Page 10 of The Dark Sea Calls

I shuddered. “Do you have any clothing I can borrow?”

Arden cocked his head to the side before patting his bare stomach to highlight his lack of clothing. “You’ll have to wrap yourself in the furs.”

I cleared my throat. “You mentioned last night that you must regroup with your flock?” I left the statement open at the end, making it a question.

“Yes.” Arden rolled his shoulders. “My mother would like to speak with you.”

“Your mother?” Amusement coated my tone. “Why?”

Arden gave me a funny look, as if I had missed a vital piece of the puzzle. “Because my mother is the Siren Queen.”

My mouth rounded in shock before my teeth clicked shut.

I had been at the mercy of pirates until the Sirens, oraSiren, had sunk the ship. I’d been scooped up as if Arden had known precisely where to find me.

My eyes narrowed.

What was Arden up to?

Was the Siren Queen one of the allies my uncle loved to boast about?

Royalty did not take kindly to being denied, and if the Siren Queen knew of my presence, then I would have an audience with her willingly or not.

I could only hope that I would survive our meeting.

Arden helped to fix my fur blanket around my chilled body. When I was ready, we stood at the ledge overlooking the water.

The Twilight Lake sat between the Day and Night Courts. The light bleeding over the horizon and turning the sky purple and orange in the daytime.

The Dark Sea was further into Night Court territory, darker, with the band of light that glowed on the horizon. Stealing the sparkle from the stars, save for the fat and heavy moon above the water.

I took a deep breath, but the Siren male did not wait for me to ready myself before he rolled his shoulders and unfurled his wings from his back, casting us in shadow.

Even in the darkness of the Night Court, I could see the gild on Arden’s golden wings that the pirates had salivated over. Arden’s wings were tarnished gold, each feather like a sharp blade. Each joint boasted a fat red ruby, smooth like an egg. Even a single feather would be a bounty beyond belief to a land-fae.

Arden stood behind me, maneuvering my body until my arms sat straight against my torso. He looped his arms around my middle, pressing my back against his bare chest. His skin was as cold as a fish. I didn’t ask if it was safe. Craning my neck over the ledge, looking at the rolling waves of the dark sea below—it seemed most of my recent thoughts centered around how likely I was to survive if dropped from great heights.

Arden bent his knees and pushed into the sky, his wings beating once in a powerful movement that sent a wave of dust radiating from our feet.

One moment, my feet were on the hard, steady rock, and the next, we were soaring through the sky—the wind slapping my face and stealing my vision. My eyes stung, and it took a few moments before I could see again. My white hair slapped against my face, and the thunderous hum of the sky stole my voice.

We soared over the Siren Cove. A greenish-blue lagoon, separated by jagged rocks, with a passage that looked large enough for a single ship but not much more. The cliffs hugged the edges of the cove, dotted with hundreds of caves, like the whiskers of a catfish.

Arden extended his wings, banking to the side, and the sheer, craggy wall of rock, away from the horizon. With a single snap, we shot higher, turning away from the Dark Sea and toward the forest of luscious bottle-green trees. A blanket on the land, hiding the ground.

From our vantage point, I saw the dried riverbed I had followed from the Twilight Lake, a path that had once been luscious and full of life but was now a swamp of brackish water.

We glided to the left, and Arden’s grip never faltered, though my fear rose and fell like the jagged lines of the cliff's edge.

Soon, the Dark Sea was nothing but a feature in the corner of my eye as we passed the forest, and the ground opened up to a hole filled with pillars of rock and sand. A lifeless desert below ground, a cave without a roof, revealing miles and miles of rock formations.

An ocean without a drop of water.

Arden glided lower, passing rock pillars like dodging birds in the sky. The air tasted different. No longer salted but dry enough to suck the moisture from my tongue.

We reached the bottom of the canyon quickly, following a thicket of dead trees at the bottom.

I didn’t know where we were headed until the building rose up, carved into the side of the rock. Ornate pillars adorned with carvings of feathers, talons, and fish jumping from the stone.

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