Page 31 of Hymn of Breath and Bone

I’d have no priestess to interpret my token, but I was determined to do it anyway and hoped there was something worthy in the depths.

On the Isles, I feared this dive would be impossible. I was sure my mother planned to send me with pearls or coral or something to miraculously emerge with just in case I couldn’t make it on my own.

Now, I was a little excited to see if I could make it to the ocean floor. Ana flew me down to the base of the cliff after we had eaten, and I said a little prayer to the sea as I prepared to enter.

Mother Sea, guide me in your depths to find the token meant for my mate.

I knew Caspian wouldn’t have one in return, but I didn’t care. This was more for me than him anyway.

I thought I felt the sea sigh a little as I lowered myself carefully, waiting for my lungs to acclimate to the freezing temperature. My legs fused, the sensation a tickle from my pelvis to my toes as the gray seal skin covered and warmed my lower half.

“Please don’t drown,” Ana said a little warily. “Caspian would never forgive me.”

“I’ll be less than five minutes,” I replied, thinking Ana sounded an awful lot like Sereia at that moment.

I felt a little pang of longing as I thought of my friend. Would she be as horrified by this pairing as my parents would undoubtedly be?

“Time me!” I shouted confidently as I took the largest breath I had ever taken in my life and dove.

The sea was dark only a few feet down, and I was grateful for my selkie eyes as I dove deeper and deeper, the water becoming colder and more murky as I headed for the ocean floor. It wasn’t very deep this close to the cliffs, and I guided the water to part around me as I swam, making the descent a little easier.

Despite Mira’s medicine, my lungs began to ache after only a minute, and I knew in a few more they would burn so badly I’d need to take a breath.

My strong tail propelled me down, and I knew I must be close to the bottom.Help me, Mother Sea.I chanted the thought as I swam down and down and down, finally touching sand and rock in near complete darkness. Now to find a treasure and make the ascent.

It was nearly impossible to see, so I relied on touch to guide me, searching for something that could be easily carried back to the surface.

Another minute had passed when the glint of something shiny caught my eye.

It moved as I swam toward it, and I stopped dead as I realized my error.

It was a sea dragon, its glimmering scales catching the last dregs of light down here as it hunted for its lunch.

Oh seas,Iwas going to be its lunch.

Sea dragons usually didn’t come to shore this late in the year, but I supposed maybe the cliffs didn’t count. Its eyes met mine, and rather than kicking upward, I stayed completely still, terror gripping me.

Please don’t eat me, please don’t eat me,I thought as the beast swam closer. Sea dragons had no limbs, their undulating bodies and numerous fins guiding them smoothly through the water. I had never seen one so close, and its blue eyes regarded me with something akin to interest as the frills at the sides of its head flared.

Why would I eat you, daughter of the sea?came a hissing voice in my head. I blinked, spinning once as I looked around for Ran. The hissing voice chuckled.You would make a meager morsel indeed.

Seas below, thesea dragonwas talking to me, its head tilted and its eyes oddly amused. First kelpies and now this. As far as we knew, sea dragons were mindless killing machines. I had never heard of such a thing.

We are not mindless,answered the sea dragon indignantly as it swam around me, answering the question in my mind rather than on my lips. It opened its jaws to show hundreds of spiny, fang-like teeth before snapping them shut again.None of your kind has ever tried to speak to us before. Whydo you do so now?

I don’t know, I replied, panic starting to grip me as my lungs began to burn. How long had it been? Three minutes?I actually didn’t mean to speak to you.

The dragon regarded me curiously.Your lungs pain you. I will take you to the surface.

No, that’s quite alr—I let out a bubbled scream as the sea dragon swam toward me. I grabbed its scales instinctively as it neared, and it swam upward in a graceful column of glittering blue-green scales and fins.

Hold tight, the dragon roared as it surfaced, leaping in an arc that brought both of us out of the water and splashing back down into its choppy surface.That’s my favorite part.

I let go, shaking with both cold and terror and breached the surface once more, taking in a massive gulp of air as I heard Ana call my name over the wind, followed by a scream.

For the winged one, came the voice of the sea dragon as its head broke the surface, something glimmering in its teeth. It nodded its head at me irritably as I hesitated to take the thing, and it spat it before me instead.For his task.

Thank you, I thought, picking up the sparkling scale before it floated away from me. It was lighter than it looked, and flexible, but so hard I doubted a regular knife or sword could pierce it. No wonder sea dragons were hard to kill.What task?