Page 167 of Faeling
So was his roar.
His strength wasn’t suddenly his again the moment the manacles unlocked, but that didn’t matter. Arms and legs pumping, his beast shoved him forward, through the gauntlet of grasping hands, warning shouts, and glass-strewn ground. Hedidn’t care, didn’t care, all that mattered was getting—
His lungs heaved as he jumped up the dais steps, past a stunned, unmoving Leita.
The gaping hole they’d made in the window cames was the exact size and shape of the hole rent through his soul. He skidded to a halt just before the open air, the metal strips bent outward, beckoning. Before him, the sky was a burnished, rosy gold, the sunset across the sea a brilliant display that lent just enough light to see down, down, down.
The angry sea churned below, studded with conical rocks jutting from the water like fangs ready to gnash and cut. Dark and deep, even so close to the cliffs, waves battered the rocks as seabirds screamed in their whorls above. But there, just there, he swore he saw a ring of bubbles.
He didn’t think, didn’t hesitate—with a running leap, and a hundred cries at his back, Vallek threw himself out the window.
The windwhooshedpast him with the force of a thousand daggers, the chill cutting into his skin. His body hurtled downward, air rushing everywhere but into his lungs. He fell hundreds of feet, it took but a moment, but still he wished himself there faster.
Dark waters rushed up to meet him. He’d just gotten himself into position, arms tight to his sides, legs below him at an angle and braced when—the water hit him.
His feet and ankles erupted with agony, but then all he knew was cold.
Vallek plunged deep into the water, the cold burn sparking in shocks across his body. The force of the cold stunned him, but he allowed himself only a moment before making himself move, making his body comply. Up through the water he shot, defying the depths, pushing himself up to the surface.
He had to reach her.
This wasn’t how it would end, damn her.
He was king and he refused to let it be!
Gathering just enough breath, he bellowed, “RAVENNA!”
Nothing replied, the waves tossing him between the rocks. Snarling, Vallek pushed off from the nearest rock, ignoring how his ankles protested.
He worked to tread water and gain a little height, trying desperately to see whereabout he’d spotted that ring. She had to be here; there had to be a chance she—
A little pop caught his eye.
As he watched, a sparse stream of bubbles burst on the surface about ten feet away.
Vallek refused to think it a trick of the waning light. He swam hard for the spot and then dove, arms and legs shoving water aside. The saltwater burned his eyes, but he didn’t care. There was little to see in the dark depths, but he didn’t care.
He kicked, water streaming past, until finally, a pale face materialized before him.
Eyes closed and face slack, Ravenna hung eerily in the water, as if suspended from a string. Her hair streamed around her, a ghoulish banner, and her waterlogged wings had been crushed against her back. One hand clutched at the shoulder buckle of her cuirass, while the other rose above her, reaching for the surface.
Vallek grabbed her under the arms and swung to get his legs below him again. She was heavier in the water, clothes soaked, her armor weighing her down, but he refused to let that stop him.
His mate in his arms, Vallek forced them upwards, usingstrength he didn’t have and a fierce, abiding will to see her again.
The darkening sky beckoned from above, a tantalizing dream distorted by the water. For a few horrible moments, it didn’t seem to get any closer, no matter how hard he swam. They hung there together, the sea clutching them tight, and for the first time in a long time, Vallek was terrified.
Colder than the water, the terror cut him down to the bone.
The sea didn’t suffer fools and took its sacrifices greedily. Here, he wasn’t king. He was nothing but another body struggling to survive.
What the sea did not know, though, was that Vallek’s will was greater.
He held his life in his arms, and he refused to give her up. He would have her and their years together. This was not the end, but the beginning. He and Ravenna would remake the world and leave it better than they found it. Their people would sing songs and tell stories of their greatness for centuries to come.
And most of all, they would remember how the orc king loved his faeling queen above all others. How even the tempestuous sea was no match for his sheer will.
Baring his tusks, Vallek reached for the promise of the sky.
