Breakwater Page 18

  Ash let out a hiss. “Poison.”

  We had to hurry. We’d been separated less than twelve hours, but I didn’t know how long a poison would take. The only thing I could think was Requiem believed if he married Belladonna, and then killed her, he could take my father’s throne. Icy anger crackled through me.

  Requiem was about to find out there was more than one way to flay a shark.

  “Finley, how many guards are there between here and the . . . party?” I held her hands tightly and didn’t look away while her eyes grew thoughtful.

  “Three in the tower, two at the front gate. That’s all I saw. Lark, we can get to her. We can, I think he put her in a small holding room where she can be sick on her own. I can get you there.” Her eyes were bright with hope. I looked to Ash for guidance.

  “We don’t have a choice,” I said.

  “I know, that doesn’t mean I like it.” He strode to the door and peeked out. “The stairs are wide enough we can fight side by side. Silent and fast, that’s how we’re doing this.”

  I took Finley by the hand. “You stay behind us, understand?”

  She bobbed her head. “I knew you would come for us.”

  I touched her head and then stood and moved to Ash’s side. “Ready.”

  He opened the door and we descended the stairway side by side in a fast crouch. The first guard didn’t even turn around, didn’t even suspect he was about to die. I clamped one hand over his mouth and twisted his neck, spinning his body out so Ash could drive his sword through the guard’s heart.

  Guard two and three were equally oblivious to us. At the bottom of the stairs, I jogged back up half a flight to where Finley waited. Her face was pale as she stared at the headless corpse of guard number three. “He was always nice to me, even when Requiem wasn’t.” A tear trickled down her cheek.

  “I’m so sorry that we have to do this, Finley.” I reached out and brushed the tear away. She nodded. “I know. That’s why you are so good. You don’t want to hurt people. You want to help them.”

  Guilt gnawed at me. That may have been true, but I was about to kill another person to get to Bella. Ash motioned me to him. I gave Finley one last touch on the top of her head, then hurried down the stairs to Ash’s side. He put his mouth right against my ear.

  “Two guards. You go left.”

  I nodded and adjusted my grip on the two daggers, already seeing the move in my head. Overhand downward strike with my right hand driving the blade into the neck, left-handed dagger would come in hard to the kidney. The doors opened inward, and we yanked them fast, leaping through the space.

  True to what Finley remembered, there were only two guards.

  But they were both Enders.

  My first blow to the neck bounced off the spinning machete that deflected it. My left-handed blow did connect, but not in the kidney. The dagger tore through the muscles in his side, pulling a grunt from the Ender, but nothing more. I let myself unbalance and go to my knees. The Ender, Carp I thought his name was, loomed over me, sneering. “You Terralings are so damn weak.”

  I hung my head and didn’t look up as I swung with my right hand again, cutting through his hamstring. He went down with a surprised yowl that made me cringe. At least the music and laughter from the party was loud enough that he might not be heard.

  Then there was no thought for how loud or quiet we were. Carp came at me like an enraged walrus, limping but still driving me back with the machete’s longer reach. The snarl on his lips said it all. He was furious. I flipped the right dagger up, spun it, caught the handle, and threw it at him. The blade buried deep into his left cheek. He gagged and yanked it out, slicing his face open in the process.

  I didn’t wait for him to catch his breath. Leaping, I body slammed him, driving us both to the ground. Not unlike what I’d planned for Ash when I’d climbed onto the balcony. Except Ash had been ready for me. Carp was not.

  I landed on his chest and we hit the pebbled road hard. Several of his ribs cracked underneath our combined weight and landing force, the snap of them loud enough to leave no doubt they were broken clean through. I whipped my second dagger out and swept it toward his heart.

  “Please don’t kill me, I don’t stand with Requiem,” he bubbled out past the blood and fear. His eyes pled with me, lips smeared red.

  “But you do, or you would not have allowed me to be taken. You would have fought for me if you stood with me,” Finley said behind me. I held the dagger steady, the point at the perfect angle that a quick thrust would send it home.

