Page 41 of The Crown of Nyx

My heart stopped, ears ringing.

Some of the crew shouted as the thing in the distance growled again. I felt the five presences of my mates, tearing at our bonds in order to keep me and my magic stable.

But the beast in my chest, the thing now capable of more than I ever thought possible, clawed at my insides for release.

All the rage and frustration that’d been building within me from the last couple of days transcended everything.

Another crack of lightning revealed the monster had moved closer to the ship. Still, it was just a mass of darkness. A thing born of shadows and magic.

I blew out a shuddering breath as Captain Meira shouted something about being at the eye of the storm.

No, I thought, feeling that same wrongness from earlier trickle over my skin.

We weren’t at the eye of the storm.

We had arrived at the reason they called it the Titan’s Channel.

We’d made it to the curse of the ocean.

And as it reached for us, I realised there was no way to escape it.

18

Ivy

Salt water filled my mouth as I spluttered and coughed, lungs burning with each heaving breath. My body ached, but as I tried to move, it screamed in warning.

I needed to cough up the water. It burned my nose, my eyes. I managed to roll on my side with a whimper and cough up what I could. Each chest-wracking cough burned, and the more I spat out, the worse the feeling got. Like I’d swallowed more than just water. But sand.

So much sand.

I pressed my forehead against something hard and cold. A shiver rolled down my spine. A small part of me welcomed the chill. Another part of me feared it.

I was terrified. If I opened my eyes, where wouldI find myself?

Because I wasn’t on the ship anymore. The ground beneath me wasn’t wood but rock. Cool, smooth stone. As I focused on my surroundings, I realised the ocean was nearby.

So, I’d either washed up on the shore of the Underworld, or I’d found myself stuck somewhere in the middle of the Titan’s Channel.

The storm had ended. I could tell as much. But I couldn’t feel the bite of the sun, despite there being light behind my eyes.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I steadied my breathing and reached into myself for my bonds. The five, glowing threads pulsated, but they weren’t nearby. That forced me to open my eyes and finally lift my head.

If they weren’t close, then where were they?

A lump formed in my throat as I finally took in my surroundings. All around me was dark, almost black rock. Several feet away, a calm ocean lay, waves gently cresting the edge of the stone before receding. The sky wasn’t dark like I’d expected, but red.

I’d made it to the Underworld.

It existed as a realm of its own. Clouds covered the muddy red sky, creating a thick bank over what might have been a sun. Singular for now, because rumour had it, there were meant to be three in the Underworld, each one depicting a different season they went through. Each one named after a previous monarch, long since dead.

I shivered, rolling onto my back with a groan. From what I could tell, I hadn’t broken anything. I wiggled my toes first; I hadn’t lost my boots, thankfully, and gently tested my legs. I sighed when I brought my feet up without any pain. The rest of my body seemed okay, but I couldn’t make myself sit up—or stand. Doing so would prove that I was alone.

Maybe I was lucky and someone from the crew had washed up with me.

But I had a feeling that wasn’t the case.

Stop being such a coward, I told myself. This was not Queenly behaviour. None of the women who came before me would be scared to sit up. They’d have done so by now. Hell, they would have probably already found their mates.

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