Page 9

Chapter Eight

RAZIEL

“They found the Zephyr .”

Raziel’s attention snapped to Valen’s metallic teak eyes. “Where?” The fishing vessel had been missing for two weeks.

“To the north of the Wasting Corals,” his commander replied, his dark brown lips pressed into a firm line.

Raz slowly lowered the quill and stood, already knowing the answer to his next question. “Any survivors?”

“None.”

He placed his hands on his desk and hung his head. The documents by his fingers blurred as his mind spun. There were children aboard. “What happened?”

“We don’t know. I’m on my way to inspect the ship myself.”

The king straightened and rounded the table. “Then I shall go with you.”

He passed Valen, who was just a touch shorter than he was.

Valen huffed and adjusted his leather belt before falling in line.

Their boots rustled against the thick deep-red carpets as they made their way down the corridor.

The arched black-stone ceilings were simple in their design but effective.

With a palace built into the side of the mountain, it wasn’t easy to make the place feel open.

Lush tapestries hung along the walls—both beautiful and practical in nature. The stone didn’t keep heat, but the fabric deterred much of the chill.

They reached the wide spiral staircase at the end of the hallway and jogged downward, their boots clicking with each step.

As a child, Raz hated the stairs. It took too long to get anywhere, and they made his legs hurt.

Now, as an adult, he still didn’t care for them.

He’d rather meet Skye on one of the landing balconies every residence had for their own fiilee and fly wherever he needed to go.

“You’re quiet,” Valen commented as they exited the stairs toward the nesting grounds and the face of the mountain.

Raz grunted. “Not sure what to say after your announcement.”

“I’ve known you since we were children. It’s more than that.”

“It seems trivial now.” Raziel glanced at his friend from the corner of his eye. Valen brushed one of his brown braids from his shoulder and arched a brow. The king knew that look. His friend wouldn’t let it drop until he spoke the truth. “I was married today.”

Valen’s brows rose high. “I didn’t know you’d made a decision.”

“It must be done.”

“But a Sirenidae?” Valen shuddered. “They’re monsters.”

He agreed but just shrugged. “Our people need healers and solutions. The devils of the deep have the answers.” He hoped.

The corridor widened slightly, and the scent of animals, straw, and warm stone reached him.

The king paused at the end of the corridor where it opened into a massive cavern.

Fiilee nested in all corners. Some felines watched them with curiosity, others with boredom or wariness.

Fiilee only bonded with a rider and possibly their mate, but it wasn’t always guaranteed.

Valen whistled, and a female fiilee striped black-and-orange dove from a nest high above.

She circled several times before landing with almost no sound in front of Valen.

She took a swipe at his commander who dodged it easily.

If Sunset had wanted to hurt him, she would have.

Sunset was just as playful as Valen could be, which was why they made such an excellent pair.

Raz whistled his own tune, watching as Valen pulled a treat from his pocket and held it out to his fiilee . She snuffled his flat palm before gently taking the gift and swallowing it whole. Sunset released a deep purr before pressing her head under his arm.

A familiar roar pulled the king’s attention to his own fiilee .

Skye circled high above, his coat almost blending in with the cavern ceiling.

The showoff spun and looped a few more times before closing his massive bat-like wings and diving.

Raziel held his position. It was a game he and Skye liked to play to see who’d flinch first. His heart raced as the gigantic feline sped toward him.

At the very last moment, Skye flared his wings, blasting a gust of air and dirt over Raz, blowing his hair back.

Skye dropped to the floor, his light blue eyes looking all too smug.

“You cheated. I had to blink because of the dirt you stirred up,” Raziel growled, eyeing his preening beast.

His bonded chuffed and sauntered closer until they were eye to eye. Even after all these years, Skye still amazed him. The fiilee dropped his head and butted him in the chest. At one time, the greeting would have knocked the king off his feet but no longer.

Sinking his fingers into Skye’s soft fur, he hugged his feline, and Skye released a contented chirrup. There was nothing quite like the companionship of a fiilee . Even though the animal could not speak to him in words, they understood each other in a way he didn’t understand most people.

