Page 5

W hen I woke, the smell of salt and brine filled my nostrils, a soft breeze passing over my skin.

The sound of waves crashing against rocks roused me softly and for a moment I could pretend that everything was ok.

That I could stay here—by the sea—forever.

Forget about the war I had waged against my sister.

Forget about the suffering of the people of Istmere.

Forget about Nik.

But despite the numb sensation that pervaded my body, I knew none of it was true. That reality would come back to swallow me whole. It would drown me if I let it. That maybe Donika had finally broken me, and I had nothing left.

When I peeled my eyes open, I was met with the ceiling above me, made of driftwood that had to have been pulled from the shores.

An insect net surrounded my bed and when I sat up, I could see the Myrene Sea off in the distance.

It crashed softly against the small cliff that separated us from the salty waves.

My eyes searched the shore to the right, where I could make out two figures sitting, huddled together against the sand.

There was a home to the left with a thatched roof and worn wooden siding.

It appeared spacious for a home built by the sea with nothing else around it.

One that had seen many years and was well loved.

To be this close to the sea, we had to be in the furthest reaches of Prins, the unscalable mountains between us and Akra.

This was the safest place from Donika for the time being.

We would need to regroup and forge a new plan, but the only thing I wanted to do was sleep.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed since the darkness claimed me, but I was still tired despite hours of rest. The fever I had spiked on the way here had broken, but my legs were still sore and exhausted.

And most importantly, I still couldn’t sense my magic.

That would mean that only a day or so had passed. I groaned as I swung my legs over the side of the bed and moved to stand.

“She wakes,” a feminine voice sounded from my left and I startled, my hand moving to my chest in surprise.

“I didn’t see you there,” I told her, swallowing back the stale taste in my mouth.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” Annelise replied, a smile playing on her lips.

As if there was anything to be happy about right now.

“The others?” I asked, my gaze drifting out towards the two figures resting in the sand.

Annelise nodded towards them. “Kenna and Saanvi have joined us. Puck and Zion are hunting. There isn’t exactly a market in these reaches of Prins, and there are more mouths to feed now.”

“And Tess?” I asked, turning towards her with a raised eyebrow.

“I had to practically bribe her to give me a moment alone with you, she has been steadfastly by your bedside since we arrived. She is in the house”—She nodded behind us towards the driftwood cabin—“to give us some privacy.”

“And whose house is this?” I asked, leaning against the cot I had been resting on.

“An old friend,” Annelise replied, that same smile playing on her lips once more.

I squinted my eyes at her in confusion. “A lover?”

“God, no,” she all but barked, rousing to stand from her chair. “An old friend. You will meet her soon enough.”

I bristled.

Everything was smoke and mirrors with Annelise, and I was sick of her secrets.

“Care to join me for a short walk to stretch your legs?” she asked, brushing her pants off and walking towards the shore, expecting me to follow.

We never did get a chance to talk after everything had happened.

I wasn’t sure I had even had a moment to process the fact that my mother was alive let alone the events that had unfolded after that.

I was drowning in my own emotions. Anger, sadness, bitterness, all tangled up into one tornado that threatened to sweep me away .

But I had lost my vengeance. My fight.

I was hollow without Nik here. Empty at the thought that he was a blood-sucking Noctani and there was nothing I could do about it.

I pushed off the cot to follow Annelise, her strawberry blonde hair whipping behind her in the salty breeze.

Siraleth was by the sea as well, but it wasn’t nearly as drenched in the seaside air as it was here.

Everything was touched in a layer of salt, even the wind itself.

I could taste it with every breath I took.

I wasn’t ready to speak with Annelise, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

It was only the small group of us here, and there was no avoiding one another.

We walked towards the shore, Saanvi and Kenna raising their heads as we approached, their gazes trailing after us as we ambled down the coastline.

It wasn’t long before sand was filling my boots and the feeling of it against my toes—inside my sock—was beginning to drive me crazy. I paused to ditch the boots, rolling up my socks to stuff them inside, tying the laces together so I could hang them across my shoulders.

Annelise laughed softly and my gaze met hers. “Just like your father.”

