“Summon him!” His bellow might have pinned her ears back if the wind hadn’t torn it to shreds.
“No!” Terrified now, she bolted for the path, calling her escort’s name.
Agony exploded across her scalp as she suddenly went airborne before slamming into the ground on her back. Every scrap of air in her lungs rushed out of her mouth in a hard gust. She fought to draw in a breath, even as she was hauled to her feet and suspended just above a cluster of mussel shells by Ospodine’s merciless grip on her plait.
Tears streamed down her face, and she could do nothing more than wheeze in pain when he shook her like a dog held by its ruff
Ospodine pointed to Endel who hadn’t moved. His empty gaze stared beyond them to the rolling Gray. “He can’t hear you.” Mockery oozed from every word, and he shook her again for good measure. “Ensorceled by your own playing. Now you know what true siren song can do.”
He dragged her back across the rocks. Brida clawed at his hand on her braid, trying to keep him from scalping her even as mussel shells broke under her weight and shredded the back of her skirt. She’d lost the flute somewhere in the struggle and prayed it had fallen into the water.
Ospodine finally stopped, dropping her like a sack of refuse. Brida just missed smacking her skull on the hard surface. Wet heat tickled the back of her neck, and she touched the spot, following the line of its source into her scalp. Blood, dark under the moon’s light, stained her fingers.
Her ordeal wasn’t over. She’d hardly regained her breath and rolled to her hands and knees to stand, when Ospodine snatched her up by her blouse, his grip preternaturally strong and unyielding. He spun her to face him. She twisted in his grasp, desperate to free herself. He held her with little effort, the grin he wore one of pure malice.
“Lost the flute, didn’t you?” His eyes shone almost yellow, reminding her of a wolf’s gaze. He shrugged at her silence. “No matter. You can whistle his name. I’ve heard you.” That shark’s grin widened. “Ahtin, isn’t it?” He laughed when Brida struggled even harder. “Sounds like Edonin finally got the fast swimmer she always wanted.”
When Brida still refused to summon Ahtin, even by whistling, Ospodine gave an unconcerned shrug. “No matter,” he said. “We can do it the hard way.”
He overpowered her struggles, dodging the punches she tried to land on him, and bound her hands and feet. She screamed for help to no avail. Endel, still imprisoned by siren song, stared unseeing at the sea, unaware. Those in the castle were too far away to hear her, especially with the roar of the breakers as they hurled themselves against the rocks.
The bindings Ospodine used were neither rope, nor cord, nor silk, but threads of lightning bolts woven into sorcerous shackles. Vibrations traveled up her body, forcing her muscles to involuntarily contort and contract in places. More of the woven lightning coiled around her waist, spooling out to a silvery tether that ended in Ospodine’s grip. The shark smile flitted across his face before he shoved her off the rock’s flange.
Brida plunged into the surf and sank like a stone. The churning water shoved her one way and then the other amid a froth of bubbles and sand whipped into underwater whirlwinds. She held her breath, lungs on fire, and kicked her bound feet for the surface. Her chest felt close to bursting, her body’s natural instincts screaming that she find air and breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
A tremendous force smashed her stomach into her backbone as she was yanked upward, clearing the surface in a cascade of seawater to fall on cold rock with a jarring thump. Brida opened her mouth to suck in a gulp of precious air. Her manacles sizzled against the skin of her wrists, and among the scents of sea and salt, she smelled scorched flesh.
Ospodine’s sneering features filled her field of vision as he bent down to stare at her. “Do you think you’re valuable enough to your lover to save from drowning?” He nudged her body with his foot. “What say you, land walker whore? Another dip in the Gray?”
Inwardly, Brida screamed. Outwardly, she inhaled until her ribs felt pressed to her shoulders. Once more, Ospodine tossed her into the water. Once more the churning spume flung her about in a blinding whirl.
She refused to give up, refused to give in to the drag of her skirts and the blackness closing around her as the air faded in her struggling lungs. She fought to reach the surface, each effort more feeble than the last.
A flash of something dark within the foaming water shot past her. The hint of a dorsal fin that pivoted and aimed straight for her. A betraying bubble escaped her mouth, and she gulped in seawater, surrendering her last gasp of air to the Gray.
The delirium of drowning mixed with her body’s panicked struggle to survive weighted her down, and Brida felt herself sinking, sinking.
Hands gripped her hips, and a long, muscular body flexed against hers. The lightning bonds loosened, freeing her waist, hands, and feet, as her rescuer lunged to the surface, taking her as well. For a second time she hit unforgiving ground and promptly vomited sea water from her mouth and nose.
She lay on her side, but not alone this time, and the realization made her sob in defeat. Ahtin lay beside her, clutching her close as she gasped against him. Fingers caressed her head.
“Brida,” he whispered softly. “I’m here.”
“And the fish finally takes the bait.” Ospodine’s voice rang with gloating triumph. “I wondered how many times I’d have to dunk her before you decided to appear and play the hero.”
It was a monumental effort, but Brida raised her head enough to see that the sorcerous tethers Ospodine had used to bind her had transformed and now bound both her and Ahtin together in a filigree net delicate as spider web, unbreakable as steel.
He used the most basic fishing wisdom. Bait the hook until you caught the fish you wanted.
Brida stroked Ahtin’s cheek, still too starved for air to waste it on talking. Or whistling. She told him with her gaze what she couldn’t yet say with words.“Why did you come? You shouldn’t have come.”
As if he read her thoughts, the merman spoke into her hair. “Because you are here. Where else would I be?” He chased the tear sliding down her cheek, kissing it away.
A new voice traveled across the waves, strident, commanding. “Release them!”
Brida tried to rise for a better look at Edonin, but the net entrapping her and Ahtin only allowed her enough movement to peek past Ahtin’s shoulder and see theapswimming toward them. Another movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she jerked in Ahtin’s embrace.
His hands pressed into her back. He said nothing, only gave a slight warning shake of his head.Stay silent. Pretend you see nothing.
