Page 18 of I Summon the Sea

Flailing, I find myself tumbling once more, the world streaking around me… until I crash into a muscular chest.

Strong arms wrap around me, ending my fall, knocking the last of my breath out of me. Through the dizziness, the scent of wood smoke and leather envelops me, and I know who is holding me.

Athdara.

Where did he come from? I hadn’t seen him all day, and I never thought…

Never thought he’d make the effort to save me again.

I make the mistake of glancing up at his face, and the dizziness worsens. Shadows, so many shadows—dancing black flames in his eyes, a spiky crown on his tousled head, and arching over his shoulders, two huge wings spread from his back.

I’m seeing things.

Lowering my gaze, I take a deep breath, trying to settle my stomach and my heart. Two small marks on the long column of his neck catch my attention.

Two small wounds, close together, bruising around them. What’s the cause of them?

The barge lurches forward, the guards shouting warnings about the nokke to the convoy following us, but he’s still holding me, and I’m still caught in his eyes, his shadows, his strong arms.

I feel… safe.

But that feeling isn’t real. I’m never safe anywhere, ever.

He’s observing me, his mouth soft and his strong jaw clenched, at odds with one another. Annoyed. Amused. Vacillating between the two moods.

“You should be more careful,” he finally says, his voice a smoky rumble. “I have too much on my hands right now to keep an eye on you.”

I frown.

“And save you from treacherous situations,” he goes on and a smirk tugs on his mouth, turning slightly crooked.

A little dazed, I stare at that arrogant tilt of soft lips, the brash words he spoke, but the shadows are gone, I realize, and Gods above, he looks so different. So… young and beautiful. He was beautiful the first time I saw him, granted, but now his beauty is like a knife to the heart.

“You can’t speak.” His smile slowly fades, and that makes me sad. He lowers me to the deck. “Speak softly, but carry a dagger…”

I stiffen at the mention of the first line in theBook of the Maze and the Snail, an old classic. He must have felt the dagger hidden in the folds of my skirt, pressing against him. Will he take it from me?

The guards approach us, and his mouth tightens again, his gaze hardening.

“My lord Athdara,” one of the guards says. “Your orders?”

“I’ll give you my fucking orders. Stop talking and keep your eyes on the fucking water,” Athdara snaps, all trace of amusement gone. He steps back, towering over me, but his gaze has already dismissed me. “You swore a duty and you’re slacking. As for why she remains here… It’s simple. BecauseI said so.”

CHAPTER SIX

“Because I said so.”

His words echo inside my head, and that arrogant, amused smirk haunts my thoughts.

It shouldn’t. None of that matters. I’m here for a reason, and it’s not to stare at pretty, arrogant fae commanders.

A fae commander who saved your life, a snarky little voice quips at the back of my mind.Who told the guards to let you stay on the barge.

It doesn’t matter, I repeat to myself.Don’t get distracted. It meant nothing. Just because he did the decent thing and rescued you doesn’t mean he likes you. Remember how he dismissed you the first time he saw you. Tru was the one who saved you, not Athdara.

The drak with its rider follows us, circling, then falling back and returning. More draks fly around the Pillar in colorful waves. I think I see Great Dara circle higher up, glinting metal scales and wings. The water around the Pillar’s base, where it sinks its roots deep into the sea, seems to boil and bubble.

The Pillar draws magical beings to it.

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