Chapter 37
VALANCE
As I hit the water, my skeleton fracturing and hissing as cool met hot, my undying power instantly got to work healing me. The pain was incredible for a few seconds before the coldness of the water numbed it.
I sank into the depths, the currents surprisingly calm below the churning surface. Waited to return to myself, for my flesh to knit back over my bones. What now? Get to land and restore my dragons?
Yes. Bring them back to life and go home. And then… And then what?
March.
Was that enough? This all seemed very easy, the forges gone, Spring Keep obliterated. Would it now be as simple as my armies marching across Faerie to secure my power, to change the world?
Rage still blazed within me. It required more blood, more destruction before it even came close to satisfaction.
Florent’s death would help. I focused on that wonderful outcome, floating through the water. I cast an enchantment on my lungs to allow me to breathe underwater. Drowning, like everything else, wouldn’t kill me. Still, I’d rather not have to deal with it along with everything else.
Above, the surface shimmered with sunshine, the fires of the burning keep. Such a beautiful day for death.
Something sharp hit me in the chest as I became whole again, so hard it pushed me through the water.
What in Danu’s name…
A pearlescent, conical shell jutted out between my ribs.
Strange black veins pulsed through it, fading within seconds.
A cool sensation colder than the sea sank into my body, slithering through my veins.
Nausea took over, breaking my breathing enchantment, tormenting my stomach, my head.
Blistering pain burst in my temples, searing across my forehead, spreading to my jaw.
I gagged on saltwater, choking, vomiting blood, choking again.
Caught in an awful loop of drowning and heaving, I thrashed, trying to get to the surface.
I saw them then, five creatures cutting through the water toward me. Three mermaids, two mermen. Four of them held more of those shells.
A mermaid pulled her arm back and threw her shell at me. It tore through the water with terrifying speed. Trapped in my drowning, I had no time or strength to avoid it. It hit me in the stomach, releasing cold poison into me.
Poison. The mer had poisoned me.
This was Florent’s idea. It had to be. Which meant he still lived, or the mer were also on his side. Of course, they would want revenge after I slaughtered so many of their kind, thanks to my berserker curse.
And I would do it again if I could.
It didn’t take long for darkness to consume me.