Breakwater Read online

  The thundering of wind and a massive pressure change in the air like an incoming storm roared toward us, and the water swelled. Our boat was propelled forward with a speed I could never match rowing. I crouched and cradled Belladonna to my chest. “They’re taking us in. We’ll get you to a healer.” Again, I could only hope I was not feeding her a lie. I really had no idea what was going on, but good or ill, we were about to find out.

  The water shifted again and a mist rose, hiding us. I could see nothing ahead, nothing below. The fog grew so thick I barely could make out the lines of Belladonna’s face even though my head was tucked next to hers.

  This was the fog that hid the Deep, and we were going through it.

  Evaporating as quickly as it appeared, the mist was gone and all around, spires shot up through the water, glistening, lit from within. I counted seven that rivaled our Spiral for size on the exterior. Made up of coral and glass, the Deep glittered like diamonds.

  Even with Belladonna’s life hanging on the line, I couldn’t help but stare at the beauty that unfolded. Ornate fountains rising thirty feet into the air pulsed with water and tiny fish that jumped and leapt as they cascaded into the wading pools lit with glowing phosphorescence. Brilliantly colored reefs made up the lower portion of the city. Pinks, blues, greens, and purples blended into one another. Though the lower buildings closest to the water were humble and simply made, the main portion of the island was built in a circular manner, tiered spirals reaching hundreds of feet into the sky. Each spiral glittered as though sprinkled with glittering jewels.

  Our tiny boat drove through the waterway in the center of the city, stopping against a dock. A tall, whip-lean man waited for us. A man I knew and almost trusted.

  When I’d met him, he’d been kind, and I could only hope that kindness was not false. He reached down and helped me out as I held Belladonna to my chest. “I recognized your voice, Lark. Otherwise, we would not have let you in.”

  “No time for niceties. Someone’s pet took a chunk out of her leg.”

  He nodded, his face grim. “Dark times, Lark. You have chosen to visit in very dark times.” Dolph led the way up the dock and through an archway that took us deeper into the city. “What are you doing here, Lark?”

  “I’m here as the Ender for our ambassador and princess, Belladonna.” I didn’t want to say too much. I didn’t know if I could trust Dolph. I wanted to. He had taught me in the few short months I’d trained to become an Ender. But now he was on the other side of a divide from me—an Ender I might have to face in order to protect my charge.

  I felt like I was playing a game with rules I didn’t know. Or maybe there were no rules.

  Dolph didn’t ask any more questions, and a minute later, we pushed through a set of doors that led into the healers’ room.

  The healers rushed forward, not caring we weren’t from their family. That was the beauty of a healer—they wanted to help, regardless of the family or race. I let them take Belladonna and lay her on a bed. Her blood splashed across the white sheets; a shot of color that stood out in a brilliant spray.

  “We can wait outside. The healers will take care of her,” Dolph said quietly.

  I shook him off. “No. I will wait here.” I swung my spear point down and leaned against it. “Thank you, Dolph. She would have died.”

  His turquoise eyes met mine. “I know. That was the plan. Be wary, Ender Larkspur. You and your charge are most certainly not welcome here, no matter what you were told.”

  I snorted softly as he left, and pulled the note out of my vest. Requiem wanted us here. Whoever he was. I crumpled it in my hand. Games of life and death, moves and countermoves, and goddess-be-damned politics. This was not my world, and I hated trying to navigate it. As I stood there, a sudden gratitude flowed through me for my upbringing. If I’d grown up in the Spiral with my siblings, I wouldn’t have been trained for this; perhaps it was a blessing wrapped in hardship I hadn’t seen. Sort of exactly what the mother goddess said not long ago.

  Belladonna moaned on the table as the healers worked on her leg. They pieced it together quickly, and it hit me that the speed at which they worked spoke of dealing with shark bites on a regular basis.

