“Is she breathing?” I demand.
Mar makes no attempt to answer me. I try to memorize Serena’s surroundings. She’s somewhere dark—a cell, maybe. Relief blasts through me as she sits up, reaching out to embrace the figure before her. Then someone new enters the space, and her features shift. The brief hope in me curdles as her mouth stretches open and her throat strains. And though the scream is silent, I have no trouble hearing it. It is the sound of my walking nightmares—the sound that haunts my dreams and my days. She thrashes, my fierce little warrior. She fights. She rears against her chains and bares her fangs.
And all too soon, she’s gone. The image blurs and disappears as Mar falls back into Dover’s waiting arms.
“Are you alright?” he asks.
“How did you—” I glance from the evaporated image to Mar’s pale face. A drop of cobalt leaks from her nose. She quickly wipes it away.
Water seer.
“You’re a Blueblood,” I say, unable to look away.
How? In all my years of knowing Marideth, I never even suspected—never evensawher use magic in any capacity. Did Sorscha know? Did anyone know that we had a witch living under our noses far before Serena ever came along?
Focus,a voice inside me chirps.
I swallow back the thousand questions I have, storing them for a time when the love of my life isn’t confined to a fucking dungeon.
“I was.” She pushes out of Dover’s arms and stands, dusting herself off. “I defected. It’s a long story. We can save it for the road.”
Hah. Right.
“You’re not coming with me.”
“Like hell we’re not.” Setting her hands on her hips, she bellies up to me. “I’m a witch. And I can help you.”
“You’re barely a witch if you defected.”
“I found ways to keep my power.”
“Your nose is bleeding after one scrying,” I point out.
“Do you want to push me? Because I’m happy to share my other talents,Captain.”
I don’t bother correcting her. She knows full well that the beloved position I once held is no longer mine.
I stand my ground, refusing to be baited. “You said you have a plan. You’ve got five seconds to win me over.”
She jerks her chin toward the trough. “After you.”
I blink at her, brows quirked. “Excuse me?”
“I’m good with water,” she says smoothly, a challenge blazing in her silver eyes.
Oh, this is going to be fun.
“Get inside.”
When I make no move, she brushes past me, stepping into the trough. Water gushes over the side as she holds out her hand for Dover.
“We’re going with or without you.”
I heave a sigh and grumble, “This had better work,” before taking her other hand and following suit. My boots sink into the water as her eyes drift closed.
“Deep breath, boys.”
The bottom of the trough gives way to the center of the earth, opening up into a bottomless ocean below. We sink, dragged down by an invisible anchor, and my grip on Mar’s hand tightens. I open my eyes to a dark abyss and auburn hair swirling around me like a wild, fiery halo.
