“I … thought they got you all.”
I swear the light in his eyes dims, and he cuts a look at the children as a heaviness settles between us. “Almost.” He clears his throat. “Some of us survived in the island’s deep hollows, hidden behind one of my shields. We only came out once we were emaciated from hunger, and by then the island was abandoned.”
Failure claws up my ribs and sits upon my shoulders like some flesh-eating beast.
There wereyearsof peace before the island was discovered by outsiders, by which time our guards had dropped.Manybruákcame all at once, flying across the ocean on vessels with iron spears bolted to their decks. With empty hulls ready to pack full with warm bodies.
Blasts of power ripped the air and scorched the sea, and we couldn’t stop them all.
The ocean ran sparkly and red as the sound of death filled the air, accentuated by agonized screams as babes were torn from mothers’ breasts.
Our treasure was taken.
The sky shook, and darkness stretched above. The sea rippled, then went deathly still, becoming a ravenous, meat-eating trap for those of us who survived. Our penance, perhaps. One many of us swam into the jaws of.
Plagued by unimaginable guilt, some originals braved the mainland to hunt for our treasured friends, then failed to bring forth their tails when they came back to the ocean—having spent too long on legs. Some cast the search too wide and ended up in the wrong ocean at the wrong time, struck by the bolt of power summoned from the sky that brought an end to most of the Unseelie.
But theAeshlians …
First, they were feasted on, then hunted to the brink of extinction right beneath our noses.
“We failed you,” I choke out, dropping my stare to the grass.
“No, you didn’t.”
I look sidelong at Anver, frowning.
“We may be immortal, but it is as unnatural to be without an end as it is to be without a shadow. Even Gods and Goddesses chose to rip from their oblivion because they know thetruth.”
“Which is?”
He drops his voice to a low murmur. “Without an end, loss stacks upon your chest like stones. The loss of your home, your loved ones, yourmind.I have watched both the making and breaking of my kind, and through it all, I have come to realize that mortality is a gift. Those with endless life end up destroying themselves,” he says, face etched with sorrow. “Or others.”
His words gore at my chest while he evokes a false smile and looks forward again, welcoming the man and woman carrying the basket of apples toward us. I clear my throat as both Aeshlians dip their heads, the female extending an apple in my direction.
My eyes widen.
Agift.
Zykanth erupts into a giddy swirl as shock electrifies me from within, and I reach out to accept it. “Thank you …”
She bobs her head, offering me a shy smile before drifting off with the male. They ease beneath string laden with fish flesh drying in the sun, disappearing through an entryway in one of the crystal spires.
I look at the apple, conscious of its weight; of the bright, healthy tone of its lime-green skin. I can almost taste its sharp sweetness, the underside of my tongue tingling in anticipation of the crisp meal I can’t bring myself to sink my teeth into.
To enjoy.
Not after seeing all the blood that spilled across that soil.
With thoughts swimming much faster than the sickening churn of my guts, I look down a path. The swiftest route to the ocean from here.
“You have claimed her?” Anver grunts out, the question striking me unawares.
My attention drifts to my bite mark on Vicious’s nape, half concealed by a gush of wild hair as she digs small holes with her bare hands, making way for the pouch of seeds the eldest child is dispersing throughout the patch.
‘Back off, little sparkly legs. My savage little chosen mate.’
A rumbling sound boils in the back of my throat. “I am hers, and she is mine.”
