Page 27 of Waves (Tangled Crowns #6)

Avia

T he weight of an entire castle wall seemed to press down on my innards as I clutched a parchment that Lizza’s bewitched with squid ink images of Valdez and Taft, fear gnawing at me.

Of course, disaster would befall us right after I’d lulled myself into complacency. Right after I sent Ryan away without consulting him.

The past several hours were a blur of panic and orders, chippy words and threats, apologies and handwringing.

And fear.

Lots of fear.

Pacing the mayor’s sitting room, I felt certain my feet were eroding a channel in her floor. The flickering violet fire in her fireplace did nothing to quell the chill pervading the room.

There was no warmth from the solemn, serious faces of Ugo and Paavo. Both stood guard at either door, carefully checking before they allowed anyone to enter. My mer guards held their spears in white-knuckled grips. We were all on high alert.

When I paused my pacing to debate whether tea or bubble would better get me through this moment, Mayor Didero came closer and put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

Her white hair was swept into a swirling peak studded with gray pearls.

Her pink tentacles were drawn in tight, which I took as a sign of tension despite the soft smile she gave me.

“We’ll find them. I have all the city guards out looking, searching every nook and cranny of Kremos for them.”

I gave a stiff nod as I folded the parchment and slid it into a small pocket inside the fringed skirt of the gold dress Gita had put me in earlier for the tournament.

The gown was comprised of a lace and gemstone laden top with a diamond cutout on my stomach before it flowed into the beaded fringe.

The look was glamorous and daring and the opposite of every emotion I was currently feeling.

Part of me wanted to rip it off at the neckline because I felt like I couldn’t breathe, though that fact had extraordinarily little to do with what I wore.

“Thank you.” I managed to drudge up a response, but it wasn’t much, and I had no clue what sort of expression I offered because I was aghast in a way I’d never been before.

I wasn’t certain what to think or do.

A dark part of me didn’t believe we’d find either man.

Though Didero had been the most kind of any of the mayors in the towns I’d visited, I didn’t trust her.

She’d been welcoming but absent. Accommodating but also hadn’t given tours or insisted on meetings.

The mayor had gone about her days dealing with the town’s business as usual.

And while helping harvest some fully grown sea anemones had seemed like a valid excuse at the time, now I was second-guessing every moment we’d spent in Kremos.

Of course, lashing out at the mayor’s distant ways was simply a side effect of my deeper worries. The unknown was circling me, snapping and biting, churning up trepidation and the solid belief that whatever news came…it would swallow me whole.

Valdez was missing.

That had been a shocking surprise when Mateo mentioned he was gone just hours ago.

I’d just interacted with the dolphin-shifter yesterday and not noticed that anything was amiss, until our parting—when he said he had to meet a friend.

No one knew who the friend was or where they met.

Had there actually been a friend?

Had the friend betrayed him?

Had Valdez simply left?

A frustrated sense of self-loathing coursed through me as my suspicion mounted.

Though I had no firm evidence of something suspicious from him, the pirate was always so smooth, so quick to use that seductive magic of his.

Intuition whispered to me he had ulterior motives… but what they were, I wasn’t sure.

Sahar suggested earlier that he simply decided to leave the tournament. That was possible.

But Valdez was openly competitive. He’d said so. While I didn’t believe everything out of his mouth, I believed that. He was so close to winning… wouldn’t he at least have wanted to sign the withdrawal document? Keep his manhood intact?

Something told me that neither Valdez nor Taft just swam off.

Something told me darker forces were at work.

That they wouldn’t be found.

Eyes closing, I tried to stop the avalanche of possibilities hurtling through my mind. A million options tumbled, merged, and grew into a muddied mess that was dragging me under.

Breathe, idiot, I scolded myself.

In and out, I took several deep pulls of water. Tried to force my lungs to control my racing pulse by feeding it oxygen slowly.

But I failed completely. Ice chips nicked at my spine, a horrid chill full of worry creeping over my bones.

While I was concerned about Valdez, the situation with Taft was one that was personally devastating on a different level.

Unlike the pirate, who’d nearly seduced my body, the nixe had seemed honorable. Steadfast.

Dammit.

I’d been suspicious when he’d sidled up to Mateo but then I’d trusted my first love and lowered my guard. An unwieldy wobbling sensation took over my middle and I clutched at my stomach.

Either I had put my trust in Taft and that was a mistake, or something bad had happened to him. No matter the outcome, there was a sinking sense of failure coursing through me. A heavy disappointment that clogged my throat.

Where was Taft?

Did someone from his prior life catch up with him? He’d talked about darker days, but those had seemed well behind him. But perhaps his nightmares chased after him.

Had both men left together?

Was there some conspiracy afoot?

Was the situation with the rebellion far more out of hand than I believed?

Or… had they been turned human just like that girl the other night?

Was Raj still nearby?

My hands came up to my forehead and my nails dug at my scalp. The awful possibilities were endless, and I was spiraling through every one of them. In a breathy tone laced with despair, I asked, “Is someone searching the surface of the water for bodies?”

Immediately, Didero and Ugo answered in unison. “Yes,” both my guard and the mayor confirmed.

It might have meant both had sent parties searching among the waves or simply that they were both aware. I didn’t ask further, just began to pace once more. To await Sahar’s return. My adviser had gone out to organize everyone and had promised to return with news. But it had been hours.

Glancing out the window, I noticed a shadow falling across the water, a chill creeping through the already frigid sea. And then, like a giant gust of wind, I saw a rolling current outside the window send floating seaweed tumbling past in a tangled jumble.

“What is that ?” I asked, striding closer to the window.

Ugo immediately swam into my path, pushing me to the left, his orange tail swishing as he put himself between me and whatever was going on outside.

Mayor Didero carefully wound around us and went to stand at the sill, where her flickering purple orb in the window sputtered as another giant current flowed past, this time dragging several fish with it, their bodies tumbling tail over head and back again, as out of control as a tumbleweed in Evaness.

When the mayor turned around, her lips pressed together in hesitant regret. “Majesty, we’re going to have to start the next tournament event soon.”

“What?” My jaw dropped and I immediately shook my head in denial. Was she mad? “We can’t. We’ll have to delay. Two men are missing!”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.

You see, we contracted with an island man for the tournament.

He agreed to come. But he can only stay long enough for the event before he needs to leave again.

They…the island people have a different conception of time than we do.

An entirely different metabolism and purpose and value system…

” She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I’m botching this explanation.

I wasn’t even supposed to discuss it, since you aren’t supposed to know any details about the Syzgos events beforehand.

But…” Didero trailed off, staring down at the purple orb on the sill, lavender streaks lighting her features as she sought out a better explanation.

“What she means is island people spend most of their time sleeping,” Ugo chimed in, his brow furrowed in consternation. “And we can’t delay because he might fall asleep again. If he does, then Kremos will be stuck with another island.”

“Wait…what?”

This time it was Paavo who spoke from his post by the door. “They sleep for a hundred years at a time. And when they wake, they’re angry. They erupt.”

Shock burst apart my stomach as I pieced these poor explanations together. “You mean…you invited a living volcano for this event?”

All of them nodded and I felt like spewing lava myself.