  One of the healers, a woman with the same green-tinged hair and webbed hands as Dolph, came to me. She was a little shorter than my six feet, but not by much. “Your ambassador will be fine, and now we must insist you go. She will be safe here.”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” I stared her down and waited while she struggled to pull herself together. My eyes, one gold, one green, disturbed people. They marked me as “other,” and “other” was not respected in our world.

  “Ayu.”

  “Well, Ayu, until my ambassador releases me to leave, I’m not moving from this spot.” I smiled at her, but I knew I was swimming in dangerous waters. Ayu’s eyes narrowed and two spots of bright purple bloomed high on her cheeks.

  “I am the First Healer. Do you dare doubt my word?”

  I continued to smile, though my words were anything but pleasant. “We were just attacked by someone’s familiars after being welcomed to the Deep. Forgive me if I don’t trust you.”

  Her body jerked as if I’d slapped her. “Someone welcomed you?”

  I shoved the crumpled note at her. She took it, smoothed it out, and I watched her carefully. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped as she read. Good sign? I didn’t think so.

  “Where is he? I’d like to speak with him about his welcome.”

  “He . . .” Her eyes lifted and then looked past me, widening farther. I spun, spear swirling in front of me, stopping at the throat of a beefy looking Undine. Unlike the whip-thin Dolph, the man behind me rippled with muscles and had a mouth full of teeth that grinned at me. His eyes, though, were jet black, not unlike those of the sharks we’d faced a short time past. He slid into the room, avoiding my blade.

  “Ah, cousin, please. You can put your weapon away.”

  I didn’t lower the spear, despite his invocation of the familiar ‘cousin.’ All elementals thought of each other as distant branches of the same family. And just like most families, we didn’t always get along. I stepped sideways, blocking him from getting to Bella. “I think I’ll keep it out until you tell me who you are and why you set your familiars on us.”

  The room went quiet except for the soft moan of my sister on the table.

  He spread his hands. “My familiars have minds of their own, as they all do. You would know that if you had one yourself.”

  I glared at him. The insult was subtle. I wasn’t strong enough to have been given a familiar. The more familiars an elemental had, the stronger they were. We’d had three sharks trying to take us down.

  Which meant this one was going to be a problem.

  “I don’t care if you have a dozen sharks, you should be able to control your familiars.”

  His grin widened and the resemblance between him and his familiars deepened. Yeah, this guy was not cool. “My name is Requiem. And I am about to be crowned the King of the Deep. A bastard, I’ll admit, but that doesn’t make me any less of an heir to the throne, does it . . . Larkspur?”

  While I didn’t lower the tip of my spear, my mind reeled from the information, and the fact he knew me and my status. “You welcome us here, then try to kill us?”

  “Your ambassador put on quite a power show causing the tsunami. How do I know she isn’t here to wipe us all out? I have to protect my people. The best way to do that is for you to put yourself into danger. Which you did quite nicely, by the way.”

  He thought Belladonna had caused the earthquake. That was probably for the best; if they thought she was powerful, they would be more careful with her. We slowly shifted around the room, mirroring each other’s steps as he tried to get an open shot past me. “You aren’t getting any closer to her and you didn’t answer my question. Why welcome then try to kill us?”

  “A woman with that kind of power should not be allowed to roam without someone holding her reins.” He slid his hand down and grabbed his crotch.

  “Sea slime,” Ayu whispered behind me.

  I had to agree.

  Requiem paced closer to me, and I could feel the rest of the room shift back. They were afraid of him, the tension rising with each step he took. He reached out and touched the healer closest to him, running his hand down her neck to cup her breast, squeezing the nipple. “These are my people. I will do what I wish here.”

  I didn’t back down, just shifted my stance and thrust my spear around to point not at his belly, or even his neck. I tucked it up between his legs with a swift flick of my wrist, pressing it through the material of his pants. He dropped his hand from the healer and she scuttled away, well out of his reach. His eyes dropped to the spear tip and then rose to my face. “You are a brassy one, aren’t you?”

  “You have no idea, but I do believe you and I aren’t done,” I said. “Get out of here. You’re bothering the healers.”

