Page 145 of Of Rime and Ruin
“I read her thoughts. She thinks she’s your mother.” My bottom lip trembles. It sounds whaleshit crazy when I say it out loud, but there’s a shred of truth to it. And if I’m right, then he’ll be glad I stopped him from killing her.
“Impossible. My mother is dead.” He plops me onto the cave floor and twists to face the beast. “It’s a trap.”
I latch onto his ankle, fingers wrapping around smooth skin. “But what if it’s true?”
He glances between me and the clawbeast, who watches us both in silence. “I will not risk your life to find out. I have to kill it, Nahla. I have to end this. For the future of my kingdom.”
A fissure splits my heart as I look into his face. His expression crumples in pain, eyes searching mine with rapid flicks, as if he’s trying to absorb every detail. Just as I’m doing to him.
“No, you don’t,” I whisper. When I push off the floor, he blocks me. I push past him, approaching the beast.
She opens her eyes as I draw near. She lifts a paw to her mouth and licks a wound between her knuckles. Maybe she is lying. Maybe it’s a trap, as Aethan believes. But I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t find out the truth.
Reaching out my hand, I swim within inches of her. She doesn’t move.
Aethan’s fingers graze the edge of my tail. “No!” he barks.
I ignore him, focusing on her. “May I?” I ask, stretching my fingers closer. “To strengthen the connection? I want to understand you.”
She cocks her head and blinks, then dips her chin. This is not the same beast I fought moments ago. Emboldened, I place my hand flat on her hard stomach and tune my spell.
Chapter sixty-one
Aethan
Nahlaslipsoutofmy embrace and swims right up to the beast. I kick my legs, trying to swim, trying to reach her and pull her out of its grasp in time. I fail, fingers slipping on the slick edge of her tailfin.
The clawbeast must be a lying trickster, and Nahla falls right into its trap. That beast can’t be my mother. It’s impossible. I was there the day she died. I saw my own claws rake through her soft face. I swam in her blood.
I’d rather be sliced apart than let that beast within a scale’s breadth of Nahlani of the Brine. I want to fold her into my body until every inch of my being shields her from its claws.
I thrash in the water, drawing closer. Almost within reach. My soft-skinned form is fucking useless. Instead of cutting the water with ease, my fingers slip through it, unable to find purchase. My legs kick, pathetic and clunky without a tail to steer my path. Why the fuck did I get rid of my Beast?
I draw within myself, searching the reaches of my mind for any sign of him. Maybe Lucas’s magic isn’t permanent. Maybe, if I beg him, he’ll come out of hiding. But there’s nothing there, only the echo of my desperation. My Beast is gone.
“No!” I shout. If I can’t reach Nahla, maybe she’ll listen to me. I can convince her to see reason.
She ignores my protests, reaches out, and places her hand on its fucking stomach.
If I can snare her waist, I can pull her away before the beast attacks. I can save her from its deadly grasp.
Nahla sings. Her magic releases, and the beast grows still as ice. Its eyes glass over, staring straight through me. It does not lash out, does not fight. Only crouches, motionless, as Nahla’s song fills the cave.
The beast is letting her touch its stomach.
Nahla’s song takes on a melancholic quality, rolling like a lullaby. The beast curls its tail around its feet and settles to the floor, like a frostcat before a fire. Its eyelids droop closed. I stop short and stare in disbelief. What the fuck is happening right now?
Is shecharmingit?
Nahla has always been powerful. She thawed my frozen heart, after all. I’ve seen her work on the hunting trip, enchanting a whole herd of woollygoats at once. She’s more powerful than I’ll ever be; her talents are more useful to my kingdom than I could dream of.
A clawbeast whisperer—Nahla is two for two.
The beast chirps. A smile spreads over its face. Gently, it takes her into its arms, cradling her like she’s a newly hatched guppy while Nahla continues to sing.
A lump hardens in my throat. Such a tender touch from a dreadful creature. Is this part of the trap? Or is the beast somehow sincere?
Maybe…
