Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
MERI
A ll of the rooms in the dungeon are empty. Forced to search floor by floor, our progress is slow as we make our way up to the top. Cormal and Madoc send their magic ahead of us to search for any remaining Phoenix, but they’ve all fled. Brixton must have warned them. Cormal swears the island looks the same as earlier, so we can’t be sure if he spoke the truth.
Top floor. “This is it. If he’s not here, he isn’t in the castle.” But where could he be? I refuse to leave without him.
Rivan.
Hurry.
Where?
Hurry.
Every room is empty. There are no more floors above us. I step out onto the balcony to look out across the land. A harbor with a couple of newer ships that must have belonged to the Phoenix and a few rickety ships bobbing gently in the water. A small, deserted town with a crumbling well and small, worn houses. Drab and dreary-looking bushes, trees, and flowers. The only interesting thing is the roaring waterfall on the mountain behind the castle.
Absolutely no sign of Rivan or any life for that matter.
“There!” Madoc shouts, pointing to the waterfall.
With a frown, I turn and look. White water pours down the side of the mountain from the top. Confused, I turn to look at Madoc again, and see a flash in the corner of my eye. Pivoting, I stare at the water, waiting. High up the mountain, close to where the waterfall starts its descent, red light flares brightly behind the curtain of water.
For a second, I stare at it, not understanding, but then it hits me, and I scream, “Rivan!”
Hyne lifts his hands, parting the waterfall like a curtain, until we can see behind it.
Loud curses fill the air from all three men, but tears slip down my face as I stare at Rivan. Suspended upside down from the mouth of a cave, his ankles and wrists bound by gold cuffs, is Rivan. Naked with no runes left on his body. How many times did he drown and regenerate? A hundred? A thousand?
“Get him down,” I demand hoarsely, my voice full of pain and anger.
Cormal’s magic holds him up as Madoc’s magic releases him from the metal cuffs binding him to the mountain. Carefully, they dress and dry him. Then float him softly down to the outer courtyard. Once I see him pass the balcony, I take off running.
Madoc spits out a curse. “Hyne, follow her.”
Racing down the steps and out of the castle with the kraken behind me, I hit the dirt beside Rivan’s body. “Rivan. It’s me. Meri. Open your eyes.”
“Hurry,” he whispers over and over. “Hurry.”
“You’re safe,” I reassure him, stroking my hand across his rune-free body. Regenerating strips him of all his protections. I pick up his hand and clasp it tightly in mine. “Open your eyes. Look at me.”
“Not here,” he mumbles, turning his head to the side as if he can’t bear to look.
Bending down, I carefully grasp his chin and turn him back to me. My lips find his, warmth covering the cold, and I pour all my feelings for him into a long, searching kiss. Pouty lips move gently against mine, slowly coming to life. Tears slide between our lips as my relief overflows.
He surges up, taking my head in his hands, and sweeps his tongue into my mouth. Desperate and urgent, he consumes me, making me a willing prisoner to his need. He pulls his lips from mine for a brief second, his eyes full of desperation.
“Tell me this is real.”
Needing more, I bring his lips back to mine, a silent answer to his question. I feel like I’ve been waiting forever for him. To kiss him without restraint. Hold him tightly in my arms. Run my hands over his lean body.
“I’ll go prepare the ship.” Madoc’s tight voice filters through the haze around me. “Hyne, want to help?”
A hand on my shoulder. “Meri, we need to go. The island is… changing.”
Rumbling makes my body sway back and forth, but it’s strong enough to make me pull away from Rivan. I look around and see an invisible wave rolling across the island, changing the previously muted land, brightening, and sharpening every tree, flower, and building with color until they’re almost blinding in their intensity.
Rivan opens his eyes and stares at me. “You came for me.” Amber gold and filled with disbelief, he shakes his head as if he can’t believe I’m here.
I place my hands on each side of his head. “I’ll always come for you. I promise.”
