CHAPTER FOUR
LAIROS
T he sun broke over the horizon, painting the sky in streaks of crimson and gold.
I watched it rise with the same restless tension that had kept me awake all night.
The waves lapped at my feet, cool against my skin, but they brought no peace.
I fingered the crown of shark teeth and shells hanging from my belt.
Not proper for a king to go without his crown, but I wasn’t about to risk losing it in combat.
Not that it mattered much now.
If Nedaris had truly sided with the Knights, my crown was the least of what I stood to lose.
Behind me, I heard Emme stir in the hut.
Her heartbeat had changed rhythm—faster now, no longer deep with sleep.
The sound called to me, pulling at something deep in my chest.
I’d known it the moment she stepped into my tent at the summit, felt it in the thrum of her heartbeat that matched the rhythm of my own, the way her voice vibrated at a frequency that hummed in my bones.
My mate.
My queen.
With the worst fucking time possible.
I ran a hand through my hair, still damp from my pre-dawn swim.
The water had done nothing to clear my head or cool the heat that flared every time I thought of her pressed against that palm tree, her lips hungry on mine.
She was infuriating.
Fascinating.
Utterly fuckable.
A rustle of fabric announced her approach.
I didn’t turn, letting her think she’d caught me unaware.
Let her have that small victory.
“If you ever,” she said, her voice hard with loathing as she stepped beside me, “under any circumstance, use your power to force me into anything again, I will find a way to hurt you that makes death seem like a kindness.”
I glanced down at her.
She stood a few feet away, now-dry uniform hugging curves that had haunted my dreams all night.
Her gray eyes burned with fury, her jaw set in determination.
The morning light caught in her blonde hair, making it shine like polished gold.
I wanted to run my fingers through it, to taste the curve of her neck, to?—
I inclined my head, accepting both the threat and the boundary.
It hadn’t been very…
kingly of me to use that power on her.
Not like that.
But her questions—her demands—had scraped against wounds I wasn’t ready to prod.
“Good.” She folded her arms across her chest.
“Now, where are we going?”
I offered my arm, a peace gesture she pointedly ignored.
“Stillwater Hold. It’s a frontier outpost at the edge of the Delovia Ridge where it drops into the abyss. If anyone knows what’s happening in my kingdom, it’s Commander Vigas.”
Emme’s jaw ticked, but she didn’t say anything as she stomped and kicked into the water.
I followed, feeling the change ripple through my body as soon as I was submerged.
Scales erupted along my spine and legs, fusing into the fringed tail that would propel us through the water.
Emme watched the transformation with undisguised fascination, though she tried to hide it behind a scowl.
I swam to her, pulling her close to create the air bubble around her head.
Her eyes met mine, still angry, still wary.
I hummed my song, letting the vibrations shape the water around her face.
“Ready?”
She nodded, and we began our journey.
The waters around my island were clear and warm, teeming with life.
Schools of brightly colored fish darted around us, curious about the strange pair invading their territory.
A ray glided beneath us, its wings undulating in graceful waves.
In any other circumstance, I would have shown Emme the hidden wonders of my kingdom—the coral gardens that bloomed in impossible colors, the ancient ruins where my ancestors had first learned to shape water with song.
Instead, we swam with purpose, putting distance between us and the island that was no longer safe.
Emme remained furious every time I summoned fresh air for her.
Each stop brought us face to face, my hands cupping her cheeks, my mouth a breath away from hers as I hummed the song that kept her alive.
I could feel her pulse jump, see the dilation of her pupils that betrayed her body’s response to my proximity.
But she kept her eyes cold, her expression closed.
But there was no time for extended explanations or negotiations.
We needed to reach Stillwater Hold before nightfall.
Bringing Emme carried its own risks.
Vigas was as gruff and unforgiving as the frontier he patrolled, with little patience for outsiders.
And if word of the coup had reached him, I couldn’t be certain of his allegiance.
Nedaris.
My thoughts circled back to my brother as we swam through a narrow channel between two towering rock formations.
His disapproval of the summit had been expected—he’d made no secret of his disdain for my diplomatic efforts with the other rulers of Sanos.
But this level of betrayal?
Surely not.
Nedaris was rigid and disapproving, yes.
He’d fallen in with the Knights during his own time spent on the frontier and embraced their belief in Khadian superiority.
But to orchestrate an attack that could have killed not just me, but every ruler on that beach?
To risk war with multiple kingdoms?
We’d been swimming for nearly an hour when I felt the first disturbance in the currents, a shift in the water’s song.
Something moved in the distance.
A shadow, too large and too coordinated to be natural.
I pulled Emme closer, changing course to avoid whatever lurked ahead.
But the shadow changed direction, too.
Following us.
Shit.
I scanned our surroundings.
More shadows appeared to our left.
Above us, the dark shapes of ships cut across the sunlight filtering through the surface.
We were being herded.
I pulled Emme closer, refreshing her air one last time.
Her eyes widened as she sensed my tension, her hands gripping my arms.
“What’s happening?” she mouthed.
There was no time to explain.
No time for anything but a desperate gamble.
I crushed my mouth to hers, flooding her lungs with air.
Then I shoved her toward the surface, hard enough to send her rocketing upward.
Away from the raiders.
Toward the ships where she at least had a chance.
Emme’s betrayed expression as she spiraled away from me felt like a knife to the gut.
But there was no time for regret.
I dove deep, pushing my body to its limits.
Down where pressure squeezed my lungs.
Down until my bones creaked in protest.
Down where the darkness swallowed all light and ancient things slumbered.
I centered myself in the crushing darkness, and began to hum.
Come , I sang.
This wasn’t the gentle song I used to shape air bubbles or calm troubled waters.
This was older, wilder, a vibration that traveled through the ocean floor itself.
