Chapter 16 – Sera
Chapter Sixteen
SERA
Two weeks later
“Ican’t do it.”
Rae squeezes my shoulder. “Yes, you can. I’m here. I won’t let the beast get you.”
I’m sick to my stomach. Why in the hells did I think it was a good idea to eat before this? I’ll spill my guts upon the shore if I’m not careful.
“And we’re sure this is the only option?
” Alex asks Rae. His jaw is so tight, it shows off his cheekbones and the cut of his chin.
Why am I even looking? I shake my head, my gaze going back to the large expanse of water in front of us.
The very same lake I almost lost my life in so many months ago to the beast that dwells beneath.
I’m sweating. The sun is beating down on us, its reflection bouncing off the gentle waves.
The sandy shore is hot enough that the heat radiates into my leather-clad feet, and I squeeze my arms around my torso, trying to keep myself from vomiting. I want this. I need to go home.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the beast is from another realm,” Rae says. “If there was a portal here before, perhaps it slipped through.”
“Or you’re just telling yourself that,” Kian teases. “You don’t think we have beasts here?”
Rae grins. “I mean, it’s possible, but there was something otherworldly about it.”
“Is there any reason I can’t just step through one of your glowing doorways?” I ask, half joking. “Maybe we should have checked Tallinnia’s ley lines or even Maardune’s.”
“If you’re too uneasy about this, we can go back and do more research,” Rae says.
I bite my lip and shake my head. “No. I knew what I was getting into coming here, I just didn’t expect it to affect me so much.”
“This is going to work,” Rae says, rubbing a soothing circle on my back. “I can sense the power emanating from the center of the lake even now.”
“So what’s the next step?” Kian asks, looking a little wary.
I stare across the lake, grateful it’s still daylight for a few more hours. I have no idea how my curse will affect me in the fae realm, but being a fae curse, I imagine it will only sink its claws in further, which sends a bone-deep shiver through me.
Rae frowns before closing her eyes. Her fingers move, drawing invisible patterns, and shimmers of light leave the ends of them, racing toward the center of the lake.
It’s hard to see them with the harsh sunbeams reflecting off the lake’s surface, but when the light converges in one spot and brightens, I let out a gasp. Something is definitely happening.
“Are you all right, love?” Kian asks, pressing a kiss to her head.
The tenderness between them is almost painful to watch, but I’m going home.
I can break this damned curse and find myself a fae to love who won’t leave me in the next seventy to eighty years.
Will the fledgling beginnings of the mate bond between me and Alex allow it?
I have to think so, especially with a realm separating us.
It’s bound to fade with time . . . or so I will keep telling myself.
Rae’s brow furrows, and we all let out a gasp when a path starts to form from the center of the lake right toward us. The water pushes away from the light, creating walls on either side, revealing the sandy lakebed.
“What the hells is happening?” Alex asks.
“Shhh, I’m trying to concentrate here,” Rae grits out.
“You’re doing amazing, love,” Kian encourages her.
When the path finally reaches us, I swallow. This is it, I guess. Picking up my small pack, I sling it over my shoulders before flinging my arms around Rae, hugging her tightly. “Thank you so much for sending me home. I’ll never forget it.”
Her face is strained with effort, eyes shimmering with tears, but she meets my gaze when I pull back. “Of course, Sera. I will miss you terribly, but I need you to be whole.”
“Goodbye, Your Highness,” I say to Kian, and he gives me a soft smile and a subtle shake of the head.
“I told you to call me Kian. Be safe, Sera.”
I nod, words stuck in my throat at the overwhelming emotions.
Alex stands stiffly to the side. The longing in his eyes makes my heart hurt, but this is goodbye. This is for the best. I won’t make it harder on him.
“Goodbye, Alex. Take care of yourself.”
His hands clench into fists at his sides. “I’ll miss you, Spitfire. Give them hells until you find your answer.”
I can’t stop the smile tugging at my lips, my vision going slightly blurry thanks to the unwanted tears filling them. “I will,” I nearly choke out, fighting the urge to run and throw my arms around him as well.
“You need to hurry,” Rae says, her body taut with tension. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold the water back.”
“Sorry! Okay.” I turn my back on my dearest friend, her husband, and my mate and jog down the sandy path through the lake.
I wish I had more time to gape in wonder at the way the water is held up.
