Page 28

Jude

In the western lands, there is a myth about the Waili ng Woman of Livian Lake. It is said she rises beneath the moon with a scream so sharp, her prey is rendered immobile. She drags them below the surface and makes a garden out of their bones.

Excerpt from Asidian Lore: Legends and Myths of the Realm

I rolled over with a contented sigh, my body still tingling from her touch, my heart still racing from how her fingernails dug into my back while she melted in my arms.

I was so far gone for this woman, I doubted she realized how much power she truly held.

Kiara’s name formed on my lips with ease, like they’d shaped it for a thousand lifetimes. My eyes were heavy from the paltry few hours of sleep, though my body ached exquisitely. I whispered her name again, but when she didn’t reply, I reached out, frowning at the fact she’d rolled so far from me in her slumber.

Cold stones greeted my hand. My eyes flicked open with a start.

She wasn’t there.

“Kiara?” I scanned the tunnel, the silver boats rocking against the shore, the twinkling water lapping at the rock I lay on. Nothing . No one was there.

Had she taken one of the boats, abandoning me so she could journey ahead and possibly play the role of willing sacrifice…

No. There were the same number of vessels as yesterday—four. Which meant…which meant what, exactly?

Hurt and alarm sent my pulse beating wildly against my neck. Beside me, where Kiara should have been, laid a single feather. I flinched at how it swayed, tendrils of soft black undulating in the subtle breeze.

I held my breath while I brushed a finger along the spine.

The feather wavered, fluttering like wings, the shadows dispersing, floating away and out of reach.

Before I could rue my mistake, it was gone. The veiny marble floor shone brighter where the feather had been, like its magic still graced the ground.

A thud echoed in the quiet, and I lurched to my feet, facing the silver doorway we’d entered. I froze in anticipation, praying Kiara would walk through and dispel all worry.

“Gods above. I never want to do any sort of physical activity again.” Jake sauntered across the threshold, his hair slicked back with sweat, dirt streaked across his cheeks.

He stopped short when he saw me in nothing but my trousers, my chest bare. His eyes went wide, and then he searched the shore, looking for the woman who’d drifted off like a dream in the night.

Disappointment filled me.

Before he could question Kiara’s whereabouts, the remaining crew eased past.

“Where is she?” Liam demanded, his brown curls damp, his face as grimy as Jake’s, no doubt from climbing down the tunnel. Ropes wound about his waist, and I realized the others had similar gear fastened to them as well.

Dimitri tossed a pickaxe to the ground and replaced it with a blade, a wary expression contorting his usually serene face. Emelia and Finn stood with their arms crossed, matching somber expressions on their faces.

“She…” I met Liam’s pleading gaze . “She disappeared. She’s not here.”

I sounded a bumbling fool, and perhaps I was. All I recalled was drifting to sleep with her securely in my arms, her head on my chest, dark copper hair tickling my chin. I’d fallen asleep with a smile so wide, my jaw still ached.

“What the hells do you mean she’s gone?” Liam pressed, scrambling along the thin strip of solid ground. “She was with you after you fell?”

I nodded, but my voice didn’t work. The heat of Raina’s magic slithered farther away, as if it , too, grieved its missing piece.

“Maybe she took a boat?” Jake questioned, stepping around Liam and laying a hand on his shoulder. His eyes offered compassion and hope and all the things I never thought I’d feel but now felt too much.

The idea that something nefarious occurred sent me spiraling, and nausea churned in my stomach. I peered at her brother, wishing I had an answer, but his face was screwed up in fierce determination, his mind latching on to Jake’s paltry explanation.

“Then we find her,” Liam said with more confidence than I’d ever heard him use. “There must’ve been another boat you didn’t see, and she probably took it thinking she could save us the trouble.” He sounded so certain, and if I hadn’t awoken to that feather and the sense of loss, I’d have agreed.

I simply didn’t believe that was what had occurred.

