Page 32 of Fate of Echoes and Embers (Heirs of Elydor #3)

MAREK

“Shall I bring my belongings?”

When dawn broke, the storm having already passed, I reluctantly woke Issa to let her know we would sail out.

It was the best night of sleep I had ever had.

A dreamless and peaceful slumber, punctuated only once when Issa moved away.

I pulled her back and promptly fell back to sleep, waking before dawn in search of a window to the outside world.

I shook my head. “I’ve arranged to keep this room, and we should return before tomorrow.”

My gaze fell to the stretch of Issa’s tunic across her breasts.

Despite our intimacies, I’d not seen her fully naked.

Not felt their fullness beneath my fingers, even though I’d ached to do so when I woke this morn.

I’d not taken her nipples into my mouth or driven into the sweetness I’d tasted last eve.

I knew her more intimately now, but not nearly enough.

I wanted all of her.

“Marek?”

Shaking off the thought, I turned, knowing if I touched her now, we would not sail out this morn. “Come,” I said, “let’s get this done.”

Thankfully, we made our way back to Tidechaser without incident. Ilyas was nowhere to be found, and since he was most often at the docks, I could only assume he’d not yet returned to port. Watching as Issa untied us, I marveled at how far she’d come since that first day.

“Why are you smiling?” she asked, joining me.

“Do you remember when I gave you a tour of the ship?”

She laughed. “I could hardly walk without feeling as if I would stumble at any moment.”

“And now, look at you.”

We finished preparations, sailing out without the use of magic. That is, until we were away from port, when I reached for the currents beneath us, guiding the ship forward with Issa at the wheel.

Lying out the map on a barrel beside me, I traced out the route.

“The waters turn treacherous here, so we’ll avoid the southern pass and keep to the eastern current.

I’m not expecting to see any other ships today, not in this area.

Most avoid it altogether, and so if you do sense magic, we can assume it’s the Crystal. ”

“I’ve wondered since the start what it might feel like, to be in the presence of magic so strong?”

“How does it differ? When you sense something like me, for instance, as opposed to an ancient artifact.”

“You are entirely different,” she said, a twinkle in her eyes. “When you’re near, I feel as if I can hear my heartbeat in my ears. I feel warm, suddenly?—”

I laughed, interrupting her. “Cheeky human. You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Oh,” she said, trying not to laugh. “You were speaking of your magic?”

I couldn’t resist. Holding the map down with one hand, I kissed her on the cheek. When Issa playfully swatted me away, saying she was attempting to concentrate, a vision of Mev doing the same to Kael on the lower deck came to me.

At the time, I’d thought their easy banter was not something I would have for myself, knowing it came with strings I had never been interested in tying.

“Issa—” I started.

“Um, Marek. Didn’t you say an unnatural stillness in the water could be a sign of an impending storm?”

She was right.

I headed to the railing, watching the horizon. Our steady, rhythmic rocking had abated.

“The glassy calmness of the water and lack of temperature shifts lead me to think it may be an anomaly.” I returned to Issa. “Our proximity to the Depths may be the cause. Many have reported such things, though I’d not have thought we were close enough to see any effects. Anything yet?”

Issa closed her eyes, her hands steady on the wheel. She took a few deep breaths, and then opened them once again. “Nothing.”

We sailed in companionable silence for some time, changing places, then talking and observing.

If we were not headed toward arguably the most dangerous place in all of Elydor, it would have felt natural.

And more than a little enjoyable, sailing with someone curious about every movement, willing to learn how to navigate the seas.

Someone as intelligent and passionate as Issa.

Her response to me… It took every bit of restraint that I’d learned in my long lifetime to lie with her all night and not touch every curve.

I hadn’t dreamed of the Depths, navigating what would be waters so treacherous it would take skill beyond, possibly, even my capabilities.

I dreamed of her.

Making love to Isolde. Sailing with Isolde. Life… with Isolde.

