Chapter 57
CHAPTER 57
Rosalina
N erves roil in my gut as we approach the ocean. I step inside Dayton’s large footprints.
Today, we return to Hadria … if I can get the attention of the sirens. Justus was adamant they are the key to us returning to the capital, though I’m still not entirely sure what that means.
After finally winning the match against Justus, Dayton tucked the trident back into the protection of Summer’s token. There’s a confidence radiating off him like rays of the sun.
The water is warm as we step into its depths, waves swirling around our knees. Looking over my shoulder, I see palm trees swaying in the gentle breeze, their fronds casting dappled shadows upon the sugar-white sands. Justus sits beneath one, watching us.
“Any idea what we’re supposed to do?” I whisper to Dayton.
“Hey, I did my thing. This is all you.” He nudges my shoulder with his own. “Though, when we were drowning, I think a part of me called for help without realizing it. Maybe that’s how the sirens found us.”
“Somehow I don’t think they’re going to hear me from here.”
“Remember what Justus said? The Queen was connected to everything in the Vale because she created it. I have her Blessing. Perhaps that’s what the sirens felt.”
I turn to look up at him. “That sounded surprisingly wise.”
“Don’t get used to it, Blossom.” He smiles, and it’s so dazzling, my heart clenches painfully in my chest.
“Maybe it’s like how, through my mate bond, I can sense Kel, Ez, and Farron, even if they’re far away. What if in a different way, I have a connection to the Vale?”
“Look there, a school of angelfish.” Dayton grabs my hand and points it in their direction. “See if you can feel them.”
“Okay.” I lower my hand, but he doesn’t let go of it. I don’t want him to. The ocean, the Blessing of Summer, and even me, the daughter of the Queen, are all connected.
The colorful fish dart among the coral reef, then disappear from sight, but I close my eyes, willing a part of me to follow. A jolt of electricity travels through my body as I realize I’m still with them. Appearing as bright stars in my vision, they swim deeper and deeper into the depths of the ocean. A sea turtle glides past them, and carries me with him, flowing into the melody of the sea.
“Farther out,” Dayton says. “We need to go deeper.”
He’s with me. I feel the flame of Summer’s Blessing burning beside my heart.
In my mind’s eye, I push us farther into the ocean’s depths. Specks of light like stars blur past us. Each one is alive, each one a part of the Vale. “It’s all connected,” I whisper. I can feel them, from the smallest plankton to the mighty whales, to creatures I’ve never seen with my own eyes before. Their energy intertwines. I feel the pulsing rhythm of the currents, the veins of life feeding the ocean.
A shock of light and pain suddenly pulses through me, and we pause our search. Dayton squeezes my hand tight, feeling it too. I refuse to open my eyes and lose this tether. A new creature swims across my mind’s eye, one I feel no connection to. A creature of shadow.
“Corruption from the Below,” Dayton says lowly.
“It feels so different,” I say.
“It’s not part of the Queen’s magic.”
Steadying my breath, I push past it, continuing our search, and release a call into the void of the sea. Help. Please, I need your help.
The waves stir around my legs. A deep rippling of magic courses back to me. With a melodious hum, their presence surrounds me. Golden Rose, we are coming , says a chorus of voices, sounding like the song of the sea itself.
Gasping, I open my eyes, the bright sun blurring my vision. “They heard me!”
“Rosie, that was amazing!” Dayton gathers me in his arms, lifting me out of the water. “I’ve never felt anything like that before. It was incredible.”
I bury my head into his shoulder, wrapping my legs around his waist. “I couldn’t have done it without you. I felt you guiding me in the ocean.”
He pulls back but doesn’t put me down. “I felt you as well.” There’s a splash, and Dayton drops me to the water. “They’re here.”
From the depths of the sea emerge two sirens, their graceful forms gliding effortlessly through the shimmering waves. Their hair, a cascade of iridescent strands, catches the light, casting ethereal reflections upon the water. They sit before us, tails curling below them.
I clutch Dayton’s arm, unable to let go. They’re as beautiful as they are terrifying, with eyes like gemstones and delicately ridged ears like the fins of a fish. One’s hair is a light green, while the other’s is pale pink.
“Greetings, Golden Rose,” the siren with the green hair says. “I am Nereida. I have heard your call.”
Beside her, the siren with the pale pink hair giggles, looking between Dayton and me. She looks younger, almost embarrassed. “Wow, a princess and a High Prince. They’re both so beautiful.”
“Quiet, Callistia. We are here to aid, not gawk,” Nereida says. “My sister insisted on coming when we heard your call.”
I see now that they share the same blue tails and brown skin. Taking a deep breath, I kneel in the water.
“Thank you for coming. We need help. We fell overboard and got separated from our ship,” I say. “Would you be able to bring us back to it?”
“Oh, we know you fell from a ship.” Callistia claps her hands together. “It was Tethys who saved you. He was bragging about it to everyone in Aerantheis.”
“I knew I was saved by a siren!” Dayton says, dropping into the water beside me.
Callistia’s blush deepens. Like the siren I saw in the Below, Callistia wears nothing over her chest. Flat jewels cover her torso and parts of her arm. Though, Dayton hasn’t even glanced at her breasts. Perhaps finding his mate has made him turn over a new leaf.
“Aerantheis,” I say, turning back to more important matters. “That’s where you live?”
“Yes,” Nereida says. “Aerantheis was saved by your mother many centuries ago. In return, we will do all we can to aid you, Golden Rose.”
“Do you know what happened to our ship?” I ask. “Were there any other castaways?”
“Your ship survived the storm. Last I heard, it was spotted harbored safely in Hadria.”
“That’s amazing news!” I exclaim. “Can you help us return to Hadria?”
“We will lead you there,” Callistia says, clapping again and smiling.
Dayton turns back to his mentor. “Will you return with us?”
Justus walks over. “Aye, I will return to Hadria in time. But I will make my own way there.”
“How?” Dayton raises a brow.
“You have your beast. Perhaps it is not all a curse from the Queen, but partly a gift. Such as the one she granted me.” In a flash of brilliant light, Justus changes into a golden eagle and lifts off into the sky.
“Would you look at that,” Dayton says. “Secrets upon secrets.”
“Maybe he’s right,” I say. “Farron has found strength in his wolf since breaking the curse.”
Dayton doesn’t respond, but his expression sobers.
“You must change as well,” Nereida says.
“What do you mean?” I say, turning to them.
Callistia splashes her tail out of the water, a mesmerizing shade of blue reminiscent of the ocean’s waves. “Well, you can’t expect to swim all the way there with legs .”
Her meaning becomes abundantly clear.
I’m going to need to turn Dayton and myself into sirens.