Page 43 of Whispers Beneath the Deep
My skin prickled with defensiveness, just like it did moments before a battle. Nostrils flaring, I turned and offered my hand to my betrothed.
“Shall we get back to the palace now?”
Her eyes were wide, and from the corner of one of them, a small bubble swarmed out, floating above her head. My gut clenched at the sight of her tears. She swiped at her eyes discreetly and got up, ignoring my hand completely.
“I am sorry, Your Majesty,” she whispered sincerely. “But I cannot—”
The rest of her sentence never came out.
My senses heightened, and I stilled. My body became the calm before the storm. The silence before a hurricane swept the ocean off its fins. Maybe I never would have noticed if my back had been turned. But because I was staring at Princess Odele, I noticed. And my blood boiled, and the beast inside me unleashed.
I thundered forward, gripping Odele by the neckline of her dress. I was not gentle as I yanked her away, pushing her aside, then behind. My body was the shield that protected her from the arrow that would have struck her head.
It pierced through my chest. A moment’s worth of pain was all I gave it. Just a moment before I was shouting for guards, for advisors to come and protect the mer I loved.
Her breath came out in ragged pants, palm touching my arm. I could hear her words, yet they sounded so far away. “Kai, oh gods, Kai!”
Ice blasted through my veins. The magic of decades, of ancestors and dragons pummeled through me. I felt myself changing, rearranging, becoming something new. Something I’d never wanted Thalassar to see.
And yet for her, I would bare myself naked a thousand times over. If only to protect.
Guards swarmed in, pulling Odele back. She screamed and thrashed, hands pulling the back of my clothes. Like she meant to grab me, and pull me back into the line of protection of the guards. But my fury was overwhelming now. And the beast in me was out.
I straightened, and heard the gasps. I knew what the magic of my ancestors did to my appearance. I knew it somehow elongated me. The scales on my tail hardened and sparkled like impenetrable diamonds, and where my nails had been earlier, talons grew in its place, curved and black. I was still mer, yet not. I was something wholly different now, a mixture of merman and beast.
Many thought magic was dying out.
But I bore the oldest of it inside me.
The arrow was stuck just below my collarbone. It had ripped through my clothes, embedded itself into my flesh. Pain was a miniscule thing, when my rage had the power to freeze the kingdom over.
With a hard yank, I ripped the arrow from my body and let it fall. My eyes scanned the crowd of shocked Thalassarins. Then I saw him. The sniper. He wore all black, a mask, and a speargun was held in his hands. The weapon intended for the princess. For my betrothed. My mate.
I roared, trembling the waters, manipulating the drift of the current. I snapped my tail and charged forward. The guards trailed after, but they weren’t as fast as me. Between one blink and the next, I was before the murderous sea scum and had him by the throat.
I hauled him by the neck, throwing him in the center of the park. Just seeing me made him tremble in fear. Foolishly, he fumbled with the speargun. With a jerk of my wrist, I pulled it away from him, and crushed it beneath black talons.
Discarded pieces rained down over his face. He whimpered.
“Who sent you?” I asked calmly. My voice was different. Deeper. Sinister. Yet still understandable, all the same. “Why were you trying to kill the princess?”
Kill. Kill. Kill.
I thirsted for his blood. Why waste time on explanations when I could gut him with the swipe of a finger.
“Tell me!”
He didn’t speak. Or maybe he did, and I just couldn’t tell. The waters around me spun like a violent riptide ripping through the water. I swayed, and fought to keep my balance. The sea scum opened his mouth and laughed.
I swiped a hand out. Better to get this over with now, end his life, and get back to my betrothed. Yet my talons didn’t reach him.
It was then I realized the severity of the situation. As my head spun and my limbs grew lethargic.
Poison.
The arrow had been poisoned.
Sound drifted away, and my vision darkened around the edges. My body turned, and beyond the fray of bodies, I could make out the one mer I wanted to get to above all others.
