Page 1 of Songs of Retribution

CHAPTERONE

LENNOX

Water swallowed me down,tumbling me along the bottom of the river so my arms and legs slammed into sticks and rocks. I winced but tried to hold my breath and fight the torrent. My fingers brushed over my pocket where I’d secured the Prasanna heart stone Elisa and I found on the island.

I couldn’t drown here. Elisa needed me, the Prasanna required this stone, my sister stood alone without me, my people relied on me, and Shaan wanted me.

Shaan.

He waited on the beach with a ship that would take us away from here and back home.

Not that I knew what home meant anymore. I wasn't the man I'd been when I left mine last time. However, there were people who needed me—who loved me—and I refused to drown here.

My lungs grew tight, I released the last of my breath, and water rushed into my mouth, the gritty bitterness of it flooding my tongue and choking me. My hands scrambled out, trying to find anything to snag onto, to fight the tide. But the current crashed into my back and pounded me into debris before dragging me down.

Oh God, I was going to drown here on this island in the middle of nowhere. I didn't even know if Lira was navigating the Seelie court well, but I suspected she would run into trouble.

I couldn’t die. Not here. Not when she still needed me.

The river continued its relentless plowing, drowning, pulsing—like the water I’d manipulated on the ship. The realization slammed into me harder than the torrent. My elemental magic could connect to water. I sucked in more silt at the thought but called to my powers. The zevar at my throat hummed.

With a burst of energy, the river exploded away from me, the body of it rushing over me like a bridge. Even the pouring rain veered away. I choked up muddy water and gripped my fingers into the marshy bottom of the empty river as my knees sank into it. A fish flopped helplessly on the ground, and I struggled to get to my feet.

My clothes adhered to me. They’d grown filthy and sun-bleached during our voyage on the pirate ship, and now the collar hung down, revealing the golden skin of my chest. After another round of coughing, I wrung the shirt out, stepped onto the bank, and slipped my boots off to let more mucky river water spill out. I surrendered my hold on the magic, and the river dropped into its trough again, crashing before violently winding down the mountain.

It took several minutes of focusing on my breathing as the rain pounded my back before I mustered the energy to trundle along the path, following the water that jerked down the valley. Wind slammed into me in gusts that made it hard to keep my footing, and I braced against vines and eased down the mountain.

Something cracked, snagging my attention. A tree veered towards me. I stumbled back a step as it slammed into the path so fast I had to jump back to miss it. I trembled but climbed over it and kept moving. I needed to reach Elisa and Shaan. The world was a blur of violent grays, leaves rushing by and nicking my cheeks.

God damn it, this was a typhoon. It had to be.

That would be my damn luck.

I supported myself with an exposed root as another gust slammed into my back, then I considered that thought. It felt like a natural belief of mine, something I’d always accepted—I had poor luck. But that wasn’t true. Yes, I’d fallen, gotten injured, and ended up on this island. I also survived the fall, had Elisa’s friendship to get through it, found the heart stone which I still possessed, had a sister I loved waiting for me, and Shaan had forgiven me. It made little sense that I saw myself as unlucky. In fact, I was fortunate, everything considered.

With that fortifying me, I continued to clamber down the path. I’d reached near the bottom when someone cried out. I turned, prepared for a lingering member of the crew that had stolen us, but relief hit me when I saw the bright green eyes and soaked copper curls of the being who had called me.

“Elisa,” I shouted over the storm’s roar.

“Lennox.” She pushed herself out of a cove and clasped my outstretched hand. “I waited for you.”

Rain dripped from her eyelashes, and wind scrambled her hair into knots. I could imagine I looked similarly disheveled. I squeezed her hand tight, because damn I was a fortunate man to have the friends and future I did. And I would fight for it, as viciously as I battled everything on this journey so far. I wasn’t afraid anymore.

“Let’s go,” I said. “We’re close to the shore.”

We jogged hand-in-hand down the slope and reached the beach, our boots sinking into the soggy sand. In the distance, a ship oscillated on the shore as the winds beat it. The other boat I’d spotted from the mountain top still lingered in the distance, closer now but battered by the storm and bobbing like a dancer under a spotlight.

Luz and Ishir ran towards us, Luz's braid thunking over their shoulder as Ishir kept his hand on the Talwar at his hip. Elisa waved at them even as I hesitated, remembering how little Sai's team cared for me. It didn't matter anymore, though. I had a second chance to remake my life and reputation, and I’d take it.

They both frowned as they reached us. “Are you all right?” Luz shouted past the howling wind.

“We’re okay,” Elisa said. “A bit banged up is all.”

“We have to go.” Luz looked at me again and licked their lips before turning back towards Elisa. “Something has happened, Elisa.”

Elisa’s grip on my hand tensed, and I squeezed her knuckles in return. “Something bad?” she asked in such a small voice I could barely make it out over the din.

They frowned. “I’m sorry. It’s Neia. She’s injured.”

---