“No one good. We need to hide—” I blink as I remember who I’m talking to.WhatI’m talking to. “You can use your song.”
Her head draws back as her brows rise towards her hairline. “What?”
I look back out to the dragon and his rider, only seeing the former as I answer her. “You’re a fucking siren. Use your song to lure him in.”
When she doesn’t respond, I glance in her direction. Aria’s eyes are still blown wide, but it’s more than just fear of the guard and his dragon. She carries the same look as the males who meet the end of my blade.
“My song,” she starts, licking her lips and then swallowing. “I can’t— It doesn’t work.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t work?”
“Itdoesn’t workon males.”
I stare harshly at her, too many questions rising that we don’t have time to answer. Especially as the dragon lets out a low growl, it’s eye clashing with both of mine when I turn to look for the guard. “Shit,” I hiss, jolting backwards as the King’s Rider appears at one of the openings of the cavern.
We are sitting prey, and while taking on a single rider would not be an issue normally, in my current state, I’m not positiveour fight would end without me in a worse position. And that is before his bonded dragon is taken into account. But the rules of the life debt demand I dosomething, and as the dragon lets out another rumbling growl, closer than before, I realize that we’ve officially run out of time.
Chapter Fifty-Three: Myla
“Canyouswim?”Thequestion pulls me from my focus on our impending discovery, and I give Aria a look that conveys as much. But she repeats herself, leaning in more closely. “Can youswim?”
“Yes—”
“Good, come on.” She grabs her bag, and I move to follow, unsure of how the fuck she is going to sneak past the rider and his dragon to get to the ocean when she gestures towards thepool of water behind the platform. I stop, heart pounding as we stay crouched low.
“What are you doing?”
“We need to get in the water.” Her voice is overshadowed by the dragon’s chuff behind us, the King’s Rider speaking low to his bonded but still close enough for me to hear.Fucking stars above.
“How is that—”
“Myla”—her opposite hand grips my wrist, fingers squeezing tightly—“I need you to trust me.”
The scoff that leaves me is automatic. There is no world in which that can happen. In which I want it to.
Her eyes plead, more orange than hazel now as the gleam. “We don’t have time. I can help us both, but you can’t fight what I’m about to do. At all.”
“I—”
“Is anyone up there?” The male’s voice reverberates off the stone, and Aria’s eyes grow wide at the sound.
“Please.” The single word is whispered, her lips trembling as she drapes her legs over the platform, the dark water before us rippling from the contact.
Stupid. This is so fucking stupid. I’ll be the first fae willingly led to their death beneath the water. But the sound of rustling leather permeates my logic and rationale. Aria sees my silent, reluctant agreement because she wastes no more time tugging me into the water.
It’s colder than I thought it would be as I suck in a lungful of air before our heads dip below the surface. I keep one hand on the dagger strapped to me, Aria’s fingers still wrapped around my other wrist to keep us tethered.
The sunlight seeping in from cracks in the ceiling is meager, but there is still enough to see the vines of jasmine crawling up the walls and, beyond that, the larger holes in rock. Beneaththe surface, the Spell shimmers behind us as it cuts through the water, and lower in the dark water, tunnels that I assume lead back out to the ocean are just barely visible.
“Keep treading water, no matter what else happens.” My gaze collides with Aria’s, my mind struggling to reconcile the fact that she isspeakingto me beneath the water. Her curls are now replaced with tightly woven braids, glimmering gold beads decorating some of them. The braids suit her just as well as her curls. Still wearing the white tunic I brought for her, it floats around her, giving view to the scales that have grown brighter at her hips and thighs. My gaze traces down her body to where a tail has replaced her legs, the color of her scales shifting from that brilliant red to golden yellow and then to a light green. It’s mesmerizing watching the way she moves, her body as fluid as the water that surrounds us. Every bit of grace she lacks above the surface is made up for in her siren form.
When her gaze flicks upwards, I follow suit, the sight above making me pull my dagger from its sheath.
“He can’t see us,” Aria says, her voice softer and more melodic than before. But even with her assurance, she pulls me a little farther down. The male searches the water from above, and I suppress my urge to kick back towards the surface, my lungs beginning to burn from holding my breath. Even in the water, the deep and throaty growls of the dragon that hails from the Khar line can be heard, and I know that we will not leave this beach alive if we are spotted.
My heartbeat is loud in my head, and the urge to take a breath grows stronger. The rider above pulls back from the platform’s edge, and once he is out of sight, I begin kicking to the surface, white stars bursting to life across my vision.
“No!” Aria shouts, swimming until she’s right in front of me as one hand plants on my shoulder, the other gripping tightly toa dagger that I’ve never seen before. “I can still sense them up there. You can’t—”
