10. Bay
Bay
“What’s happening?” I gasp, my eyes snapping open, only to be met with total darkness. The sound of my own voice echoes endlessly, sharp and grating in my ears, stretching out into the void. Where the hell am I ?
“It’s time to hunt, my dear huntress,” a familiar voice emerges from behind me.
No, no, no, no! I escaped him! I got my freedom back!
“I’m wearing the pendant of the Mal-El royal house, I’ve regained my freedom and my affiliation mark!” I scream into the void, realizing the Guardian of the Great Coral of Life didn’t get the memo.
“You can’t escape your destiny. You belong to me,” he growls, his voice echoing with power, vibrating through every inch of my body. The sheer force of it shakes me to my core, every muscle tensing, every nerve screaming in terror. Panic floods me, spreading like wildfire through my chest.
“Get out of my head! Let me go!” I keep screaming, clutching my head tightly.
Focus, Bay, focus! You have to push him out of your mind.
His roar booms on, loud and unrelenting, a harsh noise that twists inside my skull.
I press my hands to my ears, tears already stinging my eyes, burning from the sheer volume.
The pain in my head intensifies, a sharp, stabbing ache that makes my vision blur.
Warm blood trickles from my ears—what’s happening?
“Fine, FINE! I’ll go hunt!” I suddenly shout into the piercing voice still reverberating in the darkness, silencing him instantly.
“As I thought, my huntress. You belong to me... Go on your way,” he whispers, his voice now hoarse with satisfaction. Why me? Why is the Guardian haunting me? That old, shitty water dragon.
“Release me from your hold now, and I’ll go hunt,” I plead quietly now, desperate to escape the darkness that surrounds me in his grip, filling me with loneliness and coldness I thought I’d never have to feel again.
My eyes snap open, and I immediately recognize Pedro’s room. He’s released me. I’m okay. A tear slips down my cheek, and I glance over to Pedro’s side. Where is he?
I get out of bed, searching for someone to comfort me. My heart feels cold as ice, it hurts to be alone.
I grab the door handle and am surprised to find it locked.
I pull it down and up several times with a bit of force, as if that will somehow unlock the door, and a frustrated sigh echoes from my lips into the room.
Why am I locked up? When he’s holding me, I can’t control anything. Maybe I hurt Pedro?!
Panic floods me again as I rush to the bedside table, searching for my phone, relieved to find it lying in the drawer. It’s 5 AM, and I press Alin’s name without a second thought.
“Who is it?” she answers in a sleepy voice after two rings.
“Alin, what’s going on?” I whisper hesitantly, not wanting to know what he made me do this time.
“Bay! Are you okay? Have you come to your senses?”
Alin’s voice immediately wakes with concern, proving to me that I did do something.
“What did I do, Alin? I didn’t hurt Pedro, did I?” My voice trembles with uncertainty, terrified of hearing the rest of the story.
“I’m coming down to you now, wait for me,” she quickly says and hangs up, leaving me on edge.
I feel my heart pounding harder as I try to imagine all the things I could have done to him.
He’s a man, a human who was close to me when the Guardian called me.
How can I go hunt for him again? I don’t want to hunt anymore.
Another tear slips down my cheek, which suddenly feels so heavy. I try to take deep breaths to calm down, inhale through the nose, exhale through my mouth—just like Alin taught me humans do. But the hole in my chest only feels deeper now.
The sound of a key being inserted into the door’s lock echoes in my ears, slicing through the searing silence in the room.
“Bay, are you okay?” Alin bursts into the room like a storm, sitting down in front of me on the bed, placing her hands on my shoulders. Her usually glowing turquoise eyes are swollen and red—I can’t tell if she’s been crying or just hasn’t slept well.
“I...” I start, but stop immediately, having no idea how to even begin explaining to her what’s going on with me.
I’ve never opened up to anyone about what I went through with the Hunters’ pod.
Those months were so dark and difficult that I preferred to bury them deep and pretend they never happened.
Elyr’s dying face is engraved in my brain.
Now that the time of the month has come and he’s still calling me, I don’t know what to do. Can Alin help me? Will she understand?
