And that was the best I could do.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chloe
After a few miles, we met up with Niall, and several miles after that came the guards. Watchful and silent, the men surrounded us, their attention on the possibility of attack and their path taking us back toward Nyciena. Neither of the brothers spoke as we continued on, time ticking by till finally we reached a patch of boulders on the seafloor and Niall murmured for the guards to stop.
Both of them waited till the guards had set a veil around us before ever saying a word.
“So what’s Ren planning to do to Liana?” Zeke asked quietly as he shrugged off the bag and left it sitting on the sand. A small fire burned blue in front of us, casting light on the boulders inside the veil but strangely doing nothing to those beyond.
Across the flames, Niall glanced up. “What do you think?”
Zeke’s gaze flicked to me and then away. “Did she say anything about others? The Sylphaen elsewhere?”
Niall paused. “Not yet.”
Zeke nodded.
Silence returned.
I looked between them, not wanting to break it. It felt weird to be swimming back to Nyciena again. Almost like déjà vu of our trip a few days before, if not for the weight of everything that’d happened in between.
And the questions of what would happen now. I felt like a yo-yo, being thrust away from one location and then yanked back again. I’d had no choice about traveling to Nyciena a week ago. Then I’d had no choice but to leave there and return to Santa Lucina. I’d tried to find a way back to land
twice
only to be driven to the ocean again, and now…
Now I didn’t know what to feel anymore.
Zeke shifted a bit on the sand, and my gaze didn’t quite twitch his way.
Especially when it came to him.
“So what about you?” Zeke said to Niall. “You alright?”
A hint of Niall’s old humor ghosted across his face, though it seemed mostly bitter. “Yeah.”
“What happened?” I asked when he didn’t say any more.
He hesitated. “Kyne thinks it was something we ate. Time release poison in our food or something. And maybe… I don’t know. Maybe since Ren and I didn’t have the same stuff sent to our rooms as Dad probably did, or maybe because Liana got the dose wrong…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “It didn’t kill us. I don’t know.”
A moment passed.
Niall took a breath. “So what about you two? You said there were Vetorians?”
Zeke nodded. “Yeah. Not too far from here.”
I didn’t add anything, and he didn’t continue. Niall looked between us. “You guys alright?”
“Fine,” Zeke said.
I tried for a smile and mostly failed.
Niall paused. His eyebrow inched up. “You have a fight or something?”
Zeke tossed him an irritated glare. “Niall, we’re fine.”
His brother’s expression didn’t change. If anything, it grew more skeptical.
I looked away. I really didn’t want to talk about it and I was fairly certain Zeke didn’t either. I had no idea what things would be like between us now that I was heading back to Nyciena with him. I didn’t even know if it
mattered
what things were like. He… what was he, anyway? A prince, sure. Okay. But what else?
Everyone seemed to think he just slept around, going through girls like firecrackers – fun and pretty and exciting for a bit, but then it was over and he moved on.
I wasn’t going to be that for him.
He didn’t seem as though he saw me that way.
But then, I’d read enough books and watched enough movies to know that the talented ones, the real users, never did.
Except…
I shifted uncomfortably on the grit of the seafloor, wishing I had about a century to unravel the tangle of my thoughts. Or at least space. Having Zeke so close – and Niall with his blatant curiosity too – was making it hard to think.
“So what happened?” Niall asked.
I looked up in alarm.
“Huh?” Zeke asked, and I could hear the guarded note in his voice.
“That,” Niall explained with a twitch of his chin to the cut on Zeke’s chest.
“Oh,” Zeke said, nodding. “Yeah. A few mercenaries caught us out by the Shiaran Fells.” He paused. “It was fine.”
Niall’s brow inched upward again.
Pushing away from the sand, Zeke didn’t look at him. “I’m going to go check on the…”
He seemed to have trouble coming up with something, and then just swam off.
Niall’s expression didn’t change.
I rose, trying to make a break for it in the other direction before he could press the issue with me.
It only took Niall a heartbeat to catch up.
“Hey,” he called.
I stopped a few yards from where I’d been, not turning around.
