Page 22 of Unmoored

“I use magic,” he said. “I’ve been placing a pocket of air around your head, and it pulls oxygen from the water.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling dizzy.

“I’m sorry for all of this,” he said again. “You don’t deserve the life you’ve been forced to live, but this is the most I can offer. Come with me, and if I’m correct and you have Talassi blood, you’ll be forever protected by my kind.”

Talassi blood, I thought.There’s no way.

But, against all logic, I pushed myself onto my feet and made my way towards the predator before me. If he was lying, or if it turned out that I was but a mere human, what did it matter? I’d die either way if he left me alone in this cave.

So, in the same sort of daze I’d been in when I threw myself off the jetty, I slipped into the arms of a sea creature and allowed him to pull me back into the dark waters.

PART III

13

DRAYA

Hazel slid into the water, melting against my body as if she belonged there. This girl was so starved for care and affection that she was seeking it fromme, a predator who could kill her in seconds and not a soul would know.

“You have very bad self-preservation skills,” I murmured, adjusting her as I formed a pocket of air around her head.

She said nothing, just leaned her head against my shoulder and closed her eyes.

My mind was all over the place. Of course, I wasn’t going to leave her in a cave in the middle of the ocean. Nor was I going to take her back to that fucking torture island. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about bringing her into the Talassian Capital.

If she did not possess any Talassi blood, she’d be killed. Humans were not allowed inside the Capital under any circumstances, and if they were brought in as prisoners theywere promptly disposed of once any useful information had been extracted. No full-blooded human in Talassian history, at least that I was aware of, had traversed one of our cities and lived to tell the tale.

Hazel and I slipped below the surface of the pool, following the current down through the tunnel and out to the open ocean. I’d taken her to one of our outposts, a small cave connected to a peninsula off the coast of what the humans call Maine. Talassian outposts were protected by magic, and provided a safe base for our warriors when we were completing missions on land. These caverns and tunnels contained clothing, human food rations, water, and survival gear in case we needed to camp for a few days to a few weeks.

All full-blooded Talassi could shift between our sea forms and land forms, with our land forms mimicking a true human body. We could only stay in our land forms for a period of time, ranging from a day to a few weeks depending on our age and strength, and we had to stay close to a natural body of water to maintain the shift. Talassi who had human blood, as I suspected of Hazel, typically spent most of their time in human form and could only shift into their Talassi bodies when in close proximity to the ocean or another large body of water.

Half-Talassi were rare, and I wasn’t quite sure how Hazel had come to be. Which was why it was important that I brought her back to the Capital.

Despite the irritating part of me that seemed to care about her, I was curious. There was something strange about her existence, and for my own selfish reasons, Iwanted to know more. Lord Emerson was undoubtedlynotTalassi. He’d been an enemy to my people since long before I presumed she was born. She couldn’t have been older than twenty-five, and I remembered hearing of the horrible atrocities Emerson and his fleet had committed against us during my own childhood. I was nearing thirty-five.

Strange oddities were happening within the Emerson family line, and the more I thought about it, the more confident I was in my decision to save her.

However, I was reluctant to inform her that she was now, for all intents and purposes, my prisoner.

“Hazel,” I said, trying to keep my voice soft enough so as to not hurt her ears. Our voices were amplified in the water, and I didn’t want to give her permanent hearing damage.

“Yes,” she said, her voice low against the crook of my shoulder.

“I need to prepare you for when we arrive at the Capital,” I said. She nodded, squeezing her frail arms against my torso. “Talassi don’t typically take… kindly to humans. And considering your bloodline, you will not be given a warm welcome.”

“Lovely,” she said, her voice lifeless.

“I’m going to bring you in as a prisoner,” I said gently, hoping she wouldn’t thrash or yell.

Her reaction, or lack thereof, surprised me. She said nothing.

“Hazel?!” I snapped, loosening my hold and leaning back to look her in the eyes.

Her expression was glazed over, as if she couldn’t havecared any less about what I just said. This woman was going to be the death of me. Why didn’t she care aboutanything?!

I shook my head, readjusting her so we could continue our journey, and we didn’t exchange any more words until we reached the outskirts of the Capital.

I bound her wrists in front of her with a piece of kelp I ripped from the sea floor, to which she gave no objection, then we ascended to the iron gate barring the city.