“Bay, talk to me. I need to know what’s happening with you. How did they manage to take control of your consciousness like that?” she presses, and my body tenses at her words. She’s already figured out that I’m under someone else’s control. What the hell did I do?
“It’s a long story...” I manage to say, avoiding eye contact. I’m not sure if she’ll judge me or if she’ll keep locking me up out of fear that she won’t be able to control me if something happens. I’m a risk to all the men in the Spallo family when I’m here.
“You woke me up at five in the morning, I’ve got all the time in the world.
Start talking,” she insists, and I know there’s no escaping this now.
“The water dragon, the Guardian of the Coral of Life, is calling me to hunt,” I release the truth in a whisper that seems so loud in the quiet that envelops this dark room.
“Bay, are you sure it’s not just nightmares from the trauma you experienced with the Hunters’ pod?
I’ve never heard of the water dragon summoning huntresses to hunt every month.
And besides, you were pardoned.” Her voice is soft, dripping with sympathy—as if she thinks I’ve lost my mind.
Of course, she doesn’t understand. She never could.
“He calls me his chosen one. The Coral of Life itself calls the huntresses to hunt every month, but for me... I was ‘lucky’ enough to catch the Guardian’s attention, and now he won’t let go of me.
He refuses to let me leave the Hunters’ pod.
If I don’t go out to hunt now, he’ll haunt me.
I could end up hurting the Spallo family here on land,” I release the truth along with another few tears, collapsing into her arms with loud sobs.
This is the first time I’m sharing it, and it feels like I’m living through it all over again.
I want peace, I want my freedom. Why do I never get a happy ending?
My tears soak into Alin’s shirt, but she remains silent, her gaze distant and clouded.
“What do I do, Alin?” I whisper, my voice breaking, but she doesn’t respond.
Her body feels stiff against mine, and a chill of unease settles over me.
I pull back, wiping my face with my sleeve, and look into her turquoise eyes—now brimming with tears.
A pang hits me; have I broken even her? The Guardian dragon, my own fate. .. How much worse could it get?
“Alin?” I ask again, my voice small, desperate. A deep breath escapes her lips, and a lone tear traces down her cheek.
“The Sacred Bride…” she murmurs, almost to herself. “No, no, no…”
Her words send a jolt through me. “The Sacred Bride?” I echo, bewildered.
“Bay, the prophecy of the Sacred Bride. You’re the Sacred Bride!” she finally manages, and her words hit me like a slap. Sacred Bride? What is she talking about? I stare at her, feeling my heart pound in my chest.
“I’m definitely not a bride, and sacred? You’ve lost me, Alin. Care to explain?”
She takes a deep breath, gathering herself before she speaks.
“When we learned about the Coral of Life in survival classes, there was a prophecy—about the ‘Sacred Bride.’ The one who would free the Guardian Dragon. He’s been waiting for his bride for over six hundred years.
According to the prophecy, only she can sever his bond to the Coral, unleashing his power across the oceans,” she says, her voice trembling.
My chest tightens. A prophecy that’s six hundred years old?
He thinks I’m his bride!? He expects me to free him and bring chaos to the oceans? The old dragon must be delusional.
A frustrated laugh escapes me, snapping Alin from her daze. “I’m not anyone’s bride, especially not some ancient, deluded dragon,” I say firmly, the surge of anger wiping away the last of my tears.
Alin, now seeming more like herself, straightens and reaches out, grabbing my hands in both of hers.
“We need to talk to my mother—find a way to sever this connection. I’m not going to let you be handed over to him—not now, not ever,” she declares, her grip tightening, anchoring both of us.
Her determination sparks something inside me. Together . I’m not alone in this.
“Thank you,” I choke out, pulling her into a tight hug. “What would I do without you?”
“Probably live a much better life. You were exiled to the Hunters’ pod because of me,” she says quietly, a pained look crossing her face.
I sigh, familiar with this old guilt she clings to. “Alin, I chose to run. I chose to wound that guard. None of this is your fault, it’s all on my parents,” I tell her, for what feels like the thousandth time. She falls silent, absorbing my words.
