The sound is haunting and hypnotic, echoing through the chamber. The water shivers with it before it surges towards Vaan. His eyes widen as the force hits him, pushing him back, fracturing the runes along the walls. He falters, struggling against the pull of my voice.
I stand tall, breath burning in my throat, the taste of blood and power mixing on my tongue. For one perfect heartbeat, I feel as if I’m my mother. Remembering her song, her magic, the tide that once bent to her will. She was strong. She was unyielding, and I will be too.
I cough, tasting more blood.
The poison…
But that pause is all Vaan needs. He snarls and thrusts out his hand. Ice bursts from his palm, forming into a sharp and deadly dagger. The shard slams into my arm, making pain tear through me, white-hot. I stumble, gasping as blood drips down my hand. Before I can recover, his hand closes around my throat, slamming me back against the wall.
“Listen well,” he breathes, eyes blazing with rage. “I will marry you today, and then I’ll become the King of the Sea. And after that, I’ll kill you. And for this disrespect, I will make sure it is a slow, painful death.”
His grip tightens, choking me, I can’t breathe…
My lungs seize, and I desperately claw at his wrist, struggling for air, for anything. The ocean in my veins screams to rise, but it’s slipping through my fingers, fading under the pressure of hishand, and the poison in my system.
I hate this…
All my life… I’ve been tricked and used in one way or another. My choices were made for me…
The edges of my vision blur, whatever Vaan is saying fading away, apart from the pounding of my pulse loud in my ears.
Is this it?
“Do you hear me?!” he hisses, slamming me against the wall. The momentary loosening of his hand makes me suck in air until he tightens his grip again.
“You touched what’s mine, and for that you will pay with your life.” A voice cuts through the room, one that is laced with lethal rage.
Vaan freezes. I know that voice; I would know it anywhere. Relief floods my chest as my vision clears just enough to see him standing in one of the windows, a silent wind whipping around him, his wings unfurled in all their glory.
Kai.
He steps forward, the storm gathering behind his eyes.
“Let her go,” he says, his voice sharp as a blade.
Vaan snarls, anger flashing in his eyes. “You were supposed to be dead!”
Kai tilts his head slightly, his eyes blazing with white-hot fury. “You think you’re capable of killing me?” The wind howls, shattering every single window in the room, and it rises, more violent than before. The temperature becomes colder as both men’s auras rise as they face one another. One of Vaan’s hands is still around my throat.
“Who the fuck do you think you are to talk to me like that,Siren!” Vaan snarls.
“I am Keiran Kaldor,” Kai answers, his voice emotionless and cold, every word sending a shiver through me. I have never seen him so angry. “Some call me the Sky Breaker, the one who reduced an army to ash single-handedly and left nothing but blood and death in my wake, and others call me Storm Slayer. Call me whatever the fuck you want, but after tonight, I’ll be known as the one who killed Vaan Frostfire.”
Lightning flares beyond the shattered windows, illuminating the room in blinding white as all the lights go out. Vaan roars, sending a barrage of ice daggers at Kai, but his attack is destroyed instantly. He snarls in anger, sending another blast of ice towards Kai, but he’s unable to withstand Kai’s rage.
When Vaan manages to get to his feet, I see a flicker of fear in his eyes.
Kai takes another step forward, his eyes promising ruin, fixed on Vaan.
“You dared to strike my woman. You dared to touch her?” he hisses, his voice sinking to a sinister whisper. “Let. Her. Go. Before I send this palace seven feet under.”
He means it, and even Vaan knows it, his hand slipping from my throat, the bravado draining from his face, unsure of what Kai might do.
And as Kai moves closer, I feel a blanket of peace wrap around me, realising I’m no longer alone. I have Kai.
He isn’t just my saviour – he is my life.
And for the first time, I believe the tide might turn, not with the sea, but with the sky.
