Page 40 of What Sleeps Within the Cove

Darkness surrounded me, a familiar cold comfort sinking into my bones that felt chilled enough to shatter.

The water turned to ice as it surrounded me, chunks floating through the current beneath me.

Above me, the sky vanished as I passed beneath the bridge underneath the tree. Tossing and turning through the water, all light disappeared.

And I plunged into the Void.

TWENTY-FIVE

ESTRELLA

“Daughter,” I whispered, stumbling back from her. It wasn’t a question, not in truth, because I’d already not dared to admit that the possibility was there. She looked so much like me, with the same eyes and similar mannerisms that seemed impossible given I hadn’t spent time with her to commit them to learned behavior.

She let me go, leaving me to pry at the snake that had embedded its teeth within my skin. It didn’t release, as if it was a part of me now. I fell back, landing on my ass and wincing as the burn of venom flooding my veins centered in my palms.

The dirt beneath me hardened, the grains turning to pebbles as I forced myself to my feet and stared down at it in shock. I stumbled to the side, confusion lacing my vision as I looked back and forth between my palms and Medusa, desperately trying to make sense of what had happened. Had she been the one to turn the sand to stone, or had I?

I tripped, catching myself at the last minute. The weight of something moved within the tiny pocket in my scaled trousers, forcing me to reach down and touch it on instinct. The armor didn’t react to my touch, giving me a brief moment of reprieve in the feelings of horror washing over me.

I reached into my pocket, my fingertips brushing against the velvet satchel I’d nearly forgotten Imelda had given me. The soft fabric shifted at my touch, changing to hardened stone before I could pull it free. The stone was beautiful, rather than the pebbles I’d left at my feet, a translucent amber with the herbs she must have given me for my journey trapped within its shell.

My hands trembled at my sides, the implications of what my touch had done forcing me not to even look at Fenrir.

Gods.

“Estrella, look at me,” Medusa said, stepping up in front of me. She took my hands in hers, the gentle touch doing nothing to soothe me.

What if I couldn’t touch anything without turning it to stone?

What if I could never look Caldris in the eye?

“What have you done?” I asked, shaking my head from side to side. She’d done to me what had been done to her, the reality of that fate making me murderous.

“You can control it,” she said, releasing my hands to grasp my face. She forced me to meet her gaze, holding my stare as she leaned forward and touched her forehead to mine. The snakes around her head slithered over mine, brushing against my face and inhaling the scent of my hair.

Badb stepped forward, keeping her eyes averted as she held out her hand for me to take. I shook my head, unwilling to risk adding to the garden of stones that lingered behind the Gorgons. “You are more than the power that you possess,” Badb said, crossing the distance between us.

She wrapped her fingers around my wrist, stilling as her fingers turned to stone where they touched me. I drew in a deep breath, willing the stone to retreat back into my body.

I wouldn’t let her become a statue of the past, not because of me.

It burned as it seared my skin, turning my forearm gray with the flash of rock that passed over me. It faded into my flesh, making me feel heavy for a moment before it disappeared. Badb raised her gaze to meet mine, her chest failing to rise and fall with breath as she waited for the sure fate that my eye contact would leave her with.

“Why would you do that to me?” I asked, backing away from Medusa.

She tipped her head to the side, a look of confusion crossing over her face. “I only gave you what you asked for.”

“I didn’t know it would make me—”

“A Gorgon?” she asked, taking a step back as Fenrir moved toward me. He nuzzled against my arm, using his massive head to nudge my hand until I had no choice but to pet him. “You are not a Gorgon, Esstrella. You merely possessss the blood of one. The other half of your heritage is far more potent.”

“So if I give Mab this snake, it won’t give her the ability to turn her victims to stone?” I asked, waiting for her response.

“No. She does not possessss the blood of the Gorgon. The ssnake will do nothing for her but drive her further on her path to madness. No matter what she believesss it will do,” Medusa answered. Fenrir and the wolves moved on, walking in the direction of the next river as the Morrigan followed behind them. It left me with no choice but to take up pace beside Medusa, beside my mother, as she walked behind them. The other Gorgons strolled behind us, their bodies and faces alert as they scoured the land for threats.

Somehow, I didn’t think I’d be at risk of dying between trials any longer.

“The cursed stone,” I said, realizing that the face of the woman I’d seen in it was so similar to the breathtaking face of mymother. I had a mother waiting for me, one who was probably confused and terrified in the Winter Court, while I stood face-to-face with a woman who also held the same title. It was disorienting, at best, nauseating at worst. “It was yours,” I added, forcing myself to focus in on the conversation and the answers I could gain from it.

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