“We must go,” he murmured, combing his fingers through Skye’s thick fur that was more black spots than faint white undercoat. “Our people need us.” He released Skye and walked to the cavern wall. Harnesses, saddles, and a variety of riding gear hung in all sizes. “Saddle?”

Skye’s light blue eyes seemed to narrow.

Raziel sighed. It had been worth a shot.

While he didn’t need a saddle and preferred to be without one, when they traveled over the sea, the king liked to have the extra assurance that he was secure.

He could swim, but there was something about the ocean that unnerved him. It was unpredictable and dangerous.

Just like your new wife will be.

He brushed the thought away and yanked the harness from the wall harder than he meant to. He held it out to Skye. “Shall we?”

There was nothing more beautiful than flying above Methi.

Between the sharp peaks of the Hollow Mountain range, to the jeweled forests of Laos, to the rolling waves of the Emerald Coast. They passed over the hot springs and then all too soon, the Wasting Corals rose in the distance.

The lime-green coral protruded from the sea like witch’s fingers—sickly and misshapen.

His stomach dipped as they began their travels over the sea.

Water closing over his head, silence, and panic…

Raziel pushed away the older memory and focused on Skye. The beast would not let him fall into the sea. And even if they did, Raz knew how to swim. He just needed to battle the fear.

His fiilee chirruped and the king patted his bonded. “I’m alright.”

They flew around the eastern perimeter of the corals.

It was forbidden to fly over them. The corals were poisonous.

All it took was just one touch or scrape for your life to be over.

And it wasn’t quick. The poison took its time, making you so sick, you couldn’t eat or drink until your body wasted away or gave up.

Raziel frowned as he spotted new corals growing beneath the water. It was spreading more rapidly than it had in years past.

Why? That was the question.

Still, they soared on until they reached the northernmost edge of the Wasting Corals.

A Methi ship bobbed a safe distance away from the poisonous corals, but the Zephyr was aground them. Large spears had pierced the hull, and the mast was snapped in two. Parts of the deck were still in good condition, and his stomach dropped as he spotted bodies strewn about.

He and Skye landed on the warship.

The king slid from Skye’s back and landed on the deck in a crouch.

He stood and the crew bowed. Even after years of being royal, the practice still made him uncomfortable.

Raziel was there to serve, not the other way around.

He nodded to them, and Captain Eliah limped her way to the front of the crowd, short brown ruffled hair falling into her metallic green eyes.

“My liege,” Eliah said, before getting down to business. “How would you like us to proceed?”

“Why haven’t the bodies been recovered?” he asked.

“The laws forbid us from approaching the Wasting Corals, my lord. And as you can see, the corals have expanded. The ship is well beyond our reach.” She gestured to the lime-green smudges underneath the water.

“We have no aerial support, and even if we did, the ship is unstable. It’s too much of a risk to endanger the fiilee and it’s against the law.

” The captain rubbed her leg, a permanent repercussion from the Warlord’s War.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Raziel grinned. There was no one more devoted to the law than Eliah. “I agree with you. I would not risk the fiilee , but we need to recover the bodies. They should be returned to their families. Do you have a dinghy?”

“We do, my lord.”

“Then we shall make use of it.” The thought of traveling over the Wasting Corals in a tiny boat made him feel sick, but it needed to be done. Raziel steeled himself. “Only those who are experienced swimmers will travel with us. We need four men in addition to me and Valen.”

Eliah blinked athhim. “We work on a ship, my lord. We are all excellent swimners.”

Raz smirked, balancing on the balls of his feet as the ship rocked. “How right you are.”

Valen stepped closer to his side. “I don’t think it’s wise for you to go.”

“I must see this through.”

Skye’s tail flicked from left to right as he turned to his bonded. “You cannot come with me this time.” The feline huffed, biting at his shirt. “I know you don’t like it, but there’s no other choice.”

“All ready, my lord,” Eliah called.

The king strode across the starboard side of the ship.

He slung a leg over the railing and nimbly descended the rope ladder.

Once his feet touched the bottom of the dinghy, he quickly sat and picked up an oar.

