Page 139 of The Sea of Zemira (The Zemiran Chronicles 1)

Nola amused him, which of course, irritated her.

“I’m serious! That black smoke of yours lifted me in the air. I zipped through space and time and ended aboard your ship.”

He shrugged. “I am not that powerful when I do not know what I am up against,” he said, “One siren call, and that’s it, the path is cleared for us.” Elijah flashed a charming smile.

The siren rolled her eyes as they continued traveling up the rocks. It felt as if they had been traveling for hours around the rocky cliffs.

“I need to rest, Elijah. Please.”

The prince turned to her and nodded. “Here,” he said, pulling the bag off his shoulder and reaching inside. He pulled out a costrel draped in black, embossed leather, and popped off the cork.

Nola reached out to take it while gesturing to the bag. “Is that the bow my father sold you?” she asked, taking only a meager amount of water to quench her thirst.

Prince Elijah rested his hand on the tip. “That it is. Here,” he said, pulling it out of the bag and handing it to her. “I have no idea how to use it.” He chuckled to himself.

The siren slowly wrapped her hands around the bow and looked up. “A bit bold of you to trust me with it.”

“We can learn to trust each other. Aren’t we in for the same cause? Or you can kill me with it now,” he said.

Elijah did not believe she would, but she was a siren, and he had kidnapped her. Her magic, however, would not work on him. No magic could.

Nola raised the bow and pulled an arrow back, aiming directly at him. A smile reached her lips.

“Your hands truly belong to a bow, don’t they?” he asked. His tone was oddly calm.

With slight hesitation, she lowered the bow. “Thank you.”

Nola kept her eyes locked on the prince. She did not see herself killing Lincoln’s brother. There had to be good inside him still. Could she save the prince from doing something he would regret after? Save him from becoming his father?

“So, this power of yours...you say you can feel the ruby? It somehow tells you where the other piece to the weapon is?” she asked.

“Yes. Sort of,” Elijah replied, stepping back. “I can’t exactly see the cave, but I can feel a pull at my chest as if I’m tied to it. The closer we get to the location, the stronger the bond is.”

Nola shook her head in disbelief. “I’ve had this ruby on me since I was a baby. How did you not feel it?”

The young prince shrugged. “I thought I felt it years ago, but then the feeling went away.” Elijah looked at her. “My guess is you didn’t spend too much time near the palace. And I never left it. I did not have the freedom you did.”

Nola squeezed her eyes shut. Wealth and power were not everything. The look in his eyes was of loneliness and pain. She was blessed to have all that she did; parents who loved her, a home, friends, and a happy childhood. Their life may have been hard at times as they begged their neighbors for a decent barter in exchange for food. However, she had people who loved her; he did not. Prince Elijah lived in an extravagant castle but with a father who despised him.

Is this why he turned out the way he did? Nola wondered, watching his eyes dim. She felt sorry for him.

The rock wall reached several feet above sea level; Nola did not feel safe that high above the ground. Crotona’s vegetation was quite a mystery to the siren’s eyes. Black sand amidst a grove of leafy palm trees covered most of the damp land.

They were halfway up the mountain when the rain started to pour, creating even more of a muddy swamp. With each step, Nola slid further and further down. Her body was covered in mud as the rain poured harder, running down her eyes.

Nola gave a hasty glance over her shoulder, feeling as though they were being watched.

It was only getting darker.

“We can’t go any further, Elijah! We need shelter.”

Elijah pressed his hand into her back, trying to help her climb but all they did was slide down. They slid further and further until they reached the spot right where they first started.

Nola focused on the sounds around her. The heavy breathing within the woods caused the hairs on her arms to stand straight. But aside from a bow and arrow, they had nothing. They were out in the open, amidst the darkness and the rain.

A fast movement between the trees caught Nola’s eye.

“Elijah?” she called. His hand reached for her arm, pulling her behind him as he noticed an entity creeping in their direction.

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