The idea that my mate had done this to my sister was a cruel twist of fate I didn’t want to contemplate any longer.
My anger was cold and clear as the light around the cage. What state would Shahar be in now, after all these years? Clearly, she was still alive, her magic beaming from her body, still radiating through the sea. But she must’ve lost her mind down here. No one could survive this hell with their senses intact.
By the time I reached her, I felt a sharp stabbing in my chest. I could hardly see her through the blazing starlight around her cage. Slowly, my eyes adjusted through the rays of unearthly beauty, and I saw a slumped, emaciated form in the cage. Like a living skeleton.
My heart stopped, and wrath flooded me. I wished I’d killed the Merrow slower. Gods, Aenor did this.
Now, to get Shahar out.
I pulled Lightbringer from her sheath, and holy fire flared along her blade.
A lock gleamed on the front of the driftwood cage. Golden magic glimmered around it. But Lightbringer could carve through anything.
Shahar’s stolen power blazed over me, resplendent in the waves. It melded with my own until I almost felt like a god again.
Through the water, I could hear someone screaming my name, and I froze.
The sea dulled and muted the screaming, but I could still hear it. Aenor’s voice.
I whirled in the water and caught a glimpse of her coming for me. That infernal sea glass gleamed in her hand, destined for my heart. When she’d said that it was only the wine, that she felt nothing for me, I’d felt something crack in my chest. And here she was, coming for my life.
She’d actually do it, wouldn’t she? If she had to, my own mate would carve my heart out rather than allow me to save Shahar. It felt as if she were sticking that shard into my heart now, carving it out.
I was a creature entirely unlovable—even when nature should compel my mate to love me. Shahar was the one who’d loved me, and only her.
I stared at Aenor. Would she return to Lyr when she’d finished with me? The thought of that made me want to turn the world into a blazing inferno. Join my hell with me, all of you…
And there she was—still managing to turn my thoughts away from my true task.
Only a few minutes left before Aenor would be upon me, jamming sea glass into my aorta. I turned back to my slumped sister.
I swung my sword through the water, lightning fast. The blade sliced cleanly through the lock, and the cage door creaked open. Instantly, Shahar’s magic snapped back inside her frail body. Her back arched, arms flung back, face grimacing.
With my heart thundering, I yanked the door open the rest of the way.
My stomach turned at her state. She was obviously agonized. I reached into the cage to grab her around her protruding ribs. A thin layer of flesh covered her bones, nothing more. As gently as I could, I lifted her out of the cage, her body rigid as bone, gleaming with her magic.
I glanced through the water at Aenor.
She wasn’t far from us now. I clutched Shahar tighter. Once I got to the surface, I’d be able to fly from here, to help my sister heal completely.
As I swam, I watched Shahar’s eyes snap open. Under the water, she started to scream, sucking in water. Eyes wide with fear, arms flailing, she had the wild stare of a madwoman, no longer herself. Her silver hair, once lustrous, had become gnarled and untamed. It fell into her eyes in ragged hanks. I wrapped my arms around her, trying to calm her beneath the waves so she’d stop sucking in water. I kicked my legs, hurrying her to the surface.
In the distance, I caught a glimpse of Aenor again, her blue hair bright in the murky water. Anger poisoned my heart at the sight of her.
But her attention wasn’t on me. It was on the seafloor. I forced my attention away from her.
Shahar needed me more. Shahar was barely alive.
I held her tight, moving as fast as I could. When we reached the surface, my twin’s shrieking deafened me.
But just as my mate had promised, I could feel the sea heating around me. Already it was getting hotter. It seemed her visions had been real.
38
Aenor
Salem pulled his sister from the sea, and the waters heated around me.
Hell was coming for us all.
Already, a molten red fissure was opening in the seafloor—so narrow you could hardly see it. But I could feel it. The heat pulsed through the water, turning my skin pink.
My magic slid through my body like nectar as I tried to cool the waters around me.
But as I started moving for the fissures, a burst of magic pounded through the sea, slamming into me with the force of a torpedo. Propelled by a hot stream of water, I rushed toward the surface, unable to stop it. It forced me upward, heating my skin.
The force of the blast sent me hurtling into the air, and I came down hard into the hot salt water. As my body hit the sea, I dropped the sea glass. I scrambled to get control again as the blast simmered down, and I conjured my cooling magic.
When I looked up in the air, I saw him—the fallen angel with his broken sister in his arms. He was so far away that I could hardly see him—just a hint of twilight bathing his wings.
The sight of him leaving felt like a blade between my ribs. I wondered if he realized he’d left me in a boiling sea. But why would I expect him to stay? He’d never pretended to be anything other than evil.
Men are wolves… Unlike most, at least he admitted it. And that was basically what he had going for him.
But I didn’t have time to stew in this. My darling mate had created hell on earth—again—and I had to fix it. If I didn’t, the world would begin turning to cinders, one tree at a time, one person at a time.
Treading water, I surveyed my surroundings. I was swimming near a grassy, rocky island. The sight of it brushed at the edges of my memory, and it occurred to me that it must have been where I’d helped the Merrow. I’d stood there a century ago, drunk in the night, and we’d sunk the driftwood cage that had brought Salem into my life.
Cold magic spilled from me, cooling the water around me. I peered under the surface again, trying to formulate a plan. Before I’d left Acre, Lyr had helped me memorize a spell—one that I could use to summon him if I needed him. And Lyr, with his World Key, could summon the other institutes, each with their own keys. We could have a small army here within minutes.
Except—Lyr might show up with a collar to bind my magic. And without my magic, we could lose the battle against the Fomorians.
I peered at the seafloor, sharpening my eyes to see through the murk. The explosion had forced the thin fissure open wider, and it now yawned as a red crack, nearly large enough for a person to fit through.
I conjured a burst of my magic, and it rose up my spine, curling between my ribs. I filled my chest with the power of the sea and slid beneath the waves. Under the water, I exhaled breaths of streaming ice. Frozen currents spilled out around me, cooling the sea.
I swam just a little deeper, my eyes on the widening crack. Maybe I could stop this now, somehow.
Sea magic hummed along my limbs and spilled out from my body. The full force of my power shot through the ocean. The power electrified me, and I felt at one with the ancient sea. It was as if all sea life sighed in relief with my magic.
And yet—that fissure in the seafloor was still opening wider. And as it did, the heat began roiling up toward me again.