Breakwater (23 page)

“Lark, tell me this is a friend.” Ash’s voice was unsteady and I turned my head toward him. He was ten feet away, wrapped in another of Olive’s tentacles, his face pale, gashes across his forehead dripping blood.

“Yes. Olive is the princess’s familiar.” I ran a hand over the coil holding me. “Thank you, Olive. You saved us again.”

She gave me a gentle squeeze and then released me into the water as she released Ash. We swam as she lifted the two crocs into the air, tentacles wrapping around their long bodies and pulling them apart before flinging them away from us.

“Do you think Loam and Peta made it out?” I kept my eyes on the goal of the shoreline of the Deep. The white sand beckoned and all I could think of was how sweet it would be when I put my feet on solid ground. Even the broken one.

“Honestly?”

I shot a look at him. “Yes. Always.”

Ash shifted so he was swimming on his side and could look at me. “No, I don’t think they made it out.”

I didn’t think they had, either, which made me a little sad. It wasn’t Peta’s fault she was stuck with an ass like Loam. He could die and I wouldn’t shed a tear. Those thoughts disappeared as my good foot touched the sand and I lowered my hands, slogging through the last few feet of water kind of hopping in order to keep weigh off my broken foot, until I was able to fall onto the ground. Ash thumped down beside me, a groan escaping him.

“Remind me not to visit the Deep again,” Ash said.

I rolled to my back, the heat of the sun still in the sand despite being dark out. The warmth drove deep into me, chasing away some of the chill. “And if I do? You still owe me a pedicure from our last adventure.”

He laughed softly and flopped a hand over to me, patting me on the head. “Damn, I was hoping you’d forgotten about that.” He stroked my hair and I closed my eyes. This, I could do again. But not here. Forcing myself to sit up, I took stock of our injuries. I had a broken foot, bite wounds from the bull shark on my calf, puncture wounds from the hooks, and general fatigue. “Where did the croc get you?”

He held up his right hand. I grimaced at the mangled fingers. “Damn.”

Carefully, he turned his damaged hand over, inspecting it. “My thoughts exactly. The healers here are good, but how do we get to them?”

The sound of laughter rolled down the beach, high-pitched and giddy. I turned and shaded my eyes. “I know how.” I lifted a hand, waving at the two kids. They saw me and ran toward us, hair streaming behind them in dark green waves. Two sets of green eyes stared down at me. The twins were still far too thin, but they were happy. I smiled at them. “Do you think you could find Ayu for us? Bring her here?”

They looked at each other and then me. “What will you give us?”

I had nothing on me, nothing but the necklace Griffin had given me. With a quick motion before I thought better of it I took it from my neck and offered it to them. “A Griffin’s tooth. Powerful magic and protection. You could keep it or sell it.”

“Does it heal?” the boy asked, his eyes wide.

“Not injuries.” I pointed to my foot.

The girl was already nodding. “I’ll get Ayu. You wait here.”

She spun, kicking up sand as she bolted from us. The boy bent to take the necklace and I held it out of reach. “When Ayu gets here, you can have it then.” They were just children, but I didn’t trust anyone from the Deep. Except maybe Finley and Dolph, and even Dolph had killed his own son.

I laid back in the sand. “Boy, sit on that big rock and tell us if anyone comes.”

His footsteps were silent as he walked away, his head low and shoulders hunched.

“He really wants that necklace,” Ash said, scooting closer to me, his body blocking my sight of the darkened ocean.

“He is welcome to it if the throbbing in my foot and leg can be eased and we can get your hand put back together.” I grimaced, swallowed my pride, and asked the question that burned in my gut. “Ash, why did you really come?”

The air between us filled with tension. “There are several messages I’ve intercepted lately in the Rim. They all pointed to you and Belladonna being sent here to be killed.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. “My father . . .”

Ash shook his head. “I don’t know. He might have been in on it, but the messages were from multiple areas. The Rim, Eyrie, Pit, and Deep. All four had messages coming and going. All pointed to you two being wiped out.”

That made sense. As an Ender, his first job would always be to protect the king and his heir to the throne. Which at the moment was Belladonna, according to her anyway. “You were right to come. Look at the mess I’ve got us into. If you didn’t know better, you’d think I was a Tracker and not an Elemental.”

He smiled and shook his head. “No, you aren’t that bad. This mess isn’t solely yours. If I had explained to you what was going on, we could have worked together. I’m . . . sorry.” His eyes were intense and I couldn’t shake the feeling he was trying to get me to understand something else. He closed the distance between us, his lips hovering over mine. “I didn’t come for Belladonna.”

My heart hammered inside my chest as I stared up at him. No one had ever fought for me before. Not even Coal. As strong as I’d become, as much as I knew I could take care of myself, the thought that Ash would fight for me . . . a curl of heat worked its way through me to my lips. I raised, closing the distance between us—

“Ayu is coming!”

I closed my eyes and leaned my head forward, pressing our cheeks together.