Kiara wouldn’t have left me. Not like I’d left her.

“Obviously she’s not here,” the Fox said. “I’d gamble on what Liam said. She had to have taken a boat you missed. I’m sure you were…distracted.” Her eyes tapered into thin slits as she appraised my undone state.

Unwanted heat burned my cheeks.

Jake and Liam each made an effort not to comment, averting their gazes and looking at anything but my naked torso.

Of course, they knew what transpired.

What was worse was my mother bearing witness to the aftermath.

Mercifully, Emelia flicked her attention to her men, motioning for Finn and Dimitri to head to the boats. She was just as filthy as her crew, but the hard edge to her eyes made the dirt streaking her features appear like war paint. “We can rest once we locate her, and she couldn’t have made it all that far, but we should leave. Now.”

“Sounds like you almost care.” The words slipped out, anger and fear taking over my mouth.

She didn’t justify that with a response, though her jaw perceptively clenched. Emelia stalked past me without meeting my eyes and heaved her bag onto the flat bottom of a boat. Close to the rippling water, she paused, her lips parting at whatever she saw swirling across the iridescent surface. I would’ve said she experienced awe, but she quickly wiped the emotion from her face.

The others followed suit, not bothering to hide their reactions to the beauty of the tunnel, while I reached for my shirt and cloak, tugging both on mechanically. I felt numb.

“We’ll find her, Commander,” Jake said sternly, clapping me on the back. He jumped on the ship, which swayed slightly under his weight. “You know she would do something like this. If anything, I would’ve been surprised if she hadn’t.”

I didn’t say a word. I didn’t think she would. Not after what we shared. Unless she had doubts…

She’d mentioned what Arlo suspected, that we were only drawn to each other romantically because of our power. But I thought I’d ridden such an absurd notion from her mind.

Finn, Dimitri, and the Fox took up one vessel, Jake, Liam, and I the other. The bottoms were wide and flat, constructed to minimize rocking while we assumed our positions. Two of us held a long oar, standing atop the opposite ends of the boat, while the third person rested in the center.

The oar sliced through the twinkling water with ease, my arms moving rhythmically, matching Jake’s pace where he commanded the front.

The others were speaking, Liam arguing about taking a turn with the oar, Jake shutting him down, protesting that Liam needed to rest. The Fox and her men whispered about the treasures they’d find, and I…

I blocked them all out.

Something horrible had to have occurred, and no one else appeared fazed. Or maybe I was overreacting.

Above, the moon illuminated our path, the open ceiling bearing the universe and all its spectacular divine glory.

The temple of the Moon God was a shrine to the exquisitely dark splendor of night. The bronze columns rose from the watery depths, the twisting metal crafted with an expert hand. Every now and again, I glimpsed my grim expression upon their polished surface, my reflection unrecognizable from the one I’d known most of my life.

I felt as if I coasted through space, sandwiched between the stars in the water and those in the sky. Planets glittered in reds and blues, larger than should be possible. Utterly breathtaking.

It was a shame I hardly cared.

Raina’s magic finally opened its eye, heat winding around my torso the farther we traveled, seeming to sense my distress. Warmth spread to my toes, to the tips of my fingers. It caressed my cheeks, banishing the chill of the otherworldly breeze.

It sought to comfort me when unease held me in its clutches, and I accepted its efforts, if only to clear my head and prepare for the inevitable battle.

For now, I’d pretend she’d done as Liam suggested—taken a boat I hadn’t seen and tried to play hero. Although, I’d been vigilant to take stock of the scene we’d stepped into and had only tallied four boats, but—I could be wrong. I had to be.

Over and over, I repeated this. Trying to make it true.

So consumed with doubts, I didn’t see the hand that burst free from the water and seized Liam’s ankle until it was too late. A shrieking wail shook the quiet, replacing it with a weighted sense of terror.

Liam’s scream died beneath the water a moment later.