Invisible barriers, almost like glass, rise up from the floor of the lakebed to the top of the water.
It’s misty and damp as fine spray laps over the edges.
I spy glimmers of fish shooting past me as I run toward the light at the center of the lake.
I dare not look back. I think it would break me.
I’m excited and terrified to go on my own, but it isn’t like I can ask them to come with me.
Rae has responsibilities as a goddess and princess of the realm .
. . and Alex, well, he doesn’t belong in the realm of Lunesai.
He would come if I asked, I know that. But he has his own demons to face.
The tiniest part of me feels guilty for his struggle with vespira root.
Was it me who pushed him there? Don’t be ridiculous, Sera.
He’s a grown-ass man capable of making his own decisions.
I can’t let myself take any blame for his actions, even if I was horrible to him.
The glowing portal is only steps away when I catch a dark shadow out of the corner of my eye and my steps falter.
What in the hells was that? I keep going until a large tentacle slices through the barrier, wraps itself around my ankle, and tugs.
I scream as I hit the sandy lakebed and am wrenched toward it.
My hands claw in the sand for purchase, my legs thrashing, trying to kick the beast off me.
Immediately, I’m taken back to that horrifying moment last year when, presumably, this beast tried to take me out the first time.
My leg burns from whatever coats the tentacle, and I scream again in frustration and helplessness.
Perhaps I should let it take me. Perhaps this was always my fate.
“Sera!” Alex’s voice cuts through my despair.
Distantly, Rae and Kian shout, but all I can focus on is the searing pain in my leg and trying to slow the beast down. My foot breaches the barrier, and the ice-cold water bites into my skin. I sob; the last thing I want is to die drowning. No. Not like this.
“Sera!” Alex’s voice is closer.
The invisible barriers waver. Oh bleeding hells. This is it. This is how I die. In the clutches of my worst nightmare.
Alex skids to a stop, hooking his arms underneath mine and tugging. “I’ve got you, Spitfire.”
“It won’t let go!” I cry out.
“Hold on, let me get my blade.” Alex loosens his grip just a bit, and I slide farther into the barrier, then a second tentacle whips out, grabbing my other leg.
I howl in pain.
Alex curses loudly but manages to pull a sharp dagger out of his boot. “Can you cut it? I’m afraid to let go of you.”
I grab the blade, trying to saw through the first tentacle, but it’s too thick and only tightens around me, cutting off my circulation. “This isn’t working!”
“Shit,” Alex mutters. “My staff won’t cut through it either.”
“Cutting it is just making it angrier.” I wince.
More water splashes over the barrier, and I start to hyperventilate. Even if this monster doesn’t pull me in, I don’t think Rae can hold the barrier much longer.
An idea takes shape in my mind, and perhaps it’s foolish, but why not? What do we have to lose?
“Kiss me, Alex,” I gasp.
“What?”
“Kiss me!”
Alex leans over, his lips colliding with mine in an upside-down kiss, and everything inside me explodes into fire and light.
I’m home in the way only he has made me feel in so long.
I want to cry and scream at the absurdity of it all, but I let him kiss me with reckless abandon, my fire lighting beneath my veins when I reach out and touch the first tentacle.
A watery scream curls my toes, standing my hairs on end, and Alex breaks away from the kiss. There’s a flash of green glowing eyes as the tentacles finally release, and I let out a sob of relief.
“What in the hells was that, Spitfire?” Alex looks confused and heated all at once.
A splash pulls my attention, and I shriek as the water starts to fill the path and shoves both of us toward the glowing portal.
Another flash of green lights up near us, and I reach for Alex, grasping hold of his hand, not wanting to lose him as the water takes us and we disappear into the golden glow.
This isn’t like the last time. I don’t see glimpses of other realms rushing past as we fall through the glowing walls of the portal.
Gods, I hope Rae chose the right realm. Alex’s hand is still clasped in my own, which gives me the small comfort that he’s still here.
I’m not alone, but also . . . what am I going to do with him? He isn’t supposed to be here.
Not that I can complain too much. If he hadn’t come for me, I’d probably be the beast’s meal at the bottom of the lake.
It could be minutes or hours, but then we fall through a violet-hued sky and crash through trees. Alex cries out as we’re hurtled through dense foliage.
“Try to grab something!” I yell, finally letting go of his hand.