“Well, good luck with that, Aenor. But for now, we’re going home. Back to the British Isles.”
Waves of magic crashed through my blood. I felt like I could destroy worlds. Gods, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to kiss someone or rip a person’s heart out. Maybe both?
“Home.” I’d be heading back toward the cold Atlantic waters where I was born.
A star beneath the sea… Driftwood to keep her trapped…
I touched my temples, struggling to form coherent thoughts. My old magic would take some getting used to.
Salem prowled closer, eyes locked on me. “Use the feel of the earth beneath you to ground your magic. Channel it so it moves in and out through your feet.”
I did as he asked, envisioning the magic like flowing water, moving up and down my legs. It helped me settle the surge of power a little, though it still trembled though my body.
“Once we get to the sea,” he said, “I’ll make sure you’re in control. I can’t have you drowning all of Europe while we’re trying to find the driftwood cage. It’s not on my agenda.”
Truly, I’d never fully mastered sea magic. I’d experimented, though. I could make steam from my fingertips. I could lure the sea to me like a gravitational force, and command the waves to drown Europe, like Salem had suggested. I could form blades and weapons of ice from my hands. I could suck all the water from a person’s body, leaving them a desiccated husk that could blow away in the wind.
I stared at Salem, wondering if I should just try doing that to him. I cocked my head, letting the sea magic crackle over my body.
But as soon as I lifted my hand, he began to glow with sunset colors. He was protecting himself against my magic. Or maybe he was just naturally immune to it.
Whatever the case, it wasn’t working.
“Well, that must be disappointing.” A cruel smile ghosted over his lips.
I shrugged. “I was just testing it out.”
“You can’t kill me, Aenor. Only one person can kill me, and it’s not you.”
Hmmm. Not what the Winter Witch said, but I wasn’t about to out myself.
Another wave of power crashed through me, and my teeth chattered at its force. “Fine. How are we getting to the British Isles?”
“Follow me.” He brushed past me, his magic mingling with mine.
As I walked behind him, my thoughts swarmed, beauty and terror intermingling. I felt like the wind was singing to me.
I was, perhaps, tripping out. But godsdamn, it felt good to trip out on my magic.
I sighed, and an image blazed in my mind—sea glass carving out Salem’s heart.
But the vision didn’t feel as victorious as I’d imagined. It felt wrong.
All the magic coursing through my veins abhorred death. I wanted life now.
Still, when the time came, I would do what I needed to do. I’d end his life for good.
12
Salem
I led Aenor into the stone tunnel below ground. When she turned to look at me, I saw that her pupils had gone wide and dark, her cheeks rosy. She looked so alive that it almost made my pulse race.
Holding her magic in my body had felt like an illicit thrill. I was merely a channeler of her magic—a vessel—so I couldn’t wield it like she could. But I still felt it charge my veins. There was an intimacy to it.
It was a magic more intense than anything I’d experienced. Now, it ran through the veins of the beautiful body of the woman before me. A miniskirt, heels, and magic as powerful as a thousand suns.
I nearly forgot Ossian was with us, until one of his birds circled around my head. He bit into an apple, slouching as he walked.
Ossian’s sea magic wasn’t nearly as impressive as Aenor’s, but at least he was fully in control of it. Who knew what she would do? She was a complete wild card, and she seemed half delirious.
Why did she interest me so much? Maybe it was because her entire demeanor had changed. Now that her body glowed with sea magic, her movements were languid. Sensual, almost. My gaze lingered on her bare legs.
If I were the man I used to be, I’d think of pulling her into a shadowy offshoot of this tunnel. I’d imagine myself sliding my hand up her thigh, kissing her deeply. The Salem of years ago would think of her naked, splayed out before him.
But those thoughts belonged to the person I used to be. Back when humans drew on cave walls. That part of my soul was now as lifeless as the rocky walls around us. Ever since I’d been banished from Mag Mell tens of thousands of years ago.
I watched as she trailed her fingertips along the wall, humming quietly to herself. Her hips swayed, like she was trying to entice me.
I breathed in the air, heavy with moss and dirt. A thousand years ago, a cabal of bloodthirsty crusaders had created this enchanted tunnel—a secret passage that magically shortened the distance between England and Jerusalem. Quite convenient for me, really.
Aenor’s footfalls echoed off the cave walls.
Silver moonlight filtered in through the end of the tunnel, and the salty air floated in on the breeze.
The tunnel was leading us to Brighton, on the south coast of England. There, the Atlantic waters flowed into the English Channel.
Aenor turned to me, her wide blue eyes bright in the darkness. “Tell me something, Mr. Lucifer. How did you end up all the way in Jerusalem? You’re from the British Isles. All fae come from the British Isles originally.”
“I wandered.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And you’re really the Lucifer? The one that humans talk about? The light-bringer? The root of all evil?” Her tone was light, like it was all a joke to her. “The vilest creature in the history of the world?”
I stared at her, wishing I’d brought more brandy. “I’m not a chronicler of human culture. You’d have to ask one of them.”
“Were you in some kind of hell?”
You naive little thing. You really have no idea. “You could say that.”
She turned away from me, no longer interested in her line of questioning.
“I can feel the ocean calling to me,” she said quietly to herself, but I picked up the sound. Hope lit up her voice, and a new sensation stirred in my heart.
13
Aenor
My sea magic surged through my veins.
I bit my lip, trying to think clearly as the tunnel opened up into a wooden arcade hall. Dark in the dead of night, pinball machines and video games crowded the Victorian building. When I turned, I saw that the tunnel opening had disappeared behind us.
We were so close to the sea now that I could taste it…
This would be an amazing time to enchant Salem with my morgen powers, except that he was impervious to them now.
I’d have to use subtler methods. Except it was hard to be subtle when you were drowning in sensations.
Even in the darkness, the moonlight streaming through the windows seemed too bright, and our quiet footfalls boomed in my ears. I was quickly remembering how it felt to be overwhelmed by magic—and why I used to drink so much to quiet the world down.
Even inside the arcade hall, the scent of the sea hit me hard, seaweed and brine curling around me. I wanted to plunge into the ocean’s cool depths. I craved its darkness, the quiet under the water.