Page 125 of King of Tides

“That’s Queen Bitch to your ass, asshole.”

I knit my brows as the wounds I just caused heal up and look like ice is replacing the flesh I broke through. Quickly, I put my blades back together and spin the weapon above my head.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a shard of ice heading for my face. I bring my naginata down to block it. The blades on my sword change, lighting up blue.

My instincts kick in and I blast him with the light. It shoots out a blade of ice that hits him in the shoulder and shatters. I adjust and send more power through on my second blast.

This one hits him and lodges in his shoulder. I grin to myself. I guess I still have more to learn about this thing.

Suddenly, this motherfucker grows by like four feet. I watch in awe but shake it off quickly. He drags his sword across the ground, making this piercing sound that hurts my ears.

I note he’s slower in this form. This time, when he comes at me, I flip out of the way and shoot another shard of ice at him. However, when he knocks it away, it comes spinning back in my direction, cutting me across the cheek.

“Come on, Billy. You’ve got this,” Carson calls, reminding me he and Papi are here as well as that woman.

I’m thrown backward as I’m momentarily distracted. When I look up, Bardo is bringing his sword down on me.

“Shit.”

Split in Two

“That’s Uncle Bardo. The dreams were real. He is an ice titan,”I say to Bourne through our mind link.

“I know.”

“Does that mean he really killed Mom and Dad?”

“Look at what he’s trying to do now.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know. He’s taking everything from us. Mom, Dad, our home.”

Anger fills me as I watch my uncle fight my mom. I don’t want to lose another mommy. Billy is good to us.

It hurts so much when you lose a mommy. I don’t want to feel that hurt again. I squeeze my eyes shut when Uncle Bardo sends a shard of ice flying at Mommy.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to let him take her from you,”Bourne says.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to fight him myself. For Mom, for Dad, for you.”

Before I can stop him, he starts to transform. I can’t let him do this. Bourne is needed as a sea guard. If he does this, he’s going to become an ice titan like Uncle Bardo.

The cage we’re in begins to lower as the weight of Bourne’s titan form makes it too heavy to hold us up. I go to transform too, and the cage drops faster.

“Wait, Bourne. We’re not supposed to reveal we can transform at will. Kenji warned us,”I try even as we both transform.

“You stay here. I can fight him myself.”

“He’s an ice titan. You shouldn’t. Not alone.”

“He won’t just kill Mom. He’ll kill our brothers. I have to kill him first,”Bourne growls.

I look to our mom and that’s when I feel them. I knit my brows and tears come to my eyes. I can’t allow this.

I won’t lose my family and Bourne won’t be the one to lose his heart. I begin to shiver as a chill fills me. I snap my eyes open as I feel my powers moving through me.

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