Breakwater (28 page)

Like Requiem.

Like Cassava.

I crouched by his body and lifted up his left hand. No rings. I scooped the right hand up, no rings there, either. A sigh of relief escaped me and I bowed my head.

“Lark,” Belladonna said. “What are you looking for?”

She stood there and I stared up at her, at the stone hanging from her throat, the gray flecks within the smoky diamond that matched her eyes so well. I stood, unable to take my eyes from it. “Did Requiem . . . give you that?” I pointed at the necklace and her hand rose to it, fear lacing her eyes.

“No, I took it. It’s the least I can have for . . . what happened.” Defiance mingled with the fear, and I closed my eyes, searching for the right words.

I opened my eyes and held out my hand. “May I see it?”

Frowning, she slipped it off her neck and placed it in my hand. I clenched my fist around it and thought about a breeze that would wrap around my body. Maybe nothing would happen; I felt no different.

The warmth of the wind curled around me in a twist that tightened, pressing hard against my skin. I gasped and loosened my hold on the stone. “Take anything else, but you can’t have this.”

Belladonna’s eyes widened then narrowed just as fast. “That stone is mine, Ender.”

Ash shook his head at me. “Just let her have it, Lark. A stone like that can be found anywhere.”

Worm shit, he didn’t understand. “No.”

A burst of laughter across the room, and they looked away from me. I raised my hand and twisted the armband, hoping with Requiem’s death, the ban had been lifted.

The world swirled around me and I was sucked through to the Rim in the space of two heartbeats. Far easier when I wasn’t submerged in someone else’s memories. It was still dark in the Rim. The morning hadn’t yet broken. The Traveling room was quiet and I bolted out of the barracks, headed for the hiding place I’d picked for Cassava’s ring. For now, I would put them together. But I would have to hide them again, maybe separately. No one stirred as I ran toward the planting fields. At the farthest end was the blighted field, and the large black rock that had been placed at the edge to warn people away.

Frantic, I dug like a madwoman, fear driving me. Down and under the big rock, in a tiny hollowed out miniature cave sat the pulsing, pink ring Cassava had always worn, the diamond glittering at me. I jammed the smoky gray diamond in beside it and covered them. Grabbing a downed tree branch I swept the area to cover the fact anyone had been digging.

Breathless, I ran back for the Ender’s barracks, I had to get to the Traveling room and back to Ash and Belladonna. Into the barracks, my mind racing, I didn’t stop to think; I just sprinted through the training room and back down the stairs.

I hit the Traveling room door and pushed it open. Pulling the globe with my hands, I saw the pale, anemic dirt of the blasted field under my nails. “Shit.” If they were looking, they would see that, maybe even figure out where I hid the diamond that controlled the winds.

“Unless,” I pulled the globe to me, bringing the Deep into sharp relief. I touched the place over the docks.

Right over the water.

A twist of the armband forward and I was sucked away from the Rim into the Deep. My feet were on the water for a split second before I plunged down. I swam to the shoreline, trying not to think about all the things waiting for me under the waves. All of Requiem’s pets looking for revenge for their master’s death. “Maybe not such a good idea.” I swam as hard as I could, knowing the splashing would attract anything hunting.

Images of open jaws and razor sharp teeth chased me out of the water. I stood for a minute, daring myself to glance back. There was nothing in the pristine water, no dark shapes, no triangular fins. Yet I knew it would be a long time before the water felt safe to me again. If it ever did.

When I reached the throne room, Ash and Belladonna were standing, arguing, Finley beside them. She saw me first and smiled. I gave her a wave, fatigue washing through me. We were almost done.

“She will come back, Belladonna. Whatever she’s doing is important.” Ash had his fists on his waist.

Even at the distance I stood, the glare on Belladonna’s face was visible. “She left us here, Ash.”

I cleared my throat. “And I came back.”

Her eyes would have shot arrows at me if she’d been capable, I was sure. “Give me my diamond.”

Finley smiled. “If Lark wanted the diamond, then she may have it. She saved us all.”

That wasn’t exactly accurate since Peta had performed the killing blow. But I would take it if it meant Belladonna wouldn’t contest me for the Sylph diamond. I should have known better.

The rage that lit up her face made her look so much like her mother that I took an involuntary step back.

“You will give me the diamond back. Give it to me!” Belladonna launched herself at me, her fists flailing through the air as tears tracked her cheeks. She bit my arm before I could catch her. Grunting, I pulled her off me and when Ash made a motion to help, I shook my head.

“Bella, what is going on? What happened?”

She slumped in my arms, huge sobs wracking her body. “I can’t tell you, not with him here. He will tell me it is just. That the punishment is my reward.”

Startled, I looked up at Ash. “Give us a few minutes.”

“Let me know when you are ready to Travel.” He bowed at the waist and strode away.

Holding her tightly, I sank to the floor with her. Belladonna’s head rested on my shoulder as she cried herself out. “Lark, why did you take the diamond?”

