Mya saw her as well. “General Ache, stop this.”
“I am trying.” The general swung her trident in a wide arc, sending a powerful spiral of water from the lethally pointed tips. It knocked half a dozen of the fighters down, but those still on their feet did not even pause.
Evander unsheathed one of the daggers from his bandolier, his shortsword already in his other hand, ready to wade into the melee. But Mya’s hand on his arm stilled him.
“I will stop it.”
The glint in her sapphire blue eyes changed, the power of the Split Sea itself rising like a tide around her. Around them all.
A strange pulse rippled through the crowd. Elementals crashed into each other, into Aquarians, as they tried to dodge the droplets of water that the Queen of the Aquarian Fae pulled from the very ground itself.
Drops were all she needed. Drops turned into ribbons that grew into streams. They swirled high above the heads of the crowd, above the army camp. The tendrils of water curled around each other, coalescing into a massive, undulating orb. The fighting slowed as even those engaged in violence were distracted. But it did not stop entirely.
In a sudden flash, the water magnifying the winter sunlight above, the orb of water burst. Hundreds of waves crashed out from it. Except they were not waves, but creatures of the deep. Massive sea serpents, fanged otters, whales that the Aquarians called the wolves of the sea—made of water themselves, they swam and swirled into the crowd below, pushing apart the last remaining rioters, pushing the Aquarians and elementals apart and bringing nearby tents down as the dissidents tried to retreat. A few tried to run down the avenues of tents, only to be chased back by Mya’s water creatures.
They circled and snarled until there was not a single sound. Not a single movement.
There were water-wielders among the elemental fae. Fire, wind, ice, water, storms—all were among the powers elementals claimed as their birthright. But the Aquarians were something else. Water was not merely theirs to command; that salty sea brine flowed in their veins right alongside their fae blood. They were the water and the water was them.
And when Mya was elected and invested as their queen, every single creature in the Spilt Sea had offered up a kernel of its magic to her.
She stepped into the breach of space left by the fighters. Some were still on their knees. Others had retreated into the crowd.
“Enough.” On the second syllable, the army of water predators dropped away, dousing the crowd of soldiers in water. “Lord Agravayn.”
Evander had not seen him appear, too transfixed by Mya’s display of power. The male stepped forward.
“General Ache.”
The general lowered her trident, burying the base in the dried-out earth below their feet. “The elementals attacked—”
“I do not wish to hear excuses, General Ache,” Mya said sharply. She turned to the cluster of Aquarians, glaring at the elemental soldiers. Some of the Aquarians even smiled, reveling in the power their queen commanded. Mya did not return those smiles.
“The Aquarians are a peaceful civilization. We do not fight unless it is absolutely necessary. I do not know what slights you all imagine were leveled at you, but I can tell you with certainty that this violence was not absolutely necessary. You have weakened and bloodied not only yourselves, but our allies as well. I am shamed by your behavior.”
She rounded on the elementals, where Agravayn had moved to the fore. “Lord Agravayn. Is this how you propose to command?”
“No, Your Majesty,” he growled. The smirks melted off the faces of the elementals as well. “My shame of my compatriots matches your own.”
“Queen Mya will do,” she corrected. “I have no need of your honorifics. Only of your alliance.”
“You have it.” Agravayn inclined his head in acknowledgment. The elementals behind him murmured, but they did not refute him.
Mya stepped back, addressing the entire assembly. “We have one enemy—the succubus. Remember that, or we will all be dead by the end of this.”
Her gaze roved the crowd, pausing to meet the eyes of elementals and Aquarians both. Pride surged in Evander’s chest. Not once since bending his knee to Mya and pledging his allegiance to the Aquarians had he questioned his decision. Nor would he ever. Even if Veyka Pendragon considered him a traitor because of it.
Slowly, the crowd began to disperse. The injured were hauled towards where the healers had set up. If the Aquarians and elementals each sought their own healers, at least they did not squabble along the way. General Ache worked her way to Agravayn’s side, her trident bobbing above the heads of the crowd. Evander followed it with his eyes—until they snagged on something odd. Like a fish trying to swim upstream, a single tow-head pushed against the retreating tide of soldiers.
The elemental female pushed her way to Agravayn’s side, rising on her tip-toes to whisper into the commander’s ear. His cunning elemental mask did not slip, but his eyes zipped straight to Evander’s wife.
“Your Maj—Queen Mya. The scouts are bringing in a messenger,” Agravayn said. Evander paused just short of sliding his short sword back into its sheath. “The humans are calling for aid.”
40
VEYKA
In the end, it did not matter what Talismans marked their skin or whether they were flora or fauna gifted. All of those terrestrials except one were going to die. I would not be responsible for all of them. I was not quite that cocky.