Niall came up beside me and then glanced back to Zeke on the far end of the camp. “Can I talk to you?” he asked me.
He motioned around the side of a large pile of boulders.
I hesitated, but there wasn’t much of an option, short of being rude. Reluctantly, I nodded and followed him.
“Listen,” he said when we were out of sight of Zeke. “I know I was sort of almost dead not too long ago, so I might be a bit loopy, but… are you two okay? Really? You both seem… tense. Like something happened. More than a Vetorian attack, I mean. And Zeke’s such a… well, I know him. He wouldn’t ever tell me.”
I hesitated, not wanting to discuss this with Zeke’s brother of all people.
Though, to be fair, Ina would have been just as bad.
I pushed the thoughts aside. “We’re fine.”
He waited.
“Really,” I insisted.
He nodded, though he obviously didn’t believe me. “Okay…”
A grimace twisted my face as I looked away. Niall wasn’t stupid. And apparently I wasn’t a very good liar. “It’s just, earlier today… Zeke kissed me.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw his brow flicker down in confusion.
“Oh, for the…
please
don’t tell me you thought we were sleeping together too,” I begged tiredly.
“No, of course not.”
The answer was too quick. I tried not to groan.
“Well, okay,” he acquiesced. “Maybe I figured by
now
he… Never mind. Look, I’m sorry. Really.”
I glanced back at him. He gave me an apologetic smile.
“I swear,” he continued. “But honestly, why is that so bad? Zeke’s not as handsome as me, I’ll give you that. But he’s not a monster.”
My lip twitched.
He grinned and reached out, taking my hand. “Come on,” he pressed. He glanced around, but no one was nearby. “
That’s
all this is? Zeke kissed you? I thought maybe it’d been something… I don’t know.
Horrible
.” The conciliatory expression on his face vanished. “Like slicing a mercenary’s back open.”
My breath caught.
His fingers clenched on my hand to halt my startled retreat and he yanked me toward him. His grip twisted, spinning me, and my back slammed up against his chest with his arm at my throat.
Spikes grew from his forearm, aimed at my neck. “Scream and the Beast will be the least of your worries.”
My blood went cold.
From behind a rock ahead of us, a woman rose. Gray-haired with faded blue scales, she regarded us with nothing but contempt in her icy eyes. “Took you long enough,” she said to Niall.
“Keep it down,” Niall growled. “He’s just over there.”
Her contempt deepened.
With an angry noise, Niall swam toward her, bringing me along. From her bag, the woman drew out a pair of shackles and then reached for my wrists. I tried to pull away, and Niall’s grip tightened, bringing the spikes to rest on my neck.
I froze. The metal clamped down on my forearms. Her lip curling, the woman glanced pointedly from me to the small stone clipped to the glittering belt around her hips and then back again.
A shiver ran through me.
With his free hand, Niall reached past me to grab the thick chain between the manacles, keeping his other arm to my throat. Holding me fast, he moved between the rocks, heading for the edge of the veil.
“Why are you doing this, Niall?” I tried, raising my voice as much as I dared.
“Shut it,” he muttered.
Barely breathing, I watched the translucent knives next to my skin. “Please, you don’t have to–”
The spikes twitched upward, nicking my cheek. I flinched aside.
“Chloe,” he warned, the chilling promise of further retribution in his tone. “Not another sound.”
His spikes at my throat, he dragged me through the veil and left the camp behind.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Zeke
I swam over to the guards, not really sure what I was going to say, and when I got there, words steadfastly refused to present themselves.
But then, talking was just an excuse anyway. I’d needed to get away from the campfire. Being near Niall, near Chloe, was harder than I’d expected. It was great that Ren’s guys had found Liana. Great that he believed me –
finally
– about Chloe.
Yet nothing was really over. The Sylphaen were still out there. Dad was still dead. And I couldn’t shake the fear that they’d come after us again. That whatever they’d wanted – because I couldn’t believe for a second this’d
all
just been to capture Chloe – they’d still try to get.
I’d almost lost Niall. Ren too, insufferable ass that he was. Ina and I had probably just escaped by luck. I didn’t want to go through all that again.
