Page 20

Chapter twenty

“ W here the water pours forth from the heart is where ye’ll find it!”

The riddle to find Undine’s Blade echoed through Thessa’s mind. Somehow Tobias had connected to his Sylph ancestors when taking on his terrible form, and yet… Undine was not his ancestor.

What foul trick was this?

Her gaze shifted to Raggon lying against the white sands of the beach. His black hair ran like strings across his face, blood seeped from his arm, staining the ragged shirt clinging to him. But worst of all was the despair darkening his expression. He’d lost his ship, his men, the good Duke who’d raised him, and… well, who knew what had become of his brother’s soul?

The same fear and sorrow raged through her. Thessa was exhausted after fighting through the waves, only to be washed up on the lonely shore of Undine’s Isle under the blistering morning sun. Somehow, she’d retained Maddox’s blood-red banyan. The silk from the morning coat dripped over her bare legs, legs that were a dreadful reminder of her failure.

Was her father gone? How else could the deeps be unleashed on them like this? Hot liquid slid down her cheeks—she knew what they were this time.

Raggon’s arms immediately wound around her. “Don’t cry. Please!” His breath was warm against her ear as he held her close to his rough cheek. “Nothing bad’s going to happen to you on this island. I’ll protect you with my life!”

How could he think of her when he was still reeling from the loss of his brother? And yet, she couldn’t stop from confiding the ache that weighed against her heart. “My father must be dead,” she whispered. “How else could the creatures of the deep turn on us like that?”

Shaking his head, he ran his hand down her arm. “I think he’s still alive.” His lips brushed gently across her cheek in a bracing kiss. “It’s just a gut feeling, but… something, someone was helping us out there. Circe wouldn’t want us grounded on those rocks. She couldn’t get close to us… and it was almost like we were taken out of harm’s way.”

A thin slice of hope pricked at her, though it was immediately doused. “What about your brother…?”

She felt a shudder run through his chest, and she knew he was trying to shield her from his grief. “I—I couldn’t save him, Thessa.”

He was wrong! “There’s still a chance!” The words were torn from her. “Did you see what happened when he saw his invention? The dragon’s eyes changed to be his…. It was like Tobias was human again!” They just had to find Undine’s Blade and cut him free. “Tobias’s heart is in that dragon somewhere—we can reach him.”

“And what do we do?” his voice was edged with despair that tugged at her sympathies, “—call him over like a dog? And then try to cut that collar off without slicing off his neck with it?”

“Yes, yes… all of that!” She wasn’t ready to surrender yet, though using her siren voice to order him closer would’ve been so tantalizingly simple. “He told us where to find the dagger. Surely, that wasn’t a fluke! He wants us to rescue him.”

Raggon leaned back into the foam that the waves had left behind, his bare heels gritty with sand. She watched his brow furrow. “Where the water pours from the heart?” he repeated the riddle that the bird had given them. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She played with the stolen coin from his home country. The chain dangled across her neck as she thought it over. “We look for water.”

His bleak gaze scanned the lagoon, the surrounding streams, the babbling brooks running through the lush green island. Undine Isles was a canopy of jungle fed by rivulets of fresh water.

Yeah, hint taken—there was water everywhere, but not… “Hearts,” she said. “We’re looking for a heart too.”

He took a deep breath, his arm slid from her where he steadied himself with a fist in the sand. “It could mean the heart of the island.” He pushed to his bare feet. The sand dripped from his sodden buccaneer gear. He still had his gun and sword belts, minus the weapons. The sight of his broad shoulders blocking the sun was imposing. This was the caliber of man who would help her to that treasure, despite Circe and her hordes of beastly warriors hunting them down. Only now, he watched her with such an expression of raw despair and longing that her heart felt torn from her chest.

Scylla’s blessing for their union still hung as a warning between them.

Taking a deep breath, he shielded his eyes to face the horizon. Besides the lone flag whipping bravely in the wind atop the wreck of their shattered ship, broken-backed against the swells, there was nothing else in sight. Circe must’ve flanked the island to cut them off. “She won’t win,” he said. “There’s nothing she can do to stop us from getting Undine’s Blade.”

Thessa prayed they weren’t playing into the Land Witch’s hands, but what choice did they have? Only to keep their heads low and stay out of sight.

Raggon reached down and helped Thessa to her feet with a gentle strength that made her catch her breath. Those arms had been around her last night, those lips kissing her. The connection between them was intoxicating, growing harder to resist, and yet it had also highlighted the danger that their love could bring on their people. An alliance like theirs seemed to be the spark that ignited every danger around them. Could it be that even the sea was warning them back?

He led the way through the heavy white sands. After floating weightlessly through the water, her every step dragged. “See that mountain?” He pointed through a break in the trees ahead. “We’re heading straight for it. If there’s a heart to this island, we’ll find it there.”

Unlike the planks of his ship, the beach felt strange and warm against her feet, though walking became easier as they neared the canopy of jungle looming ahead. Foreign sounds emanated from within its dark maze. She froze. The verdant world around them teemed with life—screeches called from the branches overhead, followed by rustling in the brush. “What creatures are in there?”

He turned and squeezed her hand. “Nothing much, just a dragon…”

Yeah, that’s what she was afraid of… and nothing would stop her from rescuing her father, either. Setting her jaw, she ventured into the dense jungle after Raggon. The jagged fronds of towering palms overhead provided welcome relief from the punishing sun. He moved ahead, pushing aside hanging vines with one arm while keeping the other protectively extended back toward her.

The tattered remains of the once-fine cambric shirt clung to the broad planes of his back, now darkened with sweat. She found herself mesmerized by the rhythmic flex of muscle beneath fabric as he forged their path forward.

“Watch your step,” he cautioned, his voice low and husky as he pointed to a copper-banded creature with diamond-patterned scales slithering across their path.

Some primal instinct jolted within her, and she ran into his chest in her haste to escape whatever that was—some sort of eel out of the water? She didn’t like the menacing hisses emanating from it.

“Just a coral racer,” he whispered against her hair after a moment, “… not exactly life-threatening.” And still his arm remained secure around her waist, much longer than necessary. “You’re lucky you didn’t come across the serpents carved into Maddox’s bed posts—the venom in those will take you down in one bite.”

She shook her head in disbelief, trying to release her fear. “Is that the worst… out here?” She was almost afraid to ask.

“The place is called Serpent Coils—so…” his voice faded when he glanced down at her, and he turned reassuring, “I mean, yeah, probably.”

That wasn’t exactly comforting.

The heat of him seeped through the banyan and damp linen shirt, and still, she found herself reluctant to move away when he finally released her. Well, she wasn’t afraid of coral racers or other creepy crawly serpents anyway! She kept repeating that to herself.

As the sun climbed higher, filtering through the dense foliage in dappled patterns across the forest floor, the humid air grew heavy around them. Raggon had fashioned a crude knife from a jagged shell they’d found, using it to cut away the worst of the thorny vines that blocked their path. His movements were efficient, practiced—the grace of a warrior. Though she noticed his sleeve was almost soaked through with blood now.

“What happened?” she touched his arm.

“Tobias,” he muttered. “There isn’t much we can do about it now. I’ll check to see if it’s worse later.”

Later was a long time coming.

Hours passed as they wound deeper into the island’s interior. The soft sand had gradually given way to rich soil carpeted with fallen leaves that cushioned their steps as they fought through the jungle.

Circe was likely circling them with her beasts, and they were no closer to Undine’s Blade than when they started. Yet, this treasure was worth any price, even if the map to find the dagger would be written in their own blood. They’d sacrifice anything to save the ones they loved.