Page 97 of Of Song and Scepter
I lift my arm, wincing, and grasp the captain’s wrist. “Don’t kill her,” I whisper.
Nara frowns as Odissa screeches again with ear-splitting reverberation. The sound echoes throughout the lofty room in endless dissonance. “You sure about that, my lady?”
I nod. “Wouldn’t want to disappoint a death goddess now, would we?”
Nara grunts and shouts another order. The warm, smiling face of a healer hovers over me. The healer sings, and magic flows, wrapping me in a cocoon of light.
Pain sears swiftly through my leg as the fibers of my skin knit together. Soren gasps and twitches. His hand squeezes mine against his blood-soaked chest.
Boom.Jewels rattle and fall from their perch. The walls fracture in long, ragged lines, flakes of stone falling to the floor.
A drop of water lands on my cheek, icy as the Drink.
Boom.Sconces snuff out, plummeting the room into pitch darkness. The air grows metallic in my mouth. A hissing mist descends, coating my exposed skin with pricks of moisture. Another drop of water on my cheek.
The healer hesitates, looking toward the ceiling, and the searing pain of magic lessens.
Water falls. In a hissing stream, it hits the floor with a woosh. I’m submerged instantly. My tail snaps together. My gills sprout from my neck. The current spins, tumbles, and roars in my ears. Daggers and rings and bottles of glass churn in the onslaught, bumping into me.
Soren’s hand slips from my grip. I reach for him through the icy water, screaming his name. My voice is drowned out by the furious roar of water.
Somewhere in the room, Odissa’s laughter gurgles, rasping, maniacal. “Come and get me!” she shrills.
A haze of purple light flickers at the apex of the ceiling, shining through the dark water. Above me, the waterline nears the ceiling, rising fast. A dark shape moves in front of the light—swirling, thick bands of muscle, lined with glowing suckers. In a vortex of tentacles, the goddess of death descends. Her dark laughter crackles through the water.
Tephra touches down, eerily beautiful in the dim purple light. Her torso perches in the epicenter of the writhing mass of her limbs. One muscular hand rests on her hip. The other brandishes her golden trident. Hungry eyes scan the chaos of the room.
The current subsides, and my body comes to rest on the floor. Guards rush the goddess, tridents bared. With a twitch of her tentacles, Tephra flicks them away. I search for Soren among the confusion, finding him nowhere.
This is it. The goddess’s gaze lands on Odissa’s slumped figure against the wall. The trident moves, pointing straight at the failed death-dealer.
Odissa’s eyes crack open, and she glares up at Tephra, eyeing the large, shiny fork. With great effort, she purses her mouth and spits. The saliva spreads into the water, a gelatinous shape, missing the tine.
Tephra blinks. Her chest rumbles with a chuckle. The water quivers, and the vibration rattles my bones.
There.Across the room, I spot the dull glint of Soren’s green tail. I push off the floor and glide, weaving between the scattered weapons and fallen soldiers.
“Odissa, darling, how nice to see you again so soon,” Tephra says. The corner of her mouth twitches into an almost-smile. One tentacle slithers out, wrapping around Odissa’s waist. The tip of the tentacle tucks under her chin, tilting her face up.
Odissa snarls, wrenching her chin away. “I was sabotaged,” she hisses.
I find Soren’s hand, and he grips me, pulling me tight to his side. Where my ear presses against his chest, I can hear his heart accelerate.
Tephra clucks her tongue. “Now, now,” she says wryly. “We had a bargain. You were to win the heart of a prince, with proof, and did you?” She shakes her great head, her gaze landing for a moment on Soren and me, embracing in the face of the unknown. “Seems not.”
“You knew!” Odissa’s eyes are full of fire. “Youknewthey had that fucking necklace. You set me up.”
Tephra eyes the death-dealer. “And?”
Another tentacle slips out, twining around Soren’s tail. Before I can react, he’s torn from me again, my hands left grasping nothing but water. Tephra yanks him into the air, dangling him in front of her face. She smiles at him. “Hello, little fish,” she says. She touches the tine of her trident to his chest. “The price of your heart is quite high. I wonder whatyouwould pay to keep it.”
He struggles against her grip, but he’s weak and still wounded. The tentacle wraps tightly around him, pinning his arms to his sides. His gaze finds mine, eyes wide and searching in the dark water.
“Leave him out of this,” I say, wincing. “Please, Your Darkness. Save your wrath for the one worthy of it.”
Tephra turns toward me, narrowing her eyes. I shift to meet her glare, ignoring the pain in my tail, and lift my chin. My spines rise, and my fangs lengthen, pushing through my snarling lips.
Her face lights with a flash of recognition. “Enna, darling!” she says. “You’ve been quite the wild card in our little ruse, haven’t you? My dredgebeast sends its regards.” The tentacle nearest me slithers closer, the tip of it caressing my tailfin. I eye it warily. Tephra chuckles, and the water trembles in the wake of her humor. “I do like surprises. They keep things interesting for me. And I’m juststarvingfor entertainment these days.”