  “You can’t protect them all, and certainly not them and your ambassador. Who will you choose? I’m so very glad you are here, Larkspur. I’ve been bored, and I do believe I’m looking forward to playing with you and your ambassador.” He stepped back, his hands spread wide. “Welcome, little Terraling, welcome to the Deep.”

  CHAPTER 6

  fter the show Requiem and I put on, the healers seemed more than happy to have me stay. Ayu brought me a steaming hot drink that was salty and sweet, and I gulped it down, pausing only for a moment to nod and say, “Thank you.”

  “The least we can do. No one stands up to him, Ender. That you did, that is worthy of respect and a hot drink.” She gave me a wink, but the lines etched around her eyes showed how much strain she was under.

  I looked over my shoulder, for a minute forgetting that “Ender” was my title now. “He is the bastard son of the king who died?”

  “Yes, though there are rumors about how the king died—”

  “Ayu, hush, you’ll get us killed, or worse, banished!” Another of the healers spoke in undertones as she tended Belladonna. We were the only ones in the infirmary, but still they all acted like other elementals listened in. Maybe they were. Ayu shook her head, her hair bound up with sea kelp and dotted with tiny starfish that danced lightly as she moved.

  “It is common knowledge. The king was healthy, robust, and well loved. He went to bed one night and didn’t wake the next morning. His body was shriveled as though he were a thousand years dead, not a few hours.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Requiem took over immediately, citing the Deep could not wait for the heir to come of age.”

  I downed the last of my drink and let out a slow breath. “And there is no one who could stand against him? The proper heir is too weak?”

  Ayu shook her head. “I have said enough. Drink and flee. You do not want to be on the receiving end of Requiem’s games.”

  With Belladonna out cold, I needed to move fast and Ayu’s advice was good. The quicker we got the information we needed and left, the better. “We were sent to observe, to find out who our king should back if it came to a full out war.”

  Ayu shook her head slowly. “There is no real choice, and there will be no war. Requiem has only to wait until his sister dies and then he will have the throne.”

  I frowned into my empty cup. “His sister is sick? Why is she not here with you then?”

  All three healers turned away. I grabbed Ayu before she could move from me. “Tell me.”

  She jerked out of my hand. “No. It is forbidden. Requiem will soon be the king and we must learn to live with his rules no matter how we may hate it.”

  Worm shit and green sticks, this was turning out to be more of a mess than even Ash and my father thought. “And the other ambassadors? They were killed by Requiem?”

  The other two healers left the room tripping over themselves and each other to get away. Leaving just me, Ayu, and Belladonna. Ayu wiped a hand over her face. “Get away, Ender. Take your ambassador and get out of here as quickly as you can. Do you understand me?”

  I nodded; she was right. The visit had been anything but sweet, but I was going to keep it short. “Is she well enough to travel?”

  “No, but she won’t die. The wound is stitched together and will take time to heal. Take her, go. And . . . thank you for trying to protect us. Even our own Enders won’t face him now.”

  Chills swept through me as Ayu left through a door in the back of the room, the soft click of the latch closing the only sound. I strode to my sister. “Bella, wake up, it’s time to go.”

  “Lark, I just want to sleep. Leave me alone.” She flung an arm over her eyes. I grabbed a sheet and wrapped it around her.

  “Be quiet. We’re leaving, right now.” I leaned in and scooped her up into my arms, doing my best not to jostle her leg. Still, she moaned and bit her lip, tears tracing down her cheeks. Eyes fluttering open, the gray of the iris dark with pain, she stared up at me. “You didn’t let me die.”

  “Why would I do that?” I didn’t look at her as I peered out the doorway. I’d not paid attention to the direction we’d come. I’d been too damned concerned with Bella.

  “Because I’m an awful person. Because I am my mother’s daughter.”

  I did glance down at her then. “No, you’re not. You’re my sister and no matter what, I will always look out for you. And I choose to believe you would do the same for me.”