We both know we have a much larger battle to face, and dwelling on old scars can wait.
“Come on,” she says, getting up from the bed, “it’s time to visit my mother.
If anyone knows what to do, it’s her.” Alin grabs my hand, pulling me along.
Aunt Lora used to teach some of the survival classes at sea—she knows a lot about prophecies and the curses that have drifted through the oceans over the years. Alin is right.
As she pulls me along to the first floor, an inexplicable sense of relief washes over me. For the first time in a long while, I don’t feel like it’s just me against the world.
“Where are you two going?” Pedro stands at the entrance of the apartment as Alin opens the door. My body tenses—Alin still hasn’t told me what I did to him.
My eyes scan his face anxiously, searching for any sign of fear or dread, but he looks at me with tired eyes and immediately wraps me in his arms. My heart pounds in my chest— Pedro is hugging me? What the hell happened when the dragon had control of my mind?
“Can someone here explain what happened while I was under the Guardian’s control?” I turn my head toward Alin from within his embrace, trying to get some answers.
“Guardian what?” Pedro asks quickly, his chin resting on the top of my head.
“You were completely frozen, not responding to anything, and then when you snapped out of it, you started stammering and acting strange,” he steps back to explain, but his body remains close.
I have to tilt my head up to look at him.
His golden hazel eyes, as clear as the royal’s nectar, send unfamiliar waves of excitement through my chest every time they look at me like that.
I quickly suppress them—he’s already made it clear he’s not interested in a relationship.
“I was acting strange?” I take a step back, distancing myself from him, and ask, looking at both of them.
“A hunting screech came out of you,” Alin says bluntly now, her face tense. “I had to sing over your voice to save Pedro, and I had no choice but to knock you out.”
The weight of her words hits me hard. I understand why she locked me up. She did the right thing.
I almost hunted Pedro. I have to break this cursed prophecy.
I look at Alin now, my expression serious. She, as if reading my thoughts, nods for me to hurry—we need Aunt Lora.
“ It’s time to hunt ,” the deafening roar accompanied by an ear-piercing growl penetrates my ears again, and I clutch them tightly, feeling like my eardrums are about to burst at any moment, falling to my knees.
“Let me go already! I’m not going to hunt!” I scream into the air, now curled up on the floor, still covering my ears. Alin promised she’d help me— I won’t give in to him. I’m not alone now!
Alin rushes to me in concern and, without thinking twice, releases high yet soft sounds from her mouth, a soothing symphony that clashes with the sharp hunter’s screech the Guardian is releasing into my ears, freeing me from his grip within moments.
I finally let go of my ears and lie down on the cold floor,calming my racing heart, grounding myself back to reality.
“Alin, you’ll have to go to your mother alone and get the answers we need.
If I return to the ocean, his hold on me will be much stronger.
You won’t be able to break our connection like you did here,” now I realize that staying in the locked room is the smartest decision until Alin returns.
“I’ll stay in the room, lock myself in until you come back. ”
Alin nods, and Pedro steps forward, his face unreadable.
“You’re not locking yourself in alone. I’m staying with you,” he declares, and I can’t understand why he’s risking himself like this. We’re nothing, so why is he diving headfirst into a whirlpool when there’s a clear path to swim away?
“You’ll be in danger. If Alin isn’t here to break his hold on me, I could hunt even you, without control,” I warn him, knowing it should be enough to deter him from staying with me.
“I made sure to bring earplugs and noise-canceling headphones from the shooting range. I’ll put them on quickly if it happens again,” he says, dropping the backpack I just now notice he’s been carrying, showing me the large black ear protectors he brought with him.
Why is he so insistent? Isn’t he afraid?
“Are you sure?” I ask, raising an eyebrow, and he nods in confirmation, gripping my arm.
“I’ll stay with her here. Come back quickly,” he tells Alin, and she nods in agreement before rushing out of the apartment.
Now it’s just the two of us.
Or three? Stupid, perv dragon.
Sacred Bride, she said?