“So I’ll ask you one more time.” My breath was ragged as I cut him off. “If you insist that you love me, why are you so cruel to me?”
Arenn’s lips parted, but he said nothing as silence fell over the chamber.
“If there is a single ounce of goodness in your heart, you will leave this cave and let me live the rest of my life in peace,” I said through gritted teeth. “Never speak to me again.” I jerked my chin towards the archway. “Now go, unless you wish to hurt me more.”
The prince stiffened as if considering arguing, but another furious look from his sister seemed to be all the convincing he needed. With one last, almost sad glance at me, he marched out of the cave, taking all the darkness in my chest out with him.
The second he was gone, I whirled to face Lyssandra. “You can save him. Lukas saved me from death once before with his Gift. You can do it too.”
Hesitancy danced across her features.
“Please,” I begged. “I saw you transfer lifeforce before from King Ikelos when you healed Lukas. I know you can do it.” It’d been months since that night in the faery dining hall, but with Lukas’s bruised body sprawled out in front of me, just like it’d been on that long banquet table, I remembered it as if it were yesterday.
“There’s a cost.” She swallowed. “He needs more than just healing this time. I need a life to bring him back.”
A life?My fingers turned numb, but my reply shot out as if I had no fear at all. “You’ll take mine.”
“Absolutely not,” she snarled.
“Please, Lyssandra,” I sobbed. “I’ll never forgive you if you don’t do this for me.”
Frowning, she shook her head. “But you’re a princess. What about your people?”
“They already have their kingdom back,” I said plainly. “And I am not the only capable leader in Corlixir. There are plenty who could do a better job at ruling than I could ever do.”
“Naria…” Her voice broke. “This isn’t fair.”
“His death wasn’t fair!” Even saying the phrase out loud hurt, as if he’d stabbed me instead. “Please just save him.Please.”
Sadness wavered in her sapphire eyes. “If this is what you want?”
I nodded and gave her my hand.
“Wait.” The new voice made us both pause. Erissa stepped out from her hiding place near the river, a long blue faery gown trailing behind her as she walked towards us. “I am his mother. If anyone should die for him, it should be me.”
“Erissa?” Memories of her came flooding back to me: how she wandered like a ghost around the Steel Palace. She still wandered like a ghost around here, though a little happier.
“I was never good to him,” she said emotionlessly as she sat opposite us. “And I don’t expect for him to ever forgive me.” She glanced down at her son. “But maybe by doing this, I can begin to make things right.”
“Coward,” another voice called from the river.
I jolted in surprise as the last person I expected to see pushed gracefully out of the lilac water.
“Sorry I’m late.” The Merfolk Queen strolled towards us. Her long black tail had been replaced by two muscular legs while golden armour twinkled against her skin. “I wasn’t intending on coming, but then I realised I’d be missing my nephew’s shining debut. Though I see now that I’ve missed quite a party.” Hands on her hips, she glanced around the room before glaring down at Lukas. “What a mess.”
“How dare you,” Erissa seethed, more passion in her voice than I thought possible for the frail woman.
“How dare I what?” Queen Vearla raised an eyebrow. “Offer support to my nephew? Give him all the lessons you should’ve given him? He is part merfolk and blessed with the Divine Gift,” she boomed. “Had you not been so proud andfocused on your own lost gifts, you would’ve seen the real gift you had in front of you all those years.” With a huff, she settled on the floor beside Erissa. “Now, enough of this sacrificial nonsense. You can tell him you’re sorry yourself, once we bring him back.”
A breath whooshed out of me. “You can save him?”
“Of course.” She puffed out her armoured chest. “I am the Queen of the Ocean. And sitting beside you is one of the strongest Divine Gift holders I know – and also had the pleasure of raising.” She tossed Lyssandra a wink, who glowed a little in response. “Faery deals can be nasty little things, but when love is involved, they’re rarely fatal.”
My chest tightened. “He’s not dead?” Frantically, I padded around his wrists and neck for a heartbeat, a pulse, anything!
“Don’t give her false hope.” Lyssandra frowned. “I took all her memories away. Even if he loved her enough to give her his heart and break the bond, she can’t love him enough to save him.”
The Merfolk Queen chuckled while I desperately searched for a pulse. I almost missed her reply as she whispered, “My dear, does this not look like love to you?”
