Page 42 of I Summon the Sea

Why?Why?

“Are you seriously asking?”

His magic will be rendered null, or close, drained and drowned, whereas mine will be amplified. I will have the advantage in the trials.

It’s why I’m here. Why I was chosen. Because my magic can get through the king’s defenses. And in case it came to this.

But the line is moving, and soon enough it’s my turn. I watch the woman in front of me lurch off toward the plank, her face pale. She jumps, her arms flailing.

Vanishing.

The telchin is gazing down at me from his considerable height—he’s almost as tall as Athdara—with a frown on his craggy face. His eyes are a deep brown like upturned soil, his cheeks hollow, his beard spilling over his barrel chest like a dark river. The golden robes do little to hide the powerful physique so typical of telchins. They are physical phenomena, like storms and hurricanes. Unstoppable. Uncontrollable.

Always running their own program, independently from the rest of the world.

So why is this one dancing to the tune of the fae king? It must somehow align with his own plans. What has he seen in the future? And why is he gazing at me as if he can see right through me?

He lifts the relic in his large hand, and I hold my breath, waiting for it to vibrate, to shake and screech and disqualify me.

But when it doesn’t, the telchin’s gaze darkens and narrows more.

“You…” he whispers, just like Athdara had done when he’d first laid eyes on me.

But a guard prods me with his spear, and I move past the telchin and his piercing gaze, crossing the last of the deck and stepping onto the creaking, swaying plank.

The wind buffets me. My bare feet slip a little, and I struggle to catch my balance.

Below me is the void. The distance from up here to the water in the half-filled arena is huge and dizzying, making my stomach lurch.

Focus.

The platforms I’d noticed on our way here float in the middle, and all kinds of monsters are probably lurking, waiting to eviscerate us, tear us apart, and feast on us before we make it there.

I take a deep breath and make myself move. I walk down the plank to stand at the end, my toes curling against the wood.

Here we go. Taking a breath, I take another step, and I’m falling through the rushing air… falling endlessly.

Until I hit the deep dark waters of the arena and go under.

At last.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

My breath punches out of me.

My chest caves in.

The water is crushing me.

I cough bubbles into the blue as I sink like a stone, deeper and deeper. Panic grips me, muddling my thoughts, stringing them on dark threads and tangling them into snags and knots.

Shit.The spell is still on me.

Stop. Calm down.

I force myself to stop moving, stop flapping my arms and legs, and speak to my queen, as I float suspended in the blue.

Your Majesty, Amphitrite. I’m here. Release me. Release me now.

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