Page 53 of Pearls of Salt and Sacrifice

Outside in the cove, a long, black tentacle rose out of the ocean and reached toward the castle.

No, not again...

As a second smoky black tentacle rose out of the sea, Felix pressed against Reva for a spot at the window, his pale hand gripping the sill. One of the enormous tentacles swept at the battlement below their window, scattering screaming soldiers in its wake. Reva jammed a fist against her mouth.

Felix swore. “Is that—is that a kraken?”

“I think it’s Cassandra’s Death Pearl magic.”

Horror clawed at the back of Reva’s throat as the beast that had torn apart the Endellion and tried to sink the Andromeda now stretched its horrible arms toward Etthan—toward her home and her people.

“You’ve seen this before?” Real fear tainted the prince’s voice.

Reva nodded, unable to speak. They both flinched as a third tentacle descended on the lower battlements, shaking the castle with a bone-shattering boom. Dust shook free of the ceiling and drifted down on their heads and shoulders.

Felix clutched her wrist. “We need to get out of the castle. Go inland, where it can’t reach us—”

Screams from below tore Reva out of her horror and back into her own body. “No!” She wrenched away from Felix. “I’m not going to leave my people to die. Look at that thing—my people will be slaughtered!”

She wanted to clap her hands over her ears, shielding herself from the cries of screaming men falling to their deaths, of wounded soldiers being crushed by the monster’s ever-growing black tentacles.

But she would not leave her people to this fate. Not while she had breath in her body. This all came back to Cassandra, to the regent who wanted to be queen so badly she’d make a deal with a monster to get what she wanted. Reva spun, reaching to pull Felix after her—

Only to watch Felix hightailing it toward the servants’ staircase as fast as his land-loving legs could take him.

“Felix, you coward!” she bawled.

She hoped Cassandra’s kraken smashed him to pulp.

Reva bolted for the nearest guestroom, dashing around the furniture in the dark chamber to reach the door to the main hallway. From there, she dashed toward the family’s wing of the palace with only one plan in her mind:

Save Etthan.

If Felix was right, and Cassandra was using dark magic…maybe stopping her would stop the monster.

Reaching her stepmother’s door, she found it open. Reva halted for a moment to catch her breath—to still her aching, pounding heart—then went inside. Utter silence greeted her, the room dark, the curtains and adjacent rooms closed off. All except one. The door that led to the balcony lay open a crack, allowing a shaft of light to flood into Cassandra’s main room, piercing the gloom. With a growing sense of dread, Reva forced herself to open the door and walk into the daylight, to ascend the steps and race out onto the stone parapet.

Cassandra stood at the stone railing, dressed in a blood—red gown. She faced the sea and the monstrous shadow kraken which continued to claw its way out of the waves toward the castle.

“Cassandra, what are you doing?” Reva dashed toward her stepmother, but Cassandra didn’t answer.

Reva reached to grab her by the arm but faltered when she saw what Cassandra held so tightly in her hands.

A huge black pearl, as large as a man’s fist. Wind coiled about Cassandra, tangling her skirts and hair, nearly drowning out the strange, unfamiliar words that fell from her lips.

“Cassandra?” Pain twisted Reva’s words into something that sounded weak and lost.

Still, her stepmother didn’t acknowledge her but continued to mutter dark words as she stared at the kraken advancing on Etthan. Reva grabbed for the pearl.

This yanked Cassandra out of her stupor. She screamed and jerked away from Reva, clutching the pearl to her chest. “Get out of my way, you stupid girl!”

Reva ignored her and scratched at her stepmother’s hands, trying to get her fingers around the pearl. “You need to stop this!”

“I can’t stop it!” Cassandra elbowed Reva hard on the chest. The force of the blow sent her skidding backward, but Reva lurched forward again, more determined than ever to put a stop to this.

“You’re going to get everyone killed!” Reva caught hold of Cassandra’s arms and clenched as hard as she could, digging her fingernails into the tender flesh on the underside of her stepmother’s wrists.

But Cassandra didn’t seem to feel anything. Her eyes, wide and crazed and swirling with dark shadows, fixed on Reva with terrifying intensity. “If I stop,” she said between gritted teeth, “everyone will die.”

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