Page 78 of The Dark Sea Calls

Rainn frowned, parsing together Tor’s words but finding little meaning or sense in them.

A moment later, a hole pierced through the shadowy wall of the abyss, stretching bigger and longer like a claw ripping through fabric. The light of the surface shone through, bright and blinding, killing the shadow. Burning through it.

King Irvine’s dark eyes rose to the top of the abyss, his face a mask, as if it hadn’t quite hit him that his veil had been pierced. That something could breach his magical wall, burning through it like gossamer.

“What in Belisama’s name is that?” Rainn whispered, pulling Maeve onto his lap, getting ready to run as he searched the crowd for a sign or another Sídhe—one powerful enough to match the Undine King.

“Maeve,” Tor said proudly, gesturing to the unconscious woman in Rainn’s arms. “It’s her.”

Rainn said nothing.

“Irvine said it himself; she sat on the High Throne. No matter how much she hated it, he gave her the heart of the lake. Maeve Cruinn is her mother’s daughter, after all.” Tor’s nostrils flared. “It’s him. He is the poison that makes the food scarce. He is a false king, unable to use the High Throne or bring the creeds together.”

Another hole ripped into the abyss.

Rainn felt her body shift in his arms; he looked down, expecting Maeve to be looking up at him with the same mixture of annoyance and confusion that she always wore, but instead, her body began to disintegrate. Bubbles rose off her skin, tiny little things rolling and lifting. Her bones seemed to dissolve, her skin deflating. Rainn clawed at her, trying to hold her together, but Maeve began to turn to foam before his very eyes.

A scream lodged in his throat. Fear raced through his system as he frantically grabbed Maeve, only to find her gone. “TOR!” He shouted. “Tor, she’s gone. She’s gone.” Rainn cursed as his world ended. He felt his heart stop, which was foolish because he was very much still alive. And yet, it felt like part of him had died. Maeve Cruinn, his Shíorghrá, had turned to foam.

Tor staggered back, dropping his sword in the sand.

Cormac, who had not spoken, staring dumbfounded at the Undine King and his abyss, finally looked down to the outline in the sand that had held Maeve’s body—a body that had disappeared.

Rainn stood up and grabbed the strap across Cormac’s chest. “You stabbed her,” he snarled at the merman, close enough that their noses touched. “You fuckingkilledher.”

Cormac opened and closed his mouth, unable to form words. His smug satisfaction had abandoned him.

“She’s—” Rainn let out a strangled sob.

“No.” Tor shook his head. Gesturing to the abyss. “No. She’s there—look!”

Another hole ripped through the abyss, turning the threatening darkness to ribbons.

The Undine King staggered back, feeling the dissolution of his abyss as if Maeve was punching holes in his body. Blood leaked from his wounds as they spontaneously erupted all over his body.

The Undine King released a pathetic scream of pain, turning on his heel and racing back for the castle. Swimming as fast as he could, his dark cloak billowing out behind his like two black fins.

Another rip. Another scream.

King Irvine dropped out of the water slowly, like a stone sinking. His advisors rushed to his aid, but it was no use. A moment later, his body burst, like a bubble popping as he turned to foam.

Gone.

The coral field was still. Most soldiers were gone. They had deserted or were digested by the abyss. King Irvine’s inner circle raced back to the castle, abandoning their posts.

Rainn, Tor, and Cormac stood in the wake of the abyss as it dissolved to nothing. Offering the first clear view of the Undine city in over ten years.

Rainn stepped forward, calling Maeve but receiving nothing in return. His calls turned to screams, and soon Tor joined him. They rushed towards Cruinn and the ledge that separated the city from the rest of the lake, like a shadowy moat.

Maeve Cruinn was gone.

Chapter 16

Water did not feel too hot or too cold. It did not feel too big or too small. It simply was as it always had been.

I forgot a time when I used to be Maeve. When I swam with four limbs or walked on two.

I forgot what it was to be hungry or tired.

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