The rabid Drowned began advancing again, licking their rotten maws as they leaned off the rocks.
My power thrummed between my shoulders, and my wings were desperate to break free, but I screwed my eyes shut, suppressing their emergence.
More Drowned leered off the rock face, and then they began to leap. I let out a bubbly scream as one landed on Aranare’s shoulders, wrapping its legs around his neck. He tossed it off, but more were already flying at him. They grabbed onto his wings and clung there as another landed on his shoulders, throwing its bony legs around his throat.
“Go.” Aranare’s voice trembled as he let go of my hand. I drifted back to the seabed, and my feet thudded into soft sand.
His wings were in shreds now, and he was sinking toward me as theypulled him to the ground. Panic froze my limbs as they descended on him in a frenzy, clawed fingers raking into flesh.
“Skye, get out of here.” Aranare managed as their teeth sank into him and the water clouded red.
But I wouldn’t run anymore.
Two of the creatures reached for my ankles, and I bared my teeth. Blood screamed in my ears as I went for the power slumbering within me, the darker one, the one that had slammed Aranare and Morgana against the wall that night in the lighthouse, the one that had killed Parker. My chest rose and fell in quick succession as it poured through my body, bright and blazing. Deadly as a scorned lover. Power drawn from heartbreak. My chest cleaved in two as it tore from my being, sending the decaying Drowned flying backward.
Pain seared the space behind my shoulder blades as my skin shifted and stretched. A cry ripped from my throat, and in another burning slice of agony, the wings burst free. Their feathers were laced with delicate, translucent webs that glimmered like moonlight reflected on the water. They unfurled above me, ethereal and powerful at the same time. The cloak of Agápe hung in tatters around me, shredded because I hadn’t chosen the version made to accommodate wings.
I scooped Aranare into my arms, his muscular frame resting easily against my chest, supported by the strength of my wings as they brushed against the water. I moved swiftly, faster than I had ever swum with the Mer. Soon, the Drowned below were nothing more than distant, gleaming eyes, so far beneath us they could’ve been stars strewn across a midnight sky.
I kept gliding, arms wrapped tightly around Aranare, my wings splayed and beating against the water, until the jagged rocks of the canyons gave way to soft sand and the dunes rose to meet us once more. Only then didI lower myself, wings not disappearing into my skin but draping neatly behind me as I alighted on the seafloor.
I stepped back from Aranare, sucking in a sharp breath as my eyes dragged over him. “Your wings.” They hung in ragged strips at his back, and his body was covered in cuts where the rabid Drowned had clawed at him.
He ran gentle fingers down my arm, ebony tail flicking. “They will grow back.”
I dropped my chin and turned away as shame crept through me at my monstrous form, but the hot, burning power still simmered beneath my skin, coating my pale chest in glittering luminescence. I threw back my shoulders, angling my chin high. I was a powerful Siren of Agápe. My friends needed me; I would not be meek, I would no longer hide from who I was becoming, and I would not let anyone take my wings.
There was too much darkness, too many terrifying creatures. And I’d already killed one of them, a grin curled my lips. Perhaps it took a monster to end another monster, and I’d made sure Parker would never hurt another woman, just as I’d saved Aranare from those horrid Drowned.
If I want to survive in this world, I can no longer be afraid of myself.
Aranare must have seen something in my expression because he cupped my face in both hands, midnight scales glinting along his forearms. His dark hair drifted in the current, and his topaz eyes were gentle as they found mine. “Your wings won’t always be painful once you get used to them,” he murmured, running his thumb across my cheek.
I nodded as his gaze dragged over my face.
“Thank you for saving my life.” He brushed my hair over my shoulders with both hands and pressed his mouth against my forehead. He kissed me there, then pulled back, allowing our eyes to meet once more.
We held each other’s gaze, his hands resting in the crooks of my elbows. The emotional charge between us deepened as we took each other in. ButI knew I couldn’t kiss him. I’d spent years being submissive and small for Parker, just hoping for a scrap of his affection. Then I’d run straight to Alexandros, using his sensuous touch to forget...tohide. If I kissed Aranare now, I’d lose a part of myself I hadn’t yet reclaimed. I needed to find that girl again—to know who I was—before I could give myself to anyone. Even though my heart was pounding, begging me to tell him I felt something, that I always had. Instead, I mastered a neutral expression and pulled away.
My throat worked several times before I could speak. “What were you doing out here?”
“After what happened at the summit, I needed to make sure you were okay. I saw you slip through the gates from the castle balcony.” His eyes flared. “Why were you out here alone?”
“The Drowned have Morgana. I’m going to find her.” A pang shot through my chest at the thought of what they might do to her. Was she already hanging on a crossbar somewhere?
Aranare’s brows drew together in concern. He said nothing at first, lost in thought, then he unfurled his tattered wings, swishing his tail as he extended a hand to me. “Then let’s find her together.”
I drifted to join him. We began moving, his malachite wings splayed like dusky shawls, casting shadows across the ocean floor. Beside him, I moved like reflections in water on my aquamarine wings.
We swam side by side, slipping forward into the endless blue.
Together.
We’d find her together.
60
Morgana
