Chapter 36
HAZEL
Istared into my father’s cold blue eyes, finding no trace of a soul behind them. Signs of age decorated his skin, and the underlying wrath within him shone through his rigid posture. He smirked, reaching for my throat, but I managed to dodge out of the way.
What was I doing? I didn’t know how to fight. I barely knew how to use my magic! I had split seconds to make sense of everything happening around us, but one single thought remained at the forefront of my mind.
All of this was by design.
He had kept me sheltered for my entire life, unaware of this beautiful, incredible, powerful part of me that longed to be set free.
He had sent me away on that boat, wishing for my death so he might be free of the shackles I bore.
He had been terrorizing my people for decades, and it was time to put an end to this madness.
When he reached out again, his hand met my throat. He squeezed, knocking the wind from my lungs as my back hit the wall of the cave. A sharp pain seared down my spine, and stars danced in the corners of my vision.
“It all makes sense now, doesn’t it?” He sneered, bits of spittle flying from his mouth.
It didn’t make sense in the slightest, and I shook my head. A small inkling of pride bloomed in my chest at the small act of defiance, but he simply laughed in my face.
“You’re a terrible father,” I rasped, my eyes burning with hatred as I stared at the man before me.
He raised a brow, grunting as he cocked his head to the side.
For the first time since I was a little girl, I thought I saw emotion flash across his features.
Something was off, and for a moment he almost seemed to be at war with himself.
He clearly wanted me dead, yet he was struggling to be the one to kill me.
My vision was fading as I gasped for air, but I refused to lose consciousness in front of this man.
I braced my core, latching my hands onto his forearm to steady myself, and I used whatever strength I could dredge up to shift.
My sharp Talassi claws dug deep, cutting through the skin and plunging into his flesh.
Wide-eyed, he looked at me in horror as his blood dripped over my hands.
Stifling a shriek, his grip faltered, and he released my throat.
I slid down the wall to the ground, managing to catch myself on all fours.
When I looked up, I expected to find him hovering over me, yet I saw nothing but the back of his long, ripped coat.
To my surprise, he’d turned around and walked away.
The next thing I knew, Maki seemed to materialize out of thin air, grabbing my father by the shoulders.
He dug in his claws, and with a violent strength I’d never witnessed before in my life, he ripped Lord Emerson into two pieces.
Blood and stringy flesh spattered across the walls and the floor of the cavern, and Maki let out a disgusted grunt before tossing the bloody halves of Emerson’s carcass across the dock and into the water.
Jaw slack, I stayed motionless on the ground as I stared at Maki in awe. So many emotions threatened to break free as I lay on the cold floor of the cave, and realization hit me like a thousand bricks. My father was dead, killed in front of me by someone I considered a friend, and I felt… nothing.
The commotion in the room brought me back to reality, and Maki lifted me to my feet with bloodied hands.
“It’s our time, Hazel,” he said, his vicious turquoise eyes dancing with excitement.
“What can I do?” I asked, still trying to catch my breath.
“We’re going to call a storm,” he said. “I’m not sure what’s happening outside, but I can only imagine Emerson has more ships waiting for us. We’re going to call on the storm to help us escape.”
He grabbed my hand as we leapt off the dock, my body shifting seamlessly as the cool water engulfed me.
For a moment I’d been worried, wondering if I was jumping to my death, but it seemed that imminent peril spurred my magic into action.
Thankfully, we were close to the entrance, and we slipped out through an opening between the bow of my father’s steamship and the wall of the cave.
Maki held me by the waist, keeping both of our heads far enough above the water to assess the situation surrounding the island. I stiffened at the sight.
Two more steamships were stationed at the mouth of the cave, firing guns and cannons at the three vessels of The Nayte Brigand.
Holes littered the sides of their battered wooden ships, and their meager weapons were useless in the face of the onslaught.
For pirates whose ships were often underwater, I supposed firearms weren’t a useful option for them.
I hoped none of them had been terribly injured or met their death, but from the looks of it, I doubted they’d been so lucky.
Maki’s fully shifted arms wrapped around my torso, and that same rumbling sound I was used to hearing from Draya washed over my senses.
Maki’s tone was lighter, the sound brighter and more inviting, but instead of making me want to sleep, it seeped into my pores and invigorated the magic thrumming in my veins.
Like a cool sip of water on a parched throat, I was filled with something akin to power and life, and a deep, carnal part of me yearned for more.
“Call upon the storms,” he whispered against the shell of my ear, “don’t think too deeply about it. Just call, and they will come.”
I tried, focusing all of my effort into pleading for a dark cloud, though it seemed to be in vain.
