Page 120 of Liar Witch

“Hey, hey, Nilsa. Look at me, little warrior. Come on.” Klaus’s voice has taken on that lulling quality but it’s not working and we both know it. “Casimir, take her back up.”

“No.” I won’t fail at this anymore. I push the sick, churning feeling in my gut down and steel myself. “I’m pushing my limits. Take me lower.”

Klaus frowns at me, but nods at Cas’s beast. The water slowly covers my lap.

My hands fist on top of Cas’s scales. Just breathe.

Breathe.

Shit, why is this so hard?

“Nilsa.” There’s a warning in Klaus’s voice. A reminder not to push myself.

I lock my jaw.

I am the Goddess’s chosen Shadow. I will not be beaten by an overgrown puddle.

There is nothing in this patch of sea. Cas and Klaus are here. All that’s standing between me and conquering this fear is myself.

“Lower.”

A wave rolls into my abdomen, splashing against my breasts. My heart stutters but I keep breathing, staring at the leviathan. There’s a challenge in the beast’s expression. A dare in that single, massive, turquoise eye. He’s testing me and I don’t want to fail.

“Nilsa.” Klaus’s tone is more adamant now. “Casimir. That’s enough.”

“No,” I hiss. “This is supposed to be swimming.”

“Cas, bring her back up.” Nos sounds faintly alarmed now, his voice chilling my skin. “She can’t push herself like this.”

The leviathan doesn’t listen. The colour of his eyes holds nothing of Cas, and that, more than the ocean, puts my teeth on edge. His coils are still lowering me, dipping me gently lower and lower into the ocean’s embrace.

My breathing gets shallower, until it feels like the ocean itself is pushing down on me. Compressing my lungs.

I’ll give myself a pause, I decide, let myself get used to it. But I am not giving up.

“Cas, please stop,” I whisper.

“What is he doing?” Rysen growls.

“She triggered the beast,” Nos yells down. “Klaus, you have to get her out of the water. He wants her to swim with him.”

As if Cas’s leviathan can understand him, a coil rises out of the deep, ripping Klaus away from me with a powerful stroke.

My life raft is sinking and the balm of Klaus’s humming is gone completely. There’s so much of Cas’s beast that he can easily use his bulk to keep Klaus away from us. The scales beneath me drop so low that I’m forced to climb to my feet on the slippery surface to keep my head above water.

The instant the brine splashes over my face, I lose my nerve.

Noster

How did this happen?

I can hear Klaus and Rysen yelling at Cas. My shifter hearing can even pick up Nilsa’s shallow, frightened breaths as she fights to stay calm.

I knew that Cas promised his beast that he could swim with Nilsa, but he also said he was coping fine just spending time in the sea with her. He probably never expected his beast would take control like this. None of us did.

“What the fuck is going on up here?” Val’s voice invades the chaos as the Captain stomps onto the deck.

“Cas’s beast has gone crazy. He’s trying to drown her,” Rysen growls, the thud of his shoes hitting the deck punctuating his last words. “I’m going in after her.”