Page 88 of I Summon the Sea

Thrusting into servants and maids, into everyone in their path.

They make their way to me where I sit frozen, my mouth hanging open, my heart thrashing inside my chest.

“She comes with us,” they say, grabbing me by the arms, hauling me out of my chair. Unheeded, it crashes to the floor behind me. Sparks dance in my eyes. I’ve never passed out, but I think I may be on the verge of doing it now, my body shutting down.

But my brother rushes in front of me. “No. You can’t take her!”

I make a grab for him, but my arms are held fast by the fae soldiers. Fear turns my stomach. “Flynn, no?—”

A sword gleams as it rises, gleams like a sunrise.

And then it slices down.

I jerk. Everything in me jerks. My heart, what was left of it, dies in that moment.

A splatter of crimson spreads on my dress and the floor as I stare into my brother’s gray eyes. They are wide, wide open, and they aren’t closing.

Bile rises in my throat. I throw up, my legs going from under me as they cut Flynn down right in front of me.

The soldiers haul me back, then drag my parents by the hair, and the sword rises again, gleaming?—

No! Not again!

A dream. A memory. I sit up in bed, screaming silently, tears streaming down my face, soaking my neck, my hair.No.

I don’t want to remember.

I fight the memories, shoving them as deep down inside my mind as I can, but the nights are the worst, the earth shifting and the dead rising.

Remembering that pain is the fuel for my anger. The anger pushing me to do what I must. It just hurts too much to let the pain in. It drips through my nightmares and dreams, so that I wake up soaked in it—soaked in cold sweat and tears.

Jumping to my feet, I walk to the window, scrubbing at my cheeks. I want to smash through the glass, breathe in the fresh air, but it’s locked, fixed, welded shut.

Can’t breathe… I can’t breathe…I need to get out of here, out of this room, out of the palace. So I run to the door and try the handle, but it’s locked.

Let me out.I bang on the door, over and over.Let me out, let me out, let me out?—

The door swings open, throwing me stumbling back—but then I barrel forward again, needing to get out, gasping for breath.

“What is…?” A hand grabs me, pushes me back inside, and releases me to stagger to a stop. Tru glares down at me, mouth set in an unhappy line. “Rae, you should be in bed. I told you not to come out?—”

“Tru, stand down.” The new voice is a low rumble that sends pleasant shivers down my spine, its owner appearing a moment later, filling the doorframe. His presence rocks me like a blow. “Get out and close the door.”

“Athdara.” Tru is slow to react, though the shock in his eyes mirrors mine. “What are you doing here, Jai? You should be in bed in the?—”

“Get out.”

Tru’s jaw clenches, but he gives a brief bow and marches out. The door thunders shut on his heels.

I’m shivering in my nightgown, uneven breaths sawing in and out of me. Jai looms over me, made of soft shadows and sharp white light, the angles of his beautiful face as harsh as those of his powerful body.

He’s dressed in a fine, sheer black tunic and loose pants, but the clothes don’t matter. They become one with him, with the power and violence leashed in those thick muscles. They can’t hide what he is.

My only question is, which side of him will I see now? The cruel commander or the kind human?

Neither, it seems. His hands close on my face, gentle but at the same time hard, fingertips digging into my cheeks. “You’re crying. What happened?”

Bad dreams,I think.Bad memories.

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