Gasping, thrashing.
I stepped into the waves, standing on the edge of the water as I tried to identify the source of the disturbance. A fish, fae, or monster. I couldn’t be sure.
A flash of golden hair broke through the water.
I knew that hair.
Cormac!
I took to the water, my feet hitting the surface without sinking below.
I didn’t give it much thought as I sprinted across the crystalline surface, as Cormac thrust his hand out of the water, gasping before sinking under again.
I skidded to a stop, dropping to my knees where I had last seen the Mer-King, thrashing like a youngling taking their first swim. Cormac was a Mer—and though I would never tell him, at the risk of inflating his ego, he was a much better swimmer than I was.
The ocean remained still, calm. I slapped the surface of the water, but it did not move.
I leaned down, pressing my nose to the sea, endless blue but as clear as a window.
Cormac Illfinn hung limp in the water, his body sinking down, without his tail. His hair formed a halo in the water, obscuring his features.
I slapped the water’s surface again, with more urgency as panic clasped my throat like a tight fist. I wanted to cry, to scream, but I couldn’t. I didn’t havetime.
Regardless of my complicated emotions toward Cormac Illfinn, I couldn’t just let him die.
Though my body refused to fall into the water, defying the laws of nature itself, I had to do something.
Cormac’s eyes burst open, and he began to thrash again. Waking up to endure the torture of drowning once again.
I took my chance as his hand broke the surface, clasping his damp, callused fingers with my own. I fell backward, pulling with all of my might. My bare feet slipped on the water's surface, unable to grip, but I kept pulling. Cormac’s head broke free, the whites of his eyes showing with panic. I’d never seen him so flustered—I couldn’t imagine that drowning was particularly pleasant for a Mer. I myself had endured the sensation once and had no desire to relive it.
My arms spasmed, my fingers giving way, but I did not stop until I had pulled the Mer from the water. He fell on the surface and rolled onto his back, gasping for air. He closed his eyes and appeared to be praying for a long while.
I didn’t dare interrupt him.
“Maeve?” His voice was weak when he finally spoke.
“Yes?”
“Are we dead?”
I sucked my lips between my teeth and squinted as I looked up at the burning sun in the sky.
“… I think so.”
Cormac reached for me, instinctively, and I moved closer. His arms outstretched, as if asking for an embrace. Before now, I would have kicked him in the ribs and called him a slug if he dared show any sort of vulnerability. Our relationship was one of enemies, not of confidants or even friends.
I knelt down and reached for his fingers.
Cormac smacked my hand away. Instead of embracing me, he wrapped his hands around my throat. His teeth bared in a snarl, as he screamed in my face.“You killed us both, you fecking lunatic!”
Chapter Two
Tormalugh Shadowhock
The thunder of their hooves could not be softened, even by the spongy bracken of the forest floor, as the horde of Kelpies raced through the trees, unable to find a straight path.
Each of the equine fae continued, unwilling to sleep, to eat, or even speak more than a nicker of warning for a low-hanging branch—as if frightened the Dark King himself would rise up from the dead leaves, and shackle their hocks the minute they stopped to rest.
