The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) (62 page)

“Me too. I think we need to go and talk to Gideon about this. He’ll want to know. We also need to go about finding the vessel for Sedna. I’m assuming it’ll be one of the Adaro. I guess that makes as much sense as any of this does,” I exhale. She smiles.

“How are we ever going to convince them to fight for us?” Callie asks me the question, it’s a good one, I’ll give her that. However, I think I have the answer.

“Azure. The vessel will be able to absorb her visions. I think that should do the trick,” I reveal.

“But we can’t get near her,” she reminds me. I sigh.
 

“I know. I have a little family reunion to attend beforehand.” I don’t want to go near her, but I know I’m responsible for her. After everything, she’s the only family I have left.

AZURE

My internals are cold, slimy, and red. I can feel them squirming beneath my skin like worms, trying to get out. I feel nauseous. Like spewing my guts up will bring her back. Or at least end my suffering.

 
I slam my fist against the ice wall, watching my knuckles shatter, blood spattering in archaic fireworks, exploding onto white. It’s no use. No matter how many layers I punch through, Gideon just keeps making more. I’ve been watching him pace, swimming lengths and adding layers where I’ve thinned my prison. That is until his martyr extraordinaire of a daughter shows up and starts talking in her high-pitched harpy tones again.
 
I bang my skull against the hardness of the frozen walls, smashing bone against ice. It doesn’t knock me out. The darkness has come and I can’t rein it in. I can’t even knock myself out, I’m too strong, strengthened by the hate, the loss… the grief. I scream out again, deafening myself with echoes of my own agony. I want to rip it all to pieces, shred and tear and bite and cut until there’s nothing left of me. Muffled voices spike the adrenaline within my veins. I push my ear to the thick ice, listening in as my breath comes quick and shallow. It’s him.

“Let me in. I need to see her.”
 

“What if she tries to kill you again, Your Highness?”
 

“Well, I’m assuming you two will actually do your jobs this time. Am I correct in that assumption?” He’s talking to Ghazi and Cole. Weaklings.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Drop the wall,” he commands. Like he has any actual authority? Such a pathetic excuse for a ruler, for a brother. He deserves to be the one flayed and exsanguinated.
 

I hear Gideon let out a sigh. Cracking… like the breaking of bones reaches inward toward me. I move backward, readying myself. Chunks of ice fall away slowly. I wait… biding my time. Orion takes a long tailfin stroke backward.

“Get ready, Sire.”

“I got it.” I hear them talking at me, like I’m an animal that needs to be contained… well, right they are. I clench my fists, tensing each individual muscle in my body, winding it tighter and tighter, ready to release my rage like a spinning top. Whirling around like a wicked edge, ripping them all limb from limb. I am about to move as the ice clears, the last of it falling away. I clench my teeth and just as I’m about to launch forward Orion catches me off guard. Never one to use his powers unless he absolutely has to, he’s actually pre-emptive of my assault. He uses the water surrounding my body and his power over air to catch me in a new prison. But this time it’s not one I can hit. The ball of water continues to spin, swirl. I can see him, his familial blue eyes blinking in through the blur of the moving water. He looks too much like her. No.

“LET ME OUT!” I scream.

“No, not until I’ve said my piece.”

I let out an ear-piercing screech, wailing, trying to get him to drop his guard for just a second.
 

“Azure. You can scream and punch and wail all you like. I’m not leaving this place without you. I’m your only family. I’m the only one left who cares about you. I know you; I know you self-destruct when you’re hurting. It is my fault. I know that. I know it’s my fault Starlet is dead…” he pauses, I wonder if he’s crying, so human. Ugh.

“I will never forgive myself for what has happened to her. I don’t expect you to forgive me either. But I also won’t ever forgive myself if I don’t save you from yourself. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known. I know you can beat the darkness.”

“I don’t want to fight it. It’s who I am. Starlet knew that. She was so much smarter than you. She wouldn’t have gotten everybody slaughtered,” I hit him where it hurts. Expecting him to give up. To leave me for dead.

“I’m not leaving. You can try and beat me down all you like. I love you Azure…” He says it so calmly; I feel something within me slip… something for just a second, recedes.

“No…”
 

“Yes.”
 

“NO!” I bellow. No more love. No more compassion. Nothing matters but pain. That’s the only thing you can count on.

I muster all the strength in my tailfin and break free of the air binding in which I’m trapped. I find his flesh, soft and flawless beneath my fingers. The darkness overtakes me and I lose all sense of myself. It is just me, my fists, and the rage inside. I’m rolling like a wave, crashing into everything in my path and decimating it.
 

My stupid brother just lays back and takes it.

CALLIE

My muscles tense. This has gone far enough. I power forward to aid Orion, but find myself flung backward through the water. Gideon catches me within his large arms, as though I were no more than a baby. Ghazi and Cole look at me.

“He doesn’t want anyone’s help,” I comment, feeling my heart hammer against my ribs. What the hell is he playing at?

