Page 26 of Buoy
Bellani slashed at Rhys with a sharp motion. Then he was facedown on the deck.
Soren’s heart threatened to stop.Get up! Get up!But Rhys stayed where he was. Soren couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. His own air cut off, it was hard to think.
Bellani ran to Kane. His eyes unseeing. Then she was on Soren. Chanting. Her bloodied hands around his throat. Her words made him dizzy.
Soren tried to breathe. One thing was clear: Bellani knew magic. She’d hidden it the same as he had. Whatever she was doing made him sleepy. A pendant around her neck glowed.
All Soren knew was a quiet nothing. He was sorry to have gotten Rhys tangled up in his life. Sorry to have killed him.
Soren’s eyes shut, and he rasped a final breath.
RHYS (AGE 17)
“He’s dead.” Rhys’ father’s words rang in his head.
Rhys pushed up from his bed. “What? No. He can’t be. Bellani did something to him.”
“They tossed his body overboard when I came to collect you. I had to pay a fee, otherwise they would have taken you as their own.” His father’s words were gruff.
“You should have left me.”
His father slammed a palm to the bed, and he jumped. “No child of mine is going to be a pirate. It’s for the best the boy is dead. He was dragging you down. Your future is brighter now.”
“You can’t mean that! Soren wasn’t like—”
“It’s done. He’s dead. Move on. You’ll—”
The town bells rang loud in the afternoon. Rhys hadn’t heard them his entire life. They only rang in times of war. His stomach dropped. The war he had hoped would stop before it started was here.
His father’s face sagged. “No.”
They both knew what the bells meant. Rhys and his mother were off to war.
There was nothing left for Rhys. His world had shattered. From the highest of high at seeing Soren again, just a glimpse before his world exploded, to the lowest of low.
He reported to the town square with his parents, not able to get out of the summoning if he wanted to. The crowd grew and grew until everyone had joined, making such a ruckus. He looked to the docks to find The Golden Drake gone. He should have asked how long he’d been asleep. How long had Soren been gone?
A trumpet blared. Rhys stopped paying attention. He knew what his future held now. Bloodshed and death instead of softness and laughter. He and his mother were to report for duty as battle mages in three days at the front lines. His father was too sickly to be usable.
Rhys wanted to run away. Take Soren and go anywhere but to war. But Soren was dead. As was Rhys’ hope for a future. He was bound to his country.
His left palm ached. The sigil every Grand Mage received upon graduation glowed. The king’s call every able-bodied Grand Mage received when they were needed. If he couldn’t be with Soren, hopefully, he could help save his country from a mad king.
Chapter 11
SOREN(AGE15)
Soren found himself in a tub of saltwater. Numb inside and out. He’d shifted sometime, and his tail hung over the side painfully so he could breathe underwater. He barely remembered what had happened. He’d killed Kane after the man had touched him.
Instinct had driven him to it. He knew Kane’s intentions, and he’d already told him no countless times over the years. If he hadn’t killed him, Kane would have followed through with his lustful threats and Vex wouldn’t have cared anymore. Soren knew it.
Someone banged on the side of the tub, then looked over the edge. Bellani. Her smile was wide, sinister. Eyes wild. “Time to wake up. You won’t be doing that pesky little water trick again. Or any magic, for that matter. Nor shift at will like you’re used to. I’ve taken it all.” She dangled the crystal pendant so Soren could see. “It’s all mine.”
The electric tingle of the sea beneath the surface of his skin was missing. Soren tried his shift. But nothing happened. His heart hammered in his chest. Bile rose in his throat. He was part of two worlds, not one, despite preferring his mer form. He was trapped. Empty. Numb. Taking a deep breath, then pressing his hands to his gills, he surfaced. “What did you do to me?”
“You took my brother. I bound your magic to me. Would have killed you, but it seems you still have to be in the vicinity if I want to use your haze.” A growl rumbled from her throat.
Soren’s heart pounded. She bound him?
