Chapter 22
Elariya
“The Damning Escape”
My heart thundered against my ribs, echoing throughout my body with sharp-edged hope.
Grandmother's familiar face loomed over me. A face I never thought I’d see again. I blinked rapidly, my eyes adjusting to the light from the fireplace as I tried to process what I was truly seeing.
Silver hair gleamed against the warm glow. Vibrant hazel eyes stared back at me with urgent concern, her thin lips pursed with silent worry.
I had to be dreaming. Or maybe the tonic Arielle gave me was scrambling my mind.
But those dimples, those wrinkles, those loving eyes. They were real.
Warm hands rested on my arm, solid and familiar. The scent of lavender and roses drifted around me like a comforting embrace, just like it always had.
“Grandmother?” My voice cracked, desperation weighing on every syllable.
“Yes, it’s me, child.”
Blessed Mother. It was her.
My grandmother was truly here. She'd found me. After everything, she'd actually found me.
Joy crashed over me and I bolted upright, throwing my arms around her. “How is this possible?” I gasped, holding her tightly.
“I went through all the hells to find a way to get you back.” She held me closer, her heart beating as vibrantly as mine.
“I can’t believe you found me.” A sob caught in my throat.
My brilliant, powerful grandmother. Of course, she would have found a way through Wolfe's defenses. I knew she wouldn't have left me to face this nightmare alone.
Tears burned my eyes as the weight of everything I’d been through crashed over me. The feeling was so fierce it felt like it might rip me apart.
“We need to leave now. Your mother and Emabelle are waiting outside for us,” she whispered against my ear, then pulled back to meet my eyes.
“They came, too?”
“Of course, dear. We’ve been worried sick.”
“How did you find—”
“Questions later, child. We don't have much time.” She cupped my face, the touch of her fingers adding reassurance. “We need to move as quickly as possible. You can tell us everything when we get home.”
Home.
The word sounded like solace in my mind. A safe haven of hope that made me realize just how desperate I was to return. I didn’t have to save myself anymore. Help had come to me. My family had come for me.
Wait. My stomach dropped as I remembered the invisible chain around my wrist. If we tried to leave without getting rid of it...
Gods, I had to let Grandmother know who we were dealing with. I was certain she’d know exactly who Wolfe was.
“Grandmother, it was Wolfe Nightblade who took me.” I whispered. “He put an invisible shackle around my wrist. If we try to leave, it will alert him.”
Her eyes rounded with a sick twist of fear and recognition. “Wolfe Nightblade? Galaythia’s heir?”
“Yes.”
“Blessed Mother.” She steadied herself with a breath. “Don’t worry. I’ll place up a shield to block his magic. Hopefully that should work. I doubt he used anything too strong because of the magical restrictions. Let’s pray we’ll be home before he notices you’re missing.”
My entire body sighed with relief. But then… I thought of Wolfe and what happened earlier. That barely there kiss filled with so much emotion it had leaked into my soul. The memory tugged at my insides, weakening me for a moment.
I’d never met anyone like Wolfe and I was certain no one would make me lose my mind the way he did.
“I don’t want you to forget me.” His voice whispered through my mind, making me feel that thing I didn’t want to give a name. He was the first man to make me feel anything. But he was just a fantasy.
A fantasy that masked the truth. He was my villain. They all were. Even Sirril with his kind heart and willingness to care for me.
My grandmother was here to save me. That was all that mattered now.
Together we’d find a way to find Father and the ring, then break my curse.
“Come on, child. We must go.”
“Yes. I’ll just grab some clothes.”
“Quickly.” She scanned the room, probably checking for wards I hadn’t seen nor felt.
I scrambled out of bed and pulled on pants and a woolen tunic. Then I wrapped my shawl around my shoulders and dragged on my shoes.
Grandmother muttered a spell in a language I’d never heard her use. It sounded strange and creepy. Nausea curdled my stomach as I listened to her, but I breathed past the feeling.
I was aware it would take great magic to counter Wolfe’s spell. And there was no way Grandmother was abiding by any sort of rules at a time like this.
Knowing her, she would have pulled the darkest and most dangerous of spells from her arsenal.
“The shield’s up. Let’s go.” She took my hand and led me toward the door.
We slipped out like thieves, but every shadow seemed to watch us. Every breath of wind through the ship's bones sounded like whispers. Like messages trying to reach Wolfe’s ears.
The floorboards creaked beneath our feet, echoing through the silent corridor. My heart pounded so hard I feared someone would hear it from wherever they slept. Or maybe they weren’t even sleeping. I doubted they’d all be asleep.
The Bloodsworn were trained warriors. They would have always been on guard in case of an attack, so someone would definitely be on watch.
One of the floorboards groaned out louder than the others. I held my breath, expecting Wolfe to materialize from the shadows. But thank the Blessed Mother, the hallway remained empty.
When we finally reached the steps leading up to the deck, moonlight spilled down in silver streams, painting everything in ghostly shades. Waves lapped against the hull in a steady rhythm, while wind whistled through the rigging. Something deeper groaned in the timber. Old, restless magic.
“Almost there,” Grandmother breathed, gripping my hand tighter.
Freedom was so close I could taste it. We emerged onto the deck and the night air filled my lungs. The moon hung low and heavy over the water, so huge it seemed to fill half the sky. Its light turned the sea to liquid silver, beautiful and terrible all at once.
