“I didn’t realize my protection was your responsibility, Prentis.”
I expected Prentis to bristle at my tone, but instead he laughed, his crystal-blue eyes sparkling. I had to admit he cut a fine figure in his navy peacoat and leather boots—if they weren’t so polished and fancy, I might have mistaken him for a sailor. “Olette used to use the same haughty voice whenever she would put someone in their place,” he said. “You remind me a lot of her.”
“I do?” My defensiveness crumbled away, and I leaned closer, eager to hear more about my mother. “Did the two of you spend much time together?”
“Oh, yes.” Prentis smiled. “We grew up together in Usciete, only a few years apart in age. Olette was very competitive, and we did our magical training together, so we were always trying to best each other—seeing who could make the biggest rain clouds, the longest water whips, the sharpest ice blades.” His expression softened. “She was a fierce fighter when she had to be, but her greatest talent lay in healing.”
I blinked. “Water magic can be used for healing?”
“Of course. There are a great many things that one can do with water magic.” He twirled his fingers, and a ribbon of water began to wind its way through them, back and forth, back and forth, slowly transforming into a tiny sea serpent, complete with fangs and scales. It raised its glittering head above Prentis’s knuckles, tongue flickering, and I swore it winked at me. “I’d love to show you, if you’ll let me.”
My heart leapt at the prospect, but my gaze dropped to my boots as shame crept across my cheeks. “My water magic doesn’t work properly,” I confessed. “It never has, really.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
I bit my lip, thinking of the amulet. Of the secrets kept from me all my life that had all unraveled in a matter of days. “It’s a long story.”
He leaned against the railing, his gaze intent upon my face. “I’m a good listener.”
I opened my mouth, ready to come up with an excuse, a refusal, but something about the way Prentis was looking at me made me stop and reconsider. It was true Lady Axlya was the one I needed to win over, but Prentis was a member of her court, which meant he had influence over her. The more allies I could make in House Usciete, the better.
And so, I told Prentis about the struggle with my magic. Told him about the amulet my mother had ordered Gelsyne to make me wear, and how I’d always struggled to make my power manifest until that fateful day at the army trials when Dune had ripped it from my chest and I’d nearly burned everyone alive. How even though my fire magic raged wild and fierce like a storm, my water magic was more like a sluggish river, and that aside from ice, I didn’t seem to be able to manipulate it at all.
“Do you think I’ll only ever be able to wield ice magic?” I asked, worry gnawing at my gut. “And will Lady Axlya think me weak because of it?”
Prentis chewed on his lower lip as he considered my questions, his crystal blue gaze scanning the horizon. The coastline was a distant memory now, the ocean stretching endlessly around us in all directions.
“It’s hard to say whether you’re only able to control ice magic because that’s the only water magic you inherited from your mother, or because you haven’t unlocked your inner beast with your coming-of-age ceremony,” he finally said. “But it would be quite strange to me if your water fae magic was recessive, considering how strongly your features favor your water fae heritage.”
He reached out and brushed a lock of my lavender-blue hair away from my face, briefly letting it curl around his index finger before it fell away. We stared at each other for a long moment, and I wondered if I should balk against the intimate touch, or let it slide in favor of continuing the conversation.
A rustle of wings interrupted my train of thought, and I turned to see Einar land a few feet away from us, his boots thumping heavily on the deck. His expression was placid as he surveyed us, but I didn’t miss the glint in his golden eyes as he looked between me and Prentis.
“Something I can help you with, dragon?” Prentis asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Not at all,” Einar smiled right back. He tucked his wings behind his back as he leaned against the mast behind him, looking at ease despite the shackles he wore. Prentis had added more length to the chains so Einar could move his hands freely, and had allowed Einar to shift into his half-dragon form so he wasn’t completely defenseless. I knew he’d made the concessions for my sake, not Einar’s, but I couldn’t help appreciating them nonetheless. “I got tired of staring at the ocean, so I thought I’d come down here for a change of scenery.”
A massive wave smacked the side of the ship just then, and I gripped the railing to keep from pitching forward. Einar’s face went green as he stumbled across the deck, and he grabbed the railing on the opposite side before turning around to pin Prentis with a glare.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
Prentis chuckled. “I assure you, I would not waste my magic on something so petty. The sea is doing a fine job tormenting you without my assistance.”
Einar huffed. “This is—” he started, but a startled yelp choked the rest of his sentence off as a massive eggplant-colored tentacle rose from beyond the hull and twined around his waist.
“Einar!” I shrieked as the creature yanked him overboard. I raced across the deck just in time to see him disappear beneath the churning waves of the ocean, and though I had no idea what manner of monster had taken him, I leapt the railing and dove right after him.
“Adara, wait!” Prentis cried as I sliced through the water, arms pointed straight in front of me. The world went quiet around me as water replaced air, and it took my eyes a minute to adjust, the ocean blurring everything around me. But once my vision cleared, I froze at the impossible sight twenty feet below me.
The tentacle that had swiped Einar from the deck of Prentis’s ship belonged to a giant sea creature. It looked something like an octopus, with a round head and bulging eyes with yellow sclera. That is, if octupuses had sixteen tentacles instead of eight, and were roughly half the size of Prentis’s ship.
There was only one creature it could be, and my heart sank straight into my shoes as I remembered the stories and illustrations from my childhood.
A kraken.
Einar fought valiantly against the thing’s hold, using his claws to tear at the monster’s appendages, but the chains around his wrist limited his range, so his strikes weren’t very effective. The monster roared, baring rows of golden teeth sharp as daggers, and he used another tentacle to bind Einar’s arms to his sides, then lifted him toward his mouth.
I raised my hands as I called to my power, a half-cocked plan forming in my mind. But a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, and on instinct, I turned to look. My mouth dropped open at the sight of a massive ice blue orca with mother-of-pearl fins hurtling through the water. I’d never seen one before, but judging by the descriptions I’d read, this orca was twice the size of a normal one. My bowels went watery when its maw opened wide, revealing rows of ivory teeth as long as my arms that could easily spear me in two.