Come and show these fools who truly rules these seas.
The effort drained me, left me vulnerable to the raiders closing in from all sides.
I didn’t fight as rough hands seized me, dragging me upward.
My work was done.
Now I just had to stay alive long enough for it to matter.
They hauled me onto the deck of a ship, tossing me down like a landed fish.
My tail melted away as I gasped in the air, scales receding until I was fully human again.
Boots surrounded me, but I had eyes for only one person.
Emme.
She stood off to the side, flanked by guards.
Relief at seeing her alive curdled to rage at the sight of the bruise forming on her jaw.
“Who hit her?” I demanded, my voice a deadly rasp.
No one answered.
Instead, the circle of Knights parted to reveal a familiar figure.
Nedaris stepped forward, resplendent in formal Khadian garments, his expression a mask of snide disapproval.
“Brother,” he said, his voice carrying across the deck.
“How disappointing to find you still breathing.”
I pushed myself to my knees, fighting the weakness that threatened to drag me back down.
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
Nedaris’s mouth twisted.
“Always so flippant. Even now, when you’ve lost everything.”
“Have I?” I glanced around the ship, counting Knights, noting positions, cataloging weapons.
And beyond them, scanning the horizon for the first ripples of approach.
“Seems premature to declare victory when I’m, as you said, still breathing.”
“A temporary condition.” Nedaris turned to the Knight captain at his side.
“Execute all the guards in the drycave who aided his escape. And their families. We must root out all traces of disloyalty.”
Horror washed through me.
“Nedaris, no. You can’t?—”
“I can’t what, brother?” He stepped closer, looming over me.
“Can’t rid our kingdom of traitors? You’ve betrayed our people by bringing these humans here. You’ve made us weak.” He spat the word like poison.
“I will return us to our true glory.”
“Is that what the Knights told you?” I pushed myself to my knees, ignoring the spears pointed at my throat.
“Or did you come up with that bullshit on your own?”
“No, brother. They’ve opened my eyes.” Nedaris paced the deck, his movements tight with barely contained excitement.
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for this moment? How many years I’ve spent planning, gathering allies, biding my time while you fucked and drank your way through the kingdom?”
“And the human ship?” I asked, playing for time as I tracked the minutes in my head.
The beast would come.
It had to.
“They come in peace.”
“Peace.” He sneered the word.
“We are Khadians. We were meant to rule these seas, not share them.” His eyes gleamed with fervor.
“The Knights of the Depths understand this. Together, we will restore our people to their rightful place. Beginning with ensuring this human threat never materializes.”
His gaze flicked to Emme, who stood silent and watchful.
“Once we’ve dealt with this one, we’ll find the rest. And then the ship they came from.”
“The Legacy carries thousands of innocents,” Emme said, her voice steady despite the fear I could smell on her.
“Children. Families.”
“Invaders,” Nedaris corrected.
“And they will meet the same fate as all who threaten our waters.”
I felt the first tremor beneath the ship—a subtle shift in the current that none of the others seemed to notice.
Not yet.
“You’ll start a war you can’t win,” I warned.
“Perhaps.” Nedaris shrugged.
“But better to die fighting than live on our knees.”
Nedaris stepped forward and ripped the crown from my belt with enough force to tear the loops.
Shark teeth gleamed in the sunlight as he placed it on his own head.
“The reign of Lairos ends today,” he declared.
“Long live King Nedaris, true ruler of Delovia Ridge and all its waters.”
The ship lurched violently, nearly knocking Nedaris off his feet.
Confused shouts rang out as Knights rushed to the railings.
The water around us began to churn, dark shapes moving beneath the surface.
“You might have your Knights,” I said in the dreadful calm of still waters, “but I still control these seas.”
Then it rose—a massive serpentine head breaking the waves, water cascading from scales the size of dinner plates.
The sea dragon’s jaws opened in a roar that shook the very air, revealing rows of slavering fangs longer than a man’s arm.
Nedaris staggered back, his face slack with shock.
I used the distraction to break free, driving my elbow into the nearest Knight’s throat before snatching his spear.
Two Knights blocked my path, spears leveled at my chest.
I could kill them.
Could fight my way through every Knight on this ship.
One throw of the spear I gripped would end the threat he posed to my kingdom, to Emme, to everything I held dear.
But the ship lurched as the dragon’s tail crashed down, splintering the railing mere feet away.
We were out of time.
I dove for Emme instead, tackling her guard and snapping the man’s neck with a single twist.
I cut her bonds with his knife and pulled her to her feet.
“Jump!” I shouted over screams and splintering wood.
We plunged into the churning waters together, the shock of it stealing my breath for a moment before my transformation took hold.
I pulled Emme close, creating her air bubble as the ship continued to break apart above us.
We swam until we reached a large piece of floating debris—part of the ship’s hull that had broken free.
I helped Emme climb onto it, then hauled myself up beside her, my body screaming in protest at the effort.
The transformation back to legs left me gasping, every muscle burning with fatigue.
The summoning had cost me more than I’d expected.
Worth it, to see the look on Nedaris’s face when he realized I still had one trick he couldn’t match.
Worth it, to get Emme safely away from his clutches.
But the cost.
.
.
The guard with the newborn daughter.
The families in the drycave.
My own brother had ordered the execution of innocent families.
Planned to attack the Legacy.
Aligned himself with fanatics who would drag our kingdom back into darkness.
The weight of it settled on my shoulders like a physical burden.
I’d failed him.
Failed my people.
Failed?—
Emme’s hand on my arm pulled me from my dark thoughts.
“Lairos,” she said, her voice tight with alarm.
“Look.”
I followed her gaze to where several fins had broken the surface, cutting through the waves with purpose as they surged toward us.
Despite everything, I felt my mouth curve into a grin.
“Help has arrived.”