Page 29 of Throne of Dreams
In the darkest corner of her mind, she could still hear the deafening crack of the old oak branch as it groaned beneath the weight of the cage. She could feel the frigid press of metal as it burned into her palms, and she shivered against the bite of the wind as it chilled her skin and bones. But she would not fall victim to the trauma of her past. She shoved it back, locking it away. She didn’t want to dwell on memories that continued to haunt her.
The breeze lifted her higher and she shook her head, determined to stay focused. For once, she was in control. She was in command.
She relished in the way the clouds drifted through her fingertips like snowy velvet. Golden sunshine glittered off of the sea. Small waves sparkled like incandescent stretches of gilded turquoise. Her wings flared then soared, letting her rise and fall with the warmth of the breeze, lifting her, carrying her back to Summer’s shore. She could just barely make out the towering warrior fae who guarded the coast when a flicker of something in the water caught her eye.
She glanced down and saw nothing, but knowing her eyes did not deceive her, Maeve circled back. This time she let the currents of the sky bring her lower, and that was when she spied it. Clinging to a rock in the middle of the sea was a…child?
The poor girl looked no older than ten years of age, and as far as Maeve could tell, she was definitely human. Threadbare clothes soaked from the sea clung to her bony body. A piece of seaweed was tied into her stringy hair and as Maeve flew closer, she realized the child was crying. Her eyes were rimmed with red, tears slid down her ruddy cheeks, and her whimpers nearly broke Maeve’s heart.
She had to save her. But what was a child doing all the way out here? This was the Lismore Marin, and the waters here were magical. Something or someone must have brought her into the realm.
Dorai.
Not Aran, she reminded herself. He wasn’t like them. Her brother wasnota pirate faerie. She swooped down lower toward the stranded child.
“I’m coming!” Maeve called out, and the little girl’s tear-stained face met hers. Her mouth opened and a wail escaped. It was so full of distress and relief, it sent tremors along Maeve’s skin. “Just hold on.”
The girl waved frantically with one hand, but as another small wave crested around the rock, she clutched the slippery surface and didn’t let go again.
Maeve swept down, wings outstretched, and carefully landed upon the rock. The second she touched the rough, gray surface of the stone, the scent of magic mixed with salty sea spray consumed her. Everything around her shimmered. It was exactly like when she stepped through the magical ward surrounding Tiernan’s cove.
“What the…”
Wrong. This was all wrong.
It was a glamour.
She hadn’t seen it. No, shehad, but she’d mistaken the shift for the reflection of the sunlight off the sea. Confused, Maeve stumbled forward and reached for the child.
Except it wasn’t a mortal girl at all.
Before Maeve’s eyes the child morphed into a creature of the sea. Her hair was slick, the color of ink, with skin like a sunken pearl. Onyx eyes were framed by spidery lashes, and bits of crushed coral and shell covered most of her upper body. Her mouth was almost too wide for her face. She gazed back at Maeve, wrinkling her angular nose in distaste.
A merrow, Maeve realized.
She’d seen hand-drawn images of them in her books. They were similar to sirens, but far less pretty and far more terrifying. She couldn’t look away, she couldn’t stop staring. She’d never seen a merrow before. It was then Maeve saw another flicker as the splash of the merrow’s tail cut through the sea. Iridescent scales of black glimmered between the foamy waves, strong and powerful.
Fly.
Every instinct inside of her screamed to flee, to get away as fast as possible, but before she could escape, the merrow whipped her tail into Maeve’s side. She staggered toward the edge of the rock, the force of the blow causing her to throw her arms out to recover her balance. But she wasn’t fast enough. The merrow snatched her by the arm. Maeve yelped as the creature’s nails sank into her flesh like blades.
She didn’t even have a chance to catch her breath. They plunged beneath the surface of the Lismore Marin, and the sea was everywhere at once. It was cold and blinding, darker than she ever imagined. Here, the water wasn’t comforting and lovely like it was along the shore of Niahvess. It wasn’t the glittering turquoise it reflected to the world above. It was a monster. A creature of eternal darkness waiting to swallow her whole.
Panic surged through her, and she thrashed, desperate to get away, to free herself from the merrow’s hold. Terror gripped her in its icy hold, sinking into her mind, dredging up the misery of all she’d endured. She kicked and swung at the merrow, but the creature wasn’t fazed. The sea swallowed her, and she struggled to grasp her Aurastone, yet every time the tips of her fingers brushed against its hilt, the merrow jerked her deeper into the abyss. She needed to swim back to the rock, she needed to break through the surface, back to where she could breathe. All the fear, all the trauma she’d tried to shove back into the recesses of her memory rushed to the forefront of her mind.
It was her worst nightmare come to life. Everything she’d tried to overcome. Everything she’d tried to defeat was suddenly overwhelming her, drowning her, bringing her down. Her heartbeat pounded, echoing in her skull. Her body twisted and revolted as a bubble of hysteria rose in the back of her throat. But if she opened her mouth to cry out, she’d drown.
Maeve flailed, fought, yet the merrow was too strong. She was simply too fast. Her tail propelled them further into the watery depths where the light of the sun could not reach. Where the sea was dark and fearsome, where there was no way to tell which direction you were going. Maeve clawed at the merrow, but it was useless. Her lungs ached, they screamed for oxygen. Her mind slowly went fuzzy as the darkness pressed in on her. Wave after wave of dizziness swept through her as the crushing weight from the water promised to crush her bones to dust.
She was going to die beneath the sea. A soul lost to the waves. She wasn’t brave. She wasn’t stronger than her fears. She was nothing. She would die after all, at the hands of her own worst nightmare. Her chest clenched, tightening around her heart. Her body ached and spasmed. Deeper down into the sea they went until the sun was nothing more than a murky memory.
ChapterTen
Tiernan let the warmth of the sun heal his heart. After confessing to Ceridwen that Maeve was hissirra, his room no longer felt like a sanctuary. No matter how many times he picked up his guitar, or how often he steered his thoughts from imagining Maeve’s perfect little mouth covering every inch of him, his mind always drifted back to her. It was then he realized he needed someone else to do the talking. Maybe if all he had to do was listen, he could focus on something other than her.
So he’d found Merrick, who not only enjoyed talking, but who also never ran out of things to say.
He’d known Merrick all his life. Merrick’s father had been Tiernan’s father’s most loyal confidant and friend. The two of them, plus Ceridwen were nearly inseparable as children. He’d long since lost track of the number of times they played together in the Summer forest, swam in the cool waters of the faerie pool, and ran along the beaches of Niahvess. As they got older, they would sneak out well past curfew and head into the city, where they would venture into any number of lounges to listen to music, drink until they were stupid, and dance like they weren’t Archfae with a swarm of responsibilities. Ceridwen was the only one who ever managed to stay sober enough to get them safely back inside the palace gates without getting caught. Tiernan and Merrick, however, either fell over laughing or found themselves vomiting into a bush. And while their parents seemingly remained unaware of their extracurricular activities, he secretly thought his mother knew. The fact that she’d force them to go train with bloodshot eyes, reeking of alcohol, and suffering through the aftermath of a vicious hangover was reason enough to believe she knew exactly where they’d been all night.
