Flecks of dust floated through the air, twinkling in and out of the strands of lamplight. Fire burned against the backs of my eyes, scorching my throat.
“I thought so.” Thaan turned to me. “Let this be a lesson, Selena. There are consequences to your mistakes. The King’s mind is lost. Our position in court is secure, but you’ve made my role twice as hard. In the meantime, you let him”—he indicated Pheolix with an indifferent hand—“get too close. You let him forget his place, and now I’ve lost trust in my strongest drone. He’s worthless now.”
Thaan snapped his fingers.
And one of the four hearts beating in the room stopped.
Pheolix dropped to the side, landing face down. And didn’t move.
“Your sister is waiting to return to Venusia,” Thaan said. His hold over my neck loosened, and I forced myself off the wall with a hollow splash. Thaan turned to leave, motioning for me to follow, but I climbed down to the floor, grabbing Pheolix by the shoulder and rolling him over.
Light had left his eyes. He stared blankly ahead, his skin already ashen, lips already pale. His body, which had always seemed so solid, so hard, was suddenly too soft and slack. I shoved his shirt up over his chest, flexing my fist, searching for the synapse of water in his blood to channel through my grip the way Aegir had in the Parian caves.
But I couldn’t even make a spark.
Only the Naiad of an ancient bloodline can restart a heart, Xiane murmured into my thoughts. I was aPrizivac Vode. A hive heir. I should have the power.
It had to be there, somewhere in my blood.
My hand shook, my breath ragged. I swiped wet hair from my neck where Thaan’s collar had sat over my skin, the heat of frustrated desperation sticky over my body. Blood filled his unbeating heart. I wrapped my mental hand around it and squeezed.
Squeezed again.
From the doorway, Thaan came to stand over my shoulder. Watching me.
A trickle of iron pooled at the back of my throat from the energy it cost me. I coughed it out, wiping the bright red from my mouth, and kept going.
Squeeze. Wait.Squeeze.Wait.
“I’ve always wondered,” Thaan drawled, “if he was the one to rob you of your potential.”
I ignored him, panting softly as I worked. Neglecting to acknowledge the drain of power in my fingers, the light-headed buzz that fogged in my brain.
“That breath he gave you, the one you gave back. Deimos went underwater as myOculos, but every other Naiad there was a drone. None of them were supposed to transition you. Look at you now, half the water-caller your sister is.”
I bared my teeth, spinning to look up at him. “What do you want, Thaan?"
His gaze hardened. “I want you to go to your rooms, ready with your sister, and bring Aegir back to the palace. Today.”
“Fine,” I snapped. “What do you want in return for bringing him back?”
Thaan stared at me, long and hard. He raised his chin. Pulled his fingertips together. “If I do that,” he said slowly, “you’ll promise to never speak to Pheolix again.”
My hand fisted into the folds of Pheolix’s shirt. “I promise.”
Thaan sank to a knee slowly, and it was all I could do to keep from screaming as he rolled his sleeves up, taking his time. Water zapped to life under the palm of his hand.
A moment later, a hard gasp ripped through the room.
44
Selena
The coach was too empty without Pheolix.
Cebrinne and I sat on opposite sides. She watched me, not that I could bring myself to look back at her. The words we’d traded the evening before felt like they belonged years in the past. And after Emilius, after Pheolix, after the promise I’d made to Thaan, I didn’t have the emotional strength to try and convince her not to leave for the islands.
I would another day. But not today.
