Chapter 57
Midday sun beats down on my back, my arms bound at the wrist. Seagulls cry overhead. I lift onto my knees and blink my eyes open.
The ocean stretches into the distance, and a sandbar peeks through the low tide. Waves crash into wooden posts and spray sea mist through the cracks in the planks.
I swallow and twist, looking over my shoulder.
The wide docks form a maze back to the shore, punctuated by ships belonging to both pirates and the Sky Court. A crowd gathers at the harbor, shielding their eyes from the sun.
But between the safety of land and me, Caelus and Isolde stand surrounded by royal guards. Eric and Kressa linger behind, and the latter watches me, inspecting my every move. I search the crowd in the distance, but Thea is nowhere to be found.
Venom shoots through Caelus’s glare. “In an unprecedented turn of events, we will be holding a fourth trial. On the sandbar in the distance, there is a small item. Retrieve it, and you’ll be included in the final judgement. Fail, and you succumb to the creature in these depths.”
I stand, clenching every muscle against the imbalance of having my wrists bound. Wincing against the rope, I peer over the edge. There could be any number of creatures in the water, but that isn’t what I have to worry about.
Kressa taps on my mind, and I ease it open.
Do you still trust me? she says.
The hole in her shirt reveals the pale pink scar over her heart. The heart I brought back to life.
I nod. Yes.
Then trust I’ll keep you safe.
Caelus brandishes a short knife. “Hold out your arms.”
He cuts through the rope, and I rub at my wrists—angry and red from being bound so tight. I glance at the ocean and snarl. “No one would survive this.”
“That’s exactly the point. A shame for such beauty to go to waste. You could have allowed me to bind you, and you’d be living a peaceful life by my side. But then you escaped from the dungeon.” He tips the blade toward my throat. “How did you do that?”
I bare my teeth. “Go ahead, slice my throat open. We’ll see how long it takes Terra to return. If I was a betting woman, I’d say before the first drop of my blood hits the deck.”
He snarls and tosses the rope into the sea. It floats at the surface, and a ripple cascades around it.
Caelus smirks. “No need to dirty my hands when there’s something that can kill you much quicker.”
A shadow lurks beneath the strip of rope, then grows larger. Wider. A fang-tipped jaw shoots from the murky depths, and a snakelike body twists out of the water. Scales larger than my hand spear from its skin.
A sea serpent.
It releases an ear-piercing screech and closes its maw around the rope. I scramble back as it curves in on itself and the cloudy film coating its eyes parts. A yellow eye stares at me, the pupil nothing but a vertical black slit.
It dives into the ocean and disappears.
My knees tremble, and I search for a way out, but there’s nothing. Nothing but a dock at my back and a splintered sea at my front.
Raise your head, my love. Do not let him see you balk.
“If you don’t begin,” Caelus says, “it’ll count as a forfeit, and you will lose your life.”
My gaze finds Kressa. The world beyond the two of us blurs and time slows, as if this space between us was granted by the heavens itself. With her, a thousand lifetimes would never be enough.
And here we are, without even one.
Sucking in a breath, I run a calming hand down her mind. When I fall into the water, I’ll die. And it’s not death that scares me, but fear that wherever I go, you won’t be there.
Briar, that’s something you never need to worry about.
But—
Her eyes harden. I’d find you anywhere.
A blue light shines beneath her shirt, dim enough to go unnoticed, and warmth blankets me.
“Enough already.”
Caelus shoves me over the edge of the dock. I scramble for the planks, but my fingers slide off the edge of the rotted wood.
I fall.
Waves churn beneath me, waiting to swallow me whole, and my stomach bottoms out. I force my eyes open. If the ocean welcomes me home by stealing my final breath, I want to see it.
I slam into solid ground.
The air knocks from my lungs, and sand envelops my fingers. A small island, not much bigger than me.
Briar, run!
Shadows bounce between the planks above, and boots pound against the wood, edging closer. I scramble to my feet and rub my shoulder where it slammed into the earth.
Earth.
Kressa’s power.
You need to move, now!
Her thoughts come through panicked, and I whip my head up as the serpent breaks the surface. My heart rises into my throat. The creature arcs through the air toward me, fangs preparing to tear flesh.
Run!
I break into a sprint. The serpent lands on the small island, and its sharp fin catches my pant leg, slicing a clean cut through my calf. I scream, pumping my arms, and under each footfall, earth appears.
A low hiss vibrates from the serpent, and it slinks back into the water.
The sandbank grows nearer, and sweat drips down my face, the sun blinding me.
On your right!
The serpent shoots up, mouth open wide, fangs dripping with a poisonous green liquid. Filmed eyes flash across my vision, and it slams into me.
I crest through the air, the water inches below me.
A grunt echoes in my mind, and I crash into sand, sliding to a stop.
The serpent arcs, its tongue tasting the air as a hiss reverberates through my bones.
It rears back, and I dart out of the way as its fangs sink into the sand.
It thrashes, but its jaw is stuck. Leaping to my feet, I take off toward the sandbank.
I pump my arms as the ground rises beneath me, as if Kressa can predict my every move.
Almost there, she says.
Exhaustion seeps through her thoughts, and her words are heavy as my feet reach the sandbank. A small drawstring pouch sits at the peak, and I sprint to it, my chest heaving.
I fall to my knees and spare a glance over my shoulder, where the people on the dock aren’t more than specks. Turning back to the pouch, I pull the strings open.
My brow furrows. It’s a large, clear marble. Inside, waves of light and dark blue twist together like a vortex. I close my fingers around the sphere, and a blinding, blue light shoots into the sky.
Applause travels from the harbor and over the water.
The light disappears as quickly as it came, and I shove the marble into the bag, tying the drawstrings around my belt loop. Scanning the waves, I search for any disturbance in the water, but it’s calm. No sign of the serpent.
I tread to the edge of the sandbank, where Kressa’s path leads back to the dock. But the ocean ripples, the earth itself shaking. And in a single breath, the path back sinks into the water.
My heart thuds against my ribcage, and my throat constricts. Kressa?
Her thoughts come through muffled, as if it’s an effort to communicate. But two words break through the static. Rhodium cuffs.
I retreat a step. Another. I fall to my knees.
My damp hair plasters to my forehead and hot sand dumps into my boots. The waves pull out and crash back in, stretching higher than before. Foam nearly reaches my knees.
High tide.
I run a finger over the damp sand, and ignore the searing pain as it burns my skin. I bite my lip and consider. An instant of blinding agony, then it would be over. Death would be my choice—at the hand of my home rather than Caelus.
Rising, I step closer to the surf.
Don’t you dare.
My gaze drifts to the sun-beaten dock, and the bond pulls my focus directly to Kressa.
Panic flows from her, as well as the bite of rhodium as she strains against the cuffs.
Please, she begs.
Tears stain my cheeks, and a wave arcs, crashing against the sandbar.
Goodbye, Kressa.
I take the final step.