Snarling, a final push popped me through to the other side of his blubbery body.
Spinning, I took my first fresh breath of clean water, listening to Cronin keen in pain while a trail of his thick dark blood oozed from his punctured body.
When I caught sight of movement in the water below, I narrowed my eyes and raised the rib bone defensively up in front of me. Tracking its movements, I chuckled darkly when it sprung into my view.
“Hello, my little fiends.” I lowered my makeshift weapon.
Deadly dark shadows split through the blood tinged water and brushed happily against my scales. I laughed as they rustled my hair playfully and then dove back down, swallowing part of the kraken in their wake.
“I tried telling you that help was coming. Instead you decided to be swallowed by a kraken. I seriously hope you do not come up with any other brilliant plans.”The beast rattled.
I barely heard him, searching for the familiar scent or stunning vision of my soulmate that never came.
“She has survived this long without us. We will find her again.” My beast attempted to reassureme.
“Remnant shouldn’t have to survive anymore.” I growled back. “She should be living.”
Looking past the feasting shadows, towards the hidden lochness remains, I thoughtfully held up its rib bone before me. “To the life given and the life taken too soon, the darkness will avenge you.” Releasing the bone, I allowed it to sink heavily back down into the murky water, passing by the shadows taking chunk after chunk out of the kraken like a school of flesh eating piranhas, to find some sort of peace within this forsaken place.
Glancing back at Cronin, I watched death glaze over his red beady eyes right before they were completely swallowed up by the shadows dark abyss.
“Well done, umbras.” I purred towards them and grinned when they rushed to entwine around my legs before flipping off of me in an acrobatic show of terrifying shadow.
“I assume your beautiful master sent you and that since you’re still here, she is not in any immediate danger.”
They swirled around me playfully in response, then coiled up my arm once more.
“I will take that as a yes.” I chuckled and stroked their shadowy form, cradling them in my arms like a baby cub. “What would you say to a little dessert, my beautiful little fiends?”
Darkness embraced me—only to be enhanced by the echo of my baleful laughter.
Chapter 26
Instinctively,Itightenedmyhold on Riella as together we weaved through the hidden tunnels of Shen’s great wall, our hair trailing behind us while the majestic waters rippled soothingly against our scales. But beneath us, I could feel the tension of the great dragon’s body, vibrating with something more than exertion, a worry that had his body coiling tightly around corners and his scales shifting with each deep dive.
I frowned.“Your wall runs north and south, cutting our oceans in half, this is not the way to The West Isles. Where do you take us?”
“Look and you shall see why.”Shen hissed softly in my mind.
I squinted in front of us. An eerie underwater grave of a great city appeared on our horizon. I shivered at its ghostly golden glow. “Atlantis.”
Shen boomed out loud. “Indeed! The bridge between worlds. Welcoming both humankind and land fae to join in worship with the mythical fae of the water.” He snorted.
The dragon shook his head, slithering to a floating stop just in front of the distinguished craftsmanship of the golden gates. It was as if neither water nor time had impacted its exalted yet looming presence.
My lips pressed into a thin line and I released Riella. “I was there when the city fell.” I dismounted the dragon, sinking slowly with my eyes trained on the gates. “My mother was still fighting in the frontlines during the blood wars, she sent me here for safety. I was young, too young.” I shook my head. “I had no understanding of my full powers then. I could do nothing to stop it.”
I closed my eyes against the distant memory. The roaring of the ocean, the cries of the people being swallowed whole into a watery grave…
“Another failure.” I whispered.
Blinking back the tears, I looked down when a soft touch of a webbed hand joined mine. Riella’s colorful swirling eyes, echoing my own sadness, peered up at me.
Shen hummed. “It is my understanding that you dove in and saved many trapped inside before it was completely lost.”
I squeezed Riella’s hand and peered beyond the gates to the grand white marble columns. Kira had been one of them…. “It made very little difference in the end.” I tilted my head when I felt a trace pull beckoning me forward. “The city’s siren song still calls.” I turned to Shen, “why have you not returned Atlantis to the water fae?”
Shen hissed. “The water fae are selfish beings…they did not deserve this beautiful city then and they do not deserve it now. It was my greatest treasure once.” The dragon gave Riella a toothy smile, his giant orb eyes glowing with love. “It is my seaflower’s now.”