When I agreed to this mission, I could never have imagined there would be more at stake than myself.

If I died in service to Nerys, to Elydor…

it would be an honorable ending to a life well lived.

But suddenly, there was a possibility of more.

I was no longer risking just myself but a glimmer of hope that Issa had suddenly given me.

“Issa,” I said, looking to the sky. “Do you feel that?”

Confused, she shook her head. “Feel what?”

“The temperature dropped.”

“It did?”

“You were right. A storm is brewing.”

No sooner had the words left my mouth than a gust of wind hit the sails forcefully, yanking the rigging hard. The gentle ripple of the water suddenly became churning waves.

“Issa,” I yelled, the wind beginning to howl as ominous clouds churned above. “Hold her steady. Keep the bow into the waves. Don’t fight the current, just ride it until I can break it.”

I could admire Issa’s calm later as she agreed. For now, I whipped off my boots for a better grip and ran to the stern. Lifting my hands, I began to manipulate the water, reaching into it with magic, feeling the currents like threads in my palms.

“It’s pulling us toward the Depths,” I yelled. “Issa, turn her around. Now!”

I struggled to counter the pull, redirecting the force below the water as the sky opened on us.

“Issa,” I yelled to her again. “The current isn’t right. We’re being dragged. Turn. Her. Around.”

She wasn’t listening.

Abandoning my post, I ran back to her. Terrified, she white-knuckled the wheel, staring straight ahead. For a moment, I thought she’d panicked. Frozen. But Issa looked me straight in the eyes and said, “I feel it, Marek. It’s there. I feel it.”

“Good. I will come back. But right now, you need to turn the ship around. There is an unnatural pull that I need to counter.” I reached for the wheel to do it myself but she held steady.

“Let me help you.”

I could hardly hear her over the wind. She would not relinquish the wheel.

“Issa,” I said, thinking she did not understand.

“The storm is pulling us toward the Maelstrom Depths. None in Elydor’s history has ever made it out of those Depths alive.

We need to turn around, now. I need you to turn the wheel so I can counter the unnatural pull that is dragging us to our deaths. ”

I knew before I’d even finished, she wouldn’t do it. “It’s there, Marek. I’ve never felt magic this strong before. It’s the Wind Crystal.” Her chin raised defiantly. “None made it out alive, but you will. We will. You told me the sea bends to your will. So bend it.”

She could not do this. “Issa?—”

“Marek,” she said, raising her voice to me for the first time since we’d met.

“I may not be immortal, or have lived as long as you, but I am not a child. This is my decision, and I’ve made it.

Stabilize us as best you can, and I will steer us toward the Crystal.

I can sense it easily and know its location. ”

My hands shook with indecision. Every bit of me wanted to grab that wheel and turn us around. Bring Issa to safety. I could not turn us and fight the current at the same time, and every moment that passed, we were being dragged closer and closer to the Depths.

I saw my mother, floating, dead, in my dreams. I couldn’t do it. I would not see Issa face the same fate.

Issa’s hands gripped my face. She had let go of the wheel.

“What are you?—”

“Marek. I love you. And if you love me too, you will listen to me. We are going into the Depths to retrieve the Wind Crystal. Together.”

I love you. Together.

It had been my mother’s decision to dive that day. I always thought, if I’d been there, I could have talked her out of it. But maybe not.

“I love you, Issa,” I said, kissing her and making my decision. As if I had any other choice.

Running back to the bow, I reached back into the sea and attempted to steady the ship.

But we were barreling forward in a way that was not natural to the sea I knew so well.

It was why none before us had ever returned.

The maps were wrong. I’d calculated our approach, planned to keep us at the edge. But the Depths had drawn us in.

“There was never a chance to turn back,” I murmured, the truth sinking in like a stone. We’d crossed the threshold long ago. This wasn’t a storm, not in the natural sense.

We weren’t on the edges of the Depths. We were in them.

Now the only way out… was through.