Page 81 of Beneath the Veil of Tides
It laughed, a melodic chuckle.
“Why haven’t you told him that you love him yet, Lady of the Blood?”
The light in the farthest corner flickered, then flashed forward to reveal who stood before me.
I couldn't breathe… couldn’t move… couldn’t think.
Evelyn. My sister.
The night of Myrrwood Forest flashed in my memories—the creature that wore Noctis’s face. This one was different, though. It stole my sister’s face, her features… but not her voice. It held itself with the poise of royalty draped in thin, ripped tunic and corset.
“You are not her,” I declared, masking the tremor in my voice.
“That is true. I appear as what you most desire.”
“Give me the trident piece, so we can save her then. So, we can save everyone.”
The creature wearing my sister’s skin rubbed its fingers along its chin in thought. It looked so much like Evelyn—the sharp high cheekbones, her curls drifting softly through the water, and that purple-hued tail that let her hover just above the ocean floor, as if she belonged there more than anywhere else.
“Family affairs are not really my forte,” the creature responded, the gravelly texture of its tone coming from deep within its rattling chest.
“Not your forte? Even as you wear the face of my sister?”
“Again, I appear as your greatest desire,” It drawled slowly, propelling feet forward. “I will not interfere with you, Lady of the Blood, nor with your aunt.”
“I have no aunt,” I said with conviction, surging through my mind for any recollection of family beyond my parents and sister.
“She storms the shores now,” the creature cheerily replied.
“That’s not true,” I breathed. The Ocean Mother was not my aunt. It would mean my mother— “Why?” The words barely made their way from my mouth.No wonder the beast kept calling me Lady of the Blood.
Evelyn’s face stretched into a wicked grin.
“You didn’t know.”
I swallowed, the information tearing at my stomach.
The phantom morphed, features dripping like melting candle wax against flame.
Mother.
The creature went on. “The Ocean Mother is scared of you.” My mother paced the outskirts of the dark chamber with legs I had only ever seen on her during the Aetherkin Bound trials. “So, she numbed them so deeply they forgot who you were, hoping one day she would use you as her own weapon.”
My parents.
“Take off my mother’s face,” I seethed.
My mother looked at me, a smirk gracefully covering her lips. Then, it morphed into my father, and I trembled more.
“You know… sometimes I enjoy thinking about how I would feel if I were still human. And right now, I think I’d pity you.”
The shifter stopped pacing and faced me.
“A mer, once the sacrifice. Now the reckoning. I’ve seen it myself. But I’ve also seen your downfall. The realms’ downfall.” Its speech rippled the water around it in vibrations that could convince the Terraguard Bound of earthquakes. “Prove to me you deserve this piece and the latter is your fate.”
“How?”
It came forward until we were face to face. Our noses nearly touched. I struggled to meet my father’s gaze. I trembled but forced my body to tense, hoping it would put up a front under the piercing stare of the creature.
