Page 43 of Beneath the Veil of Tides
“Because he destroyed my home in the process,” the male smoldered, his snarling gaze on Raoku.
Creases covered the commander's face as his eyebrows lowered, lips growling. He attempted to dust the dirt from his suit, but it stuck to the fabric, soaking in with the water.
“You will not get the trident.” Raoku’s voice trembled with barely controlled rage. He snapped his fingers, and the ground quaked.
The Oricaans crushed the temple beneath their gold-clad colossal feet, stone and pillars colliding with the ground.
All I hoped was that there were still no beings inside.
Raoku flicked his wrist, piercing me in the thigh with something sharp. When I looked down, a needle impaled my leathers and layers of skin, oozing a yellow viscous liquid like honey into my body.
The commander disappeared, leaving us in chaos as the Oricaans crawled back into the fractured ground.
He must not have known we had the piece from Shadeborne Bound already. In my mind, it didn’t matter, because my eyes fluttered, arms wrapping around my torso as I swayed right before crashing into the ground.
Gods, I can’t breathe.
The poison gripped me, quickly taking hold of my seizing body. Then, my sight. And finally, my mind.
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
My mother’s deranged eyes opened before me in a flash, but I narrowly threw myself to the side, dodging the clawed hand flying through the water inches from tearing off my face. Bubbles floated from the wild merfolk’s mouth as she screamed, frosted blood trickling through the water. Her eyes bulged, crimson rings around the irises.
My back collided into a jagged bulge, my tail swishing vigorously to escape. Each piece of exposed flesh from peeled scales stung in the salty water, a sharp twinge of agony across my once full and beautiful tail.
I fought so hard every day to be what my parents needed, even going as far as to offering my own blood at the beginning of their addiction. But now, all my mother wanted was to drain my very essence. And I allowed it, as long as they stayed away from Evelyn.
“You, my darling—” My mother’s hoarse voice was riddled with malice. “—are leaving soon, so just let me get my fix!”
A desperate, weak cry escaped my mouth. I was so exhausted… so drained. Weak and frail. In the past weeks, I’d lost weight along my bones, each one peeking out as if announcing its existence.
“No,” I wailed, but a cracked smile spread slowly across my mother’s face.
“You cannot say no. The deal is done.” My mother feverishly picked at the sores marring her arms until they bled, phantom blue ribbons drifting upwards. “Your blood does nothing for me anymore. The Ocean Mother demands it. What she wants, she gets.”
“This isn't right. I've done nothing to deserve this!” My bellow rippled the water.
“It’s how we take the realm, my darling. You know this.”
My mother raked her thin, fragile fingers through my tangled hair, her arms shaking with withdrawals. It had only been hours since she sliced my skin last.
My blood did not fully fuel her needs anymore, so it was time for my sacrifice—except my parents kept their first born far later than most merfolk. It didn’t matter that I had aged older than the normal sacrifices, since my parents couldn’t cut off their addiction long enough to send me off. All of it for my blood. For something I had no control over. For a ritual they blindly followed.
I dreaded the day, knowing I would soon be wrestled by the Maelstrom Command and dragged to the depths of the Ocean Mother’s trenches. Just like they did to every merfolk traded by their parents.
The merfolk honors the sacrifice, believing each chosen soul of a first-born must be sent down the leyline to wake Thal’Maruun, the Abyssal Crown—an ancient goddess who is said to one day rise and drown the sunlit world.
But then, the shadows disappeared, replaced by a white glow. A new memory resurfacing.
A white glow and Noctis. I watched another version of myself, my crooked, above-ocean legs crouched in a field of grass, leaning too far left for a decent attack position. The god found my weakness quickly, hooking his leg around mine and flattening my body to the ground.His flexing arm caught my fall right before I crashed. We laughed, and it was such a melodic tune. My eyes prickled at the sound. At the beauty of the memory that flashed before me. It was us. The same us he fought to bring back, and for some beautiful reason, that memory came back.
He had dimples. And even as I knew it was just a dream, my breath hitched at the sight of them. At the sight of him. His black tunic lay thrown in the grass, exposing his abdomen, rigid as he stood strong, waiting for my next attack. His soft, ruby wings drifted in the breeze, and I watched from the ground as his eyes closed at that contact.
I swept my leg out in a wicked movement, catching his ankles. He flipped sideways, landing with a groan on his elbow in the grass. I had never felt so alive, even watching it unravel before me in unconsciousness.
My vision blurred around the edges until I saw nothing but void. My mind took me elsewhere, but I couldn’t see to make out where exactly. Ripples in water surrounded me. I was beneath the waves. Slowly, figures approached as I hugged my knees in a grimy, locked chamber. My back hit the stone as I rocked, screaming until my traitorous body began to silence itself in the abyss. The gauntlets that tore into my ankles and wrists pulled me to the ground under their weight.
They had captured me when I returned for Evelyn. Noctis would be devastated when he found out I stormed in for revenge without him, but I just couldn’t endanger him for my own mission. I wanted him to live. His life had been stolen from him for far too long, and I yearned to earn it back.
