Page 47 of The Dark, Dead, Deep

“Maeve—”

“Kill. Me,” I said. My nostrils flared, and my teeth gritted. “Kill me now. Do not twist my mind until I am your pet.”

Tormalugh stepped forward. His hands gripped my biceps. “That’s not what this is.”

I batted him away with a harsh slap. “Isn’t it?You’ve done something to me.”

He reached forward again, this time to cradle my head. I saw his intentions, though usually, I wouldn’t have been able to read even the tiniest of emotion from the Kelpie Prince’s enigmatic expression. His magic made my cheeks tingle where his skin touched mine.

“Don’t touch me!” I screamed as I took Tor’s moment of shock to dive under his arm and race for the door. I swam for my life, only to be pulled backward. Two muscular arms wrapped around my chest, restraining me.

“Get off,” I grunted as I tried to free myself. Wriggling from side to side in his forced embrace.

“Stop fighting,” Tormalugh warned. “It’ll be over in a moment.”

“You do this, and I won’t forgive you,” I bit back, baring my teeth like a shark.

Tormalugh lowered his head, pressing his forehead to my shoulder. “I know,” he whispered, but I couldn’t be sure exactly what he said. It sounded like: “You’re never going to forgive us once you know.”

I leaned forward, wrapping my teeth around the meat of his arm and biting hard enough to draw blood. The water around us pulsated unnaturally as it responded to my anger.

“I’ll fecking kill you,” I declared.

“I’m not trying to hurt you.” Tormalugh’s grip around my middle tightened. “Calm. Down.”

Before I could say another word, the male pressed his hands over my eyes. I tried to scramble away. To knock his grip, though it was sure. His kelpie magic could manipulate the mind and the heart. I felt myself relaxing against my will. I thrashed, but it was useless.

Wave after wave of images flicked over my eyes. The beach. The cottage. The memory charm, and the swim to the Frosted Sands.

All fight drained out of me as realization dawned, followed quickly by denial.

“You used me.” I sagged in his arms.

The images didn’t stop as my memory slotted into place.

Ihadled them there.

It was all my fault.

The blow to the side of my head was quick, and then the world was dark and silent.

I remembered it all.

The beating. The beach. Swimming away from Cormac, Shay, Rainn, and Tor and hastily joining the migration—desperate to get to the Frosted Sands.

The lake had called the most powerful fae to the Skala Beach to try and help me when I had pleaded with the gods for help. Perhaps the opportunity was too good to pass up once they knew who I was, or maybe it wasn’t the Undine King’s guard that had beaten me but more of Cormac’s men, masquerading as undine. Perhaps it was an elaborate plan, and I was the fool in the middle. The pawn once again.

When I woke, I was no longer in the finely furnished room with a bed in the center. Instead, the room was bare and made of stone. Forgotten.

I shifted, pulling my hands up to brush my hair out of my face, only to find that my wrists were shackled to the wall. The bands were thick and made of iron. Enough to make my head swim, and my body drooped as the iron leeched my strength.

That bastard.Tormalugh.

I jerked my body, but the chains snapped.

The lake was silent.

My anger grew.

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