I went with a half-truth. “It’s dangerous, cursed. I didn’t want it to hurt you so I . . . got rid of it.”

“Oh. You were protecting me?” Her eyes softened. She wiped her face as she hiccupped back a sob.

I stroked her hair with one hand. “I’ve been trying to protect you the whole time. That hasn’t changed.”

“But you couldn’t keep me safe from Requiem.” Her words were barely above a whisper.

A growing horror filled me, and the words choked me. “Did he . . .” I’d hoped Requiem’s words had been just to make me angry, to push me into making a mistake. That he hadn’t actually done anything to her, that he hadn’t had time.

She nodded and I clutched her too me. “I’m so sorry, Bella, I came as fast as I could.”

“He raped me before the wedding. I thought . . . I thought I could tease him like I’d teased the others and get him to do what I wanted. But he didn’t stop when I told him to.” She paused, her eyes slowly lifting to mine. “Do you know what happened with Ash and me?”

Jaw tight, I nodded. Ash’s memories were all too vivid within my head. “Yes. Cassava made you, didn’t she?”

Belladonna sobbed. “Yes, and I like him, but not like that. It was awful, but now . . . now it’s like this is my punishment. That’s why I don’t want Ash to know. He’d be happy that I’ve been hurt. The way he was.”

I was shaking my head before she even finished. “Ash isn’t like that. He is a good man.”

Finley stepped forward, stopping our conversation, her eyes darting to Bella’s stomach. “Belladonna, do you want to keep it? My healers can help you if you would like.”

“How could you possibly know . . .that?” I whispered.

Finley gave me a sad smile. “It is part Undine. And as its queen, I can sense it.”

Bella shook even harder and again the horror within me grew. The question was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn’t even say it. Her eyes were clamped shut and she nodded. “My mother . . . she’ll kill me if she finds out, even if I don’t keep . . . What do I do?” She looked up at me, eyes awash with fear.

Holding her in one arm, I reached up and twisted the cedar band around my bicep. “We go home.”

elladonna’s memories on the way home were as bad as the first. Except it wasn’t only one beating, but all of them rushing through her mind and into mine. One after the other, and for such silly things I struggled to comprehend.

Touching Mother’s dress to feel the material.

Making eye contact when she wasn’t supposed to.

Speaking.

Breathing.

Laughing.

We collapsed inside the Traveling room. Belladonna looked away from me. “You saw, didn’t you?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know how to not see.”

She sniffed and wiped her face. “Lark, I don’t know what to do.”

“Neither do I. But Father—”

“No. I can’t trust him. I trust you, Lark. Tell me what to do,” she pleaded and I understood. Her whole life had been directed by Cassava. And now she wanted me to direct her the same way. I couldn’t do it, though.

“What do you want?” I sat beside her, the globe swirling around us silently.

She fiddled with the hem of her skirt. “I don’t know.”

“Then for right now, I think you should wait. There is time yet . . . I think.” Mother goddess help us both. I hoped I was giving her good advice. “I have to go back for Ash.”

She caught my hand. “I never really liked him like that. Mother made me.” Horror filled her eyes and she clamped her hands over her head. “Mother goddess, this is my punishment, isn’t it?”

I hugged her to me. “Bella, that’s not how life works. It isn’t, I promise. Wait here, Ash and I will be right back.” I stepped away from her, repositioned the globe with my fingers, and twisted the armband. The blessed quiet of Traveling without someone surrounded me and then I was back in the Deep. I stumbled as I stepped out of the ether, on the edge of the stairs that led into the throne room. I’d missed my target by a bit, but close was good enough for me.

“Third time’s the charm,” I said, thinking I was alone.

“Oh, I doubt that.”

Requiem.

How was that possible? I’d seen him die!

I spun, unable to understand what was happening until the wave picked me up and slammed me against the wall. I slid down, the back of my head warm with a rush of blood. I saw his face, the puncture marks in his neck mostly healed, the glittering black of his eyes. His hands were torn up, but intact. He’d yanked them out of the glass boxes I’d put them in, tearing the skin down to bone in places.

“You think you can stop me? You fools; you didn’t even check to make sure I was truly dead. That’s what you get for depending on a familiar to do your job.”

“How could you survive?” I couldn’t stop the question from escaping me as I backed away.

He grinned. “You can draw on your familiars life force, and use it to boost your own. If you have a familiar that is.”

Apparently I hadn’t killed all his sharks.

He beckoned to me with both hands, fingertips lighting up with the blue of his magic, the build up of the ocean behind him visible. “Come to me, pretty Ender. I think Mako was right; I need to start bedding my women when they’re dead.”

I rushed toward him, as he wanted, the only thing in my hand the tiny knife Ash had given me. I caught Requiem by the arm as the massive wave rolled down, sweeping us both into the maelstrom of seawater. Tumbled about, I breathed easy, the hook still deeply embedded in my ear even if I could see nothing but flashes of light and dark.