Breakwater (18 page)

“Come on, Terraling, come play,” Big Ugly said. I slid my hand inside my vest and grabbed my dagger. I pulled it out and with a single fluid motion I threw it at Big Ugly. The thin blade hit its mark, driving deep into his left eye and sending him tumbling backward. Urchin stared at Big Ugly as he fell, his mouth dropping open. Lowering the trident tip, I aimed it at his belly. “Urchin.”

His head snapped around, and with it came his trident. His father had obviously taught him well, even if he was still in training. The simple difference between us was that Urchin was proficient with his weapon and I was not. There was no point in trying to drag this out.

He spun the trident as he lunged toward me, tangling the tips with mine. I let him take it from me, the weight of the two weapons forcing him to heave them hard over his head. While he lifted it out of my reach, he was wide open. I darted under his guard and slammed my fist into his jaw—a perfect uppercut that clacked his teeth together with a crack. His eyes rolled and he fell backward like a tree cut at the base.

The whistle of hooks flying through the air was the only warning I had. I flattened to the ground, my fingers curling around the base of Urchin’s trident. Yanking it to me, I rolled to my back and thrust the trident forward, catching Big Ugly in the thigh. He roared, his head thrown back, blood trickling from his ruined eye. In the back of my mind, I knew whoever this Undine was, he was no Ender to expose his throat like that, but I didn’t have time to make use of his mistake.

His arm snapped forward again, and with it came the line of hooks. They buried into my skin all down my left side, their barbs biting deep. I wasn’t going to get away from them this time. A second jerk of his arm and I was hauled to my feet, a scream on my lips. The trident clattered to the floor. I reached for the power of the earth, scrambled to grab hold of it, but intense panic drove it from me. I couldn’t stop the whimper that slid through my lips.

I’d failed my father. Belladonna would not be safe. Ash would die in the cells. No, I refused to give up. Refused to give into this asshole Undine.

“Terralings don’t belong on the water. They drown,” he spit at me, blood mixing with saliva and splattering my face, his eye pulsing. He rolled my knife over his knuckles. “I’m going to return the favor. An eye for an eye, that’s what the humans used to say.”

He pressed the point of the dagger under my right eye. I couldn’t move, couldn’t even breathe past the fear choking me. Slowly, I slid my good arm up. I would have to hit him hard and fast if I was going to get the knife away from my eye. I took a slow breath and readied myself.

“Stop!” the tiny voice was filled with a confidence that stilled Big Ugly.

“Princess Finley, don’t worry. I will kill the Terraling, and you’ll be right after.” He grinned, or I assumed it was a grin by the way he bared his teeth.

With a sudden body jerk, the grin faltered, blood bubbling past his lips. His hold on the line slackened, the knife fell from his fingers and I fell away from him, landing on several more hooks.

Behind him stood Dolph, his trident buried deep into Big Ugly’s back. He yanked the weapon out and walked to his son, kneeling by his side. A little pair of hands touched my face. “You are not an Undine. Why would you fight for me?”

I turned to see the bluest eyes I’d ever encountered staring back at me. Blue like the Caribbean Ocean as the sun set across it.

The pain of the hooks made thinking difficult, but I managed to keep my voice even. “Because it is the right thing to do.”

She nodded and limped back from me. “Thank you.” I got a look at the injury on her side, it wasn’t too bad, a superficial cut at worst, but it was long. Like a sword had swiped at her and just missed.

Dolph stood and I stared where Urchin lay, shock stealing any words I might attempt. A pool of blood spread around the boy’s head and a gaping wound ran across his neck. Bubbles of air escaped him as he died.

“At least he does not know it was his father,” Dolph said softly.

I tried to step back but the hooks dug in deeper, working their way into my flesh. “Small comfort to the dead.”

Finley slipped her hand into mine. “She is a good one, Dolph. I want her as an Ender.”

“Princess, she can’t be your Ender. She belongs in the Rim.”

Finley stiffened and arched an eyebrow at Dolph. “I’m the princess. And I want her as my personal Ender.”

The stalemate might have gone on all night if it weren’t for the sounds of voices raised in argument headed our way.

Requiem was one of the voices. “I will have them both sucking my cock before my coronation. One for the power, and one for those long legs.”

A shiver ran down my spine. I could take a pretty good guess what and whom Requiem was talking about. But where was Bella? I’d left her on the other side of the water . . . how had Requiem not seen her? Or was she with him? No, she would not let an insult like that go by and stay quiet.

“Follow me,” Dolph scooped up the princess and limped deeper into the barracks. Snatching my dagger from the floor, I cut the lines that held the hooks together. As I stood up, my eye caught something I hadn’t seen before. A spear on the far wall, not so unlike my own. I limped toward it, and snatched it from the wall.

Stumbling after Dolph, I followed his lead to a side balcony, which opened over the water. Our blood dripped down creating a pink blush in the blue.

