Chapter 12
Ezra
I was in absolute agony. All the muscles in my body tensed as I watched my bond through the back windows like a fucking creeper. There was no helping it. I couldn’t stay away. Something deep inside, an uncontrollable instinct, compelled me to get as close as I possibly could.
Which wasn’t much considering Rani was avoiding me.
She could hole up in her room, duck around corners, and ignore me all she wanted…
but it didn’t hide the truth. She was getting worse.
Her crimson hair was dull and flat, the ends curling over sharp collar bones and protruding shoulders.
Worse even, was the growing emptiness I felt coming from her side of the bond.
Our connection was still very new, but her body—her soul —was screaming so loud I was sure anyone nearby would be able to hear it. I’d given her two days. Forty-eight torturous hours to wrangle her shit after the djinn attack, but she only grew weaker and more distant.
She’d gone backward. Rani’s walls were solidly back in place. Full concrete. With barbed wire and little red lasers everywhere. The trauma of another djinn attack? Seeing the monster in me come out to play? It pushed her over the edge, and I wasn’t sure how to get her back.
Gods, I’d even spanked her with the blood of our enemies splattered between us. Could I be anymore of a fuck-up?
Me being a shitty bond with no idea what he was doing aside, her time was up.
Something had to give. Rani was going to get better, I swore it.
She would learn how to be a proper siren if I had to superglue her in a fish tail and seashell bra, then make her sing Under The Sea over and over until she believed it.
“If I had known things were this bad, I would have come sooner.” Cova’s booming, annoying, completely stupid- sounding voice filled the room. “I don’t know how you let it get like this.”
I clutched the windowsill in an attempt to control myself.
My fists clenched and froze solid as my hatred for myself mixed with the absolute need to make the siren heir shut the hell up.
I was very familiar with the overwhelming dread screaming in my ear that I could lose her.
I didn’t need him pointing it out as well.
“She doesn’t have much time.”
I blew out a breath, wrangling the last bit of my control, then turned to face the blue-haired freak who poked at all my worst nerves. I needed to get control of my temper, but that was easier said than done when the last of my sanity was hanging by the barest of threads.
Cova huffed at my silence and pressed forward, like I was dense.
“Are you fucking listening? Your. Bond. Is. Dying.” He emphasized each word like I had no intelligence, and it took a considerable amount of strength to not simultaneously punch him in the face and break down crying. “Can’t you see the damn signs?”
That was it.
Lunging, I caught the siren by his neck and pinned him to the wall.
“Of course I see the godsdamned signs,” I growled.
“Do you think it's easy for me to watch my bond waste away, knowing I can do nothing about it?” I pulled back enough for him to look me in the eye.
“She eats but loses weight faster than I can blink. I thought we made progress after some training, but then the pool happened, and she clammed up. Then the djinn attack, and I was such a fucking idiot, and—”
“Wait… wait,” he wheezed, my hand squeezing his airway. “Go… back…”
I released him and buried the urge to crow when he rubbed his neck. “The part about the pool,” he coughed. “That should have helped.”
“How?”
My entire body vibrated with the need to tear him apart. To smother my pain in violence. To silence my worst fears that he brought to life by opening his giant-ass mouth. Unfortunately, the asshole was the best option we had to teach Rani about all things siren.
“Our connection to water is linked to our very cells,” he said with only a slight wheeze. “We need its rejuvenating properties to fuel our magick and bodies. And no one needs it more than a new siren.”
And, of course, my siren refused to go near it. Now I wondered how far her fear went. Did she avoid the shower? What about drinking water?
“New sirens need contact with the ocean daily. But the older we are, the longer we can go without it.” He shook his head and looked out the window, at my bond making her way back inside. “ Any form of water should stave off the worst of her symptoms, but not indefinitely.”
Pieces of a puzzle I didn’t know I was collecting started to slide into place. I knew water had something to do with her magick, but not that she needed it just to survive. Dammit. I’d been doing everything wrong. My pushing and planning and protecting had done jack-shit.
“She wouldn’t have this level of degeneration if she were using the pool,” he continued. “I’m surprised she’s not drawn to it.”
But I wasn’t. Not after seeing her reaction.
