Chapter 30 Rose
As the kraken sank beneath the waves, the pull of its current dragged Rose down with it. If she didn’t fight it, she would drown here in the icy sea, barely a stone’s throw from the island of Carrig. She kicked out, swimming with all her might. Her head pounded and her lungs ached, until it felt as if they would burst, but then she spied a glimmer of light above her. She kicked once, and then again, straining for the surface.
She rose to meet it, slowly, painfully. And then, there was air. She gasped, gulping in as much of it as she could. Her waterlogged dress was so heavy it was threatening to pull her back down. She had to swim, to survive. Remembering what Shen had taught her, she kicked her arms and legs out and arched her back, determined to float. She glimpsed Marino’s ship listing as it sailed towards her, but the distance was too far to swim. She twisted in the water, and saw the shoreline, winking through the mist. It was closer than she’d thought – close enough to reach. Yes, she could do it. She would do it.
Rose lay on her back and moved her arms in an arc, first one and then the other. Over and over again. She kicked her legs as she swam, tipping her chin to the sky so she could breathe. Her body was going numb in the water, but she didn’t dare slow down.
Don’t stop, she told herself. You’re almost there.
Dimly, she became aware of shouting. Her name floated on the wind – wrought with ragged panic – but she was too far from the voices, and too exhausted to call back. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, her hand hit a rock. She turned to find she had floated into a cluster of seaweed. She twisted on to her front, grasping at the shale below her. She had reached the shoreline!
With the last kernel of her energy, Rose dragged herself over the rocks and on to the sand, where she collapsed, utterly and completely spent.
‘Rose? Rose!’ A familiar voice echoed through the darkness of Rose’s mind. ‘ROSE! Wake up!’ A new warmth prickled in her cheeks. ‘Please wake up.’ The heat reached her hands, and then her feet. ‘Why am I such a useless healer?’
Such wonderful warmth. Rose’s heart thrummed as it rushed through her, coaxing her awake. She opened her eyes and Shen was there. His hands cupped her cheeks, offering more warmth, as he stared down at her. When their eyes met, he let out a cry of relief.
‘There you are. There you are.’ He leaned closer, touching his forehead against hers. ‘Rose, I thought I lost you.’
Rose tried to speak, but a cough spluttered out instead.
Gently, so gently, as if he thought she might break, Shen helped her to sit up. She was still on the shore, the cold water lapping at her feet. ‘Come here,’ he said, pulling her into his arms. She sat in his lap and laid her head against his chest. His heart was racing, and he was just as soaked as she was. Rose realized he must have swum to shore after her.
They sat for a moment in silence, his arms tight around her, Rose’s head on his chest, both of them thanking the stars for each other.
‘What happened?’ said Rose. ‘Where are the others?’
‘The ship ran aground,’ said Shen, jerking his chin to where everyone else was just now clambering off the Siren’s Secret. ‘I couldn’t wait. As soon as I saw you go under, I dived in. I tried to get to you, Rose, I—’ His voice broke. ‘I was so afraid you—’
‘I’m all right,’ she said, tilting her head up so he could see her face. She smiled. ‘I swam. Just like you taught me.’
Shen took her face in his hands and kissed her, deeply. Rose realized he was trembling. She wound her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him, desperate for his warmth. She couldn’t get close enough.
Then something occurred to her, and she pulled back. ‘Shen Lo, did you heal me?’
‘I did my best,’ he said, tucking her hair back. ‘You were barely breathing. Your lips were blue …’
‘Well, whatever you did worked. I’m warmer now.’
‘Not warm enough.’ He pressed another kiss to her lips. ‘We need to make a fire. Or get indoors. And after that, I’m going to murder Marino for firing at that thing when it had you in its grasp. What if he had missed?’
Rose smiled. ‘It would have been pretty hard to miss the kraken. And anyway, I had managed to slip free.’ She recalled the moments before she had hit the water with a violent shudder. How the awful kraken had almost devoured her, and in a fit of desperation, she had buried her dagger in between its eyes. ‘Oh no,’ she said, jolting upright. ‘I lost your mother’s dagger. I lost Daybreak. I’m so sorry, Shen. I know how much it meant to you.’
‘It’s nothing compared to what you mean to me,’ he said, fiercely. ‘Forget the dagger, Rose. I’m just glad it saved your life.’
