Page 10

Chapter Ten

THALIA

T he merwomen drew my rowboat steadily across the water for several long minutes in silence that seemed to press down on us.

I decided to fill it with a question. “What justice is the king meting out?”

“I understand that your ship was attacked, no?” Meredith said.

A weight settled on my chest. “Yes.”

“King Vaarin came across a few members of the faction responsible for the attack and is dispensing justice.”

My hand went to my sword, and she tracked the motion. “You wish you were with him? Meting out justice?”

“Those things are responsible for the death of my crew and…my best friend.” Had the scavengers been responsible for Bryony’s rowboat’s collapse? Had they killed her?

“You have seen much death, it seems,” Meredith said. “But you bring life to the northern realm. This alliance gives us hope. Hope of stopping the Obsidian Pearl and preventing the abyss from opening.”

“The abyss? Yes, the king mentioned it.”

“There are ancient beasts trapped within, and the Obsidian Pearl seek to free them. The Obsidian Pearl worship the monsters as gods and believe that the seas belong to them.”

“But not all believe the stories of monsters beyond the abyss,” one of the other merwomen said in a sibilant tone. “Some believe the Obsidian Pearl to be misguided. Mad even. The faction has taken many females as sacrifices to their trapped gods in the hope of opening the abyss. Our people are in constant danger, and waters that were once safe are now lethal.”

“The Obsidian Pearl would not want the sea fae numbers to swell,” Meredith continued, “because then we will have the forces required to bring them to heel, which is why you, dear princess, are a threat to them.”

“Great.” But I wasn’t the princess. I wasn’t a threat to anyone. I was a lie, and these people…they were banking on me to stop the Obsidian Pearl threat.

Guilt wrapped icy fingers around my throat, but I shook off its punishing grip.

I couldn’t let the sea faes’ plight overshadow mine. My people must come first. I’d do what needed to be done to ensure their safety.

Land drew closer, rushing up to meet us, mountainous terrain beyond a sandy inlet.

“The water is becoming shallow,” Meredith said. “We will leave you here with King Vaarin’s strict instructions that you remain on the beach. Do not venture inland. It is not safe. Do you understand?”

“I understand.”

They shoved the boat forward into the shallows, and I searched for an anchor, finding none. Shit. Once I got out of the boat, there would be no going back to sea. But the king was on his way. All I needed to do was wait. He obviously had a plan.

I climbed out into water that was calf deep, then reached for the rope attached to the inside of the boat, my instinct to drag the boat with me to shore, then decided against it. King Vaarin had used the natural storm to hide us from the Obsidian Pearl, and if I brought the boat to shore with me, then the Obsidian Pearl’s aerial spies might see it and report back to them.

Best to let the boat drift out to sea.

I hurried toward shore before too much water could make it into my boots. I hated having wet feet.

Once on sand, I looked back at sea, at the rowboat already being carried away by the current. Meredith and her companions bobbed in the water for a moment before vanishing beneath the waves.

I was alone.

At least, I hoped so.

The inland was surrounded by trees, and one side was a sheer cliff face. Thalor had wrangled himself free of the clouds now, blessing the inlet with silvery light, enough to chase back the unsettling shadows. A chill swept over me, reminding me of my wet boots and the risk of catching a serious cold. I couldn’t risk my health, not now.

There was driftwood littering the sand, which I gathered in the hopes of making a fire. I ventured to the edge of the woods to search for flint, anything that I could use to make a spark, and after ten minutes of squinting in the gloom, I found some. I gathered bracken for kindling next and carried it back to the shore, where I built a small fire.

It would keep me warm and also help King Vaarin to find me. I lifted my shirt to take a look at the dressing on my wound. It was dry, and there was no blood seeping through, which was good. I prodded it lightly. No pain either. Strange considering how new the wound was and how I’d been exerting myself with it. Either the sea fae who’d treated me had added some kind of numbing agent or whatever remedy he’d packed the wound with was working fast.

The flames had reached a good height, enough to throw off some decent heat, and I was about to shuck off my boots to dry my socks and feet when a cry of distress sliced the silence. I froze, heart pounding my ribs, as the echo of that cry resonated around me, the only evidence that it had ever been aired.

Long seconds passed, and I was beginning to doubt myself when a scream shattered the silence.

I shot to my feet, turning this way and that, unsure where the sound had come from.

“Help me! Please help me!” a woman cried.

I grabbed my sword and ran toward the sound, diving into the woods.

“No, please! Somebody help!”

“I’m coming!” I smacked aside branches that threatened to slow me down, crunching over bracken and leaping over a fallen log.

“Help me! Please help me!”

Dark tree trunks closed around me, the stench of death crowding my nose.

“No, please! Somebody help!”

Alarm bells went off in my mind even as my feet carried me deeper into the woods, because there was something wrong here. Something strange about those cries.

“Help me! Please help me! No, please! Somebody help!”

The same words. The same cadence and inflection.

Exactly the same.

“Help me! Please help me! No, please! Somebody help!”

I ground to a stop, a cold flush flooding my body because the voice was now all around me.

“Help me! Please help me! No, please! Somebody help!”

Above me…

I tipped my head to the canopy to the dark shapes perched still and silent now that they had their prey in sights.

Do not venture inland. Do you understand?

Fuck. I should have heeded the warning. I slowly raised my sword and took a step back.

The things above me shifted in the branches, and I caught a glimpse of curved beaks and the glint of red eyes. Birds? Yes, they had to be. And there was nothing to fear from a bird, so why were my insides blaring at me to run?

I took another step back, and the canopy erupted with sound as the birds dropped to surround me, cutting off escape. Four feet tall with thick powerful haunches and webbed wings, these were no birds. That and the fact that they had faces. Human faces with beaks where their noses and mouths would have been, but the eyes…The red eyes were all too human.

“Stay back!” I swung my sword in an arch.

They hopped out of range but then advanced, screeching. “Stay back! Stay back!”

I jabbed at the nearest one, and it flew out of reach. Another one attacked. I spun and sliced, but it evaded.

The next few moments were more of the same where they attacked one at a time, and I defended. They were playing with me. Playing with their food.

My stomach knotted, my pulse thundering because once they got bored with their game, they’d attack as one and then…then I was done for.

I needed to find a break and make a run for it. But they were constantly moving, circling, and lunging, making it impossible to focus on anything but evasive maneuvers. I was tiring, and was it my imagination or were their red eyes glowing?

A bat bird to my left lunged at the same time as the one to my right in a pincer movement. I hit the ground, rolled to avoid their lethal beaks, spotted a break in the circle they’d created around me, and made a scrambling dash for it.

The edge of the clearing rushed to meet me, but something snagged the back of my tunic and yanked me away from escape.

I hit the ground on my back hard enough to wind me.

The creatures surrounded me again, covering me in shadow before tipping their heads back and letting out a collective blood-curdling scream, and I knew with a primal instinct that the game was over.

I was about to die.