The song ended. The silence that followed was worse. It was thick, suffocating, full of everything words couldn’t fix.
The Commander stood alone in the centre of the square, head bowed and hands at his sides. His shoulders rose and fell with a single steadying breath. And even from the distance between us, I felt it. His grief. His rage. His responsibility. Beneath all that, something dangerous pulsed, pulling at me as fiercely as the sea did.
I felt his grief, because I caused it and I wanted to drown whoever had caused so much death in my name.
Thirty-One
Relic
The mid-morning sun burnt my skin and made me slick with sweat as I squirmed away from the Commander in the saddle. He hadn’t said a word the night before after returning from standing vigil in the courtyard. I had feigned sleep to avoid questions about the tear stains on my cheeks, and if he had realized it was a ruse, he said nothing.
He hadn’t said much this morning either, aside from insisting that I find the next Relic. Never mind that I had no idea where they were.
“Like I have told you already, I don’t know where they are!”
Winston shifted beneath us restlessly as the Commander shoved the reins back into my hands.
“You do know.” He placed a large hand over my chest, and I stilled under his touch, hating the way heat washed over my skin.
“In here,” he grumbled, “follow it.”
I breathed out slowly, ignoring the heat tingling against my skin from his touch.
The ethereal woman had led me to the axe and perhaps she was still trying to lead me to another. Every night since the storm, the same dream of her death…mydeath had haunted me. The dream always ended the same way. With the crown tumbling off the cliff into the crashing waves, just like it was written in Rythos’ journal.
What if the crown was the Relic? My chest ached at the thought, and I knew I was right. “It’s in the Dead Sea. I think I have been dreaming of the first time I was killed. In it, I see a crown made of shells.”
His hand still hadn’t moved, as if he was frozen. A moment passed and everything was still. Too still. His hand still rested heavily against my beating heart.
“Do you ever see who killed you?” he asked quietly.
“No, I don’t know what Rythos Draven looks like.” The answer was disappointing. Not knowing the face of the monster designed to kill me was unsettling. It could be anyone.
“You have started reading the journal, I take it,” he said, moving his hand away. My silence pressed down on him, stretching as Winston walked through the long swaying grass.
“Lead Umbra where your heart pulls you. Find your crown.”
I dug my heels in and flicked the reins; Winston took off in a gallop. I refused to call him Umbra, but I had learnt a lot riding with the Commander. It felt exhilarating holding the reins. We galloped for what felt like hours, the sun following us across the sky. I couldn’t help eyeing it, wondering if Helion watched us through the rays of sunlight. Something I had enjoyed so much when I had first gotten here now felt like aviolation.
The smell of salt lingered on the breeze, making my skin tingle. We crested a small hill, and a gasp left me.
Blue. Endless blue devoured the horizon. The roar of waves crashing against the cliff sent a calming surge through my body.
I pulled on Winston’s reins, slowing him to a trot. Ahead, the cliff expanded to a grassy outlet and my blood chilled. There. That was where I died. I didn’t know how I knew. But I did.
The Commander slid off the saddle behind me, and I didn’t wait for him to help. I slid off clumsily after him but caught myself before I fell. The wind pulled at my hair as I walked to the edge of the cliff. The waves crashed violently below, blue waves churning to white froth. A coldness washed over my skin, and I knew she was there. The unearthly woman stood next to me, tear-stained eyes trained on the water. She looked at me, full lips tilting into a sad smile.
“Find the pieces,” she said before tipping over the edge. Her translucent dress fluttered in the breeze. I gasped, leaning over to watch her disappear into the waves. A thrill shot through me.
“Careful,” the Commander warned as I moved closer to the edge. He watched me tentatively, his eyebrows pushed together when I gave him a small smile. His shadows tore at his skin, digging into him.
Before he could react, I leapt into the open air.
The Commander cursed behind me before the wind swallowed all noise. Whipping past me as I fell. My stomach dropped. The waves crashed over me. The cool embrace of the water tingled against my skin. I sank deeper into the depths, the saltwater pressing against me like asoothing balm. Unlike Ascension, I could see around me. Beams of sunlight pierced the sea. I tried to swim, but my boots dragged behind me. I kicked them off and kicked my legs.
The ghost of the Sea Goddess floated below me, leading me further into the deep. The current pulled me with every churn of the waves above. The aching feeling in my chest grew with every kick further into the deep. The Relic was close; I could sense it, but I was so far away from the surface now. My lungs clenched. The ache bloomed into a searing fire.
I couldn’t tell if it was stupidity or instinct that pushed me forward, but I kept going.
