Agonized screams echo harshly against the stone walls and then back against my ears. I need to move quickly.
You have the power of the ocean at your fingertips.
The ocean. I have the power of the ocean.
Determination floods me as I close my eyes. I reach out to the cave around me, to the raging river beyond, feeling each pin prick of power and drawing it to me.
I picture the road Anrai and I traveled on, how the forest bided its time until it patiently took back every inch stolen by civilization. The wild of the Darkness has a way of creeping through the smallest of cracks and water is much the same, ancient and steady. Years pass and it wields its power slowly, endlessly carving its way through forests and mountains of rock until streams pour between trees and rivers rage through canyons.
And iron. Water rebels against iron fixtures and bridges built in its path, turning the strong metal to rust. Even if it takes a thousand years, it weakens the iron until it finally crumbles away. Water gives life, but it can also destroy it.
I start with the chains on my father’s legs. Wrapping my fingers around the cold metal, I give myself over to my power. It crashes through me, ancient and primal as an ocean and then twists itself against the iron. I feed it everything I have—my love, my anger, my fear—until there is nothing left of me except theother.For a moment, the cavern ceases to exist; it is only my power and me, swirling in unexplored depths. Dark, cold and endless, we swirl like an ancient storm, and I push further until finally,finally,the manacle corrodes and snaps beneath my fingers.
I fall to my knees, gasping for air as if I’ve just surfaced from a deep dive. My heart races in my chest as I force myself to stand on shaking legs. I haven’t thought much about the limits of my magic and the realization strikes me as severely as a physical blow to the chest. Thereareno limits except that of my own body. My power is greater than the unexplored depths of the Storven Sea and I could fall endlessly into it, swallowed by the dark, the human girl I am forgotten somewhere on the surface. The pressure is too great at the depths of the sea for anything soft.
My body rebuffs the idea of diving back in, for I know I will have to go further and there is nothing to anchor me to my humanity. I press my lips together and slow my breathing.Community before self.I have never embodied the Keys, never saw them beyond what they took from me. But I understand now. Easton is my community. Anrai is my community. Max and Cal and Rhonwen. And the man in front of me, who gave me my dreams and broke my heart; my father is my community. And they are all worth choosing over myself.
I close my eyes and hold onto the chains, the metal biting against my skin.
Come to me. Fall into me,my power calls.
And I do.
* * *
Shaw
My vision is tinged red, and I see nothing but the next opponent—the next slice of my dagger, the next sweep of my feet, the next obstacle standing between Denver and me. There is no fear in my killing calm, a wave of rage so hot, it burns like ice under my skin. The soldiers are well trained, and after the first wave of surprise dissipates, they don’t fall easily.
Water sparkles in the air and dives for the man in front of me, courtesy of Mirren, and I don’t hesitate before jabbing him in the solar plexus. He doubles over, wheezing with wide eyes as he swats at the water. I finish him with a knee to the face.
I throw myself further into the fray, ducking under a sword and side stepping another. I calculate the numbers as I go. We’ve felled seven. At least thirteen still fight and that doesn’t include Shivhai.
A punch to the throat and a slice across the femur.
Make that twelve.
Max and Cal are swept further away as the fighting progresses. The close combat has rendered Cal’s bow useless, and he’s abandoned it in favor of his sword. He slices it nimbly through the air, disarming a man before he can bring his axe down on Max’s neck.
I block a sword edge aimed for my own neck and carve my dagger across the woman’s wrist until her hand dangles uselessly and she drops her weapon. I spin around, jamming another dagger into her kidney for good measure. I don’t hear her cries of torment as I turn my narrowed gaze on Shivhai. He shoves his way past his own soldiers, murder glinting in his eyes as they find me.
The abyss crows in anticipation. It thrashes and howls, burning up my throat and demanding Shivhai’s blood. Ravenous and aching, I pull my sword.
Shivhai knocks the last man out his way, his gray eyes like chips of slate. “He’s mine,” he growls to his men. He is just as large as I remember, as wide as two Nemoran tree trunks and his face is gnarled by years of savagery. Madness lines every inch of him, from the restless way he holds his sword to the hard press of his jaw, as if his body is incapable of remaining still until he squeezes the life from me.
I grin at him, matching his mania.
He roars and hurtles toward me. The first clash of our swords reverberates up my arm, all the way to my teeth, but I clench down, already swinging on the counterattack. Shivhai is a mountain of muscle, nearly immovable, but he is quicker on his feet than I remember. Probably because he isn’t bleeding from his neck this time. He dodges, feinting left before slicing at my right. I move before the blade lands, dancing away from him.
He comes at me again, and I twist, bringing my blade down in a quick arc that Shivhai sees coming. He blocks me with a sneer, our swords ringing. He whirls, lunging forward, his blade a hot iron as it sweeps across my leg. A flesh wound, but one that smarts as I whirl, praying his guard will be lowered by a false sense of victory, but he’s too good for that. He deflects my blade, landing a blow to my jaw that sends stars spiraling across my vision.
“You didn’t even give my brother the respect of a quick death. Slit his stomach and let him bleed out slowly, like an animal,” another blow to the stomach and I’m sent sprawling backward, bile flooding my mouth, “you can be sure I’ll give that girl of yours the same treatment after I kill you.”
I bare my teeth, lunging and bringing my sword down in a hard arc. He meets me blow for blow, his breath even, his movements efficient. He may be mad with grief, but he is a well-oiled machine, one my father honed for killing. “She isn’t anyone’s but her own,” I bite out, curling around and landing a strike to his shoulder. The wound splits open and blood wells, but Shivhai only snarls and meets my next jab so hard, my teeth vibrate inside my jaw. “And I will tear every bone from your body before you can touch her again.”
“Come on, boy! I know your father trained you better than this.”
Shivhai knows all about my training because he was trained by the same man. Not with the same intimate cruelty, but with the same careful precision, no doubt. “Where is darling Father?”
