The Eastern Tidal Lands boil with chaos.
Enemy ships, black-hulled and jagged as broken teeth, slam against the warded waters, their sails dripping shadow like ink across the waves.
SoulTakers pour from them—gaunt, slick-skinned things with eyes like burning coals and mouths full of too many teeth.
My trident hums, alive with storm light.
Power surges through my limbs, but it is wild, untempered, a current I barely know how to ride.
The tentacles that now replace my legs lash instinctively, cracking across the water’s surface and sending one of the nearest vessels spinning sideways.
The shrieks of its crew echo as the tide swallows them whole.
I grit my teeth.
This form is more strength than I ever dreamed possible, but every movement is too much or not enough—like learning to breathe all over again.
My limbs drag with weight one moment and slice with lethal speed the next.
Another ship tries to slip past, its prow angled toward the fishing village of Skell’s Cove.
I slam the trident down, summoning a wall of water that rises in a glittering arc.
It crashes over the deck, snapping masts, tossing SoulTakers into the deep where sharks and sea tigers wait with hungry maws.
So far, I’ve held them.
None have reached the shore.
But the strain gnaws at me.
For every vessel shattered, three more loom on the horizon.
A SoulTaker launches itself directly at me, wings slick and dripping shadow, its claws outstretched.
I twist, awkward but fast, one massive tentacle catching it midair and whipping it down into the surf.
My trident spears through its chest a heartbeat later.
The body dissolves into black foam, leaving only the stink of rot.
I roar, but it’s not entirely human—the sound that rips from my throat is deeper, older, something the sea itself echoes back.
It rattles the bones of the enemy ships, makes even my own warriors pause mid-stroke.
I don’t care. All I care about is holding this line.
Because behind me, miles away, Phoebe is waiting.
My thoughts circle her even as I strike, even as blood and foam churn together in the waves.
She is the anchor to this storm inside me, the reason I do not drown in it.
Nothing will get past me to her.
I force the magic tighter, willing myself to master it. I am not my father’s shadow—I am more.
A Titan of the Sea, yes, but hers most of all.
