She’d literally exploded people with her magic before. What if she’d just done the same to him? What that was the reason he’d dived through the window and leapt into the sea—because she’d turned him into some sort of magical bomb and he was desperate to get as far away from theKrackenas he could before he exploded?
Her magic spiked with sudden ferocity, and with a gasp, Summer wrenched her thoughts sharply away from the idea of Dilys dying. She couldn’t think about him right now. Her emotions were too fragile, the yawning abyss of grief-borne madness closer than it had ever been.
Focus, Gabriella. Focus.
“Kame, if I get the wind blowing in the right direction, can you calm the seas so we can put on some speed?”
“Tey.”
“Good. Let’s do that.”
Kame shouted orders. The Calbernans who had directed their magic towards containing the wave once more channeled their power into calming the seas before theKracken.Summer sent her consciousness out into the storm. As she had done that first day when she’d awakened in that cage in the pirate ship, she heated certain sections of air before the ship, making it rise and creating low pressure that drew cooler masses of air in. Back then, the storm had built slowly, requiring her consistent effort and attention. Now, with her barriers down and her magic in full force, the clouds formed as swiftly as any storm Khamsin had ever called. The wind changed direction, blowing towards the areas she had chosen. TheKracken’s sails filled with a satisfying crack. The waves before them parted by magic, and then they were flying across the sea down a narrow channel of calm, pond-still ocean, gaining on the monstrous wave that was racing before them.
The surrealistic effect of the Calbernan magic—that calm valley between mountains of churning waves—left Summer both awed and elated and nervously optimistic. It was working.
They chased the massive wave nearly twenty minutes before catching up to it, and as they drew near, the Calbernans in the rigging gave an elated shout.
“Myerielua!” the spotters cried, and they pointed towards the crest of the wave. The Calbernans aboard theKrackenbegan to cheer.
Gabriella looked in the direction they were pointing, and the bitter dread that had been churning in her belly dissolved into breathless relief.
Dilys! Oh, blessed Helos, and thank the sweet mercies of all the gods! She hadn’t killed him!
With his knees bent, his arms extended, and the long coils of his green-black hair flying behind him like pennants, Dilys was surfing the crest of the monster wave. Hisulumiwere shining bright, power radiating from him like a beacon as he rode the enormous wall of water. As she watched, the wave began to shrink, its crest sinking lower and lower as Dilys forced its rolling energy to dissipate.
Summer directed her attention to the storm, using her gifts to break up the low-pressure center and disorganize its energy. By the time she was done, the storm was over, the rogue wave had vanished, and Dilys rode a spout of water back aboard the deck of theKracken.
“Well done,Alakua!” Kame crowed as Dilys strode towards them. “That was some kind of wave taming, my prince! I’ve never seen the like.”
She wasn’t feeling quite so thrilled about the show. “I thought I’d killed you!”
He didn’t answer Kame, and he didn’t pay any attention to her scold, either. Instead, he walked straight up to her, caught her face in his hands, and kissed her until her knees gave out and she collapsed against him.
“Dilys!” She gave a startled cry as he swooped her up into his arms and carried her across the quarterdeck to his cabin.
“You,” he snapped at Commander Friis. “Out. Now.”
Friis lifted a snowy brown and looked to Summer for instruction. “Your Highness?”
She stared at Dilys, at his fierce expression, the blazing gold of his eyes, and every part of her body, from the top of her head to the tip of her toes all but burst into flame. Lust swamped her. His as much as hers. Sweet Helos, she could all but feel him swimming through her veins, setting her afire from the inside out.
There was a song singing. Words she didn’t understand, but they wrapped around her, tangling her up until she couldn’t move, the song growing louder and more compelling with every passing moment.
“It’s all right, Commander,” she said, her unblinking gaze fixed on Dilys. Her heart was pounding. Her breath getting faster, shorter. “Do as he says.”
“There. You heard her. Go.” When Friis didn’t move fast enough for him, Dilys set Gabriella down, frogmarched Friis out of the cabin, and slammed the door shut behind him.
When Dilys turned back around, Summer was still standing where he set her, watching him with wide, shocked eyes. Her face was flushed, her chest heaving.
In her shoes, he supposed he’d feel the same. The events of the last hour must have seemed more than a bit bizarre. But to him all the pieces of the puzzle had finally clicked into place, and for the very first time, everything made perfect sense. At last, he knew exactly what she needed from him. Exactly what he must do.
He couldn’t form the words. There was still too much of that electrifying energy flowing through his veins. Too much of her inside him. Wild emotion. Raging grief over her sisters. Fury towards the ones who’d caused their deaths. The shame and humiliation of what the Shark had done to her, and ferocious desire to hunt him down and kill him in the slowest, bloodiest, most painful way possible. A soul-deep yearning for Dilys, coupled with a desperate, clawing fear of giving in to that yearning. Not just because of what the Shark had done to her but because of her terror of letting herself love. Fear of unleashing all that endless, raging power inside her upon the world. And underneath it all, an aching loneliness. A soul starved for what it needed most. A desperate need for something good to help erase all the bad.
He understood her now in ways he never had before.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want him.