But Rose couldn’t simply forget it. It was part of Shen’s heritage, and a potential key to their own salvation. She covered her face, trying not to cry.
‘Looking for this?’ Kai’s voice wafted across the shoreline. When Rose looked up, he was sauntering towards them, dangling Daybreak by the hilt. He looked Rose up and down. ‘Good to see you alive, Queenie. You certainly wear the ocean well.’
‘That’s enough,’ warned Shen. ‘Eyes to yourself.’
Rose got to her feet, scarcely able to believe what she was seeing. ‘Where did you find that?’
‘Embedded in the kraken’s face,’ said Kai, with a booming laugh. ‘You’re not the only thing that washed up on these shores.’ He moved aside to reveal a beached black mass lying in a heap at the other end of the shoreline. It was indeed the kraken. ‘Looks like old fish-face here kept your dagger safe for you.’
‘Thank you for retrieving it.’ Rose took Daybreak from Kai. It was crusted with black blood, the hilt so dark she couldn’t make out the rubies in it.
‘What was that giant creepy thing anyway?’ said Kai. ‘Apart from being yet another reason the desert is far superior to the sea.’
‘No arguments here,’ said Shen, rolling to his feet to inspect the dagger. ‘Looks as if we’ll need to clean this with spirits.’
‘We’ll worry about that later,’ said Rose, slipping it into the sheath at her waist. ‘That kraken was sent by Oonagh. Didn’t you see its glowing red eyes? And it reeked of dark magic.’
‘She must be here somewhere.’ Shen turned on his heel, scouring their surroundings. He stiffened as he spotted something.
‘You have missed the creature who has ravaged our shores,’ a new voice called out.
Rose whipped her head around, just as three women emerged from the mist beyond the shore.
Kai smirked. ‘Maybe I like Carrig after all.’
The women slowed as they came towards Rose, their eyes widening as they took in her appearance, noting, no doubt, her uncanny likeness to Oonagh. They stopped, and the woman in the middle – who Rose guessed was the eldest – reached for the sword at her waist.
‘I’m not her,’ said Rose, pushing her damp hair back, so they would see the colour in her cheeks, the light in her eyes. ‘I’m Queen Rose of Eana. Oonagh Starcrest is my ancestor. A cursed, hateful witch who raises the dead and uses them to her advantage. I’ve come here to stop her.’
The women hesitated, weighing her words. They were clad in dark leathers and fur-lined cloaks. By their obvious similarities – copper-streaked dark hair and pale slender faces, Rose surmised they must be sisters. In fact, they looked just like Captain Iversen, but where the Gevran soldier was strapping and broad-shouldered, his sisters were lithe and slim.
‘You are too late,’ said the eldest, who was taller than her sisters. Her face was beautiful but stern, her eyes haunted. ‘The witch who wears your face is gone.’
‘She left behind a kraken,’ said the smallest of the three women, who had a soft voice, and three scars on her left cheek, as though a beast had struck her. ‘I see you’ve felled it.’
‘That was mostly me,’ said Kai.
Shen shot him a warning look.
Just then, Celeste and Anika came running along the strand. ‘Thank the stars you’re all right, Rose,’ said Celeste, as she threw her arms around her. ‘Here, I brought you a cloak to warm up.’ She slung the fur cloak around Rose’s shoulders, before turning to face the women. ‘Don’t tell me,’ she said, offering a smile in greeting. ‘You’re Iversens, aren’t you?’
The eldest woman dipped her chin. ‘I’m Hela,’ she said, finally releasing her sword-hilt.
‘I’m Greta,’ said the smallest, who Rose guessed was also the youngest.
‘Kindra,’ said the third, as she surveyed the shoreline with a deepening frown. ‘I hope you haven’t brought more trouble to this island.’
‘They have brought your royal sovereign,’ said Princess Anika, rolling her shoulders back. ‘Hello, Greta. Kindra. Hela. It’s been many years since I visited this little island, but like Celeste, I can spot an Iversen in even the most crowded marketplace.’
The three girls dropped into curtsies so clumsy and unpractised, Rose almost laughed. There was certainly a wildness about Carrig that held its own charm. She hoped there was fire and food here, too.
‘While we Gevrans are not known for our hospitality,’ said Anika, sharing a smile with the Iversen sisters, ‘I hope we can make an exception given the circumstances.’