I felt him smile. “Another time. Right now, we have to get Belladonna and get the hell out of here.”

“And save Finley,” I said.

“No, we don’t have to do that.” He pulled back from me, a frown on his lips.

I frowned right back. “Yes, we do.”

“No, we don’t.”

“
Yes, we do
.” Forgetting about my foot I pushed to stand and pointed to the water. “She saved us. And I will be damned to the seven hells if I don’t do my best to put her on the throne.”

Ayu came to a stop beside me. “Lark, I see you’ve been busy.” Her hands were cool on my skin and I forced myself to sit.

“Ayu, thank you for coming.”

“You have to hurry if you’re going to save Finley and your sister.”

“How much time before the coronation?” I let out a grunt as she poked at my foot.

“Requiem decided he wasn’t going to wait for the full moon. He’s going to marry and get a child in one of his brides so he has an heir right away.”

Her words stuttered through my brain. “Wait, brides?”

Ayu’s hands were efficient and gentle as she stitched my wounds closed and pieced the bones back together. “Requiem is taking two brides, and if you were known to be alive, he would take you, too.”

A whisper of premonition crept up my spine. Requiem’s words overheard in the barracks came back to me and I struggled to ask my question.

“Who, who is he marrying?”

Ayu lifted her head, her beaded hair clacking in the sea breeze. “His sister. And yours.”

jerked to my feet and was moving before I thought better of it. Ash tackled me, his words hard. “We have to plan. You can’t just go running into the throne room and expect to get them both out alive. This is the patience you have to learn, the patience of an Ender.”

My cheek pressed into the sand and I closed my eyes to get myself under control. Much as I hated it, Ash was right. And he was wrong, too. “You don’t even want to save Finley!”

“Will you just wait to hear the rest of what the healer has to say first?”

I nodded, the sand rough on my face. He let me go and I sat up. The twins stared at us with wide eyes and I remembered the necklace. I held it out to the boy. “Here, you did your part. Thank you.”

He darted forward, tiny hands clutching at the tooth. Ayu saw it and frowned. “Why would you give him that? It is a powerful talisman.”

The boy grinned and Ayu frowned at him at first, and then her expression softened. “Sting, that won’t save your mother from what she struggles with.”

Defiance flashed across his face. “You don’t know that. She said”—he pointed at me—“it was magical, so did you.”

“Sting, what ails your mother is nothing this necklace can heal. I am telling you the truth.”

Ash stood and was on Sting in a flash, jerking the necklace from him with his good hand. “You can’t let him take this, Lark. It’s not meant for the Deep.” Sting reached for the necklace and Ash held it above his head, away from him.

“
Children
, stop. I told him he could have it.” I stood, took the necklace from Ash and handed it back to Sting, ignoring his frown. “If nothing else, my word is important. I will keep my word.”

Ayu beckoned to the girl. “Ray, come here. Why do you really want the necklace?”

Ray shuffled forward, her eyes downcast. “Mama has been having bad dreams. She said the necklace with the big tooth would be the key to stopping Requiem. We saw the Terraling Ender wearing it and thought she could help. Mama is so unhappy when she doesn’t sleep.”

Ayu sucked in a sharp breath. “Then perhaps we should pay your mother a visit.”

Sting and Ray moved in tandem as they led the way, swinging their arms and singing a sea shanty. Above us the moon floated, three-quarters full and bright enough to easily light our way.

“Where do the bodies float ashore?”

“Beyond the horizon forever more.”

“Where does the blood pool on the sand?”

“Beyond all that touches land.”

Not exactly an uplifting song, and certainly not a children’s song, at any rate. I sped up, placing myself beside Ayu. “I am trying to stop Requiem, but I need to know the rules he is bound by. You can tell me, can’t you?”

Her eyes flicked to me and then back to the sand. “I don’t know.”

I glanced at Ash and he shrugged. I stepped forward, blocking Ayu. “Are you so afraid that you can’t even help someone who is trying to help you? Someone trying to save your princess?”

She bit at her lower lip. “You don’t understand. I am taking you to their mother, which is dangerous as it is. That will have to be enough.”

I put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. “Then explain it to me.”

Ayu shuddered, making her beaded braids tinkle softly. “Requiem is stronger than anyone here. Stronger than maybe any other elemental this world has seen. No one has been able to stand against him.”

I rubbed the spot between my eyes, speaking the words as I thought them. “Requiem’s a half-breed, so he should be weak, but he’s not. Is that why you’re so afraid of him?”

Ayu’s head snapped up and her mouth dropped open. “He’s a . . . mother goddess, that explains so much. He’s half Sylph, isn’t he?”

I nodded. “Yes. And he doesn’t want anyone knowing.”

She covered her face with her hands, her shoulders trembling. “I must take you to Otco. There are things . . . things you must know only he can tell you.”

Ayu would say nothing more as we walked along the beach, no matter how many questions I asked. She only shook her head and put a finger to her lips. So I followed her example and closed my mouth, but my mind raced as I tried to figure out what was going on.