Chapter 11 #3
I sank down, the water closing over my skin, and for a moment I could only sit there, breathing, letting it hold me. The window stood open. Cold air slipped through it, nipping at my damp skin, carrying with it that same pleasant scent of salt and distant flowers.
And now, without glass and stone muffling the sound, I could hear them clearly.
The waves crashed with startling force, far larger than I’d imagined, filling the bathing chamber around me. The thunder of water striking somewhere far below rolled through the night, followed by the long hush afterward, like the breathing of some great unseen beast.
It had to be an ocean.
Father had spoken of the Wildwater sometimes, of his years spent in Greyharbor.
Of mudflats jutting from the water like small islands and vast blooms of algae rolling across the surface like a sickness, thick enough in places to look as though one might walk upon them.
The smell, too. Rotting fish. Decaying plant life.
Days when the wind turned foul enough to make a man heave the contents of his stomach.
Yet even then, when he spoke of it, there had always been something else in his voice—wonder. Always, he returned to the vastness of it. Water stretching farther than the eye could see. Poisoned, perhaps, but marvelous all the same.
I hadn’t been able to imagine it then. Truthfully, I still couldn’t.
Somewhere in the distance, music drifted through the night—the mournful sound of a lone reed instrument weaving softly beneath the endless rush of the sea.
Without warning, something hooked hard beneath my ribs. I jolted upright in the bath, water sloshing hard over the edge. My hand flew to my chest, fingers pressing there as if I could touch whatever thread inside me had tightened so violently.
The bond.
The pull came again—stronger this time, more insistent—dragging at something deep within me, unseen but unmistakable, drawing me toward the door just beyond the bath room as though I’d been caught on a line and was being reeled in.
A presence.
My awareness sharpened.
There was someone just beyond that door.
The air shifted, thickening, the soft warmth of the bath turning stifling as the fine hairs at the back of my neck rose one by one. I stilled, my breath shallow, my gaze fixed on the narrow crack of darkness beneath the door.
No.
My pulse began to hammer, too fast, too loud, pounding in my ears.
No, it couldn’t be—
The pull tightened as if in answer, tugging so fiercely that I sucked in a breath, my fingers digging into the porcelain edge of the tub.
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t look away from the door.
I was caught somewhere between terror and that unnatural force dragging me toward whatever waited on the other side.
The handle dipped.
The door swung open. Aedric strode in, irritation already on his lips. “Hamish’s room looks identical to ours, can you believe that—” He stopped short. “What’s wrong?”
The tension snapped so suddenly it left me dizzy. Air rushed back into my lungs, my grip easing on the edge as the world steadied around me. I swallowed, recognizing that pull for what it was.
I sank back against the tub, the water skimming over my collarbones as I drew in a long, steady breath. Then another.
“Are you alright?” Concern etched his face.
“I…” My voice faltered, my thoughts scrambling to catch up with the abrupt shift. My heart was still beating like a trapped bird. “I’m just… tired.”
Aedric studied me for a moment longer before crossing the room and latching the window shut. At once, the rush outside quieted, fading to a distant murmur. He let out a heavy sigh.
“This may not be as easy as I thought.” He perched on the lip of the tub. “Finding a moment of clarity with Levinica.”
“We’ll stay as long as we need to.” I traced the line of his knuckles with wet fingers.
He nodded once. “The wards around Noctharis are still intact. I can feel them.”
I exhaled. “Good.”
“There’s nothing to fear,” he said gently. “She’s nothing like Hyperia. Lady Levinica is loyal to Elantis. She has no choice.”
Something cold moved through me at the way he said it, at the shadow that passed briefly over his face. His expression smoothed over again as though a mask had slipped neatly back into place, and he offered me a teasing grin. “Is it my turn yet?”
I splashed water lightly in his direction. “And here I thought you might join me.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “I’ve seen troughs larger than this tub.”
I laughed as he rose to fetch a towel.
Later, with Aedric wrapped around me in the stillness of night, his breathing nearly matching the muted rhythm of the waves beyond the castle, I felt lighter than I had in a long time.
Even with darkness pressed against the windows and the eerie stillness of the Court around us, hope beat steadily in my chest.
This nightmare would end.
Once Levinica recovered enough to speak with us, we would learn what she’d seen and how to sever the bond to the Dark Prince. And whatever she said, no matter what it demanded of me, I would find a way to break it.
So things could be simple again. Easy.
So Aedric and I could find our way back to what we’d been.
Whatever it took, we would face it together.