Page 57 of Of Rime and Ruin (Sirens of Adria #2)

Chapter fifty-four

Nahla

Gone.

The moment our mental connection severs, I feel it like a dagger through my heart.

The Frost King hangs limply, suspended in the glow of the healer’s magic, and I can’t meet his eye.

The Beast is gone, snuffed out like a fucking candle, and the king agreed to this outcome.

“What have you done?” I choke. I’m asking the king, the healer, the gods above—anyone who will answer. But my ears are ringing, and I can’t hear the reply.

The Beast was good . He wasn’t some creature haunting his thoughts, as Aethan seemed to believe. His emotions, his fears, his memories—all lived within the Beast. And the more I connected with that side of him, the more kind and joyful the King became.

He was improving. Without the Beast, Aethan would never have brought me books or that cloak, or asked me to dance, or played in the snow. I’m sure of it. Without him, I’d still be locked in that fucking cage.

Doesn’t he see it? He needed the Beast.

I needed him.

This kingdom needed him.

And now he’s gone.

Because of Lucas, the so-called healer. How is it helpful to sever Aethan from a crucial part of his identity? A healer should know better than to inflict harm wittingly.

Lucas’s Voice cuts off and the glow of his spell disappears. Aethan slouches as the restraints leave his body, his shoulders rolling and his head sagging. His knees wobble.

A chill traces my spine. What kind of healer is he, anyway? One who inflicts pain? One who can shatter the Beast entirely? He seized me from the beach and dragged me here, tied me up and gagged me with his magic, all to torture Aethan and lure the Beast into the open.

I flick my gaze to the nearest exit. This is so fucked.

And Aethan was in on it. He agreed to the treatment, as Lucas said. Did he know Lucas would kill the Beast? That he would gag and restrain me? Hurt me?

Steeling myself, I glance at Aethan’s face. Weariness gathers in dark pockets beneath his eyes, and the usual sparkle of humor is absent. He searches my face as I study his, and his eyes tighten. Waiting. Like a petty thief expecting his punishment.

My chest squeezes until I can’t breathe. Why didn’t he fight harder? Why didn’t he protect me? The Beast? Why did he stand there and take it?

“Nahla,” he whispers. He takes a shaky step toward me.

I back away. My hands meet the flat of the door, and I slide them along the damp wood until I find the knob.

From the darkness of the room, Lucas chuckles. His words come flat and seething. “Where are you going, Princess? Come, don’t you want to enjoy your king, risk free? He did this for you, after all. No more accidental dismemberments in the library. Isn’t that wonderful?”

I turn the knob as my breath quickens.

Something is wrong with Lucas. Something either the king knows already or is too blind with loyalty to see. He cannot be trusted. Even now, the healer steps forward. His lips move, revealing the subtle glow in his mouth. His eyes flash as he looks at me, dragging his gaze over my body head to toe.

Panic rises, forming a heartbeat in my throat.

I have to get out of here.

My feet sting with each slap on the cold stone as I stumble into the hallway. Darkness shrouds the bottom reaches of the castle. The air hangs heavily, smelling of must and wet earth, making it harder to breathe. I limp forward on weakened legs.

Fuck, what did Lucas do to me? My body moves sluggishly, like I’m swimming in a dream. No way can I climb the stairs before Lucas snares me with his magic again. Or worse.

Somewhere behind these stairs is a beast-sized hole in the floor. As I stumble around the corner, praying to the gods I’m right, my heart lifts. It’s still here. The floorboards crack open around a glistening pool of water, churning with current. That’ll work.

Unfastening what’s left of my dress, I slip out of the ruined silk and dip my toes in the water.

My bones crackle and rearrange, my legs merge, and my golden fin sprouts.

I peer over the rim. The stone foundation hollows out, giving way to a long tube of ice that plummets into the depths below. A tunnel, as I suspected.

From the other room, Aethan groans. The floorboards squeak under his weight as he shifts and stumbles, likely trying to come after me. As I slip further into the hole, water laps at my golden scales, beckoning me into its depths.

