Page 91 of The Princesses of Ruin
I plant my palm on top of their joined hands. Alyse’s magic wraps around my hand and yanks it down, sealing my skin to theirs. Blue lightning forks up my wrist and lassos it in a tight bind that becomes a brand.
“What is your name, dragon?” Alyse asks.
Her eyes glimmer gold and then she chuckles. “I’ll never be able to say that.”
“No human can speak our draconic names,” the green dragon says.
“Then what should we call you two?”
So I know what names to curse in my nightly prayers…
“Grawmir,” the green says in a rumbling voice like a rockslide.
The boy looks at me, defiant fire dancing in his stormy eyes.
“Raenkor.”
Chapter thirty-four
Reina
Jasper is tense. The flick of his tail through the dark water is rigid and swift, like he’s preparing to bolt at any second. His grip on my hand is similarly rigid. I want to tell him that it’s okay, we’re safe, but the water is so crushingly dense it’s difficult for me to form words while we’re moving, even selkie ones.
Our escorts keep their distance. Their watery shadows are thick and tentacled. It reminds me of Jasper in his octopus form. Their very presence protects us from other predators as we make our way into the Deep. Ga’hanoi are feared by many creatures, even ones that are much bigger than them, like the sha’kara.
I bring my other hand to my lips and press my tongue to the ring on my thumb. The pin pierces my flesh and I wince as the iron tang spreads in my water-filled mouth. My blood is soaked into the ring, renewing its energy. Warmth washes over my body as the ring’s power flares.
Alastair isn’t a high-blood magus, and so many of his runes depend on bloodshed. It’s clever, but not the most useful tool in the water. Jasper says the creatures down here can scent even a drop of blood for miles.
We’ve slowed, I realize, and I turn to see Jasper’s selkie eyes fully dilated, his gaze pinned on something over my shoulder. I twist to see one of the ga’hanoi escorts has moved closer.
“Injured?” it rasps in a waterlogged whisper.
“No,” I reply. “Sorry—”
The creature is moving away quickly, returning to its post.
Jasper cups my cheeks and presses his thumbs over my lips. “Swallow.”
I do, shivering as the seawater sloshes into my stomach. Kazimir provided me with a magic-infused filter to create drinking water, but Adrik knew there would be no avoiding swallowing seawater when eating—or just by accident. He prepared several potions for consuming seawater, and they taste like frog balls, but they prevent me from spilling my guts or getting sick in cases like this.
Jasper slides his thumbs away and kisses me, caressing the corners of my lips as he pulls away. “Remember, these thingseatmy people. Don’t let them smell your blood.”
“Ate,” I clarify, hoping I’m using the right word for the tense shift.
We swim on, increasing our speed.
Halting clicks and chest-shaking rumbles move through the blackness, spiking my fear. I check our escorts, but I can’t see them anymore. I take the slowest gasp in history, my gills shocked from the icy water.
“They’re still beside us. Your eyes are too weak to see them,” Jasper says.
Am I to spend the entire trip in darkness? Jasper said using my light on our journey there wouldn’t be allowed since I’d attract attention the escorts couldn’t hope to defeat, but will I be blind every moment I’m there, too?
My heart pounds as I drop into the abyss on faith.
Faith that the ga’hanoi will help us instead of eat us.
What a silly thought. Of course they won’t eat us. If they were going to, they would’ve knocked us out long ago by strangulation and towed our limp bodies down to the depths. Jasper says their tentacles are as strong or even stronger than his own in his giant form, and that they could easily crush my neck in a second.