  “Princess,” he whispered. “He threatened to kill us all.”

  “Cowards. It has taken two Terralings you said were weak and useless to show me bravery comes not in a certain bloodline. But in the strength of one person’s heart.”

  I couldn’t drive the dagger home now, not in front of the princess. Because despite her wise words, she was not even a teenager. Even though she was born to rule, she did not need to see a cold-blooded death. I flipped Carp over and, using his own belt, tied his hands and feet together then rolled him into the tower.

  Ash dragged the limp body of the other Ender in behind me. I noted that his opponent still breathed. We shared a look that said it all. There was enough trouble with how things had gone down in the Pit. We didn’t need to double those issues by doing the same thing in the Deep. We stripped them of their weapons and barred the doors from the outside for an added measure, though I doubted the two guards would be going anywhere fast.

  Finley pointed at the party. “Requiem is gone, I saw him leave. But he didn’t take Belladonna with him; hurry.” She bolted away, her billowy blue skirts dancing in the wind. I ran after her thinking I would catch up to her before she got to the crowd. She slipped between people and I was forced to shove my way in. Undine’s pulled away from me, their eyes wide and I knew what they saw. An Terraling covered in blood and gore, her hair wild, weapons in her hands. Again.

  “Get out of my way.” I elbowed a woman too stunned to move and too wide to get around as fast as I wanted.

  She fell to her butt and when she did, I stared at the scene in front of me. Belladonna was sitting on Requiem’s lap. Her face was streaked with black, the kohl rimming her eyes having run with tears. Requiem didn’t seem to care. Behind him hung a body, stripped of its flesh, green hair still attached, the twins huddling beneath it, their bodies shivering in what I could only assume was shock.

  And Finley? She strode right up to Requiem, spun, and pointed at me. “I name Lark my champion, and you will face her, or be banished as is our creed.”

  Holy mother goddess, what had Finley done?

  CHAPTER 19

  equiem tipped back his head and roared with laughter. “Finley, you are so damn feisty. At least we know our father’s blood runs hot and true.” He gave Belladonna’s left breast a squeeze so hard his knuckles turned white, and her face paled. He looked straight at me as he did it.

  Rage lit me up like a shooting star and I grabbed hold of my connection to the earth, letting it run through me.

  Except I wasn’t really seeing what he was doing. Didn’t register the blue ticks of magic flowing up his hand until the wave caught me and pulled me into the central tank, once again. I went down, deep, felt something bump me. Knew what it was—one of Requiem’s pets. If I never saw another shark again, it would be too damn soon.

  My connection to the earth was still there, still humming along my synapses, and I wasn’t about to let my fear take control.

  If I could break down sandstone, break down glass, into finite components of earth then surely I could put the process into reverse. I swam to the surface as I pulled on the sand below us, forming it into a spear. I saw the dark torpedo shape swimming fast toward me and I flicked my hand, sending my sand spear straight up through it.

  The shark’s body exploded as the spear nearly cut it in half. I let the spear drop and reform as a second shark dove for the kill. Twice more I sliced the sharks until none were left. Or at least, none left alive.

  I swam to the edge. The tank was smooth, impossible to get out of. Except it was made of sandstone too. I drove my fingers into the tank, expecting there to be some resistance.

  It was like putting my hand into clay that formed up around my fingers. I climbed out of the water swiftly and onto the throne room floor. Calling the earth’s power, I drew the sand up and hardened it over the water, sealing the edges. Finley grinned at me and waved. “You see, Requiem? She is my champion. Now, face her or be banished!”

  Requiem all but flung Belladonna away from him and into Ash. He caught her and pulled her farther away. I caught his eye and he gave me a nod. I would be on my own for this fight. A challenge was a challenge. Requiem noticed none of that as he glared at Finley.

  “This is not my first challenge, wife.”

  She tipped her tiny chin up. “I know. But it will be your last.”

  Oh, if only I had the confidence she did. Requiem stalked toward me. “When I kill you, I think I will have to kill my young bride too. I didn’t realize how devious she was.”