“My father?” I asked, one hand raised to shield my eyes from the sun so I could read her expression.

She nodded. “Osiris loved the beach but hated the feel of the sand. How it permeated everything, and always came with you wherever you went next.”

I guess we did have that in common .

I motioned with my hand for her to continue on and I followed at her side, the sand now slipping freely between my bare toes. It was warm against my skin from the baking afternoon sun.

“What did you want to talk about?” I asked, breaking the delicate peace that had settled between us.

I couldn’t imagine things would ever be easy between us, but right now, they were especially strained.

She had lied to me since the moment we first met, and everything had gone to shit.

When I had first thought she was dead I had craved her in a way I never thought I would.

I wanted to hear all about her life. To know her.

Now that she was alive and right before me, I didn’t feel the same.

She was simply another person who had lied to me and betrayed me.

“I wanted to… explain,” she began, casting me a sidelong glance.

I kept my eyes on the sand.

“I’m not sure there is anything to explain. You lied to me, pretended you were someone else… and here we are. You left me in the mortal realm and never came back for me, despite telling my mother you would.”

She flinched at the word mother as if it physically hurt her. As if she had any right to the word herself.

My mother was the woman who had raised me. We might not have seen eye to eye, but she did the best she could for me under the circumstances. She was raising a Shade, not a normal teenager after all. Where was she supposed to turn when Annelise had simply… disappeared ?

“I wanted to come back for you,” she replied, her voice tight.

“But you didn’t,” I countered, my voice cutting.

Annelise threw her head back, blinking away the tears that threatened to stream down her cheeks. Her skin was as pale as a seashell against the coastal sun, her cheeks pink. “I did come back, once.”

Once.

Now I was the one biting back my tears as they stung the back of my eyes. I wasn’t ready for this conversation—wasn’t sure I ever would be. I stopped abruptly, my feet planted in the sand, my head shaking back and forth.

Annelise stopped as well, her gaze meeting mine.

“You were happy. I didn’t want to destroy what you had built for yourself there.

What your mother had built for you there.

You were so beautiful. Radiant. I knew the moment I laid eyes on you that I couldn’t take you back to this .

” She spread her arms wide, her head shaking back and forth.

“This was no life for a young girl with her entire life ahead of her.”

“Bullshit.” I ground my teeth together, my eyes falling back to the sand as I dug my toes in.

“Diana, I am telling you the truth. You had to have been six, maybe seven. You were with your new family, devouring a cone of mint chip at the creamery in New York. You know the one… the one you always went to with your father.”

I did know. I bit my lip against the swell of emotions that surged forth .

“I couldn’t take you away from that. I couldn’t . There was no life for you here, all that waited for you here was death .” Her words were barely above a whisper.

“You had to have known the spell would wear off. The one that kept my magic spellbound. That my powers would eventually resurface. What was your plan, then? What did you plan to do?”

“I planned to spell you again. I had been keeping an eye on you, and when your mother took your family to Silver Oaks, I knew she was following my instructions. That the spell was wearing off, and you needed to be around other witches your own age.”

“But you didn’t spell me again,” I pointed out.

She shook her head. “I couldn’t. I ran out of time, which was my mistake. I couldn’t get close to you—Fletcher Price and Antonia Finch were preventing that. Then Nikolai showed up and I knew I was too late, that there was no going back now. That everything had been set into motion already.”

“Everything?” I asked, my brow raised at her.

She nodded. “The prophecy. The events that Alastir had seen unfold.”

“And when I was imprisoned in the Stormvault?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.

“I risked everything to get you out. To get you to safety. Donika told me that if she ever laid eyes on me again, it would be for the last time. She spared me in Siraleth, she would not spare me a second time. ”

“ Spared . As if she were doing you a kindness,” I scoffed, my brows pinching together. “Donika doesn’t have a kind bone in her body.”

“Whatever her reason was, she did spare me that day. I was banished from Istmere. I posed as a servant in the kitchens to regain entrance to the castle, and it was a risk. Zion helped, but he knew if Donika laid eyes on me at any point, glamour or not, I was as good as dead.”