Page 84 of Waves
“What should I do?” I asked quietly.
Keelan closed his eyes and swallowed hard.
“You can wish I’ll make her better. Wish I’ll leave Okeanos and never return. Tell me what you want me to do,” I urged. “This isn’t a test. It isn’t a punishment. I know… what you’re feeling… I know. Tell me what you want me to do.”
When he opened his eyes, they were wet with emotion. “Wish for me to tell you the truth and only the truth. Then you’ll know I had no idea. That I’dnever?—”
“No,” I responded with a soft shake of my head, raising my hand when his nostrils flared and he inhaled deep, mouth opening to argue.
“Love isn’t love without trust,” I whispered.
He surged forward then, the ocean helping him, pushing him, as he leaned across the space. His good hand took my hand with the ring and squeezed, before he reached down and gavethe band a quarter twist. In a broken voice, he murmured, “She betrayed her queen. I wish her peace in the afterlife.”
“Keelan!” His mother gave a broken wail, and I watched his own chest convulse as he swallowed down the onslaught of grief.
But Raj had already lifted his hands and was staring steadily at me as if to confirm.
“Be at peace, Sahar.” I said.
“Granted.” Blue smoke rose from Raj’s fingertips. The inky tendrils darted through the sky and wrapped like a shroud over her face before she slumped down on the ice spear. When the smoke cleared, her gaze was vacant.
For a long moment, the entire world seemed to pause.
The rain thinned to nothing.
The waves grew quiet.
Even the lightning halted its dance.
I gently melted the pillar of ice until Sahar floated upon the waves. As if they were reading my mind, Felipe swam forward, and Mateo followed suit. With a nod to me, they gathered Sahar’s limp body and disappeared beneath the water.
“Go,” I commanded the djinn.
His brow furrowed and he surged forward, reluctance pulsing through me. I held up my hand with the ring and spoke slowly as I thought through as many contingencies as I could to tie his hands. “I wish you’d wait for me in my private sitting room at the castle in Palati. I wish you wouldn’t speak to anyone or communicate in any fashion other than to say you’re waiting for me. I wish that you would sleep until I come and wake you.”
A bolt of intense emotion shot through me fleetingly, but it disappeared as quickly as Raj did. One second he was there, the next, he was gone in a puff of smoke, the word “granted” echoing in my ears.
I muffled the inner voice that yelled at me and called me foolish for not immediately addressing the djinn. For not immediately killing him.
Bloss would have my head.
But Keelan needed—andI needed—to breathe. To mourn. To process.
An hour passed and then another as the storm slid away, the clouds dispersing.
The sun sank beyond the horizon in a red haze and still we sat, Mr. Whelk swimming up to rest his head on his master’s lap.
Keelan and I floated side by side on our wave thrones as the seagulls swooped and the stars blinked. Sometimes there were tears, sometimes there was nothing but the sound of the ocean gently rocking us.
When the moon was high overhead, Keelan finally spoke. “There are things worth dying for,” he whispered, turning to face me with a stare steadier than I ever would have managed. “I knew that when I joined the military. I’ve always known that. My queen and my future wife are worth it. I don’t know why she couldn’t see that.”
I reached for his hand. “Yes, but some day, if I’m in her position, our child will be worth it too. And you can bet I’d do any and everything to save them.”
Keelan stood then and yanked me up, smashed me into his ribs in a crushing hug. Burning tears flowed freely down my face as I clutched at him—tears of sorrow and pain. But also tears of brokenhearted love.
Chapter 37
Avia
