The light seemed to leave his eyes at the prospect of surrender, but he swallowed, nodding.
‘There.’ Asher nodded to the natural harbour. ‘We’ll swing round the other way. He must have seen his forces becoming rain. Fucker’s running.’
Matthias grabbed my hand and I raced with him, Pab nudging my side after I stumbled on unseen hollows in the dunes. We doubled back, racing towards the tide line, my soaked skirts gripped tightly in my hand as my husband guided my elbow.
Enfys screamed my name, and I raced faster.
‘Glesni can stop the boat as long as he doesn’t make it too far,’ Matthias panted.
Guards turned and faced us. Romero splashed into the water, Enfys gripped tightly in his arms. She thrashed and bucked against him.
‘Guards,’ he cried, flinging Enfys into the side of a small row boat bobbing on the ever-growing waves.
I reached for my gift. Calling the creatures of the sea to take him.
‘No,’ I gasped. The silver threads tucked themselves into crevices. Refused to answer. Instead, a cold amethyst spiral slithered through my veins. I clutched my arm, desperate to halt it.
Guards stumbled through the grey waves, ready to cut us off. I turned, unable to find Glesni, before realising she’d never have been able to keep up with us. I was the only Anomaly on our side. And the only gift willing to answer my call could kill us.
The wolf – that damned wolf – recognised the battle within. In a blur, he stormed towards Romero. Enfys stood up, reachingtowards Pablo as the boat rocked. Romero slipped into the tide, and I smiled at his scream.
My blurry eyes couldn’t pick out the guard, his dark uniform melting into the sea. And Pablo, so intent on wrapping his jaws around Romero’s neck, failed to scent the threat, till it was too late.
Matthias screamed my wolf’s name as the guard’s sword sliced into Pablo’s side. I crashed into the sodden beach, unable to breathe, as his limp body hit the shoreline. The guard splashed back towards his king.
Romero stood, drawing his sword, wading through the waves towards the twitching wolf.
A raw scream split my throat, and Matthias cried out as I stumbled across the beach.
Romero raised his sword, violent waves spraying up as he homed in on my wolf. I wouldn’t make it. I’d never make it in time. Matthias sped past me, a blur of rage and ire, but Romero was already there. Water thrashed as Pablo struggled to stand, the sea around him already stained with crimson, when a wild wave rolled over him, smothered him. My heart stuttered, stalled. Romero towered over him, sword poised.
I screamed my wolf’s name. The sword plummeted towards Pablo’s flank.
My heart hammered as Romero stopped, the sword slipping from his fingers. Through the blur, I watched as he raised his hand, placed it to his head and drew it away. He wavered, lifting his crimson-stained fingers. I gasped, unsure what or who had struck him. Enfys screamed, raw, filled with rage and pain, slamming into her father’s back as he stumbled. She grabbed Pablo’s shoulders and tugged him towards the shore, struggling against his weight.
Romero fell, one knee in the waves while he tried to stand, when Matthias reached him. For a moment, my husbandtowered over the king, his sword high. My breath caught. I waited for the blow to end Romero. Another wave enveloped Pablo and, for a moment, the wolf vanished under the swell. Romero’s head drooped as Matthias stepped back, sheathing his sword. Stamping through the waves, he lifted Pablo, carrying the wolf back to me, Enfys forcing herself through the waves.
Glesni approached as Matthias set Pablo down. Enfys fell to her knees beside him, laying her hands on his heaving side.
‘You heal animals?’ I sobbed, the water soaking through my skirts.
‘Let’s find out.’ Enfys closed her eyes, and I clenched my hands, desperate to control my wolf.
Shouts came from the dunes, and Romero’s remaining guards spilled down the sodden sand towards us.
‘We’ll keep them off,’ Matthias said, laying his hand on my shoulder before Asher and the other guards came together.
I gazed into Enfys’s blue eyes as she focused on the wolf. Scarlet spilled into the sand. My fingers found his heart, fighting back a sob as it trembled and stalled. I turned my gaze to the sky, to Evella, cursing and praying she’d spare him. He whimpered as Enfys cursed in frustration. She scrubbed her face, exhaled and lay her hands on the wolf a final time. He took a shuddering breath, his amber eyes wide as they found mine.
‘Thank you,’ I whispered, laying my face against his shoulder. ‘You stayed with me and I never thanked you. I love you…my wolf.’
I closed my eyes, my heart torn and tattered, when I felt the rise and fall of my wolf’s side.
‘Sorrow!’ I could barely hear Enfys over the roar of the waves, the grief I was about to drown in. ‘Sorrow.’
A large paw splashed out and Pablo raised his head.
I grabbed him, laying my head on his coarse damp fur, breathing in his rich scent.
