She motioned for me to follow her down the stairs.
My breath dragged in my lungs as I whispered, “How did the Merrow end up imprisoned here?”
“He tried to stop King Tethra. You know, when he sent his assassins after Salem and you.”
My mind whirled. How were Tethra and Salem connected?
Again I was struck by the feeling that I’d only scratched the surface in understanding my darling mate.
36
Aenor
As we got to the bottom of the stairs, darkness enveloped us. My legs plunged into cold water, about a foot deep. It was at this point I realized with a growing sense of horror that I could no longer hear the Merrow’s music.
The nymph snapped her fingers, and twinkling lights appeared above us. The light glimmered over dark water that streamed through a long corridor, pouring into the cells. The smell down here was overpowering, like rotten flesh and death. I wanted to vomit.
Apart from the sound of flowing water, we found the dungeon eerily silent. As we crossed deeper inside, I scanned and searched for the Merrow in a cell. As I did, I glimpsed the pitiful fae creatures who languished in their cells, crammed together, many of them ancient-looking, emaciated. The music of their magic was hardly audible.
From the far side of the corridor, the moat ran into the dungeon, flowing through a hole in the wall. Water filled the bottoms of the cells at least a foot deep.
Gods, it was awful here. Some of the fae were tied with their hands behind their backs. Others were tied to wooden posts that jutted from the stone ground, bodies limp, looking half-dead, skeletal.
But worst of all, I found not a single sign of Salem, nor could I hear his magic. Lyria swore as she led me to the end of the corridor. There, one cell door stood open in the water.
And as we peered inside, we found no one.
Lyria thrust her fingers into her silver hair, looking like she was about to pull it out. “He’s taken him. And if the king catches us here, will both die.”
“What are King Tethra’s plans? I don’t understand. What do Salem and this king have to do with each other? Are they working together? I need some answers.”
She chewed a fingernail. “Tethra and Salem? They can’t stand each other. King Tethra usurped Salem’s throne eons ago. Took this whole kingdom from him after he was banished. But he let the kingdom languish, and it’s in ruins now. King Tethra thought he could grow stronger and build the kingdom’s strength by making himself stronger. He was taking quicksilver supplements prescribed by fae doctors.”
I blinked. “Mercury? He was drinking mercury? It causes brain damage.”
“Yeah, so the king basically has holes in his brain now. He’s obsessed with raising the Fomorian army to take over the world. And one of his advisors told him how to do it. He said to send a message to Salem. You know the whole legend.”
“Nope. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“The Fomorians once lived in this kingdom. The first king of Mag Mell defeated them, and drove them all down to the center of the earth. Once, they were normal fae, like us. But under the earth’s surface, they grew twisted. Fiery. And now they want revenge. King Tethra thinks he can raise them and control them. But no one can control them.”
“Okay. And get to the part where Salem is involved.”
“The legend was that only a god’s magic could keep the earth sealed, keep the Fomorians trapped in its core. Every now and then, one of the Fomorians would slip out, start burning things. Lighting cities on fire. The Great Fire of London? That was a Fomorian. So the Merrow found a way to seal it up again, at least for a while. You helped him, remember? Shahar’s magic was enough to seal them inside. Without it, everyone would have turned to dust.”
And that was what awaited us now. “Go on.”
“But her magic is weakening, and it’s not working as well now. And then the rumors started spreading. Destroy the driftwood cage, and the Fomorians will rise. Tethra is trying to make it happen.”
“So Tethra was using Salem?”
She nodded. “He knew Salem would stop at nothing to get to Shahar, so he sent out a message. He let him know that Shahar was still alive, that she needed saving. Everyone knows Salem doesn’t care if the world burns. So King Tethra just had to sit back and let Salem find the cage for him.”
“If the king had the Merrow here, why didn’t he torture the answer out of him?”
She shrugged. “He didn’t know the Merrow could help him. That was a deeply buried secret.”
I took a shaking breath. “How long?” I asked, dread creeping up my throat. “How long would it take for the Fomorians to break free once the driftwood cage is gone?”
She shook her head. “No one knows exactly. A few weeks? I have no idea.”
All this news was like a fist to my throat.
Shahar never deserved her fate. She’d never intended to burn anything, and we’d simply used her for her magic. For all his talk of burning, that wasn’t part of Salem’s plan, either. It was just a consequence of his sister’s freedom.
And yet—until something else was in place, the world needed her where she was. Or none of this would exist.
In any case, I wasn’t about to waste any more time hashing out the details or the ethics. I had to get to Salem.
My magic crashed through my body. “Okay. They’ll be heading for the sea. And once they plunge into the water, I can hunt them.”
Once more, the river was carrying us in a rush of frothy, sparkling water. With the help of the gods, the river’s direction had changed course entirely. Now, we were heading for the coast, for the wide sea.
As the river carried me, I was no longer sure if Lyria was with me. But it didn’t matter. I didn’t need her anymore. Here, in the water, I could already hear the Merrow’s song again—still clear and distinct through the waves.
At last, the river opened up to the sea, not far from the dock where I’d arrived. I moved like a torpedo through the depths.
My magic propelled me through the sea, a storm of speed following after the sound of the music.
My heart was a wild beast. If Salem had taken the Merrow down from the sky, plunging into the water, that meant they’d found the right location. And it was almost too late…
I rushed forward, driven by desperation. Deeper and deeper into the water.
In the distance, I could see her—a beaming star in the dark depths, like something from a dream. Her magic streamed around her in pearly rays of light. I rushed for her.
But when the Merrow’s music went silent, panic slammed into me.
The Merrow was dead.
Salem had killed him, and he’d already found Shahar.
37
Salem
Just above the water, I released the ancient sorcerer’s corpse—his head severed from his body by my hands. Maybe I couldn’t kill Aenor for drowning Shahar, but it brought me great delight to rip the Merrow in two, after ripping the answers out of him.
I let my wings fade away and dove into the sea. The sorcerer’s blood spilled through the water, staining it with black. But my eyes were on the driftwood cage, the water around it glowing bright. It was that perfect, silvery hue I recognized as my sister’s.