I tried and failed to shove the memory away, but my mind spun from the pain and exhaustion.
Feeling desperate, I tried to call up a different memory — an innocuous one from my youth — to hide the echo of hope in my chest when she opened her mouth to speak.
How long have you known?
Does it matter?
Yes.
Why?
Because you’ve been lying to me since the day we met.
Mastering the pain, I finally managed to bury the memory, but it was too late.
“How stirring,” Fleshtalker mused, a quiver of excitement threading through his voice. I could practically hear the smirk in his tone, and a fresh coil of dread unfurled in my gut. “What exactly were you lying about, my prince?”
Chapter
Six
LYRA
Black water thrashed around me, the ravenous waves pulling me under.
My lungs burned. My limbs flailed. And still I could not escape the claws of that wretched sea.
A strong hand gripped my arm, tugging me from the cold abyss. My face stung as it broke the surface, and I choked to clear my airways.
A steely gray sky stretched overhead, dark waves churning in every direction. I still clutched the Death Bringer’s hands, which made it hard to paddle. My legs worked in a frantic rhythm, my muscles burning as I fought the ravenous pull of the sea.
Teeth chattering, I looked over to find Adriel bobbing beside me. Sorsha’s head broke the surface a second later, but it quickly dipped back under.
Adriel cursed and dove beneath the waves, re-emerging with the spluttering princess. Our waterlogged dresses were too heavy, and the raging sea of the in-between was determined to steal us for its own.
Thunder boomed in the distance, great forks of lightning spearing through the sky as the tumultuous sea spilled over the horizon. The air crackled with electricity, and my lungs filled with the scent of salt and rot.
Casting around, I spotted the outline of a rocky beach. An inhospitable rocky beach, but land nonetheless.
Fighting the pull of exhaustion, I wrenched myself through the water and started to kick toward the shoreline. Water seeped into my mouth as I flailed in the waves, but I spit it out and transferred Morta’s hands to one arm so I could paddle with the other.
My toes brushed a layer of silt and rock, and I pulled myself onto the miserable beach. Adriel followed close behind me, dragging Sorsha in her waterlogged gown and dumping her on the sand.
A chill wrapped around me, and I started to shiver. My ruined dress was completely soaked, clinging to my chilled skin. My vision wavered as my teeth cracked together, the wind tugging at my hair and clothes and stealing the warmth from my limbs.
“You’ve lost too much blood,” Adriel grumbled.
“I’ll be fine,” I managed, clutching the hands tighter to my chest.
He shook his head, reaching into his jacket pocket and withdrawing a small leather pouch. He produced a glass vial no bigger than my finger that was filled with dried leaves. Uncorking the vial, he tipped a leaf out onto his palm, pinching it between his fingers and offering it to me.
“What is that?” I asked, leaning forward to examine the shriveled leaf.
“An herb to help you replenish the blood you’ve lost.”
At his words, a memory surfaced. I’d been injured in the Quarter, and Kaden had offered me a tea made with such an herb. At the time, I hadn’t trusted him enough to drink it, but I knew the royal guard didn’t intend to poison me.
Taking the leaf between my thumb and forefinger, I popped it into my mouth and chewed. It was so bitter I thought the back of my tongue might shrivel up like a raisin, but thankfully, the herb dissolved within seconds.
