Page 82 of Whispers of the Starlit Sea
Not on her own.
Another boulder crashed down into the cavern pool, sending a wave surging over her. The thunder outside was now loud enough to be heard, and the ceiling groaned, cracks spidering out from the bracer’s beam. The cavern couldn’t take much more.
Sorcha surfaced, gasping, the water stinging her eyes, her limbs trembling from cold and exhaustion. Her gills flared, desperate for breath.
A sob cracked in her throat.
Nothing I do is enough.
She’d tried to heal, to reason, to fight. But she couldn’t win. Not like this. Not without Arick’s help.
And Rona was going to destroy everything.
How could one little Healer fight against such hatred?
Chapter twenty-three
Herlimbstrembling,Sorchaclung to a rock at the edge of the pool. There was no way to stop both Ewan and Rona. Too late, she realized the only weapon that could have worked was Arick’s voice — the human voice that could have lured them out of the water, silencing their song.
But he was gone.
No one else knew they were down here.
No help was coming.
“Stay where you are while I finish this,” Rona mocked. “Be good, and I might let you live.”
Arick’s sword lay caught among the rocks, just out of reach.
Arick, who had cared for her since they’d first met. Who had never known her as anything but herself. Who had given his life to save hers.
Who had loved her.
“At least you’re back to being a mer,” Rona said with a curl of her lip. “No more of those disgusting human legs.”
Her voice turned sharper. “Humans are weak. Selfish. Now shut up and let us finish.”
Sorcha shook her head slowly.
She had always thought she had to choose. That she had to belong to one world or the other. But she didn’t. Her heart had space for both.
Her fingers brushed the sapphire necklace Ailsa had repaired for her. “No, they aren’t,” she said slowly. “Before, I wanted only to be a mermaid. Then I came to love being a human. But the truth is — I’m both.”
Closing her eyes, she wrapped her hand fully around the pendant, clinging to the words Ailsa had told her.“Now you carry a piece of both worlds.”
She didn’t just carry a piece of both worlds. She was part of them.
She concentrated on everything it meant to be human. Every new thing, every heartbeat, every step she had learned to take. Bracing for the pain, she clenched her jaw.
It came. Sharp, but not unbearable. Not like before.
Her legs reformed beneath her, unsteady and smooth. As soon as her feet touched stone, she pushed herself out of the pool, staggering past Rona’s reach.
Arick’s sword glinted amid the rubble. She lunged for it, fingers wrapping around the hilt. It was heavy, but she had never been weak physically.
Ewan’s and Rona’s voices twisted together, the cadence of the chant changing as the gem glowed brighter. Whatever was going to happen when they finished would surely bring the tower and the cliff down on top of them.
It was now or never.
