My gown was just as obstructive. I kicked my legs and tried to work through the folds of fabric.
Nix’s elbow hit my side and knocked me in a wall of coral. My eyes bulged with the slice of pain as my arm scraped along the unforgiving sea rock. My dress tangled in the abrasive plants and ripped as I pushed off with bare feet, cutting more of my skin.
Blood trailed behind me, but I pushed harder, swam faster. The sword danced out of our reach as we became increasingly aggressive to get it.
I pushed him, his fist landed in front of my face and I ran into it. The water barely slowed us down. We could move faster down here. We were born for this.
The light in the water closest to the surface disappeared completely. We were submerged in the darkest depths of the ocean.
Without seeing it, I knew the sky churned with storm clouds and lightning flashed ominously far above our heads.
Nix became increasingly desperate the deeper we dove. He managed to wrap his arms around me, but I wiggled out of his hold before he could do much damage. Using the top of his head, I pushed off and used the momentum to finally grasp the cold hilt of the heavy sword.
Nix’s hand snatched my ankle at the exact same time. I learned my lesson before and held onto the sword with a permanent grip. I wouldn’t lose it this time. He would have to pry it from my cold, dead hands before I gave it up again.
I turned around and sliced the god-killer through the water. He let go of my foot to rear back.
Lightning flashed around him beneath the water. I felt the surge of electricity hit my body, temporarily debilitating me.
With strength I didn’t have, I kept my hold on the sword. When I could finally move again, I let out a pulse of energy that rolled through the water with devastating accuracy.
Nix flew backwards, but didn’t stay gone for long. He torpedoed toward me, with legs elongated behind him. His trident lit up with lightning that snapped and singed the water around it.
He looked like the god of the sea like this. This was Nix at his greatest.
His face twisted with pure hatred and something deeper, something permanent. He needed me more than he needed anything else.
But he also hated me. He loathed that he couldn’t take over the world without me. He abhorred his own powers for being weak… for being dependent on patrons. He detested my strength, my absolute control.
Hehatedme.
But there was a sickness inside of him that wouldn’t,couldn’tlet me go.
And I wanted nothing more than to cure him.
I tried desperately to swing accurately when he was in arm’s reach, but I only managed to hit nick his forearm. The blade cut through his flesh with ease and lethal precision. He dropped deeper into the nameless abyss of the ocean, wounded and reeling. Just as he passed beneath me, I struck at his leg, cutting the length of his thigh, through the tender part of the back of his knee and down his calf.
I followed him deeper, swimming through the wake of his red blood.
We were drawing closer to the end.
He turned over, landing against a wall of coral. His lightning trident flashed forward and struck my shoulder before I could dart out of the way. I felt the burn penetrate my flesh and come out the other side.
My mouth opened in a silent scream and immediately filled with water. I spit out what I could and swallowed the rest as I gritted my teeth through the searing pain.
Power somersaulted through my body, hot and dangerous. He pushed off the coral and hit me again, this time in the thigh. I screamed again and tried not to puke from the pain.
I had never felt anything so intense… so suffocating with its potency. My blood mingled with his until I could barely see him through the thick curtain of red.
When he raised his arm and struck me for the third time, I felt my consciousness slip. I fell back and fought the darkness of the ocean and the oblivion of the pain. My body floated downward without effort.
I knew in that moment, as my reality became hazy and my mind wandered to darker places, that this was my realm, but if I lost control, even for a second, this place would swallow me into itself.
I owned it until I couldn’t. Then it would, without a doubt, own me.
The feeling grew until it became a palpable force pulling me into itself. I felt the suction take hold of my body and beckon me deeper.
My body was broken, bleeding until I felt the frigid temperature take root in my core. I started shaking so hard that I was certain the trembling had become seizures.