Each step felt like walking through a dream. That surreal space between sleeping and waking where anything seemed possible.
I couldn’t wait to see my mother and Emabelle. I couldn’t wait to hug them, and when I did, I didn’t think I’d ever let them go.
Eagerly, I scanned the dark waters for them, but there was no rowboat that I could see, nor a magical portal shimmering in the air. Just endless ocean stretching to the horizon. Maybe Grandmother had cloaked them.
“How are we getting off?” I whispered. “Is there a boat?”
Grandmother squeezed my hand gently. “Don’t worry about that. Just follow me.”
We continued to my little spot where I’d been through the day, then she guided me toward the railing.
“Elariya!” Arielle shouted my name from the distance, startling me.
Shit. We’d been caught. It was only a matter of seconds before Arielle would alert Wolfe and the others.
I spun around and saw her at the other end of the deck, racing toward us, her platinum hair rippling like starlight in the wind.
“Don’t leave with her!” she cried, moving faster.
“Come, child, hurry.” Grandmother squeezed my wrist, pulling me into a run.
“Elariya!” Arielle screamed, but strangely, she sounded farther away instead of closer, though she wasn't that far from us. “Elariyaaaa!”
She ran faster but slammed hard against something invisible. I realized it was the shield Grandmother placed up.
Arielle bounced off like a fly hitting a window and went tumbling backward. She looked hurt from the impact.
I gasped and slowed, guilt clutching my lungs.
“Come, child.” Grandmother tugged harder on my hand.
We'd almost reached the railing, but I couldn't look away from Arielle. I just needed to see she was okay.
When she moved and rolled to her knees, I released the breath I'd been holding and refocused on leaving.
“Elariya, that's not your grandmother!” Arielle screamed, pushing to her feet.
“Yes, she is,” I cried back. “I have to go.”
“She’s a Ruskiel. A sea witch!”
A chill raced through my core. I looked back at Grandmother and noticed a strange red glow pulsing from her skin.
“Grandmother.” I tugged on her hand, trying to pull her to a stop, but she kept going, kept pulling me, kept leading me away.
Her grip was impossibly strong and not like her at all. The sudden sense of wrongness filled me, clawing at the edges of my mind. What if Arielle was right?
Shards of lightning crackled off the shield in streams of fractured ribbons as Arielle chanted a loud spell.
On seeing that, Grandmother released me and shoved me behind her. She raised her hands and chanted, too, but in that creepy language that made my soul want to flee.
Her voice changed, growing deeper and gravelly, hissing like a basket of snakes. “Nan senck selli ninoma. Nan senck selli nimoma.”
“Luminer adair, lumuinou adominox illyvaria,” Arielle cried back, and stars fell from the sky. They raced toward the shield, pulsing like white fire. Each one crashed into the barrier with a sound like breaking glass, leaving jagged holes that spread like cracks in ice.
That's when Wolfe and the Bloodsworn emerged, bursting through the shattered barrier. They stumbled forward as if they'd been hurled from a great height. I realized they'd been trapped inside the barrier all along.
They rushed to Arielle’s side, swords raised. Wolfe’s eyes locked with mine, freezing me in place.
I expected fury, rage. But worry painted his face instead. That emotion, one I'd never seen on him, scared me more than anything.
That split second was all we got before a powerful tentacle latched around my upper body, pinning my arms. Then I was hoisted into the air, the grip so tight I feared I'd be crushed to powder.
A scream died in my throat, swallowed by shock as my grandmother's image blurred into a red glow. Her skin rippled, taking on the slick, scaled sheen of something that had never been meant to walk on land. A monster materialized.
A monster that was a cross between a kraken and a giant snake with the face and body of a hideous woman.
Silver hair writhed like living tentacles from her head, stretching and darkening to an oily black that the moonlight itself. Violet eyes stared back at me, and she smiled.
“Poor little mage,” she crooned in a voice like waves grinding bones to sand. “So desperate to escape you'd believe any pretty lie.”
Gods, I was such a fool. She'd tricked me completely.
The creature that had worn my grandmother's face leaned close, its breath carrying the rotting stench of drowned things.
Ruskiel.
The stories Grandmother told me since childhood came flooding back, but she'd never mentioned how truly terrifying these creatures were.
Ruskiels were malicious sea witches from the realm of the dead who preyed on the desperate, feeding on broken hopes and shattered dreams. With everything that had happened to me I was the perfect meal.
Darkness bloomed around us, thick with brine and decay. Then she looked away and beamed at Wolfe and the others, her face splitting into a smile full of needle-sharp teeth.
She chanted those evil-sounding words again, and the holes in the shield snapped shut, resealing before anyone could breach them.
Wolfe and the others tried to counteract the spell, but a powerful force knocked them back.
The Ruskiel laughed and trapped Arielle in a glowing sphere, locking her away from the others before hurling her through the air. Bastian's wings erupted from his back as he flew after her.
Alaric and Garrick joined Wolfe and the three tried to break through the barrier.
“Sorry, dark prince. This one is mine. You will not get her back. Her soul is too juicy.” The witch taunted, then leaped over the side of the ship.
Wolfe surged through the air, wings unfurled, ready for war. But his eyes were on me.
“Wolfe!” I cried out. That was the first time I'd used his name since the night he took me.
The last thing I saw before we plunged into the water was cold terror in his eyes.
I screamed as we smashed into the cruel waves. Then the sea and its witch claimed me, taking me away from him.