathtrap but it’s still not an option I’m overly ecstatic to take.

Turning back and trying to find another route to the heart would cost us precious time.

Time that was made even more precious because of my own stupidly selfish moments of weakness. I hate myself all over again .

The only respite I have is knowing I’ve got Agni’s captaincy ring as well as that ruby one.

Without his captain's ring, he can’t get into The Vault.

Which means that even if he does get to the doors first, he’ll be forced to wait and fend off anyone else who makes it there before me.

Thinking about how much that fact is no doubt pissing him off at this very moment actually makes me laugh during this incredibly perilous time.

“Not an option,” Herse answers.

My amusement immediately abandons me. Something terrible wrestles in my gut as I turn around and find the tunnel we just came through has fully sealed itself off. Just like the grotto.

“ Shit ,” I breathe.

I can only stall the moonlighter in place for so long. Kleio is already gritting her teeth, trying not to show how much effort it’s taking to keep her shield in place. There’s no way back, no way out of this but to attempt taking on the whirlpool. A fight that I’m almost certain we will not win.

Panic laces through every inch of my being and I begin shoving it back while trying to come up with any sort of maneuver to get us out of this one. If we were out in open waters, then this would be no problem. But locked inside this room, it’s basically a death-sentence.

To make matters worse, the pulsing in the water beneath the moonlighter’s hull feels as if it’s somehow getting more and more powerful. I swear the vortex has started to churn even faster.

The sounds of my crew's panicking voices fight for my attention. Yet some very willful part of my brain is set on sifting through possible avenues out of this. None of which look good for us.

Then—my mind snags itself on a passing thought.

An idea.

A realization .

The first gate was like the first trial, ‘survival requires endurance', and the second gate was like the second trial, 'alliances and weaknesses.' Then the third gate is—surrender and evolve .

Fuck.

If I’m wrong about this, it’ll cost us more than just The Vault. It’ll likely be our lives. But the previous checkpoints all had the same pulsing sensation as that in the surrounding waters.

There’s one way I might be able to know for almost certain. “Hiraeth—cut the shield,” I demand while sliding the helmsman visor up.

“ What ?” Kleio turns back to look at me like I’ve gone mad.

“Just for a second— cut it! ”

She gives me a wary look before dropping the wall of energy around us. I keep a tight hold on the throttle to ensure we remain as stable as possible while steadily leaning my arm over the side of the vessel and into the waters below.

“ Captain ?” Greer’s questioning voice is full of concern.

My hand dips gingerly into the frigid churning waters.

I can feel that strange, otherworldly beat pressing in around my hand.

The same exact rhythm as my own heart. For a moment, my crew members stare at me as if I’ve just thrown my last remaining scraps of self-preservation into the waters themselves.

I hold my hand down there until— there it is .

“What is that ?” Kleio shrieks.

A rippling white light emerges from the waters around my hand. Exactly like the one along the walls of the Kórallian tunnels. It tumbles out and away as I stand back up to gauge its direction. Sure enough, the playful light chases the swirling vortex round and round before dropping down inside.

“Well shit,” I mutter. This settles it, I’m right. Which is infinitely worse than having been wrong.

Ignoring my nerves, I turn to face my crew, who are all staring at me with varying shades of shock, worry, and quite possibly awe coloring their features.

I grimace before announcing, “I believe we are going to have to go inside the whirlpool.”

Their expressions look as though I’ve just told them I’m secretly in love with Preceptor Bealu and will be running away with him on the morrow.

I flatten my lips and nod tightly to confirm that they all have in fact heard me correctly. Taking a rallying breath, I look back to the monstrous whirlpool churning away at concerning speeds before us.

“That light—” I shout in explanation over the rushing sound of saltwater. "It led Captain Agni and me to the last gate, like some sort of beacon in the dark. If each checkpoint resembles one of the trials, then this would be the third one. Meaning that in order to get past it we have to—”

“ Surrender and evolve, ” Kleio gasps out suddenly, stealing the explanation from my lips.

I turn to my second with a tight-lipped nod of agreement. Her grimace now matches mine, as a sobering understanding has dawned in her eyes. We both frown like veritable mirrors of one another in the direction of the monstrous whirlpool.

"Alright, Cap, let's go then!” Herse shouts, her husky voice is determined and unquestioning.

I turn and rescan my crew as they look at their very possible deaths ahead and back to me with faces full of an unwavering confidence that I don’t really feel I deserve.

A deep, dark dread fills me near to bursting when glimpsing their tythe-tokens.

I bite the inside of my cheek while thrusting that emotion away and slamming my helmsman visor back down.

“ Alright ,” I shout. “I’m going to do my best to ease us in there and then I’m going to have to cut the throttle and let it take us. Hiraeth—I need you to shield the second that I’ve cut it—roger?”

“Roger,” Kleio confirms over the rising noise level. I can tell she’s every bit as aware of the risk we’re taking as I am. Worry is a vise squeezing my heart until it feels like it just might burst .

“Okay—everyone else—keep low and hold on with everything you’ve got,” I demand of them.

I wait to hear their confirmations that they’re securely in place before easing off the reverse thrust and angling us slowly into the very edge of the maelstrom. Just as before, the current begins pulling the moonlighter towards it with minimal effort.

I realize now that to have attempted to continue struggling against it around the edge would indeed have secured our death. Once we hit the central eddy, I cut the throttle.

“Throttle back!” I shout at Kleio.

Her shield instantly wraps around the vessel again and it’s obvious just how much strain it’s causing her to keep this up. She won't be able to use much more of it by the time we hit the heart. My insides roll themselves over at that realization but I fight through.

The whirlpool drags us round and round its perilous edges and we don’t put up a fight. My hands cling to the side railing of the helm, and my teeth clench tight against my nerves. The rest of my crew keeps low to the deck, all hands grasping the rail for purchase.