Cormal leans down. “We need to fucking leave. Now.” Grasping Rivan’s arms, he helps him stand. “Can we ride the shadows?”
Rivan looks around, and his eyes widen. “No, but you’re right. We need to get out of here.” He takes a few steps forward and stumbles.
Cormal sweeps him up and places his arm around his shoulders. “I’ve got you.” Using magic to help him carry the extra weight, he begins to run, Rivan on one side and me on the other.
We make it to the dock, and I use the wind to bring us on board.
Hyne’s standing at the helm, waves held high, and the second our feet touch the wood, he uses the force of water to rapidly propel us away from the island.
I grip the railing and stare back at Avalon. “What’s happening?”
Rivan looks at me and raises my hand. “You woke the island with my mother’s magic.” He taps the rune in the middle of my palm, then dips his head toward my hip. “It’s why my father killed me before he took me there. He had to strip the runes from my body first.” Dark thoughts twist his features into something almost unrecognizable.
I link our pinkies together. “Why does he hate you?”
Rivan’s silent for a few minutes. “He thinks I’m a disgrace for living when the rest of my legion were slaughtered. Maybe he’s right. For years, I thought I’d find a way to escape Nyssa, but as time went by, I lost hope. Without hope, I didn’t care.”
He stares out across the rippling waves. “Fisk’s death sparked something in me. A warrior I thought I’d smothered a long time ago.” He lets loose a derisive laugh. “Brixton showed me that warrior was weak. It wasn’t even much of a fight. He disarmed and killed me in the first minute.” The hand on the railing clenches into a fist. “The last five days of torture was simply to teach me a lesson in futility.”
Bitterness fills the air, tinged with a darkness I don’t usually feel around Rivan. What do I even say to help him? Helpless is a feeling I know too well. A dark hole, it can steal your will to climb out, and overcoming it is tough. All I can do is be here for him.
“Cormal,” I say softly. He’s been standing on my other side, silently listening to our exchange. “Where are we going?”
His hand sweeps down my back. “To The Abbey. But we start our search for Leandra tomorrow.”
I look at him and nod. “Good. We need to finish her so we can figure out how to handle Denir.”
“Denir?” Rivan asks with a worried frown. “Why? What’s going on?”
For the next hour, I explain everything that happened after I gave him his freedom. “For some reason, Denir thinks I have something of his. Leandra wants to use me as a tool for revenge. Lost love and all that bullshit. We can’t continue to dodge them both, so we’ve decided to hunt her first.”
Rivan steps away from me, letting my pinkie drop from his. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He sweeps a hand through his hair, the red and black strands showing his dual heritage.
I vehemently shake my head. “At the time, I thought my crown was always going to be between us and the only gift I had to give you was your freedom.”
He looks up to the sky as if he’s contemplating flying away. “The last time I saw you… when I brought you my copy of the signed treaty, you knew you were going to give up your crown. I told you I was going to give Fisk’s copy to the Water Fae, and then I was coming back, but you didn’t say anything. You could have told me then. Why didn’t you?”
“You gave up so much for the war the first time, I didn’t feel it was right to ask you to get involved again,” I cry, reaching for his hand. My heart breaks at the look on his face.
Jerking away from me, he looks at Cormal and Madoc. “No. It’s because you thought I was fragile. Weak. Just like my father. If you thought I was able to handle it, you would have asked me to stay.” Pivoting on his heel, he stalks away, shoulders stiff with hurt pride.
I take a step to go after him, but Madoc stops me. “I’ll go. I know a way to help him.” With those cryptic words, he follows Rivan below deck.
Crying, I look at Cormal, and he opens his arms. “It will take a while, but he’ll come around.” He sweeps a lock behind my ear. “But, Meri, you have to stop thinking you know what’s best for him. Our damage is ours to overcome. We’re stronger for it. Be there for him but let him find his path.”
“He has to save himself first,” I say softly, realizing for the first time why Cormal was adamant I learn how to save myself.