Page 59 of Cruel Tides

Kai’s glowing eyes panned our surroundings, spotlighting the stretch of sea where the portal used to stand—where itshould havestood.

It was said that Poseidon had raised the six sturdy stones himself, and for countless years, they’d rested in this very spot. Yet now there was nothing but desolation, the seabed reduced to a dark blanket of long-settled rubble and wreckage.

Whoever or whatever had done this had done it many hours, if not days, ago.

“The portal, it’s—” I tried to find the words, but my throat choked up. But what did saying it matter? The portal was gone, and nothing could bring those standing stones back.

I’d traveled here hundreds of times. Set my hands upon the stones and felt the magic vibrate from deep within them. I’d watched in awe as my father used his trident to call upon the ancient power stored here. The power that had taken us to other kingdoms.

As crown prince, I was also meant to command the stone’s magic. I had the trident within me. Knew the way to tap on the stones for which kingdom I wished to travel to. But what did any of it matter when not a single standing stone remained?

Now there was nothing—only useless rubble void of magic, as if the portal had never existed here at all.

Barren hung his head, his jaw working like he was trying to make sense of how such a thing had happened. Perhaps he was fearful for his own kingdom’s standing stones. “It’s gone,” he said with a finality that had ice forming over my heart.

What did this mean for the Atlantic? What would happen to us now that we’d been cut off from the rest of the kingdoms?

“Not just gone,” Claira mumbled, staring off at the seabed. “Purposely destroyed.”

I felt numb. Deadened. Had the cecaelia been strong enough to tear down the stones? Was this their payback for our escape?

I’d never known their kind to possess much magic at all, except for the sea witches hiding among them, but even then… Poseidon had constructed the portal. What, other than a god, could have torn it down?

I stared at the dark, crumbling rocks as if the standing stones might suddenly appear before us. Like maybe it was an illusion; the sort of mind-bending magic I’d known the Indian Ocean to use. But there was no magic left here. At least not any I could sense.

Wait…

Magic had just poured into me in an overwhelming amount, hadn’t it? I flexed my wrist, feeling the power I hadn’t possessed moments before moving deep within my bones.

As if listening along with my thoughts, Barren’s hard muscles tensed. His tail swished through the rubble, and the rocks crumbled underneath the weight of his tail, dissolving into the current. “For a purpose or not,” he mumbled, “the magic is gone from these waters.”

Even without looking up at Barren, I could feel his dark eyes on me. I knew that a part of him had been looking into my mind as well.

Then I realized Barren must have known what was happening to me from the start. The throbbing, the headache, the dizzying pull of the trident as we moved closer to the portal. With a gift like his, how could he not?

That thought thawed my heart and sent my blood straight to a boil.

Yes—he’d known, and despite those dangers, he’d brought me closer. Brought me here. Even when I was in pain and my magic pulled, ripping from my body.

And that meant he also knew what I’d only just realized—that the trident within me had drawn in the portal’s old magic and that its magic was a part of me now.

Claira blinked, her eyes squinting through the half-light. “So, did all that magic just disappear?” She searched the rocky seabed, looking over all that was left of the once great standing stones. “Last time we were here, I saw glowing symbols all over those big, black monoliths. But now, I don’t see any. Not even on the bigger rock fragments.”

“The magic must have escaped when the stones broke.” I sighed, holding my arm out to her. “And I took in every trace of magic that was left behind when we got here,” I admitted. “The trident fucking absorbed it.”

“Itwhat?”Claira swallowed hard. “How is that possible?”

I shrugged, feeling the tension of my skin against my bones as I ran my hand over the spot where my arm felt like it might have ripped apart from within.

“It fought for it,” I said simply. And now I was vibrating with the same magic that had once hummed through the standing stones. But what would that mean for me? “There was a push and a pull, like the portal was trying to suck the trident’s magic out of me. But then it fought back.” Bitter laughter filled my voice when I added, “The trident won.”

What would have happened if it hadn’t won was a question I wasn’t ready to ask aloud. As if by instinct, a part of me knew that if the trident’s magic was ripped from me, my life would have gone with it. That was the deal with fusing with a trident, wasn’t it?

I looked up at Barren, and his eyes averted in a way that told me he was still in my head.

Barren’s ability had the power to terrify those around him, but I’d always been fascinated by his gift and not nearly as afraid of him infiltrating my mind as I should have been.

Perhaps that was because I’d been so young when my father first warned me of the Indian Ocean’s crown prince who could pry into minds. He’d told me Barren would become a formidable king one day because of it. A threat to the rest of the kingdoms.

---