CHAPTER SEVEN
Trees barricaded the entrance onto Plumsu Island as the sun set below the horizon the following evening—no harbor in sight, and only one passage in or out of the Myrrwood Forest. I counted each breath, every delicate pull of air misguiding my growing trepidation.
Zahara escorted the ship as close as possible before Calvin dropped the anchors.
Jun silently heaved against a water barrel, battling to breathe through the multiple broken ribs riddling his body.
The beating he endured drained his energy along with the power that settled in his bones, making him incapable of healing the wounds inside himself.
Calvin, Noctis, and I agreed to enter the forest in search of the Threnai, leaving Jun to rest and Zahara to finish the necessary repairs to the stern before sailing northwest toward the Shadeborne entrance on Waning Isle.
“Is it too late to change our mind?” Calvin murmured, fidgeting the grandiose silver ring around his middle finger.
“Yes,” I answered. Although debilitating dread overwhelmed me, so did the images that flashed into my mind of the bodies crushed beneath the boulders by the Oricaan.
“It’s driven by elven magic,” Noctis murmured at my side as we overlooked the dense forest. I tilted my head, his words bouncing through my nearly empty mind, but they never formed coherency.
“The forest isn’t just dangerous. It’s a graveyard in waiting.
Even the elven islanders keep their distance, whispering of creatures that turn on their own without hesitation.
As for what waits beyond the trees tonight…
no one knows. No one who’s entered has lived to speak of it. ”
“Was that supposed to be reassuring?” I asked as my heart nearly beat from my chest.
So, he’s cocky and insincere.
“Please, if I wanted to reassure you, I’d lie. But I have an inkling you’re not the type that needs sugarcoating.”
He was right, though. I’d preferred to be told outright about the danger that lay awaiting us. It was better to step into the truth than be struck by it in ignorance. And if my past self didn’t prefer it, she’d change right along with present me. I got to decide who I became.
“If any of us die, we will haunt you since this was all your bright idea,” Calvin chirped to the god, but the dread in his voice rattled palpably the longer we looked toward the island’s forest wall.
“I won’t let anything happen to either of you,” Noctis assured.
“You better hope nothing happens to them,” Zahara warned from behind us. “Power like yours always assumes it’s eternal. It’s not. I’ll make sure of it.”
The god turned to meet her glaring stare, only offering a sure nod of promise.
I held my gaze at the dreary tree line, an overgrown path cutting the middle of the dense forest, paved by the magic itself for followers to walk——a silent and deadly invitation to enter.
I’d interrogated Calvin earlier, fearing my unpreparedness would bring us all to our knees; however, even knowing what little he was able to explain scared me even more.
My nerves sprouted roots and spread like a poison seeping into my veins. An invisible embrace wrapped around me, radiating warmth hugging my torso, stretching to my feet. It rubbed against me, calloused and rough, as if the touch hardened by years.
Each of my feet staggered, my head whirling to find what held onto me.
“I’ll take you to land if the water isn’t something you’re ready to brave yet,” the god’s voice hummed low in my ear.
The realization struck me: his magic. It enveloped me tighter—not restricting, but comforting.
For a second, I allowed it, permitting him to cradle me like a part of my past needed the contact.
To hell he would.
The dagger at my thigh flipped in my fingers, landing between the tips of my grip. He reeled back, shocked at the threat, and the power fell like a dropped enemy soldier.
“Why would you care?”
He stared at me, his eyes trailing slowly between each of my own, then held at the furrows digging between my eyebrows. The sly smile he flashed hid something greater than he would put to words. I was sure of it.
“There’s no reason for us to be enemies,” he drawled smoothly.
“Tell me why you want the titan, and then I will consider believing anything you say.”
He froze, stuck in his mind. His eyes shuffled, even as they remained glued to me.
“Why don’t we start smaller, like maybe my favorite color? My worst fear?” The pulsing, cracked scar down his face glowed against the moon’s growing light.
“No,” I interrupted. “Tell me why you want the titan. What could a god possibly need with a titan?”
He swallowed, a slow droop of his eyelids marking his contemplation.
“I am cursed… and dying. Only a divine being of greater or equal power can counter it.”