And the ocean? Ever since her transition, Rani avoided it.
The sight, the smell, fuck, even the word made her eyes go distant.
Had I known how detrimental the lack of saltwater would be to her, I’d never have let it go on this long.
But now the question was, how did I fix it?
“She’s terrified of the water,” I finally said, each word tough to get over my tongue. I felt like I was betraying my bond’s confidence by even saying it out loud. “Ever since… whatever happened that night… she’s refused to go near it. Or talk about it.”
Cova’s eyes couldn’t have gotten any wider if he admitted he was part goldfish. The color drained from his natural tan, and even the glow in his hair dimmed. He didn’t have to say how bad things were; his reaction was enough.
“She will die without the ocean,” he emphasized. “She has another day, maybe two, before her organs begin to shut down. If that happens, it will go downhill. Fast.”
There was no getting around it. Rani had to get into some saltwater.
Getting her down to the beach would be easy enough with the two of us carrying her, even if she fought, but I didn’t want to go that route if I didn’t have to.
I would do everything in my power to save her.
I only hoped it didn’t cost me the chance to win her heart.
“What if we brought the ocean to her?” I asked, a plan forming. I wasn’t sure how exactly I’d make it work, but ideas were swirling the more I thought about it.
Cova nodded, on board without even hearing the details. “I’ll do whatever you need.”
Good. Because this wasn’t going to be an easy task.
Rani might very well hate me by the end of it, but at least she’d be alive.
It was a fine line to walk. Traumatizing her wasn’t the route to go down; she had a true fear to work through, and what little trust that might remain would be gone in an instant if I forced her into anything.
But perhaps I could ease her into this.
“Are you prepared for what you might need to do?” he asked, chin set in the same stubborn determination I was sure molded mine.
I glanced out the window to the crimson-haired beauty whose heartbeat perfectly matched my own. I would do whatever it took to save her. Even if it made her hate me.
The back door closed on a silent click, and the pad of footsteps echoed toward us. Cova and I waited at the bottom of the stairs. Better to ambush her here than in her room, where she would feel more trapped. Rani rounded the corner, a tiny wraith, and came to a halt at the sight of us.
Her head whipped back and forth, confusion slipping into narrowed eyes as she froze with one foot turned. Did she even realize she’d naturally sunk into a fighting stance? The one I taught her? Pride bloomed in my chest, momentarily muffling all other negative emotions.
“What’s going on?” she asked, nostrils flaring.
The scent of her panic was like acid in the back of my throat. Her toes curled, and her weight shifted, and I knew she was going to bolt before getting an answer to her question, but we were prepared for that. I had her MO on lock by now.
The straight staircase to my right turned into a dangerous slip-n-slide on my next breath.
There would be no escaping that way. Thick layers of ice covered each step, and the temperature change was enough to expose the puffs of Rani’s breath as she panted.
Her muscles twitched, body ready to run, but her mind hadn’t caught up yet.
Before she could try to lunge for the hall, I sealed the archway with another wall of ice.
“It's not very polite to leave an unfinished conversation,” I purred. “Cova and I just need a quick word with you.”
“About what?”
“I think you know.”
The curl in her lip and heat in her gaze did nothing to keep her from shivering. With barely any fat left on her, her bones were practically clacking against one another.
I relaxed my grip on the ice, allowing it to melt some and ease the temperature. The bottom two steps thawed, and the leftover water flowed down the floor and beneath our feet.
Rani jumped at first but quickly settled and even wiggled her toes with a sigh of contentment. And didn’t that feel real fucking good. Slight color returned to her cheeks, and I got to see in real time exactly what Cova was talking about. Gods, I was an idiot to not see it before.
“ That, ” I growled, and risked taking a step closer. “No more hiding, babe. This self-destruction is going to stop.”
Fuck. She spun with a swiftness I didn’t expect and made a dash for the kitchen but thankfully, didn’t get farther than a step. A wall of water rose before her, from floor to ceiling, blocking her last exit besides the front door, which was locked.
Cova’s fingers gently waved in the air as he manipulated my melted ice, and I watched as Rani realized she wasn’t going to be escaping this conversation. Her hands trembled at her sides as she spun in a slow circle, checking and double-checking that all her exits were blocked.