As we swam through the Twilight Lake, I couldn’t help but think of the months before. When Tor, Shay, Rainn, and I had made our way to Cruinn, I had asked them to distance themselves. To protect them. Instead, it had done the opposite. I had been naive then, believing Elaine to be what she had always presented herself as. King Irvine’s wife and nothing more.
I had no intention of letting Balor snip my bonds again.
I had no intention of being parted from my Shíorghrá.
I may not have known the depths of my magic then. Balor had quickly neutralized my magic without much effort, but I had other ways to protect myself, and this time, I wasn’t alone.
The lake felt strange. Subdued. It was eager to welcome me, but something clung to the water. The dull throb of an open sore.
As we swam towards Cruinn, it became evident that the fissure outside Tarsainn was not the only break in the lake bed.
The abyss had disappeared after King Irvine’s death, but it had returned in its entirety.
The thick black wall surrounding Cruinn had existed since I had been a youngling. A wall of shadows that had emerged in the wake of my mother’s death.
No one had known why the abyss had formed. Magic reacted strangely to strong emotions. It had been assumed at the time that the collective grief of the Undine had gained physical form to haunt the city's borders.
When years passed, and King Irvine took the throne, the abyss did not dissipate. Though it did not harm the Undine, itcut Cruinn off from the other creeds. Many had assumed it was a boon, such as the Reeds or the Skala Isles.
As we arrived at Cruinn, faced with the abyss that cloaked the trench surrounding the city, I was filled with dread. My head swam, and bile coated my tongue. The shadows were familiar, but not because they surrounded my home.
I had lived in Cruinn and stared at the abyss for years. How had I never noticed before?
My Shíorghrá clearly felt the same way I did.
“Black tears...” Shay Mac Eoin whispered.
“We cannot go through that mist.” Arden crossed his arms over his chest. “It will possess us.”
“It’s not dangerous,” I said, reluctantly. “At least, it has never harmed an Undine before.”
“Fomorians.” Cormac snarled. “How long has Balor been pulling those beasts from the Domhain? Collecting bodies to stuff them inside.”
“The abyss has been here foryears.” I stared at the wall of darkness in awe.
We stood in a line, facing an impenetrable wall of shadows. Undulating, with flashes of teeth and claw that I had never noticed before.
Cormac Illfinn, Shay Mac Eoin, Rainn Shallows, Liam Cruinn, and Arden. All of us were determined to get into the city for different reasons.
Arden turned to face me. I hadn’t spoken to the siren, save for a few comments on the journey. “I accompanied you on this journey because I could not locate my mother alone.” He told me, his face impassive. I hadn’t asked how he could breathe underwater—I assumed that he shared the same bloodline that gave Shay his abilities. Arden squinted, looking down his nose at me while simultaneously asking for help. A feat he seemed to have mastered.
“I do not plan to help you in your fight against Balor,” Arden said. “If my mother could not best them, then I would not fare much better.”
“The Fomorians will eat through this world, and then the Tuatha Dé Danann.” Cormac clenched his fists. “They will devour you, and your mother, then follow you to the afterlife and consume your souls there as well.”
Arden’s jaw hardened. “I have to protect my creed. I have left my sirens for too long already.”
“What you do here today affects your creed as well,” I said hotly. “Do you think Balor will stop once she’s taken the lake?”
Rainn lifted his hand. “She already sent a monster to the Siren Cove.” He said helpfully. “I’d say she considers the sirens her enemy already.”
“You should make a bargain.” Liam Cruinn, who had been silent until that moment, finally spoke. He said the words as casually as if he were discussing choosing what to eat for lunch.
“A bargain?” Arden spluttered.
“You do want us to aid you in rescuing your mother. Don’t you?” Cormac quirked a brow.
“My mother is Nuada!” Arden’s cheeks turned puce. “She is a god of the Tuatha Dé Danann! The Queen of Air and Darkness! How dare—”
