Page 17 of Claimed By the Depths

“No, but you certainly do. We need to leave.”

My jaw feathered, hesitation blooming as I remained motionless. Thoughts snaked through my mind, each one pointing back toward that damned word and the figure I swore I saw awaiting our rescue.

Mizani.

“Did you fucking hear me, Levitte? We need to leave.”

“If you wish to disembark right this moment, then count me out of sailing alongside you.”

“What?” Alastair snapped. “Have you lost your godsdamned mind? We’ve had plenty of run-ins for one day, creatures are prowling through the streets of Serevalen, and Kael is unconscious on my fucking ship, but you want to stay?”

“Kael?” My gaze met his judgment. “What happened? Is he okay?”

“I’ll tell you as soon as you get your ass onboard.”

“You can’t fucking do⁠—”

“I can do whatever I damn well please. Now get the fuck on the ship.”

“I already told you, I’m not coming.” Taking a step forward, he darted to the side to halt me in my tracks. In the urgency of his action, part of me couldn’t help but question if my bonded had intentionally dropped me on one of the few dead ends of the dock. “Move.”

He tossed me a challenging glare. “No.”

“Alastair.”

“Rohen.”

Rolling my eyes, my fingers twitched toward my waist. Toward the dagger I kept there, but where I expected to greet the hilt, there was nothing.

“Oh, are you looking for something?” he asked, spinning my preferred weapon between his fingers.

“When did you⁠—?”

“Get on the ship, Rohen.”

“I can’t!” I screamed, my internal fight bubbling to the surface as I pointed toward the decrepit town. “I can’t leave, because Caspian is still here!”

Striations danced along Alastair’s jaw, his tongue sweeping beneath his lips as he licked his teeth. “Suddenly you give a shit about him? What changed?”

“I don’t… I… I…” Raking my fingers through my drenched hair, I shook my head. “There is a draw there that I do not understand, Alastair, and it is screaming at me right now to⁠—”

Before I could process the shift, he closed the distance between us. His arm curled around my waist as he hoisted me from where I stood. Ground once again vanishing, he tossed me over his shoulder with ease. The gaps between each plank slid past my line of sight as he carried me toward the ship.

Ramming my fist into his back, I kicked my legs. “Put me the fuck down!”

“No can do, Levitte. You will not survive if you go back there.”

I planted both hands against the small of his back and pushed myself up. Eyes traversing the destruction—orange and yellow flames lapping against buildings before devouring them whole, and silhouettes of creatures crawling through the streets with haunting aberrance—a woman stepped into view. My stomach settled with the realization as Sorva took another step forward, the hood of her cloak concealing all of her features except for those haunting, ember-infused eyes.

It was the vision, but… things had shifted slightly from what I recalled. We’d altered the course of reality, but it hadn’t fucking been enough.

Enough to save him.

Taloned fingers raised, and she wrapped them around the fabric before tugging it from her horned head. Her lips curled as she watched our departure, an unspoken promise clinging to her unwavering stare.

I will find you, and when I do, you will wish you had run while you still could.

CHAPTER 9