Three other people joined him in the boat: an older man with a long salt-and-pepper beard, a boy who was as gangly as a sapling, and a young woman with her hair shoved into a faded knit hat.

He frowned as she kept her gaze averted from his as if looking at him was painful.

Valen plopped down next to him, and Eliah shoved away from the ship. Raziel’s stomach flipped, and he gritted his teeth as the little boat bobbed and Eliah positioned herself at the rudder.

Raz could do this. The ocean wouldn’t be the death of him. He’d survived its claws before.

Sweat dampened his brow as they began to row toward the Zephyr . Water splashed over the edge and onto his hand. He barely kept from flinching.

A mouth full of water. Too much pressure...

“Steady all,” Eliah called. The little dinghy passed over the Wasting Corals border. “Keep your paddling shallow, ya?”

It was eerily silent as they made their way to the Zephyr . The chartreuse coral rose from the depths below, at first peeking out of the water and then rising like deformed sculptures.

“How did they get this far?” Raz murmured. The ship must have plowed over several hundred feet of coral before crashing. “Was there a storm?”

“Not the stormy season,” Eliah muttered, redirecting the boat around a large chunk of broken coral that looked as if it was oozing water.

“Then what happened?”

“We don’t know. No one in their right mind would come near the corals, especially a fishing vessel.”

That was his thought as well. He exchanged an uneasy glance with Valen as they neared the Zephyr .

“Coven, scale the ship and toss down a rope,” Eliah commanded.

“Aye, Captain,” the young woman replied. She gathered up a lasso of rope and tossed it over her shoulder as the captain navigated the boat next to the ship.

“Be careful.”

The young woman nodded, her eyes still averted from Raz.

His heart leapt when she jumped from the dinghy, rocking the small vessel onto the side of the Zephyr and slamming her blade into the ship.

His jaw dropped as she scurried up the side in record time.

She disappeared over the railing and began tying off the rope.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Eliah commented.

“She has skills,” he admitted. Someone with reflexes like that should be a rider.

Coven tossed the thick rope down, and Raz stood.

Valen held a hand out. “Let me go first, my lord.”

The king allowed his commander to shimmy up the rope and over the edge before he hauled himself up. Raz’s breath heaved in and out as he reached the deck. Not because the climb was strenuous but because he kept imagining falling back into the water.

He scanned the deck, counting the bodies.

Fifteen total.

The stench hit him, and he swallowed hard before sucking in a short breath. The older sailor with the long beard moved past him and knelt next to the nearest body. “There’s a hole.” His voice held shock.

Raziel strode to his side and tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

The man was missing his heart.

“Her heart was torn out,” Valen whispered.

The king glanced at his commander on the port side of the ship, the hair along his arms rising. “What did you just say?”

Valen’s blue eyes met Raziel’s and held. “Her heart was yanked from her chest.”

“This one as well,” Eliah said, her voice ragged.

Raziel wiped his hand over his face. “Check them all.”

Every person bore marks from the sun, scavengers, and decay, but they were all missing their hearts.

“What would do such a thing?” Coven whispered, covering her mouth, her eyes haunted. “What would kill just for the heart?”

A chill ran down his spine.

Sirenidae.

“We need to leave now.” Valen’s tone held no room for argument. “This is too dangerous.”

“I agree, my lord,” Eliah added. “We can come back for the bodies.”

“No,” Raziel growled. He scanned the bodies along with the dried blood that led to the edges of the deck. “We get them now.”

“What’s wrong?” Cove asked.

“Sirens,” the older man growled. “Clearly, this is the demons’ work.”

The king’s throat bobbed as he spotted a smaller body on the deck holding a stuffed animal.

Raziel tuned the crew out and tugged the shirt off his body, kneeling.

He tried not to look too closely at the wee one as he wrapped them up.

Tears dripped down his cheeks as he tucked the ragged toy into their hands.

This was wrong.

It should never have happened.

He pulled the small body into his arms, woodenly moving toward the railing. Rage, pain, and hatred boiled in his chest. The Sirenidae would pay for what they’d done.

“I will avenge you,” he vowed.

They’d declared war, and Raziel would answer tenfold.