  “You weren’t the only one she outsmarted.” I sidled to the left, over the covered tank. I only had the two daggers I’d started with, and the tiny thin dagger of Ash’s tucked inside my vest. Finley had made the final bid for her throne, and it had put not only her life on the line, but mine, Ash’s, and Belladonna’s.

  All or nothing, I had no choice but to kill Requiem.

  “I’m disappointed, Lark,” Requiem said softly, almost as if he were still trying to seduce me. “I thought you and I were going to get to know each other much better. Your sister, she’s a grand champion in bed, but you with those long legs and Ender stamina . . . we could have had fun together.”

  I lunged forward, catching him off guard, sending him stumbling back over his own feet. “Enough talking. Fight or leave. Those are your choices.”

  Snarling, he came at me. At least I’d taken care of his familiars. He couldn’t toss me back into the water and hope they would take me out. He no longer had that leg up on me. He stopped suddenly and backed away. “I will not fight you with weapons.”

  He lifted his hand and I saw the intent this time. I dropped to the ground as the wind surged around us, throwing people left and right. He was strong, but undisciplined. Untaught.

  “Couldn’t get anyone to show you the ropes without giving away you were a half-breed?” I yelled over the wind. The intensity of the gale picked up, people screamed and debris flew through the air. I focused on the power of the earth, letting it run through me and hold me to the ground. I hoped Ash was doing the same. Requiem had lots and lots of “oomph”, but zero finesse.

  I understood that problem far better than I liked to admit.

  The wind died as suddenly as it had started and I rose slowly to my feet. Requiem glared at me as if it were my fault his little fit hadn’t gone according to plan.

  He ran at me, and I met him in the middle. So much for no weapons. Our blades clanged off one another, sending sparks into the night air. Behind him, I saw a flicker of gray and white dart across to the podium where the thrones sat.

  Peta.

  Requiem kicked out, catching me in the knee. My joint popped out and I screamed as I went down, the pain stunning me. It was only when I looked down at me knee that I understood why it was so bad. Requiem had spikes in the toe of his boots. Tiny shark teeth that were black to match.

  “The poison will take you slowly, painfully,” he crouched beside me as a spasm rocked my body. I arched, unable to stop the motion, which thrust my breasts up toward Requiem.

  But he didn’t touch me. “Your man, Ash. You weren’t really fighting with him, were you? What a clever ruse to send him into the cells to find your ambassador. I must say, you would have been a far finer catch than Belladonna if you were anything but an Ender.”

  My teeth chattered hard, but I felt the poison dissipating already. Griffin’s necklace was doing its job. But I forced my body to stay arched, to keep shaking.

  To keep up the ruse.

  “Nothing to say now, Princess?” He turned his head, his eyes going wide as a blur of white and gray bowled him over. I scrambled up, grabbed my dagger, and climbed his body as a snow leopard who could only be Peta’s other form, held him down by the throat. Her canines drove in deep, tearing through the flesh. Blood spurted in great sprays, staining her coat.

  I lowered my dagger. “And he shall be killed by the one who carries the tooth of the great cat.” Blue had been wrong, it hadn’t been a griffin tooth, but a leopard tooth she’d seen in her dream.

  Requiem’s eyes bugged as he stared at me, lifted his hands once, and a flicker of magic coursed along them. I softened the ground under him and pushed him down, encasing his hands in the sand that I quickly formed into glass. Rage lit his eyes, then left as his life bled out of him. His eyelids drooped closed and the breath eased out of him.

  Peta gave him one last shake and then dropped him, spitting out his blood. “Filthy water brat.” She glared at me, her intense green eyes narrowed to mere slits. “Don’t think I did this to help you.”

  I held up my hands. “Never. But thank you, just the same. Is your master—”

  “Killed. Not that he didn’t deserve it. And now I must go back to the mother goddess and explain I’ve lost another of her children. . .” She shook her head, spotted coat rippling as she shifted into her smaller form. With a flick of her whit-tipped tail, she left me standing over Requiem’s still warm body.