And I didn’t want to risk anyone hurting Chloe either.
Behind me, I heard Niall call out to her, asking to talk, and I kept myself from turning around. I couldn’t imagine she’d tell him what happened, though Niall was charming as hell when he wanted to be. And it wasn’t important anyway. The minor fact I’d kissed some girl wouldn’t exactly be shocking to him.
My stomach twisted at the rancor of the thought. She wasn’t just some girl. She hadn’t been for a long time, though damn if I could figure out why. But she mattered, in a way that had nothing to do with crazy cults or her strange landwalker heritage.
And when I was around her, I barely knew what to do with myself anymore.
I grimaced, pretending to check the food a guard was preparing simply so I could look busy. She was coming back with us, though. And I wanted that. I’d hated the thought of her leaving, hated it more than I had words to describe, and for her to be returning to Nyciena with us now…
It was great too.
Except for the part where she didn’t want to go.
My gaze twitched back toward her. Things would be different this time. She–
She was gone.
And Niall was too.
My brow furrowing, I glanced to the guards. “Hey, did you all see where they went?”
The guards looked to each other, appearing confused.
I swam toward the rest of the campsite. Maybe they’d gone behind the rocks, though why the hell they–
“Your highness?” one of the guards called.
“What?” I replied, not turning around.
The man circled in front of me, cutting me off.
“Hey–”
“We need your assistance,” he interrupted.
“With what?”
“The path back to Nyciena. You said you saw Vetorians.”
I shook my head, dismissing the implicit questions. “Later,” I said, moving to go around him. Why would she and Niall–
“But highness,” he countered, staying in front of me.
I stopped, taken aback. “Didn’t you hear me, soldier? I said later. Now get out of my way.”
His face tightened. He didn’t move.
I glanced to the others, but they remained seated by the preparations for food.
“What is this?” I demanded.
No one would respond.
I looked at the man blocking my path. “Answer me.”
His gaze went to the others briefly. “Prince Nialloran asked for a moment with the young lady. In private.”
My brow twitched down. “What?”
“Apologies, highness. The young lady seemed most… interested in time alone with him. I believe he intends to let her down easy.”
My confusion deepened. “Wait, she…” I shook my head. “Chloe’s not…”
“He asked that you not disturb him.”
I looked back at the other guards. To a person, they watched me with sympathetic expressions and a hint of readiness to intercept me if I moved to go after Niall.
My gaze dropped to the ground. This didn’t make sense. Chloe hadn’t shown any interest in my brother. She’d hardly even
mentioned
Niall, except to ask if he and Ina were alright.
Though maybe that’d been more than just polite concern for him. Maybe she’d actually…
I shoved the thought aside. Bullshit. Chloe never gave one sign of that, and I was pretty damn good at reading women. If she’d been into Niall, I would have seen
something
.
And regardless, I wasn’t going to let some guard say Chloe had lied to me this entire time and let that be it.
I looked back up.
“Huh,” I commented, barely keeping the fury from my tone. “Hopefully not too easy, eh?”
Disgust tugging at my face, I started to turn away.
The guard relaxed and moved to follow me.
I twisted and kicked hard in the water. With a startled cry, he grabbed for me as I shot past.
He missed.
I rocketed across the camp, scanning the area as I went. I couldn’t pick up any sign of them close by, and as I whipped around the boulders on the far side, they weren’t there either.
But they wouldn’t have left camp. There wasn’t any reason for that.
Unless he’d changed his mind. Unless she’d wanted some privacy…
I shook off the thought. The guards were coming.
Spinning, I darted past the veil and sped away from the campsite. Murky twilight surrounded me, blue and endless with only rocks to break the monotony. There was hardly any life in this place and even the current seemed still compared to the tides we’d left behind.
Three forms tickled the edge of my senses far ahead, too small to be sharks and too fast as well.
A breath left me and my heart began pounding harder. Three people, not two. Whatever the guards’ stories, this couldn’t be good.
Fighting for every bit of speed I could get, I raced after them.