“We’re trapped here.” I may have been pointing out the obvious, but I felt like it needed saying. Dolph shifted the princess in his arms and leaned out over the water. His eyes flicked to mine. “No,
we
are not. But you are.”

inley shook her head. “We can’t leave her. She is part of Requiem’s plan.”

I lifted my hands, which pulled on the barbs. “I’m not a part of anything he has planned.”

She looked to Dolph, ignoring me. “We take her with us or we don’t go.”

Dolph shook his head. “She is a traitor to her own kind, Princess.”

The voices in the main room grew louder and Requiem let out a roar.

They’d found the bodies, but no princess to go with them.

Finley didn’t seem afraid or even terribly bothered. “I want her with me and I am not leaving without her.”

“And I’m not leaving without my sister,” I said.

“The whims of women will surely kill me one day,” Dolph muttered.

He held his hand over the water, blue sparkles dancing over his fingers as he called on his power. The ocean rose in a perfect curl. Dolph put Finley into the water and then held out a hand to me. There was no choice. I took his hand and he pulled me into the cradle of water. The salt stung the gouges in my skin, and I fought to get to some sort of surface as the wave curled down around us.

I realized in that moment that Dolph could end my life right there, and no one would be the wiser. My body would sink to the bottom of the ocean and I would be lost. If he would kill his own son, what was keeping him from killing me?

Only one thing. A tiny princess who’d decided I was worth saving.

The water smoothed around us. I broke the surface and sucked in a deep breath. Dolph was already in a small boat, Finley at his side. They helped me inside, and the water pushed the boat along.

“Belladonna was waiting for me on the city side of the bridge.” I pointed to where I’d last seen her.

“Requiem could see us, Princess, we have to go.” Dolph ignored me and went straight to the helm.

Her blue eyes fixed on my face. “This is your sister? Is she an Ender like you?”

“No, she is an ambassador.”

“Do you love her? Is she a good sister?”

Honesty might not have been the best idea, but I was in shock from my injuries and answered quickly. “I love her, yes, and no, she is not a good sister, but she is getting better. And when she wasn’t good, it wasn’t really her fault.”

Finley gave a slow nod. “Get her, Dolph.”

A loud snort of frustration blew out of him, but the boat continued to slice through the water. I tensed as we coasted over the deep section between the barracks and the city where the tentacle monster had dropped out of sight.

I stood in the boat and scanned the edge. “Bella!”

A flash of white and she was running across the loose sand. I held a hand out to her and she scrambled into the boat. “Requiem, he went in. I thought you would be killed.” She wrapped her arms around me and I let out a groan.

“Not so tight.”

She pulled back and gasped as she looked at my body, gingerly touching one of the hooks. “Mother goddess, what happened?”

I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t like it? I could start a new rage, piercing every available piece of my body.”

Finley giggled and Belladonna twisted to stare at her. Unbelievably, she bowed from the waist. “Your majesty. I see your mother in your eyes.”

Damn, she really was good at this ambassador thing. A small part of me hated that father was right about that.

“Where are we going?” I stared at the city behind us, shocked at how quickly it was swallowed up into a fog I had never seen from inside the city. We were headed west which was open water. Not a good idea in my estimation.

“There are Undines who support Finley, but they keep to themselves. We must track them down,” Dolph said.

“How long will it take?” Belladonna asked, staring behind us.

Dolph shrugged, wincing. He put a hand to his side and pressed hard. Blood seeped through his fingers. “A month or two. Less if we’re lucky.”

My mouth dropped open and I stood, rocking the boat. “A month? Requiem will have the throne by then!”

“What does it matter to you?” Dolph glared at me, as if I had done something wrong. What was his problem?

Belladonna let out a bitter laugh. “Requiem’s plans go far beyond the Deep, Dolph. You should know that. My father explained it to me before I left. Requiem is one of those who stood with my mother to remake the world as a few Elementals saw fit. We have to stop him.”

Shock and hurt filtered through me in equal measure. No one had trusted me enough to tell me the truth about Requiem. Not my father, not Belladonna, not even Ash because it was likely he knew too.

As if reading my thoughts, Dolph pointed at me, then Bella. “You two sent one of your own to the cells. Why should I trust anything you say?”

I reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder. “My father sent Ash to make sure we were both finished off. Do you understand? Ash is the one you can’t trust, he was sent to kill us!” I was yelling, but I didn’t care. The words poured out of me, like purging a venom buried deep in my body. “He was supposed to be my friend, my mentor. But he’s not. He’s a liar and I couldn’t let him hurt her.” I pointed at Bella.

Belladonna sucked in a sharp breath. “You . . . you weren’t trying to protect yourself.”

“Of course not! You are my charge. Your life matters here, not mine.”

Dolph stared at me, understanding dawning in his eyes. “The note, that’s what happened, isn’t it? I told him to show it to you. The fool is afraid to tell you . . .”