Page 130 of Cruel Tides

She slid down the stairs on her belly, snorting as she went.“Apparently, she CANswim.”

Kai took a breath, his eyebrows arching. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, thankful that they’d found me so fast. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“We’ve been searching for the last hour. Barren almost leveled the place.”

“Barren did?” My throat tightened. Although this hadn’t been my fault, guilt and panic gripped me. I’d rarely seen Barren lose his composure, but how could I blame him? I’d disappeared on his watch.

“Between him and Leander, I was sure this whole place was going down,” Kai said, restlessly scratching the nape of his neck.

My heart dropped. “I’m so sorry I worried you guys.”

“I’m sure you had a good reason.” Kai held out a hand, offering the best smile he could. “Let’s let the others know you’re okay before all the lights go out again.”

“The lights went out? The casino lost power?” I whispered, dread filling me as I took hold of Kai’s hand. “It was Leander, wasn’t it? He lost control again.”

“I know we’re pretty far from the water,” Kai said grimly. “But I was getting worried he might summon a tidal wave or something if we didn’t find you soon.”

Kai’s fingers wrapped around mine, a desperate grip that caused my heart to ache. He wasshaking. Even though he sounded calm, he was just as upset as it sounded like the rest of them were.

When we got down to the bottom of the stairs, Kai pulled back a heavy curtain that revealed the casino’s domed entrance. “Laverne found it,” he said, letting me through first. “She was the first to spot you in the water. I know she’d never admit it, but she was really worried after Barren told us you were gone.”

“Oh,” I whispered, not sure what else to say to that. Earlier today, I would have doubted that Laverne cared for me at all. Of course, it was possible that she only wanted to save me for Kai’s sake, but either way. She cared.

As soon as I was under the dome, Leander’s arms were around me.

“Lee,” I squeaked, the breath squeezing out of me as he gathered me up against his chest. “I’m soaked!”

But he didn’t seem to care. He held me tighter, his chest heaving in breaths. He growled something incoherent against my shoulder, and I could sense his utter exhaustion as his body slumped over mine.

“I’m fine, Lee,” I said, wrapping my arms around him for added support.

He grumbled something else, something that might have been a heartbreaking, “Don’t leave us again,”but I couldn’t be sure.

“I was only gone for an hour,” I whispered back to him, frowning. And I hadn’t even wanted to leave at all.

As Leander pulled back, his bloodshot eyes and red face gave away how upset he’d been while I was gone. “Are you hurt?” he asked, his eyes jumping not only over me, but over our surroundings, too. He was still on edge, looking for an outlet for his anger. Who to blame for my disappearance.

“I’m not hurt. I’m fine, really,” I said as sincerely as I could. Barren caught in my peripheral, but he stopped short of coming over to us.

“What happened?” Leander asked, drawing back my attention.

“Yeah, Claira,” Kai said, coming up beside us. “Why were you up there?”

I opened my mouth, wanting to tell them about the abduction and my meeting with Queen Sagari, but my tongue seemed to widen, gagging me like a wad of smoke had caught in the back of my mouth.

Another gag worked up my throat, and I forced the words back down as Queen Sagari’s voice rang in my mind.

Don’t forget to watch what you say, dear, or the magic will do it for you.

So this was the spell. It even had a smell to it. Charred wood, rich and mysterious, reminiscent of the sea wizard who’d cast it. I turned down to my finger and saw the dot of black ink where the fountain pen had pricked me.Damn.

Did this count as my first tattoo?

“She isn’t okay,” Barren said, coming a few measured steps closer. Then he turned away before I had a chance to deny it.

“No, I–I’m fine,” I called out to his back. “Barren?”

---