Alden's expression darkened. “I'll give it to you but I don't think she is your assailant. If she's involved at all, it must be unknowingly.”
“Who, Alden?” I urged. “What's her name?”
“Only one person has bought nooten eyes within the last year. She also happens to be from Earth.”
“Who?” Odin demanded loudly enough to make Socato squawk.
“Vivian Lake, the Witch Leader of Water.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“It makes no sense,” Odin growled as we left the shop. “She saved your life. Why would Vivian turn around and try to take it?”
“Maybe it's not all about me,” I suggested. “Maybe I'm simply her way of getting to Verin.”
“I thought we decided that Scylla was after you, not me?” Verin asked.
“Yes, but her attacks affected your court,” I countered. “We don't know what this witch is after or what Scylla's attacks were meant to do. I've seen some complicated plans before.”
“Could someone have used a standard illusion potion to impersonate Vivian?” Darcraxis asked Odin.
“To look like Vivian so they could come here and purchase ingredients to make a more powerful potion?” Odin asked pensively. “Nowthat, I would believe. It would hide their identity and make Vivian look guilty. Maybe we should—”
I didn't hear the rest of what Odin had to say; my ears were suddenly full of water. A liquid bubble surrounded me and lifted me off the ground. As I held my breath, the men gaped at my ascension, then snatched at my legs. I slipped away. Darcraxis lifted a glowing hand and the water started to shift, droplets pulling down toward him. But I continued to rise and then, suddenly, shot away, across the rooftops of Rouvanne.
I've got you, my love,Kyanite said in my mind as gentle music echoed through the water—“The Air That I Breathe” by The Hollies. A classic and also a perfect song for my situation. Changing my body so I could breathe water would take too much time.Just go straight to thechorus. You don't have time for anything else,he added as if he'd heard my thoughts. He probably had.
The magic leapt up my throat but instead of leaving through my mouth, it radiated out from the sliver of kyanite in my neck and manifested in the water around me—first as my voice and then as air. I gasped deeply as a layer of air formed around my head, pushing back the water. After that first breath, I began to sing normally and the bubble grew, stretching down my body as well as pushing out against the water. The music rolled within my mini-airlock, gaining strength rapidly without the water to dampen it. The drums tapped upward with the whine of an electric guitar as the air encased my entire body. I belted out the lyrics, singing about what I needed—air. Okay, the lyrics spoke of air and love, but I was focusing on the air part for obvious reasons.
With the layer of air sustaining me, I was able to take stock of my situation. Since I'd jumped into the middle of the song, I'd need to sing a little longer, maybe even circle back to the beginning, to set the magic so that the air remained even after my song stopped. So, I kept singing as the city passed beneath me, blurred by the rippling liquid barrier. I could see something beside me; it looked like another bubble of water. No, not a bubble, more like a whirlpool in the shape of a torpedo. It swirled through the sky, keeping pace with me, until my watery cage plunged into an even bigger body of water.
The swirl of water landed on the shores of the lake or sea I had been deposited in, then vanished into the air—droplets dispersing to reveal a woman. I couldn't see her face but her skin was pale and as I sank below the surface, I caught the gleam of long, blonde hair. Blonde like Vivian's.
My heart screamed in denial and I realized that I hadn't truly believed Vivian was behind the attacks until that very moment. Another witch I trusted had betrayed me. I shouldn't have been surprised but I was. And hurt. Deeply hurt. Odin was right, it made no sense. Vivian had saved me. But there was the proof—standing on the shore, watching me drown. She used the entire lake against me. The water sucked me down just below its surface. I couldn't reach the air but I could see it.
This wasn't just an assassination; she wanted me to suffer—and she wanted to watch my suffering. Shehatedme. What had I done to her to inspire such animosity? I racked my brain for any harm I might have caused Vivian. But sometimes you hurt people unknowingly or by hurting people they love. That's what had happened with my father's best friend, Thomas Frost. He had blamed the Sirens for the death of the woman he loved and sought revenge on them all, including my mother. Maybe I'd done something similar to Vivian. I've done some truly terrible things in my life, it wouldn't be all that surprising to learn that one of them had affected Vivian.
As I finished my song, settling the bubble of air into place, the bleary shape of my assailant—I still couldn't bring myself to label her as Vivian—came to stand in the shallows and lean over me, glowing hands extended to control the water. The sun was behind her, creating a brilliant halo that shadowed her face. It looked as if an angel were reaching for me, about to take me to Heaven.
“Bitch,” I growled as I fought to free myself from her cage.
I punched up but the water only constricted, pushing against my air barrier. I kicked and thrashed but all to no avail. It was like trying to escape a rubber ball. Then the water started to vibrate and I went still, waiting for her next attack. But I soon realized that the vibration came from the land, not the water. The blonde above me spun as if sensing someone's approach. Water swirled around her—just as it swirls around Vivian when she uses her element to travel. It didn't surge upward but instead seemed to constrict inward, the droplets vanishing in an instant and their blonde passenger with them.
As soon as she was gone, the bubble of water confining me dispersed and I bobbed to the surface. I managed to roll my bubble onto the shore before I released my spell. My song had dried me, sucking all of the water away from me as it created its mini atmosphere, and I didn't want to ruin that minor blessing by letting go of my magic too soon. Verin, Darc, and Odin were on the shore waiting for me. Darc and Verin ran up to help me from the water but Odin was busy prowling the area furiously.
I took a deep breath of unenchanted air and went straight into Verin's arms. Darcraxis stiffened, his jaw clenching as our gazes met over Verin's shoulder. Something inside me trembled as a spear of guilt stabbed my heart. I reached out a hand to Darc, and he rushed forward to take it, hope bursting in his sapphire eyes. He kissed my palm, then pressed it against his cheek while Verin continued to nestle his face into the curve of my neck. Something about being there with them both felt right but I couldn't analyze it. Looking at it too closely made me nervous.
When Verin lifted his face and released me, I let go of Darcraxis with another guilty twinge. Darc stepped back and looked away; the hand that had been holding mine clenched into a fist. Odin approached us. He had been venting a constant stream of profanity but went silent when he met my gaze.
“I guess it is about me,” I said.
Chapter Thirty-Four
I told the guys about what I saw during my bubble internment and Odin started to curse again.
“How did you find me so quickly?” I asked, partly to get him to stop.
“My magic is magnified on Sabban,” Odin said. “I was able to grab Verin and Darc and follow you, albeit from below and a bit slower than you were moving. It's easier to travel without having to simultaneously track someone.”
