THIRTY-ONE
CAZ
Hassha and Korah weren’t lying.
Selah is a demented fucking bitch.
I wake her out of a sleep that’s lasted for millenniums, and she thanks me by trying to kill me? I don’t know why I expected anything less from yet another untrustworthy Regal.
I close my eyes, waiting for the impact as she charges toward me. Several seconds tick by, but I’m still here, still breathing.
“Caz?” Rowan hisses, tapping me on the arm.
I open my eyes and look up. Selah is still there, but she’s not alone. Korah floats right above me with her lavender palms raised in front of her.
“Touch a hair on his head, and you’re the one who’ll be dead,” Korah warns.
Selah lingers before Korah, cocking her head yet again. It’s such an unnatural movement. She tilts it so far over it seems her neck will snap.
“Wow. That is you, isn’t it, Korah?” Selah asks in more of a statement. “You look horrendous.”
Korah scoffs. “Only in your nightmares.”
Selah’s nostrils flare as she looks from her sister to me. “That pathetic worm is your chosen?”
Korah doesn’t respond, to which Selah growls loud enough for us all to hear. “You’re a fool! A pest with powers who I will very much enjoy killing!”
“Go on then.” Korah flings one of her hands backward, and a sword appears within it, the blade brimming with purple flames. “Try to kill me.”
Selah watches her sister, eyes flicking from the sword to her face.
“You can boast with your energy all you want for now, but I will kill you, Korah,” Selah snarls. There’s enough ice in her voice to freeze this island over.
When Selah vanishes, Rowan gasps and Korah spins around, searching the area. When she doesn’t see her, she lowers her gaze to mine and floats down to grip mine and Rowan’s shoulders.
A strong wind whips around us, and I feel a drop in my stomach and a sourness coating my throat. Once again, I taste the salty air, smell the black water, hear the waves crashing.
I land flat on my stomach on one of Blackwater’s shores, the waves licking at my boots and the sand digging into my palms. Rowan drops onto his back as if he’s been spit out of the sky’s mouth. Groaning, he rolls onto his side while I settle my breathing as best as I can. I feel eyes on the back of my head as I push up on my hands and rest on my knees.
When I look over my shoulder, I see Korah floating above us.
“All you had to do was trust me,” she says, and I’m shocked to see the hurt in her eyes. There’s pain in them—as if my lack of trust is enough to ruin her. To break her heart. Perhaps it has.
Because of me, Selah is now awake. All those doubts I had about Korah and Hassha are gone, and though I still don’t fully trust them, I damn sure trust them more than the Regal who just tried to murder me.
“I had no choice but to go to that island, Korah. I had to at least try! They have my mate. It was that or?—”
“Doesn’t matter.” She scoffs, giving me a thorough onceover with sparked eyes. “I fear Yuri was wrong by choosing you.”
Then, just like Selah, she vanishes too.