“Best me in a duel, and I’ll tell you my rate.” A sly grin stretched ear to ear on my father’s face.
I hesitated, long enough for the creature to attack. It whipped its daggered tail out, catching me at the abdomen. Theslice drew blood, spurting and spreading through the water. I didn’t have time before the creature lunged again for my throat.
Using the stony ground for momentum, I shot through the water, barely missing the claws growing from its hands.
“I must admit,” the creature in my father’s body drawled. “Being caged for so long, I have grown accustomed to only viciously devouring my weak prey. You seem stronger than the tortured prisoners here. Fun.”
We circled each other, arms raised and waiting for the next pounce. I initiated. We didn’t have time to waste. My forearm rammed into the creature’s face, enough to grab its arm and twist it behind its back. I shoved upwards, hearing a slight crack in the beast's shoulder.
It roared, so I shoved harder. If the beast wanted to wear my father’s face, I’d show it exactly what I should have done to my sire a long time ago.
The creature flipped forward, throwing me over its back, and I crashed into the wall. A blade slashed in front of my face, nearly slicing through my nose.
Shit. This thing is persistent.
But I was too quick. My own hidden dagger held behind my back rested just below the collarbone of my imposter father, placed exactly where its wicked heartbeat within its chest.
“I am freeing you. No one will hunt you unless needed. Free,” I breathed heavily. “As your bargain.” I was sure it would be enough to trade for the trident piece since the beast had been imprisoned most of its life, but the creature only chuckled.
“I’ve traveled beyond the worlds, Lady of the Blood. And there are beasts much scarier than I beyond the stars. Ones that haunt even me in dreams.” It reached up and touched my cheek. Its fingers ripped the heat from my body, sending icy shivers down my spine. “No one messes with the Ocean Mother, which is why Iwillinglyhide here. But if your aunt wages war and wins, she will open new doors that I cannot face, and I’ll be back onthe run. I want to bargain and see her organs cooked to stew before she does something irreversible.”
“And the price?”
A brittle grin stretched wide across my father’s face.
“Each of yourfingernails. A chop of your hair.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Noctis
With every hour that passed, I started to believe the woman lied about the swamp. I’d find her again and rip her apart with my bare hands. I followed the land, inspecting where the ground became more damp. As my feet began to sink further into the muddled, leaf-covered terrain, I knew I must have been approaching some sort of water source.
The tree line cleared, finally revealing a marsh. Sludge and algae layered atop the murky water. Trees bent in unnatural angles, cascading menacing shadows across the area. My stomach lurched, rotten, foul smells assaulting my senses.
I wasn’t one to pray to gods I knew and didn’t trust, but I prayed to anyone who’d listen that it was the one in which I was supposed to find the bell. And if they ignored me, it wouldn’t have been the first time. Or the thousandth.
I took a deep breath and stepped into the swamp. My feet sunk mid-calf into the sludge, sparking memories I worked to purge from my mind. Normally they visited me at night, right before my eyes drifted closed, but sensory reminders brought them forth harsher.
She was the only thing that took their place.
Flashbacks from decades ago of battlefields played behind my eyes, the feeling of mud against my leather boots. Except it had not rained in weeks. The dirt mixed with the bloodof my people… my friends… my enemies. However, the latter’s deaths still didn’t make the lonesome trek back to the campsite any easier. I was alone on the field. No friends. No foes. Only me. Even as a god—one who would fight alongside my people—I could not protect them all.
My armies were gone.
I remembered digging each grave by hand, the earth damp and stubborn as it filled the space beneath my fingernails. For days, blisters rose, split, and wept across my calloused hands, each one burning as I lowered my soldiers into the ground.But my people left behind in Aetherkin Bound were safe from the land folk. Even if their husbands, brothers, or uncles would not be returning home to celebrate.
Well, they were safe after the Battle of Drendomon. Time buries many things, but not all. Hatred, vengeance, and the thirst for power often outlive the generations that first birthed them. I would never understand it, but I would die protecting against the hate, regardless of the Bound in which I was sworn.
Except now, my death would also bring hers.
The swamp’s waters were icy and sluggish, thick and stagnant like tar, heavy with the absence of movement. The putrid, burning scent cradled my nostrils, seeping into my skin. I listened hard, turning my head in every direction, hoping the bell would ring or reveal itself.
There was no time for this. I needed to be with her. She needed me.
Whispers slowly filled my ears instead, drifting in from every direction. I couldn’t make them out, but they scuttled along the suffocating haze and forced their way into my mind. It rattled my head, confusion riddling me. Then, only muffled sounds erupted from the water, bubbling before me like a cauldron.
I sighed, knowing I would need to go below. The chill of the water up to my waist bit into my skin like fangs, but I plunged below and forced my eyes to open. A breath escaped mymouth as my body acclimated to the cold, but I lost the rest of the air when I saw what lived below the swamp’s surface.