  The world was silent only for a moment.

  Finley raised her hands. “I declare this a day of independence. A day of freedom for all.”

  The crowd around us cheered, and for the first time they truly sounded happy. They hated Requiem, but they feared him more.

  Finley stepped forward, and I bowed to her. She was no mere child. She was a queen in the making, and a damn tricky one too. “Your majesty, I believe the throne is yours.”

  She glanced at Belladonna who still sat with Ash, unseeing near the throne. “Your sister won’t contest it?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think that will be an issue.”

  Around us the crowd shifted into a wild dancing mob that lifted Finley above their heads. “Release my Enders from the cells at once!” she cried out. I watched her for a moment before going to my sister. Belladonna stared past me, her gray eyes clouded as if she saw things that weren’t there. She was barely covered in a thin piece of turquoise material that was completely sheer. Requiem and his damn games.

  I touched her hand, shocked at how cold her skin was despite the warmth of the air. “Bella, it’s time to go home.”

  She blinked slowly, her fingers tightening around mine for a split second before flinging my hand away from her. Her mouth hardened. “Do not ever call me Bella again.”

  I stood, trying not to feel the hurt of her words, stepped back, and gave her a bow from my waist. “Ambassador. It is time to return to the Rim.” Was this just a ruse for the Undines? Or had something happened while I’d been trying to get to her?

  Belladonna stood and smoothed her hands over her dress. “I can’t return home in this.”

  “Here . . .” Ash stepped beside me, holding out a thick piece of dark cloth that sparkled with silver bits woven into it. “Ambassador, will you allow me to help you with this?”

  Her chin came up and she gave a slight nod. Ash wrapped it around her body and then handed me the ends, I finished the job, wrapping her body in the silver colored material, tying it off at her hip.

  Belladonna glanced down at my handy work. “Now take me home. Immediately.”

  We didn’t argue with her. Ash led the way, cutting through the crowd. I walked behind Belladonna, my mind struggling with everything that had happened. Putting the pieces together of why and what were easy in some ways. Requiem had wanted to rule the Deep, but he’d also been laying the groundwork for a bloodline that would have ruled the entire world of elementals.

  I thought about the ring Cassava had worn, how it had allowed her to control people by using Spirit. What would have happened if Requiem had gotten his hands on that? A full body shudder wracked me and I put my mind away from that. I’d hidden the ring myself in a place no one would look. A place that would remain hidden.

  Still, the thought crossed my mind that if there was one ring, would there be another; maybe there really was one for each elemental family. The legends said there were, but . . . I stuttered to a stop as my mind latched onto the idea that maybe Requiem wasn’t a half-breed. Maybe he’d had a ring like Cassava. “Wait.”

  Belladonna and Ash turned around to stare at me. She raised an eyebrow. “We are leaving.”

  I touched my armband. “Not without this, you aren’t. Wait here, I have to check something.” I bolted the way we’d come, weaving through the courtyard and back into the throne room. Most of the Undines had dispersed and those left were pointedly not looking at Requiem’s body.

  He hadn’t been moved and lay face up, eyelids closed and blood over his chest and neck. I approached him carefully, hoping my hunch was wrong. Which was a funny thing because if he was a powerful half-breed, he should have been more frightening. Yet the idea of multiple rings that could control the elements terrified me. In the wrong hands, they would become weapons by which the wrong people could take power with ease.

  Like Requiem.

  Like Cassava.

  I crouched by his body and lifted up his left hand. No rings. I scooped the right hand up, no rings there, either. A sigh of relief escaped me and I bowed my head.

  “Lark,” Belladonna said. “What are you looking for?”

  She stood there and I stared up at her, at the stone hanging from her throat, the gray flecks within the smoky diamond that matched her eyes so well. I stood, unable to take my eyes from it. “Did Requiem . . . give you that?” I pointed at the necklace and her hand rose to it, fear lacing her eyes.

  “No, I took it. It’s the least I can have for . . . what happened.” Defiance mingled with the fear, and I closed my eyes, searching for the right words.