Chapter 11
Kaed
So run and hide when it’s nearby,
no wisdom in this fight,
“Put me down!”
The woman thrashing on my back is my betrothed?
The graceful savior of our people depicted on our temples?
Almost instantly, my cheek had healed from what she’d hurled at me, but a drying streak of blood still clings stubbornly to my face.
I cannot imagine the Prince would be impressed with her incessant swearing, though I’m sure her uncle may find it endearing.
She’s a mess. Almost as untidy as her wretched little home.
Which I should have burned down, including that pathetic being who left her to die with me.
He will be dealt with when the time is right.
As I march back to the waters, two men on a bench turn to see what the commotion is about.
Smoke swirls in my palm, braced for an altercation, but one glance at me has them minding their own business.
Humans are so weak. Abandoning their own kind with no remorse.
Small fists pound uselessly at my back, and tiny sparks emit from her fingertips that are more irritating than anything.
If I could put her down, I would. She doesn’t deserve to be stolen from her home in the middle of the night.
But she was born with a target upon her back and a destiny to fulfill. As was I.
“I said I was sorry about your face! It was an accident, I swear! Now put me the fuck down!”
A foreign cold bites at my waist, and her thrashing slows, though her heart beats a rhythm of panic.
“I can’t swim!”
I swing her around to my front, cradling her in my arms. The waters erupt in light when heat climbs my spine, and my wings solidify.
I launch into the sky, sending waves rippling below.
The air is sharp and salty, the moon alive with greys and silvers.
God, I’ve missed this. She shrinks into me, clutching at my shoulders, and a muffled whimper fights to escape her throat.
“Flying?” she squeals. Her ponytail whips across my face, a few strands catching in my beard.
For one stolen breath, the world loosens, and for a breath, I am no longer a soldier, only a male who remembers how to want.
The world opens at my feet. Freedom. If I could soar far away from here, I would.
And maybe one day I will. But duty compels me first. Her stomach tenses before she leans forward and retches miserably over my chest, then she faints in my arms. An interesting introduction.
Moonlight sweeps over her, and disbelief grips me.
She is more beautiful than I thought possible.
Olive skin smattered with freckles like sparks left from a forge.
Her dark hair rebels, half curl, half silk.
The mismatched metal shapes glinting along her ears sparkle in the light like tiny trophies of defiance.
I fly south for a while before the Princess stirs, groaning softly.
The roar of the swirling Chasm approaches.
When I tilt my wings and drop lower, alarm bells blare in my mind.
Trouble. Creatures rise from the depths.
Menacing shapes swarm around the opening in curious schools.
“Wh—what the hell are they?”
The first lurches from the water, a fray of tentacles laced with jagged teeth snap inches from her dangling legs.
I spin midair, her nails biting into my skin.
My wing flares and burns through its middle, a pungent aroma fills the air as it hurls back into the water.
Smoke spills from my fingertips and pours into the mouth of a Mer creature clinging to my boot, burning her lungs to ash.
But more follow, surging up in a wild frenzy, the thirst in their eyes crystal clear.
I take a quick breath to steady my excitement and settle into the beautiful rhythm of war.
Smoke, ash and fire stream from my pores.
A craving satisfied. By the time we plunge into the Chasm’s swirling mouth, I am drenched in blood and adrenaline, hoping she lives to see the end of this journey.
Pressure builds with every second of the blurring descent.
Her piercing screams are swallowed by the howling air around us.
Tears slide into my neck, and my shoulder itches where small char marks press beneath her fingers.
“My brain’s gonna explode.” I lower my chin to rest on her head. So close. Any. Second. Now.
“Urghhh Fuck!”
We burst through the ocean floor, and the creatures in the arena around me pause, shocked by the promise I hold in my arms. A familiar face hurls towards me; one I haven’t seen in nearly a year since the rebels took me. He seizes me with all his strength. Nyk.