Page 34 of Sworn to Revenge
I swim over to Bay’s body, her red hair floating with the light current, her face showing signs of distress even while unconscious. My hand, as if acting on its own, gently strokes her cheek, brushing against the greenish scales at the side of her face.She’ll be alright. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she’s alright!
“Come on, Pedro. We also have news for Luca and Mariano. That’s another problem we’ll need to deal with,” Alin tells me as I cradle Bay in my arms, my body tensing up.
The capo is going to grill me alive when he finds out what I did with Bay, and on top of that, we have to tell him that his supposedly dead mother isn’t so dead after all?
For the first time in my life, I’m glad I won’t be breaking the news alone.
Bay
“So, where’syouraffiliation mark?” I hear his voice close to my ear as my body sways with the currents.
“Under your tongue?! You always have to be the weirdest one, don’t you?” His laughter makes me open my eyes to see Alin sticking out her tongue at the familiar gorgeous man who’s carrying me.
I instantly recall everything that happened in the cave and glance down at my hip. Great, the water healed me faster than usual.
I sigh in relief and lift my eyes to meet the shiny golden ones that make every part of my body tremble without him even trying.
“Are you okay?” He asks in a surprised tone, loosening his grip on me slightly as Alin swims closer.
“I’m okay,” I smile at Pedro, genuinely relieved, and turn to Alin. “It seems like I healed a lot faster this time, doesn’t it?”
“Not exactly, you’ve been unconscious for several hours, and we have much worse news than your dragon lover,” she says, exchanging worried looks with Pedro. Oh no. What is it this time?
“But we did manage to get the heart, right?” I ask, glancing between them, my heart pounding in my chest. Could it be that Pedro didn’t manage to take the heart after everything we went through?
“We got the heart...” Pedro confirms, his gills expanding with a sigh, “along with a very big problem to add to the list.”
“Can we stop speaking in riddles all the time? Just be straight with me! What’s going on here?” I push myself away from Pedro’s grasp, standing my ground. I’m tired of getting bits and pieces of information all the time!
“Jocelyn took your blood in exchange for the heart...” Pedro starts to explain as if I wasn’t there to see it myself.
“My mother suspects she’s planning to make the Doomsday Elixir,” Alin blurts out, noticing my raised eyebrow signaling my impatience.
No. The Doomsday Elixir isn’t real!
“That’s just a damn merfolk horror story!” I catch on my breath, unwilling to believe it, but my heart is about to burst out of my chest.
I turn to Pedro, hoping he’ll confirm that I’m right, but he just nods, his eyes avoiding mine.What in the merhell did I just do?
“It turns out it’s not just a horror story, and my mother is working on a way to stop it,” she swims over to me, gripping my arms as if that gesture could somehow reassure me after she’s just made it clear we’re all going todie because of me.
We’re ALL going to die. No. No. No.
I break free from Alin’s grip and swim quickly to Pedro’s side, grabbing his hand to look at his mark. It’s still there. He’s going to die with all of us.
My head spins as a tsunami of my worst nightmares floods every corner of my mind, and I almost see black at the edges of my vision.
“If anyone can find a solution, it’s my mother. Bay, we need to get back to the surface before Pedro loses his life drowning down here,” Alin tries to reassure me, urging us to move with a gentle push of her tail against my back.
“Drowning? What are you talking about? He has a tail,” I turn to look at her.What else hasn’t she told me?Anger, frustration, and fear all wrap around me, and I’m holding onto every ounce of strength to keep myself from losing it.
“The potion is supposed to last only for one day. If he stays a minute longer, his legs will return in the depths, and we’ll be in a whole different kind of trouble,” she explains, her voice laced with worry. Probably because she sees the murderous look in my eyes right now. I’ll never forgive her if he dies because of me!
“You’re insane!” I spit at her in fury, not recognizing when she became so cunning and manipulative. “And you,” I point at Pedro, “you knew this the whole time and didn’t tell me?!”
“I’m sorry, Bay. It was for your own good,” he starts to explain.
“If I hear one more time that someone hid something from me ‘for my own good,’ I’ll swim straight to the dragon guardian and stay with him!” I snap, my rage burning through every cell in my body, scorching my chest.