“Nahla!” he cries out. “Wait!”

I strain my ears for a second set of footsteps, the light patter of a thin ghost of a male.

Tears roll down my cheeks, and I swipe them away. There was a better way to tame his inner Beast. I could have used my magic. Helped him train. Helped him learn to control himself. It could have been painless. Therapeutic. Fucking romantic .

Betrayal punches my gut. Aethan was with me when the murders occurred. He’s fucking innocent, but he took the blame and let Lucas have his way. How deep are the healer’s hooks?

“Sunfish, please! I’m sorry!” Aethan’s voice bellows, rattling through the hall.

I take the icy plunge.

The current sucks me down, down, down. My scales skim the ice as I gain momentum, slipping into darkness faster than I expected.

I pump my tail to slow my descent, but it’s useless.

The water whooshes and churns. Propelled through the tunnel, I careen along its path, slamming into the ice at every turn.

My shoulders jostle and bruise. I bite my tongue to tamper my screams.

I trusted Lucas, and I trusted the king.

Who else was part of their plot? Deirdre?

Perrin? Sure, let’s capture a beast-tamer who can expose the weakness of a gentle creature we all needlessly hate, then use her as bait to get rid of him.

I can picture them now, chuckling over hot chocolates as they plan the Beast’s demise. And I swam right into the snare.

How could I be so na?ve? Fuck, it’s all so obvious in hindsight. Is everything I thought I knew about this kingdom a lie?

I should never have come here. It’s my fault the Beast is gone and Aethan is a shell of himself.

I fucked everything up, like I always do.

If I had listened to Winona and married that prince.

.. Gods , she was right about me. My powers are useless, and my meddling only brings trouble.

Someone should nail my fins to the floor, or better yet lock me in… Ice .

I shake my head to clear the thought before Aethan’s face can appear.

With a final twist, the tunnel ends abruptly, and I spiral head over tail in a cloud of bubbles. A few kicks of my tail and I stabilize. The bubbles settle, clearing the view of my surroundings.

I’m in a bedroom, of sorts. Walls of ice form a small dome.

Shelves are carved in the far wall, littered with the knickknacks of a hatchling.

Small stone toys lay scattered across the floor.

A hammock hangs in the corner, the knotted ropes aged and frayed.

Glacierweed grows from cracks in the floor.

On the desk perches a painted image of the former Frost Prince—short, white hair sprouts from a younger version of Aethan’s face, his piercing blue eyes playful.

He has a tail, just like mine. Dark blue with a feathered fin.

No claws. No horns. He looks happy. The surface is scratched, marring the image where his smile should be.

Not just any bedroom. His. When Aethan was still a guppy.

Scales rise on my neck. I must be in the old royal city.

Above me, I spot the tunnel I came from. Deep claw marks gouge the ceiling, scarring the ice with evidence of the clawbeast. Is this how he’s been getting in and out of the castle, all this time?

I brush my thumb over little Aethan’s face. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper as my throat tightens. “You deserve better.”

Memory pierces the moment: Ramona’s retreating form, diving into the deep without me. My sister’s scowling face, as I imagine she’d looked when the news reached her that day. Her voice, forming the words that echoed through my head as I left my world behind: Deserter. Traitor. Disappointment.

My eyes prickle with salt. I’m a deserter. Not an adventurer, as Keen said. Not a queen, as my sister wanted. Not even a way-maker, as I dreamed I’d be. When the tides get rough, I don’t stay for the fight. I fucking leave, like the coward I am.

Princess Nahlani of the Brine, Deserter Extraordinaire.

This is what I do.

As I tilt the image, Aethan’s eyes shift, and his playful gaze turns pleading. Like he needs me.

With a gasp, I drop the image, and it sinks to the floor face-down.

Then I kick my tail and slip through the doorway, following the path to the center of the abandoned city.

As I enter the central chamber, recognition dawns.

This is where Aethan took me to make love that night.

If I follow the tunnel to my right, I’d find the library.

My chest tightens, and I turn the other way, following the wide channel out of the city.

