Page 56 of Riot of Autumn

“Seraphina.” All he says is her name, but it’s clear there’s an order in his tone.

She doesn’t even step forward; she simply raises her hands. I realize what she’s doing seconds before the wave crashes over my head. I barely toss Ruby away from me before I’m swept out to sea.

The wave acts like a giant hand that claws me into the ocean. Dark terror crashes over me, just as another wave shoves me under. Memories of that day slam into me, and just like that, I’m not an adult fighting against some insane Fae. I’m a child desperate to stay alive.

Therapy helped me work through my fear of the water and getting back onto a boat after that day, but the apprehension never really goes away. I ram it down and pretend it’s something I can handle, but in reality this doesn’t have anything to do with a mental fight. Seraphina’s using magic to control me by exploiting my worst fear, but ultimately it’s the water that could kill me.

The ocean is as cold tonight as it was that day. I kick my legs, my arms cutting through the water. No matter how hard I try, I can’t get to the surface. The waves keep crashing down on top of me, holding me under and stealing away my strength.

I’m holding my breath, but I wasn’t prepared, and there’s only a little oxygen left in my lungs. Sixteen years later and I’m still in the same place, about to face the death I escaped all those years ago. As my lungs burn, screaming at me to take a breath, one last thought haunts me. My biggest regret. I should have told Ruby how much I fucking love her.

My body betrays me, and I suck in a lungful of water.

19

RUBY

The night air smells like a bonfire and the fresh scent of sweet grasses and the woods. Like Ezra. My mouth waters and I want to lick Ezra everywhere to capture the taste on my tongue. The need to be as close to Ezra as possible and touch him overtakes every other thought. To run my hands over the heat of his skin and press my body to his.

I know there are others around us, but I don’t care about them. They don’t matter. Kissing Ezra, touching him, is the only way to quench this rabid thirst. My hands skim around Ezra’s sides, feeling the rippling muscles in his abdomen, when he abruptly shoves me away.

“What the fuck?” For a brief second, clarity reaches me. The fog of lust clouding my head when I touch Ezra subsides, and the world around me slowly resurfaces. I concentrate on the shifting sand beneath my feet and the sound of the ocean crashing next to me.

Seraphina’s laugh cracks through the night. The crash of a powerful wave hitting the earth makes my head snap up, just in time to see Ezra being dragged out to sea as though the ocean is hungry to have him in its depths.

Water smashes over him again and again, forcing him beneath the surface before he can gasp a breath. My soul fractures apart because this is Ezra’s nightmare. He tolerates the water but even that much has taken a ton of work on his part. To be trapped underneath endless waves can only dredge up old horrible memories.

A scream of rage shreds my throat, and I launch myself at Seraphina. I don’t give a shit what Colton or the Duke are doing. My single focus is on the bitch who is hurting Ezra. Our bodies collide with a solid clunk and bones clashing. A pitiful little grunt puffs out of Seraphina’s lips as we land in a tangle in the sand. I don’t give her time to recover. I wind my arm back and punch her with all the strength in my body, sending a piece of my fucking soul into my fist. There’s a satisfying crunch when my fist connects with her nose and breaks it.

Seraphina wails as blood pours down her face. I’d really like to beat the shit out of her, but I don’t have time for that. I’m about to sell my soul to the devil for the strength to fight all these Fae on my own, when I hear Davis shouting. Seconds later, a scream that belongs to my sister pierces the night.

They’ve managed to rip free from the Duke’s fucking lust haze and are swarming the assholes surrounding me. I don’t waste any time watching what’s happening, too intent on helping Ezra. I sprint straight into the water, choking back a gasp as the freezing ocean soaks my clothes. My body seizes up, and I fight the natural instinct to get out of the icy cold water. I don’t give a damn if my body shuts down. I won’t leave Ezra.

Seraphina isn’t controlling the waves any longer, but Ezra hasn’t come back up. Shit. Shit. Shit. It’s dark as hell, and there’s an entire ocean in front of me. How far did her magic push him out? How long has he been under? Time has ceased to have meaning. It feels both like an eternity since that wave washed him away, and also like I only blinked, and he was gone. Each second that passes, each breath that I take, has fear tightening its grip on my heart.

I can’t lose him. We haven’t even figured out what the hell we’re doing with each other. Fate can’t be that damn cruel, can it?

My whole body is shaking as I push my way into the water, now waist deep. Tears of frustration well up in my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. It’s too dark to see a thing. The light from the fire is too far away. My body is quickly going numb and there’s too much noise. The fight behind me on the beach, the waves crashing endlessly against the shore. It’s too fucking much.

I grip my hair and bite down on my lips, hoping the sting of pain from both will pull me back from my snowballing thoughts. Think, goddamnit. Think.

“Use your magic,” a voice calls out to me from nearby in the water. I barely make out the shape of a man, but then it clicks. It’s the dude with the pretty hair who keeps showing up at Puck’s Diner.

What the fuck?

Why is he in the water with us? How does he know about my magic?

My magic. I can summon things with my magic. Right now, that’s the only important thing. I don’t care if I have a stalker slash good Samaritan, he’s right.

Please let this work. I don’t know if I’ll survive if I lose Ezra. He owns a piece of my heart, a piece of my soul. If he’s gone from my life, all that will remain is a half empty shell of a human.

I close my eyes and suck in a breath, remembering the magic I tapped into when I created Ezra’s necklace. That place that exists like a deep well in the center of my chest, just waiting for me to dip into it. And I do. I call down into that well, shouting out my need for help and feeling the magic answer in return. It swells in my chest, sweeping outwards to the far reaches of my body until I’m practically tingling with the energy of my power.

Instinct guides me, since I have no fucking clue what I’m doing. I cry out for Ezra, screaming his name into the wind. The sound fights with the smashing waves, but I pour all my energy into my command, summoning Ezra to me.

I don’t know if I was expecting the ocean to spit him out at me, skipping him like a rock into my arms, but that’s not what happens. Another wave breaks, cresting over my head and trapping me in the black void of the water. Complete darkness overtakes me for a heartbeat, but in that quiet moment, it feels like time is suspended. The wave pulls back, and I’m left on the shore, and Ezra’s right next to me.

“Ezra.” I crawl through the sand to his side, his name falling from my lips in a cry.

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