The sweet nectar of his song was so distracting that I found it difficult to keep my attention on the storms, or even the water surrounding us.
I was lost in the kaleidoscope of sounds, floating in a sea of sweet, rumbling melodies.
Fat drops of rain pelting against my skin seemed to wake my magic further, and I finally remembered to call to it.
I reached out in my mind, grasping at those elusive tethers I’d discovered with Cordelia, and soon I was seething over my true self being suppressed and forced into submission for twenty-five years.
My vision tinted red, and a cyclone of magic swirled inside me, aching to be released.
I held onto Maki’s forearms, desperate to keep myself somewhat grounded, reveling in the feel of the sea mist against my skin.
The cords of power coursing through my body called to the power of the ocean, begging to be set free.
So, I let them go.
When I came to, I was tucked into Maki’s embrace, completely submerged in the water. Broken pieces of metal fell around us, and Maki carefully maneuvered us around the debris and back to the surface.
“You had me worried for a moment, love,” he said, his voice more concerned than I’d ever heard him sound. “Turns out you are quite the harbinger of storms.”
“Oh,” I said, not sure what to think. It was clear we’d destroyed the two ships attacking The Nayte Brigand, considering the amount of wreckage sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
My gaze caught on a massive panel of metal, warped and jagged around the edges.
I watched until it was engulfed by the depths, flashbacks of the first shipwreck I’d survived flickering in my mind.
We surfaced next to Captain Jogia’s ship, and I tensed at the thought of how badly obliterated it might be. To my surprise, the hull was in the same condition I remembered from the first time we met.
“How are they unharmed?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“They’re not… of this world,” Maki said, seemingly unsure how to answer.
“Fascinating.”
“Indeed.”
He called up to Captain Jogia, who was hanging over the wooden rails at the front of the ship, and informed him that we’d be sending the Mournful Bride out of the cave.
The Naytes were to escort the ship holding Lord Emerson’s body back to Whitethorn Bay, and ensure there were no mishaps along the way.
Captain Jogia agreed without protest, and we made our way back to the now-open entrance to the dock.
The cliffs of Akala towered overhead, storms raging behind them like an ominous threat, but I no longer feared the hidden secrets of this island.
If only I’d known the power I held during those years in captivity, I could have called on a tempest strong enough to erase the entire asylum from the face of the earth.
Perhaps I still would.
Draya and Commander Adri stood at the end of the dock.
Pieces of flesh, flecks of blood, and what remained of their torn garments hung from Draya and Adri’s bodies, and they looked like true monsters in their half-shifted form.
Three of my father’s men knelt before them, whimpering and crying as they begged the Talassi to spare their pitiful lives.
“It’s over,” Commander Adri announced, towering over them as if they were children. “Take the body and sail quickly back to Whitethorn Bay. Let them know that the operation on Akala Island no longer exists, and if we learn of its revival, we will retaliate without mercy.”
“And don’t think you’ll just agree and escape,” Maki added, startling them from behind. “Captain Jogia and his crew will escort you, reporting every move you make.”
The men just whimpered and nodded, well aware they had no other choice.
As soon as they’d piled onto the ship with my father’s mangled corpse in tow, Draya’s arms were around me, and he buried his face in the crook of my neck. Heart hammering in my chest, I ran my hands over his back, reminding myself over and over that this wasn’t a dream.
“She’s quite powerful, Draya,” Maki said, his tone brimming with pride as he gently clapped his shoulder. “She and I summoned a storm that obliterated the two steamships stationed outside. They’d ambushed The Nayte Brigand, hence why Emerson’s ship was able to ambush us.”
“You freed the monster,” Draya murmured against my collarbone, and the sound of his heady voice sent thoughts through my mind that were far too inappropriate for the situation we were currently in.
“But don’t ever make me fear for your life in that way again.
If you hadn’t come back alive, I’m positive I would have destroyed the entire Earth. ”
Maki snickered, and Draya’s hands flexed against my waist.
“I’m sorry,” I said, holding him closer. “I was reckless, I know.”
“You were brave,” Commander Adri said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “But it’s time for us to go.”
Maki secured Inaki’s limp body to the harness over his chest before diving into the water and promptly exiting the cave.
Draya and I followed – he refused to let me out of his grasp – and Commander Adri followed.
Before entering the open ocean, Adri called upon throes of massive waves, flooding and destroying every bit of the dock and rooms surrounding it.
It was so loud and terrifying that I worried the cave itself might come crashing down, the rest of the cliffs following close behind.
The cave did not crumble, but when Commander Adri was satisfied with the destruction, he turned back to us and nodded, and we began the journey back to the Talassian Capital.