Page 45 of Crown and Dragon

“Will the runes also help me swim in a storm like this?”

“You’re stronger than you realize. Your bond with me has altered your body and your blood.”

The water deepened and Tahlia began to swim. Maybe she truly could find Marius and help him escape the siren. Maybe Lija wasn’t being insane.

“How does this hunt begin?” she asked, trying not to let fear roll over her like one of the sea’s massive swells.

“Stop lollygagging and get on with it. Dive in, rider!”

“Bossy, aren’t we?” Tahlia did as Lija ordered.

The water enveloped her and she parted her lips. Would she drown? No, Lija would protect her. She knew that.

Tahlia opened her mouth and inhaled. Her lungs expanded, pressing against the pain in her injured ribs. But the rune stone worked. She was breathing under water. Miraculous. But could she speak to Lija like this? She hadn’t been able to speak insidethe mind as she and Lija usually did. Communicating out loud had been an intuitive decision that had held. But maybe…

Can you hear me, Lija?

Tahlia swam forward and the water parted around her limbs like she’d been born a fish rather than a half-Fae. Wow.

“Can you see any bubbles as if something large is exhaling into the water?” Lija asked, her voice quiet but clear in Tahlia’s ears.

Hoping this was going to work, Tahlia opened her mouth to speak. “Can you hear and understand me?” How could she? Tahlia’s words were strangled by the water and she couldn’t pronounce anything correctly.

“Well enough, rider. Well enough.”

“Good. I see many bubbles.”

“Keep swimming, my lady Tahlia,” Lija said. “Look for a trail of bubbles in the shapes of feathers.”

Feathers? Tahlia kept her eyes open, shocked that she could see clearly. Granted, the flash of lightning and the twist of the water altered the look of the sandy ocean floor, the waving kelp, and the two schools of fish—one silver and one poppy red—that swam by. But still, the details of a round coral bloom showed clearly despite appearing one hundred yards or so away.

She reached out her arms and kicked her feet in the cool water, her eyesight far sharper than it had ever been under water. The sea floor dropped, and a break of seagrass with bright gold flowers that shimmered with their own illumination ran in a curving path along the deepest cut in the ground. At the end of the seagrass, a line of elongated, soft-looking bubbles danced through the water toward the surface.

“Found them,” she said as best she could with water chilling her mouth and salting her tongue.

“Good,” Lija said. “The entrance to her lair is likely decorated in a way you won’t miss.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

“A fitting attitude when dealing with sirens. She is extremely dangerous, rider.”

“Let’s say I make it into her lair—what do I do then? I assume hand-to-hand combat isn’t my best choice of action.”

“No, unless you can break the hold she has on Marius. You two could probably best her physically. But not just you. She’ll use him to get to you. And that’s if you manage to surprise her before she can sing to you.”

“So I am susceptible.”

“Maybe less so because you find males attractive, but her power remains a definite threat.”

“This wholesaving Marius from an evil femaleis getting old, if I’m honest.”

Lija huffed, dark amusement coming through their bond. “Let’s hope you are saving him and not just tossing yourself into the tragedy.”

Tahlia blew out a mouthful of bubbles. “Yes, let’s hope for that,” she said wryly.

They weren’t so deep that light didn’t penetrate the water here. Flashes of lightning danced through the salt water and helped Tahlia see.

She said a silent prayer and swam forward.

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