Chap 32 #2
And Sebastian was still within her reach.
Still listening.
Still believing.
Penny closed her eyes.
If she walked away
If she surrendered the throne.
If she abandoned this kingdom and fled home
Kaida would not stop.
She would simply begin again.
Until she was back on the throne.
The cold deepened.
The circle of sky above her slowly darkened.
Blue faded into violet.
Then into the bruised purple of approaching evening.
Penny watched it change.
Watched daylight slip away.
And thought she probably wasn't going to save any kingdom.
The air cooled.
The water cooled with it.
Each breath hurt a little more.
The magic did not answer her.
There was only the dark.
The cold.
The soft sound of water against ancient stone.
And she was so tired.
Penny pressed trembling hands against the water's surface.
Then she did the only thing she could think of.
Not one of the clever pieces of magic she had been learning.
Just a spell taught to children.
The sort of song sung beside a fireplace when rain tapped softly against the windows.
The sort of song sung to warm bath while a mother moved quietly through the next room.
The sort of song that belonged to home.
Little flame beneath the sea,
warm the water gently for me,
keep the cold from bone and breath,
hold me softly far from death.
Her voice cracked.
The words almost disappeared at the end.
She sang them again anyway.
Little flame beneath the sea...
The water lapped softly against her fingers.
Warm the water gently for me...
A faint warmth brushed her skin.
So slight she thought she imagined it.
Keep the cold from bone and breath...
The warmth returned.
Not much.
Just enough.
Like hands wrapped around a cup of tea.
Like a blanket pulled over tired shoulders.
Like home.
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
Hold me softly far from death.
The water around her legs grew fractionally warmer.
Impossibly warmer.
Penny closed her eyes.
And pretended she was home.
Above her, the last traces of daylight disappeared.
The circle of sky became a pool of darkness.
Then something crossed it.
A shadow.
Brief.
Gone.
Penny lifted her face.
Hope flared so suddenly it hurt.
"Please help."
The words barely escaped her cracked lips.
A whisper.
A prayer.
She wasn't entirely sure who she was speaking to.
The night answered only with distant birdsong.
Then the bond struck her.
Hard.
The king.
Not grief this time.
Rage.
Pure, terrifying rage.
It crashed through her without warning.
She felt him pacing.
Endless movement.
Endless searching.
An ancient predator trapped inside his own palace.
Unable to reach the one thing he wanted most.
The desperation beneath the rage frightened her more.
Because it wasn't controlled.
Wasn't kingly.
Wasn't patient.
It felt like something breaking.
She caught flashes through the bond.
Shattered furniture.
Servants fleeing hallways.
The queen's cold satisfaction.
His fury crashing against it again and again.
Power.
So much power.
And none of it capable of reaching the bottom of a forgotten well.
Then she understood.
The king could feel her fading.
The cold.
The exhaustion.
The slow draining away of strength.
He could feel it.
And there was nothing he could do.
The realization hit her so hard she forgot the song.
Immediately the warmth around her legs began to disappear.
The water turned colder.
Crueler.
Stealing back what little comfort she had earned.
Penny sucked in a sharp breath.
No.
Not yet.
Her fingers pressed against the slick stone.
Her teeth chattered.
And softly, stubbornly, she began to sing again.
"Little flame beneath the sea..."
The words trembled.
But she sang them anyway.
Then the general's thread went taut.
The sensation was nothing like emotion.
It felt like a lock opening.
A final piece sliding into place.
A question answered.
For one suspended moment his mind went completely still.
Then he moved.
The bond flared.
Above her, the darkness shifted.
Moonlight vanished.
Something was descending.
Not climbing.
Dropping.
Controlled.
Silent.
Intentional.
Penny stared upward.
A shadow detached itself from the night sky.
Then landed beside her.
The water barely splashed.
For a moment she could only stare.
General Roku.
White-silver hair loose from sleep.
Dark clothing hastily thrown on.
Just a man who had left his bed the moment he found an answer.
Those green eyes found her immediately.
Searching.
Checking.
Counting injuries.
And beneath all that
Relief.
Raw enough to hurt.
As though he had expected to find a body.
"Are you hurt?"
The question came fast.
Urgent.
Stripped of every bit of military calm she had ever seen from him.
"Did he hurt you?"
His gaze swept over her bruised face.
The torn gown.
The split lip.
The water.
"Did you hit your head?"
Penny blinked.
She stared up at him and said nothing.
Only her teeth chattered.
His hands were already moving.
Then his arms came around her.
Not possessive.
Not hesitant.
Simply holding her upright because she looked moments away from collapsing.
The warmth hit her almost painfully.
After hours in freezing water it felt unreal.
He lifted her effortlessly.
The world lurched.
Stone blurred.
Cold vanished beneath her.
One leap.
Then another.
And suddenly they were above the earth again.
Moonlight.
Salt wind.
The sea stretching silver beneath the cliffs.
Penny swayed.
His arm tightened immediately.
Steadying her.
For a moment neither of them spoke.
Then his gaze dropped.
Not to her face.
To her dress.
The torn velvet.
The ripped bodice.
The bruises already darkening her skin.
The dried blood at the corner of her mouth.
His expression changed.
Not dramatically.
Not visibly enough that most people would notice.
But Penny felt it through the bond.
A dangerous stillness.
The kind that came before violence.
"Who touched you?"
The question was soft.
Far softer than it should have been.
Penny's breath caught.
Because she suddenly understood something.
The king's rage had been loud.
Wade's guilt had been sharp.
But General Roku's anger
Was quiet.
Penny's teeth chattered as she tried to speak.
"It's Kaida."
The words barely made it out.
"She poisoned his mind."
Her fingers twisted into the front of Roku's shirt.
"She has to be removed from his life."
Roku pulled her closer.
Sharing his warmth.
His hands rubbing life back into her frozen arms.
But he did not let the question go.
"Who?"
Penny lowered her forehead against his chest.
Exhaustion settling into her bones now that she was finally safe.
When she spoke, her voice was almost too soft to hear.
"Sebastian."
Silence.
No curse.
No outburst.
No visible reaction at all.
Only stillness.
Then Penny felt it.
Through the bond.
The precise moment General Roku decided to kill someone.