Page 40 of Queen of Whispers and Mist

As she spun, searching for the tentacle that had captured him. Neither could be seen.

Her stomach clenched, dread settling between her ribs like a fist-shaped stone.

Just like so many others, Ronan had been lost to the sea.

CHAPTER14

SHADOW

There was no time for hesitation. No time to second guess or worry about what came next. Instinct was in charge, and it screamed at her to act. Now. While there was still a chance.

The possibility it was already too late wasn’t even a consideration.

Shadow sprinted across the deck, stumbling a bit as the ground rocked beneath her, but her panic must have given her wings because it felt as though she flew across to the other side. She scrambled up, ignoring the hand on her arm and Bronn’s voice at her ear.

“Shadow, don’t! It’s a death sentence!”

Hair whipping past her face, she raised to standing, arms lifting above her head as she prepared to jump. “Death and I are old friends. If it’s time for the Father to reap my soul, so be it.”

She wasn’t sure where the words came from. She wasn’t sure of much of anything as she dove off the ship, a sudden tilt of the starboard side launching her up and ruining what might have otherwise been a flawless swan dive.

Teeth clenched, she opened her eyes as soon as she broke through the surface. The sting of salt was nearly unbearable, and she worried the resulting tears might hinder her sight. As it was, the tears didn’t make a difference because there was barely any light to see by. The sun should have penetrated at least a little, but the Lusca appeared to have been crafted from the very heart of darkness. Its inky body consumed the feeble rays, casting everything around it in gloomy shadow.

But that wasn’t the only abnormality. The water was far cooler than she expected given the time of year, and it pricked at her skin like thousands of tiny knives as it pulled her under. Because there was no mistaking it, the seawastugging her down. She wasn’t swimming as much as going in the direction it insisted.

The anomalies on their own wouldn’t have troubled her, but taken together, along with the presence of the gigantic sea monster, and there was no ignoring the overwhelming sense ofotherness. This didn’t feel like a normal attack. It was too convenient for one—what were the odds a Lusca would strike the morning after she first learned of their existence? Though she supposed she could explain that away as coincidence since the stories had to come from somewhere.

What could not be explained was the sensation of being watched. The creature’s eyes were on either side of its bulbous head... which was still above the surface. Yet as she moved deeper into the abyss, an electric tingle ran along the back of her neck and spine. And it only grew worse the farther into the depths she was pulled.

How could that be when the Lusca could no longer see her? Unless it wasn’t the Lusca watching her, but something else.

Perhaps the very thing surrounding her and drawing her in.

The darkness.

Shadow wasn’t used to defending herself against something without a face—without a shape—but as soon as the thought took root, she recognized the truth of it. The dark was not only sentient, it was the true threat, making the Lusca a distraction. A monstrously effective one, but a distraction nonetheless.

She needed to find Ronan and get them both as far away from here as possible. Even if all she found was a corpse, she felt obligated not to leave him in a watery grave.

Why she felt obligated was a question for another day.

When her lungs started to burn, she knew she was running out of time. Thankfully her eyes had begun to adjust to the dim waters, and it was no longer impossible to differentiate the Lusca’s individual tentacles.

The writhing black limbs were all empty.

He wasn’t here.

She craned her neck side to side, becoming desperate in her search.Whywasn’t he here? Her throat flexed convulsively, her lungs compulsively seeking the oxygen she was denying them. But she couldn’t leave. Not without him.

Little lights started to explode at her periphery, a signal from her body that time was up. A scream of denial tore up her throat, but it never left her lips. She flipped, trying to reverse her direction, but no matter how hard she kicked, she sank deeper.

Is this really how it ends? Alone... in the dark?

Only it wasn’t dark. Not anymore. A ball of light streaked through the water, lighting up the nearly black water like the night sky on solstice. The closer it came, the brighter and larger it grew. Her brain suffered from the lack of air, and it was hard to think, let alone force her limbs to continue functioning. But there were enough synapses firing to identify the creature shooting through the water toward her.

Buttercup.

The phoenix wasn’t done with rescues, it would seem.

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