I squeeze my eyes closed as I pass the pikewhale statues that guard the entrance, relying on scent and current to lead me into the open water of the Rime.

Aethan said I’m free to leave, and I should have gone sooner. I let myself become too attached.

With a burst of magic, I send out a signal. My Voice ripples away from me, spreading through the water as it carries a simple message for Ramona: Come find me . A few fish stir as the spell passes over them. They stiffen in attention, turning toward the open sea.

At the murky edge of my vision, the glaciers converge. A dark chasm cuts through the rock, lined with iron spikes, and beyond it, open ocean. It’s the one place Aethan never wanted me to go. The final rule, and I’m about to break it.

I’m leaving him behind.

Regret sinks in my stomach like a rock as I fight my instincts to flee.

What am I doing? I can’t leave him. Aethan, the grumpy, royal pain in my ass who stole my entire heart—what if he needs me?

I was so afraid of what Lucas might do, I didn’t stop to consider his safety.

I should turn back and punch that motherfucker Lucas in the face.

From the distant waters, a faint chirping melody floats to me.

I squint, and my heart lifts as I spot the pod of glosswhales racing toward me.

Their slick gray bodies cut through the water, and their chirps grow louder as they approach.

Their minds glow with the thrill of a chase, inviting me to play.

Come find me , they chirp, reprising my message for Ramona, and my stomach sours. No. I can’t desert him. I won’t.

I latch onto a glosswhale’s dorsal fin. Swim , I command, imprinting an image of us playing in the shallows. Eagerness sparks in its mind, and the glosswhale kicks its tail, dragging me along as the pod speeds for the shore. My muscles relax, grateful for the respite.

Aethan, I’m sorry. I’m coming.

A boom shakes the sea. The water trembles. The glosswhales screech as panic floods their minds. Scales rise along my spine, tracing an icy path over my scalp. The glosswhale I’m holding twists out of my grip and tears away with a burst of speed.

Something’s not right.

A mass of fish soon follows, rushing past me, hundreds of slippery bodies whipping their tails as fast as they can go.

What the fuck?

I stop short, treading water as I peer into the endless stream of fish ahead of me. My heart drops.

A wall of ice presses through the water. Grating. Rumbling. Sliding toward me from sea floor to surface. Fish bolt away from its reach, the unlucky ones caught and suspended in the ice. Frozen solid in an instant.

If I don’t reach open water in time, I’ll be consumed by it, too.

I slap my tail, adrenaline burning through my muscles. With furious pumps, I dive for the exit, still several paces out of reach. Slick bodies press around me. Glosswhales and pikewhales fight through the crowd, slapping smaller fish out of their way as we all funnel through the same tight spot.

I glance over my shoulder. The wall of ice rumbles, pressing closer. Too close.

Shit. I’m running out of time.

I angle my body against the flow of fish, fighting toward the surface. If I can breach the waves, I can get on top of the ice before it crushes me against the glacier. The skylights dapple through the waterline. I stretch my fingers, kicking harder.

A desperate, shrieking cry echoes around me. For a moment, the fish cease their movement. Stunned.

My body alerts as a shadow rises from below.

I can feel its presence, all around me—like a god among the fish—before I spot its form in the dark waters of the night.

The blue-scaled body, a long thrashing tail between powerful hind legs.

Long, white hair parting around gnarled horns.

A chiseled jaw. Sharp and glinting white teeth.

Then the fish renew their vigor around me, growing more frantic, their bodies wriggling with impossible speeds, as I stay still.

The clawbeast.

Relief courses through me. Aethan is here. Aethan has come after me. The Beast survived, somehow. I’ve been a fool to think he’d give up. I left him behind, but still he came to my rescue.

With a stir of my magic, reaching for his mind. Aethan! I call out, pouring all my love into his name as part of my mind spirals in his direction.

But I smack into a mental barrier, cold and calculating. Foreign. Female.

Not him.

In the water, the clawbeast cocks her head. Her eyes snap to my face, locking onto me with a predatory gaze.