Page 37 of The Ocean's Heart
But then the pain melted into a pulsing heat. My palm tingled. A greeting…an assurance.
The weapon began to glow softly.
“No…this can’t be,” the Obsidian Pearl said in unison. “A mortal cannot wield a relic of power.”
I stood slowly on steady feet and turned to face the closest one “It looks like someone got their information wrong.”
The trident glowed brighter, and a tingling sensation traveled up my arm and into my chest, settling at my solar plexus. I gasped as a connection took hold and power flooded my limbs.
It was as if the weapon was both feeding me and feeding off me.
The air crackled and thunder rolled in the distance, and when I spoke, my voice held an unearthly resonance.
“Time for you to die.”
The thud of the hilt on deck emitted a shockwave that sent all the figures flying back several feet, allowing me the luxury of taking them out one by one. This time when I attacked, each blow drew eerie screams. The cloaked figures disintegrated with every stab and cutting swipe of the weapon until only one was left.
The one who’d taken my ship.
He cowered on his knees now, crimson pupils pinpricks in the depths of his black eyes as he stared up at me.
“What…what are you?” he asked.
“Your death.”
I stabbed him in the throat, exhaling as he disintegrated to nothing.
The trident dimmed, and the light went out. I sagged on my feet, released from whatever connection it had forged with me.
Silence surrounded me. Deep and final.
I forced myself across the deck and fell to my knees beside Vaarin’s still form. Laying the trident beside him, I pulled his head into my lap, my chest aching with the weight of loss. His face was beautiful in repose. Almost as if he was merely sleeping. “I’m sorry…Vaarin…I’m so fucking sorry.” My vision blurred as I pressed my palm to his cheek…still warm.
A soft glow fell across his pale cheek.
The trident…it was glowing.
Wait…I pressed my fingers to where I would expect to find a pulse in his throat. Nothing. I checked for breath. Nothing.
The trident pulsed insistently.
Bryony’s voice filled my mind.
Did you know their hearts are on the opposite side to us? And they have two sets of lungs.
So maybe sea fae didn’t have pulse points where humans did, and maybe…maybe they didn’t need to breathe the same way that we did?
I scooted down to press my ear to his chest and held my breath, listening. Long seconds passed, then I heard his heart beat once.
Several seconds more, then another beat.
He was alive!
Oh praise Thalor.
I needed to get him into the water. I tried to lift him, but he was too heavy. I could drag him, but getting him over the side of the boat would be impossible.
How could I get him into the sea?
