Page 19 of The Dark, Dead, Deep

My world turned black before I could digest their words.

I woke up as if my lungs had been ripped from my throat—with a ragged gasp, filled with pain.

The sand clung to my skin, to my face, to my cheek where the bleeding wound burned, reminding me of what I had lost.

I curled in on myself, my entire body heaving with the force of my sobs.

My pearl was gone.

The water lapped at the shore as if to try and comfort me, and I stretched my shaking hand to the tide.

I’m here, I assured the lake. The water lapped my hand clean of blood. I closed my eyes, and my nostrils burned with the effort it took to hold back my tears.

I wasn’t sure if it was my spirit or my body that was injured, but every time the tide rolled over my outstretched fingers, I felt my home again, if only for a moment, before the feeling was cruelly torn away.

I watched the afternoon sun disappear, swallowed by the fat moon that hung over the lake and reflected its twin off the mirrored surface. I wondered if Liam or Moira had made the journey to the Frosted Sands. I wondered if Liam had been aware that the wine he had given me was poisoned, but decided that it didn’t matter. Even if he knew, Liam had shown time and time again that he was loyal to the Crown more so than anything else.

Every time the lake kissed my fingertips, I begged and pleaded with the gods.

Somebody help me, I prayed, as my stomach churned with pain.Belisama. Please.

It was not wise to make a bargain with the gods, but as my heart slowed to a dull thud in my chest, and my eyelids grew too heavy to open.

It took too long to realize that I could no longer feel my feet, my hands, or even my face.

Piece by piece, I felt my body dying.

I tried one last time to drag myself to the water. Plunging my hands into the damp sand and praying to Belisama for strength. For someone to save me.Anyone.

I wasn’t sure how long I had laid in the sand, counting down until the end of my life, when I heard the crunch of footsteps. My muscles were too lax to tense as fear raced through my body at the prospect of my attackers returning.

My face was covered with the sand caught in the tacky dried blood on my skin.

“You heard it, didn’t you?” a male voice asked, approaching from the other side of the beach. “I’ve never heard the lake speak before.”

Another male replied. “Let’s hope this isn’t more undine trickery. It would be just like King Irvine to call a ceasefire for his precious migration, only to lure us all to the beach and stab us in the back.”

There were murmurs of agreement that showed that more than two males had approached.

I couldn’t open my eyes. My eyelids were too heavy. Every wheezing inhale felt like my lungs were filled with the same sand that covered me.

“Did you see anything from the rocks, Rainn?” one of the males asked.

“Some undine soldiers,” the one named Rainn replied dismissively. “Perhaps they left something on the beach that they planned to retrieve later.”

Their voices grew closer.

“Whatever they left must have been powerful if the lake reached out and brought us here,” a deep and husky voice replied, speaking for the first time.

Something stirred in my belly. A heat that I couldn’t explain that began to build and spread to my limbs, I groaned.

“Did you hear that?” Rainn asked, excited.

The sand sprayed as the males approached.

A foot nudged my middle and I let out another groan that was not entirely of my volition. The dull curious muttering stopped as someone bent down in front of me. My vision was too blurry to discern their features. I could see the moon behind their head, but not much else.

Whoever had found me bent down, hooking their arms under my knees as they lifted me with ease.

---