I thought it was dead. It hit me hard and heavy, leaving me in a daze. But then they grabbed my hands, my waist, yanking me to my feet. Aegir’s glare loomed over my face, fury steeped in his brows. Sindri reached us a moment later, anchoring a skull with his bare foot and ripping his knife free. He pointed it at all the faces that closed in around us.
“Let go,” I said, twisting in Aegir’s grasp.
Aegir pulled me in closer. “If I need to trade one hostage for another, I’d be a fool to let you flee.”
My stomach tightened. A hostage.
I scanned the beach, searching for Thaan. But all I saw were Naiad drones, following us in silence as Aegir and Sindri moved together to the water. At the sea’s edge, one of them darted in, reaching for Sindri’s knife. The Venusian slashed at him, carving a deep gash down his forearm and into his palm. Blood sprayed across us, showering my face and neck.
The drone stumbled back, but another took his place, grasping Sindri’s blade with bare hands. They fought over it, tugging back and forth. Aegir pulled me along with him, lifting me from my feet.
Someone grabbed my arm, nails digging into my skin as Aegir flung me in the opposite direction. I flailed as I hit the water, landing with a slap against the waves. It heaved over the top of me, throwing my balance, sending me sideways almost as soon as I hit. Arms wrapped around me, and I shoved them away, unsure who they belonged to. I took a step, and someone grabbed the fabric at my back, pulling me further down, away from the shallows and into the deep.
Aegir.
The drones followed him like a river of angry hornets. But this was Aegir’s sea. Even if they eclipsed him, they didn’t know its language like he did. Its songs and whispers. The way it tossed and turned, the mood of its currents, the places it was shy and the places it raged.
The sea cradled him in, calm where he sliced through. But it became turbulent in his wake, scattering the drones away. He easily outstripped them, dashing right and left, diving straight down.
By the time we couldn’t see them anymore, I’d transitioned to my tail.
Aegir shoved me against the undersea rocks, whipping me around with a hold on my shoulders, a hand at my throat. Pain wavered in his gaze.Betrayal. The sea stole our ability to talk, but his eyes asked what his mouth could not.
Did you know?
I shook my head, his words on the beach returning to me. In the chaos, I hadn’t thought about them deeply enough to understand what he truly meant.
If I need to trade one hostage for another...
Vouri.
He grasped my wrist, tugging me in the direction I knew his colony lay. But his grip was tight, his fingers unrelenting. Constricting. I pulled away.
Aegir yanked back.
I suppose panic set in. That’s the best word for it. Even though I trusted Aegir, trusted he wouldn’t hurt me despite the threat he’d made just minutes before. Some vein in my blood screamed for me to run, and the harder he held, the louder that scream grew.
He was stronger than I was. He was winning.
My hands were my only weapons. I beat and scratched. The ocean stole any speed, any severity from my attacks. I punched, but my punches landed in slow motion. I beat my tail against his, wrestled and spun and wrenched myself side to side. TheVidereclamped down, though I knew I was frustrating him. His eyes grew wild as he held, and impatience finally engulfed him. He crossed my wrists and folded them into my chest, strapping me to himself with an arm so he could finally swim.
Down to Venusia. To that room with ancient Naiad text written over the door, magic that kept me inside. To be a hostage for his sister.
What would happen to me if something happened to her?
I’d always had Cebrinne at my back for these moments. Always had my second half, that piece of myself I could turn to. If she were here, she wouldn’t have tried to simply run. She’d have found a way to hit back.
Well, at least we know what your fight or flight response is,Pheolix chuckled into my head.
I froze, remembering the next set of words the drone had said to me that day. My hand flattened over Aegir’s chest. He didn’t notice. His attention was pinned ahead and around us, watching for drones or his own Naiads.
I closed my eyes. Calmed my heart.
Called to the water within him.
And pulled that beating mechanism within him to a grinding halt.
48