Barely mustering the huff that rose against my chest, the extended dagger slid back into its sheath.
“And that would be a bad thing? A rogue, cursed god dying? That sounds like it’s doing a service to the realms.”
Noctis’s eyebrows and lips worked in tandem, curving down slightly, almost imperceptibly.
Good.
“There’s no other god or goddess who will help you?
Have you truly burned all those bridges?
” I asked, desperate to understand his intentions.
If only he allowed me into his mind—his motives—I might be able to trust him.
However, my body constricted in his presence.
My skin peppered at his gaze. My head burned with intensity that screamed to build a brick wall of skepticism.
“I carry the weight of choices others would never understand, and I would carry it twice.”
Cryptic. And not at all an answer.
“Must be nice doing whatever you want and calling it necessary.”
“I’ve told you why. You’re supposed to be nice to me now,” Noctis replied with a forced tilt of his lips on one side.
“I told you I’d consider believing what you say.”
“Fair enough,” the god muttered under his breath.
Calvin slapped a hand on my shoulder, interrupting the conversation. Probably on purpose.
“Will your fins appear if you touch the water?” He gestured toward the shallow ocean separating us. We’d have to wade through it to reach the forest.
“I’m not sure.” I shifted on my feet. Memories of the advancing Tide Reapers reminded me of what hunted in the depths.
“We’ll be here if you need us,” Noctis said gently.
“Will you be there for me, too?” Calvin joked, but Noctis only shook his head, a soft smile cresting across his lips.
Jump. I just needed to jump over the railing into the shallow water long enough to reach the land. The cool wooden beams purged the warmth from my body as I threw myself over.
A solid mass collided into me, sweeping me upward right before crashing head first into the waves. My head nestled in safety as the trajectory change attempted to whip it downwards.
My breath caught, eyes wide in surprise.
“No need to walk when I can carry you,” Noctis said smoothly against my cheek’s skin. He held me delicately against his chest, soaring toward land without a single beat of his wings.
“Put me down,” I seethed. Fear lived in me, but weakness did not.
He laughed, and I hated that it sent bumps along my skin. But he did not release me.
We glided just above the ocean’s surface, the water rippling faintly beneath us, magic carrying us in a silent, weightless drift toward the shore.
The air sifted through my pale hair and across my face as I contemplated the survival rate of throwing myself into the depths below to get out of the god’s grip.
Something flickered at the edge of thought, not quite a memory, more like a shadow of one. An embrace meant to soothe and an urge to chase it. Noctis landed softly, guiding my feet to the ground with deliberate care.
“I would have hopped on your back,” Calvin murmured behind us as he trudged waist deep through the water. “But instead, I’m the only one soaked.”
“It will not happen. Ever,” Noctis asserted with a shake of his head. Fiery waves tousled with the motion, one falling lonely across his face.
The moon peeked through the canopy of trees as we entered the thicket, Calvin’s sloshing, wet boots the only noise filling the void.
Globules of otherworldly light skittered across us occasionally, startling me every time.
They flickered and swirled in dancing patterns as if chasing each other through the woods.
Untouched by understanding but still beautiful.
“Have either of you ever seen an elf?” I questioned, attempting to calm my frantic heart. Both males walked confidently through the brush, but I couldn’t find the same strength, instead hoping they didn’t notice me meticulously positioning myself between them.
Sap bled achingly slow down the forest trees, absorbing what little light filtered through the canopy above.
The groaning of shifting wood and occasional crack filled the silence between words.
Except, the forest didn’t feel empty. It felt like it held its breath…
waiting for us to notice we weren’t alone.
“Yes, they operate under the Elven Accord, ancient laws that sound impressive but mostly just give them an excuse to stay out of everyone else’s problems,” Calvin answered, his head jerking around to monitor our surroundings.
“Why do you make that sound like a bad thing?”
“Because they’ll stand idle and quote peace, while kingdoms fall around them. It’s the reason many of their kind are killed in these forests,” Noctis continued. “The forest spares no one. It listens to their prayers of peace, and crushes those too timid to fight.”
“Great,” I murmured. At least we wouldn’t encounter one of them.