As I crossed through the dining room, she pointed at a card. The Lovers. “Ah. Aenor. You see? I was doing your tarot card. This is your future with Salem.”
“It really isn’t.”
She flipped another card. Death. Her smile faltered. “That’s fine. It just means change.” A nervous laugh. “Change is good sometimes.”
She flipped another one onto the table, depicting a crumbling tower with flames on the base. The Tower.
I frowned at it. “I don’t suppose a burning building is good, too?”
“It’s definitely destruction—and fire, of course. But, you know, fire can be good! Purification, in some ways. Cleansing…” She sounded unsure of herself.
I found myself moving closer to her, curious about the cards. She flipped another one, and the card depicted two charred bodies on a rock, surrounded by broken bones.
The Conflagration, it read.
Her hand recoiled. She shot me a look of horror.
I didn’t know what it was, and I didn’t put much stock in Angel’s predictions. But the card unnerved me all the same.
“What?” I asked in a small voice. “I’ve never seen that card before. Is there a positive spin on it?”
She stared at it. “I’ve never seen it before either.” She cocked her head. “It doesn’t exist. I mean, it never existed before. But maybe it means something different than what it looks like. Maybe…” She hastily gathered up the cards. “Let’s never speak of this again, okay?” Her expression was a forced smile. “Can I get you anything? Tea? Water? Whiskey?”
Nervously, I glanced up at the room I’d left. I had the sense that I definitely wasn’t going to get away with my little excursion unnoticed. Salem didn’t seem like he missed much—and what was more, Angel’s voice wasn’t exactly quiet.
Still, he wasn’t barging out right now to light me on fire. Might as well take the chance.
“No, thank you. I was just going to nip outside for some fresh air,” I said. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”
She’d pulled the Conflagration card from the deck again, staring at it.
I frowned at the macabre card. “You really don’t know what that means?”
She cleared her throat. “It is difficult to come up with a positive spin on the charred corpses, and with the crushed bones…” She cleared her throat.
“Right.”
With my body buzzing with tension, I crossed to the door. When I pulled it open, a forlorn wind swept over me, chilling me through the damp clothes. Overhead, the crows cawed wildly, wings flapping.
If Salem had been sleeping, he probably wasn’t now.
I stepped out into the woods, sniffing the air to smell the sea.
I licked the salt off my lips.
All signs, even Angel’s terrible predictions, pointed to destructive fire in my future.
If Lyr found me now—would he still try to wrap that collar around my neck? I wondered if I could call on him if I really needed him. I thought I could. He just didn’t trust me with all the magic.
When I thought about him, I felt… not much of anything.
The passion just felt dead.
I had a weird feeling that Salem was right about my attraction to Lyr. I’d felt lifeless without my magic, and I’d craved oblivion. The silence and peace his presence promised.
But now, I wanted warmth.
The ocean drew me closer with its siren song. What if Angel’s cards had some truth in them? Salem and I would never be lovers, of course. But I couldn’t deny that he had a seductive allure. His voice, his movements, his smoldering gaze… they all promised an erotic thrill.
He was a dark temptation. I thought I knew what the cards meant. It was simple, really.
If I let his seductive nature distract me, the world would burn.
18
Aenor
The squall still raged, and the wind picked up as I moved closer to the shoreline. The wind whipped at the trees, and when I reached the sand, the salty spume dappled my face.
Aaaah… home.
The wind caressed me as I waded into the sea—the sea that felt too warm for this time of year.
I held out my arms to either side, feeling the waves pound over my legs, my thighs.
First, let’s see if the Winter Witch was right about me.
I closed my eyes again. “God of the ocean and sea, show me things that might be. What if I keep my sea magic?”
When I opened my eyes again, I saw a vision gleaming in a sphere. Waves crashed over the fires, and ice spread out on the ocean floor.
The image shimmered away again, and I loosed a breath. That was good, right? If the world could burn, ice and water could put out the fires.
Now what happens if Salem gets what he wants?
“God of the ocean and sea, show me things that might be. What will happen if Salem frees the woman I buried in the soul cage?”
Sea magic slid over my skin, slick and cold. Then I opened my eyes again to see an image burning in the sphere above me. Fear crawled up my spine.
A world of death had ignited in the bubble. Trees withered; dark smoke curled into the air. In the vision, the seafloor cracked and opened, flames bursting from a crevasse…
The vision spread out of the bubble, bleeding into reality. All around me, the sea began to churn and boil. I stepped back from the ocean as the water burned my skin. Steam rose from the glistening surface. Then, with horror, I watched as the water started to evaporate, leaving behind only dust. Heat scalded my skin as if I stood on the sun. I was on fire, breathless.
The image shimmered away again, and the cold sea crashed against my legs. At last, I exhaled, examining my arms for burns.
Gods have mercy. No wonder the Merrow was trying to kill us. Surely he saw us heading for him, ready to unleash all this destruction on the world.
I glanced behind me at the dark forest. Salem wasn’t coming for me, and I had enough time to put my magic to work on a message for the Merrow.
In a storm, you couldn’t normally see the phosphorescence glowing in the sea. But with the right magic, you could draw the bioluminescence to you—those little glowing beings that made the dark sea sparkle and glow at night. If you had the right kind of magic, you could use this glittering ocean light to send a message.
“God of the ocean and sea, send my words to the Merrow across the water.” As a wave receded, I traced my fingertips over the water, writing, Merrow. As my fingertips skimmed the water’s surface, phosphorescence beamed beneath it.
I traced another message: I am the only one who can stop Salem.
The ocean sucked the words away from me, sending them on their way to the Merrow.
Another wave crashed around me, soaking me completely. As the water calmed, I wrote, I need the sea glass.
The sea swallowed this message, too, churning it under the surface.
When the words appeared again, they slid away from me on the ocean’s surface. I stared at the faint chinks of light beaming at the sky, drifting farther away from me.
When I turned back for the house, my heart skipped a beat. Salem was watching me, his dark wings cascading behind him. His eyes burned with an icy light.
This wasn’t the sophisticated Salem in a mohair suit. This was Lucifer. He’d shifted, and short black horns jutted from his bare shoulder blades. He’d come armed with his sword, and that silvery star beamed on his abs. He stood with the preternatural stillness of a demon. Ghostly flames danced in the air around him, warm light carving the masculine planes of his face.