Chapter 19
He was choking. A thick, salty fluid filled his mouth and throat, threatening to force its way into his nose and lungs. Will braced himself against the sweat-soaked pillows and vomited. Gagging, he spilled everything across the bed, his body shuddering with each convulsion.
At last, panting, he pushed the sticky strands from his face. His hair fell in a silver curtain beside him as he let his head hang in exhaustion. White honey glistened on his fingers, while the taste of salt, sea, and fish clung to his tongue.
“Cursed dreams,” he rasped, wiping his lips with the back of his hand.
“My dearest…you are hurt.”
“Hello?” Startled, Will looked over his shoulder. Moonlight flooded through the window, painting his room in black and white. His gaze searched the shadows as they came alive and took shape.
Bone-white, a monster peeled itself from the depths of the room, part bird, part wolf, part rotting carcass, gnawed down to bone and sinew.
It was so large that it filled the entire chamber.
Slowly, it crawled closer and rose over the foot of the bed until it loomed above him.
Its weight pressed the mattress down, making Will slide through the sticky sheets as the bedposts groaned.
Will went rigid. Suddenly, beneath the rushing of his own blood, he heard a second heartbeat pounding inside his chest. In panic, he grabbed at his stomach, smearing the pearlescent fluid across his skin, but he felt a flicker of relief when he found no swelling there.
He did not take his eyes from the monster for a single second.
“Albatross,” he said, half questioning.
The creature purred, the sound vibrating through his bones.
Then something moved beneath the skin of Will’s belly, a worm twisting between his intestines.
His thoughts ground to a halt. No. Not again.
His stomach rose where the parasite writhed.
A long black tongue slid from the mouth of the monster towering above him.
Almost tenderly, it stroked across his belly, and the thing inside him strained toward the touch. Will whimpered.
An immense claw pressed him back into the sticky pillows, and the tongue traveled higher until it passed over the cut at the back of his neck. The wound burned gently beneath its touch.
“Who tried to take what belongs to me?” the god murmured.
“Mages.”
Was this the monster that had haunted his dreams for the past month? Shame and disgust surged through him at the memories.
“Ebb to my tide, calm to my storm, I will always come when you need me.” Almost lovingly, the tongue stroked over Will’s face. Only now did he realize how cold it was.
“How?” Will’s breathing was shallow, while the voice of reason asked whether he had lost his mind.
“Part your lips for me, beloved. Take what I give you,” the Albatross whispered, and Will felt its attention settle upon his face. “Let me protect you.”
The tongue lifted over his mouth, and the first salty drop fell onto Will’s lips. Instinctively, he licked it away, and another satisfied growl vibrated through the god.
“Drink.”
Will’s eyes widened, his two hearts hammering loudly.
Cold fear and shameful heat tightened around his throat, while reason screamed at him to flee.
But he obeyed. Hesitantly, he opened his lips and stared, transfixed, into the monster’s jaws.
Empty eye sockets gazed down at him. One claw settled almost carefully over his arm, pressing his shoulders deeper into the pillows.
Then the tongue lowered into his mouth, sliding past his lips and forcing them wider. It thickened until Will’s jaw cramped in the effort to take it all. The Albatross pushed farther, deeper into his throat, and Will gagged.
Swallowed.
Eyes wide and fingers clawed into the sheets, he drank as the first pulse moved through the tongue. Once again, he tasted salt and sea. White honey ran down his throat as he swallowed around the tongue.
Until he thought he would suffocate.