  She sobbed against my chest. “Lark, I’m so sorry.” The adrenaline rush that came with being injured was leaving her, which only gave way to more tears and blubbering words.

  “Shut it. Right now, we have to find our way out.” I stumbled through the hallways until I made it to an open courtyard. A waterway ran on my left, boats bobbing in the dark of the night.

  I looked down a cobbled road, eyeing up the route. The sound of waves against rocks drew me to the left. I would follow the waterway back to the docks; that would be the best way. Belladonna wasn’t heavy, but she was a solid girl, and as we walked the fatigue of the day caught up to me. The explosion of my power into the earth, the rowing, the fight with the sharks, and now this—I had taken three wrong turns and had to backtrack, only increasing how long it was taking. My arms shook as I struggled to keep her from tumbling to the pebbled road. I leaned against a wall, breathing hard. “Bella, listen to me. I’m going to put you down. Then I’m going to run and see which direction we need to take. I’ll come back for you, just don’t move. Okay?” I helped her sit between two buildings. Her gray eyes filled with pain and yet I could see the trust in them.

  “Lark, we don’t know anything yet!”

  I grabbed her face and forced her to look at me. “They tried to kill us both, Belladonna. Would you stay and let them succeed? Requiem is running the show here, and there is nothing we can do about that. I am in charge of your safety and I say it’s time to go.”

  “What about the Pit? Fiametta will take you.”

  So she knew about that. I let her go and rubbed a hand over my face. “Your life before mine, Ambassador.”

  Her eyes widened and she slowly nodded. “Be careful,” she whispered. I stood and sprinted from her. Without the burden of her body weighing me down, I could find our way out. Four quick turns, a dash across an open courtyard, and I was at the docks. No one was moving around outside of their homes, which should have been a good thing. But all I could think was why the hell wasn’t there a single person out and about. It was dark, but not late, surely not past midnight.

  Scurrying forward, keeping low to the ground, I reached our boat. Loosening the knots that held it tightly to the shore, I made sure the oars were set up and ready. Satisfied I’d prepped it as much as I could, I bolted back the way I’d come. Across the courtyard, turning right, left, left.

  Belladonna was not where I’d put her. “Bella,” I whispered as loud as I dared. I searched the ground where I’d sat her down, and my body grew cold with a certainty. There was no blood trail, which meant she hadn’t gotten up and walked away.

  Someone had picked her up and carried her. The scuff of a foot on the stone was the only warning I had. Spinning, I had my spear pointed out as I stepped into the thrust—I saw Dolph’s wide eyes at the last second. I turned my wrist and the blade cut through the air an inch away from slicing through his skull.

  I pulled myself up, but didn’t put my weapon away. “Where is she?”

  “Requiem has her. And he requests that you attend them.”

  “Tell me you don’t follow him.” I couldn’t believe it of Dolph. For the little I knew him, I had a hard time seeing him side with Requiem. Dolph seemed so level headed. So . . . good.

  “We all do what we must. But if it makes you feel better, I side with Finley. She is the king’s legitimate daughter.” Dolph crooked a finger and I had no choice but to follow him. Finley . . . so that was the other heir to the throne—the rightful heir.

  Once more, Dolph led me around the maze of buildings, over two low arched bridges. and finally into an open coliseum. Circular and tiered, opened to the night sky, it was full of Undines. That explained why there was no one at the docks. Around us the spires rose high into the sky. The tallest stood as sentinels farthest away, bridges glittering between them. Another set of spires encircled, closer and shorter than the others, and a third set even closer loomed above. Undines hung from windows in the closest spires, staring down at us.

  I caught a glimpse of Ayu in the stands closest to the circular coliseum—saw her eyes as she looked away. Pity and sorrow had been heavy in that one glance. Not really a good sign, and not something I chose to dwell on.

  Ahead of me, Requiem stood at a podium a foot above the main floor. Belladonna was beside him, shaking and trembling. Her wound had broken open, but it wasn’t gushing. Her face was pale though and the way her eyes glossed over I knew she was close to passing out.