“How the hell are we supposed to do our jobs if he won’t let us?” Cole barks. I shrug.

“Just let them go at it,” I sigh. Gideon almost laughs to begin with, but as time moves on, silent horror falls over us. I watch as Azure pummels Orion, biting and scratching. He lets her, only making sure not to contaminate his blood with hers. I watch as she bloodies his face. All I can hear is him taking the punches, letting her project her grief onto his physical form. It goes on…

“I still love you,” he whispers, spitting water tainted red.

“NO!” She screams. She moves her assault, banging her fists onto his chest, pounding his heart over and over again. Smashing his ribs. I wince.

“I’ll always love you. You’re my sister.” I watch as something shifts. Azure collapses.
 

Just like that, it’s over. She’s done.
 

She lies on his chest and begins to sob. It all seems so wrong. He brings up bruised and beaten limbs and holds her. Letting the air field around them drop.
 

The sound that emits from her lungs is unholy. It’s the most tortured sound I’ve ever heard, almost as though her soul has been fractured, left torn and bleeding, losing vital fluid. She continues to sob as I cock my head and watch her, pity filling my eyes. Orion continues to keep his arms around her form.
 

Finally, he props himself up and leans against the back wall of the tower. It’s then that I get the first proper glimpse of his face. Oh my Goddess. His nose looks broken. His forehead is split open where her finger nails have scoured him. His lip is split open, and both his eyes are swelled under his scales to the point where he can barely open them. They’re bruising already, because of his accelerated healing. His chest is covered in scratches where her nails have gauged skin from muscle. He looks exhausted, but he still manages to smile sadly at me. I can’t grasp how beautiful he looks, even bloodied and bruised.

I’m aware someone is at my back.

“Chief. There’s something you need to see.” It’s Cage.

“Can’t it wait?” My father and I turn together, meeting the mint green eyes with impatience.

“You really need to see this.” He looks concerned, and my stomach flips. What could be so serious?

“I’ll come too,” I suggest, looking back over my shoulder to look at Orion. He’s now crying too, holding Azure and mourning the loss of his sister. Just as he should be.

“We’ll stay here. Just in case,” Cole suggests this before I even have to ask. He’s in tune with what needs to be done for Orion. I had never really appreciated it before, but he’s so selfless, always putting his King’s needs before his own.

“Okay. Let’s go.” My father places a hand around the back of my shoulders and squeezes. He smiles at me and I feel my heart swell in spite of everything that’s happening around me. I’m glad I hadn’t given up on finding him, now more than ever.

I can see what Cage is so concerned about when we finally reach the outside of the hollow iceberg. In the open arctic sea, a whirlpool has appeared.

“What the hell is that?” I ask, slightly shocked.

“I would say that’s your ride,” Gideon says with a sly smile. I had filled him in on Atlas’ letter already and in the few minutes I had to discuss it with him, he’d agreed following in Atlas’ mission to create the conduit is the only lead we have on how to defeat the Necrimad.
 

“What?” I look at him.

“A long time ago… I remember reading somewhere that whirlpools can be kind of like portals.”

“Sedna’s codex,” Cage nods, saying the words as though they mean something to me. They clearly mean something to Gideon, his eyes widen.

“Ah… yes.” My dad clicks his fingers, as though the memory has just fit into the puzzle of his psyche.

“So you’re saying I have to go in that thing?” My tail muscles throb as I imagine the water taking control over my body, like it had when I’d been lost to Orion in the storm.

“You all do. When you’re ready. If you think finding these vessels is the right thing to do?” We hang in the cold chill of the open water, looking into the terrifying speed of the whirlpools spinning depths.

“What do you think?” I look at him, feeling unsure of myself. I wonder if I’m really qualified to be making these decisions. Orion seems to think so, but he loves me.
 

“I think that Atlas was a wise man. But he’s no longer here. It has to be your choice to undertake such a mammoth task. It’s not going to be easy. You may very well die in the course of such a quest.” I swallow hard as my dad’s words reach me. He looks morose, devastated. I think on them. I might very well die, so could Orion.
 

“I don’t want to die.” I whisper. I look up at the surface of the water, it wasn’t a few months ago I was ready for death, I had wanted to martyr myself for the mer, but somewhere inside myself I’d known that everything was going to be okay. That it was the right thing to do. I don’t know that about this situation. What if we’re slaughtered? What if in recruiting all the other mer pods we wipe out the world’s defences in one flail swoop. I’m scared, I don’t know if I can lead an army, I don’t know if I can beat Saturnus and Solustus. They’re so much older than I; have so much more power and wisdom. I feel tiny and insignificant, fragile and vulnerable. I then feel an anger begin to stir, something irrational coming to the surface.
 

Why do they have to do this? Why can’t they just leave us and the world in peace? Why is this happening to me? Why can’t it be someone else’s problem?
I sigh as the torrent of questions come forth in a tormenting cascade. My dad looks at me and frowns.