Nimue raises her arms and the ocean recognizes its daughter. Every drop of water within miles suddenly remembers that it has a queen.
The wall of surging water freezes.
“No,” Nimue says simply and the wave begins to bow.
It’s like watching a mountain kneel.
Waves curl and saltwater rises, twisting into great serpents. A barrier forms against the oncoming flood. Nimue’s hands dance and the sea dances with her. The wave is still massive, still powerful, but it is no longer wild.
She pulls and the ocean responds, forming a cradle around the lighthouse. The force of Tayum’s Wrath is absorbed and redirected into vast spirals that encircle the coast, spilling their fury back into the open sea.
But the water still comes.
Not as the annihilating wrath of a god that would have erased everything, but as a rising tide. It climbs the streets instead of tearing them apart. It swallows the lowest tier of buildings. The harbor fills completely, docks vanishing beneath the surface, ships straining at their anchors.
And still it rises.
It creeps toward the cliff fortresses, toward the carved gates of the upper districts. Soon it will lap at the stone foundations.
But people are running, climbing, and escaping. They have time now.
The kingdom watches in breathless awe.
“The water is tainted,” Nimue whispers, and I hear the exhaustion in her voice. “Not much, but enough. It will seep into the earth. Into wells and roots.”
Ksatka and the others neutralized most of it but traces remain. Enough to poison groundwater and to kill us slowly.
“I will cleanse it.” Her voice is barely audible.
It will cost her.
Nimue raises her arms again. This time, instead of pushing the water away, she draws it toward herself. The tainted water rises from where it pools in the streets, from the harbor, from everywhere the poisoned wave touched. It flows toward her in streams and rivulets.
She begins to absorb it.
I watch in horror as the corruption enters her translucent form. Dark veins spread through her body like cracks in ice. She gasps and the sound is agony.
“Nimue, stop!” I lunge forward but Svenn catches my arm.
“The venom is dangerous,” he says quietly. His grip is iron. He won’t let me near it.
“She’s killing herself!” Sobs tear from my throat.
Nimue pulls more of the tainted water into herself. The darkness spreads further, consuming the light that makes up her essence. She’s taking the poison that would have killed thousands, concentrating it in her own body.
Her legs buckle. She falls to her knees on the lighthouse platform, still drawing the corruption in. Tears stream down her face, but she doesn’t stop.
“Almost,” she gasps. “Almost done.”
The last of the tainted water flows into her. For a moment, she glows with a strange violet hue. It fades and she collapses. I break free from Svenn and catch her before she hits the stone. She weighs almost nothing. It’s like holding mist.
“Nimue,” I whisper, cradling her. “Why?”
She smiles weakly. “You called me friend of your heart. Friends help each other.”
“But the poison—“
“Will fade. Eventually.” Her form flickers dangerously. “This tiny amount won’t kill me. It will just... hurt. For a very long time.”
