Chapter 31

Chapter

Thirty-One

CORDELIA

I t was quiet and serene and dark.

So very dark.

The second the High King had been killed, his army of Raken had disintegrated, his magic no longer puppeteering their depreciated bodies. Just like his body, that power he encapsulated was extinguished from our realm. Medies no longer plagued the earth or those he had exchanged his power with.

It was a staggering relief.

Now with that corrupt ruler's throat ripped out, the realm was ours once more.

All of Ladon and Atrium were free. The Circadian Sea was free and that meant my mother and father had to be free.

That's why instead of celebrating that bastard's demise with my treasure in Menodore, I was back in that cursed ship outside of Gambriel.

But now it was peaceful, no other bodies of fish milling about and being sucked in by that darkness. No murky tendrils latched onto my tail or shredded into my scales. There was also no light, no luring luminescent call that first drew me in.

Both my palms began to glow, the magic blessed by Kano lighting my path towards the crumbling vessel. When Emrys opened the portal of shadowfire for me in the north, I had told myself that I would tread carefully in the retrieval of my parents. Reports from other Sirens and creatures of Circadian had noted the sea levels rising, their waves becoming larger and stronger.

I knew that the sea was angry, her rily temperament easily agitated. Durreos Seraphim had stolen from her, had intertwined that vile magic with her very depths. He had tried to corrupt her, tried to get her to turn her back on the very creatures she had created.

So I knew to pace myself, to not fight against that sullen current.

Nevertheless, my reminders could be damned because the second my scales bloomed across my flesh and my humanoid legs turned to one, long fin, I was shooting through the Circadian. I sliced through the waves as my gills flared in a hysteria and my pupils expanded to see through the darkness.

And the further I swam, the more anxious I became. More futile thoughts flooded in like a tidal wave.

What if my parents were no longer there? What if the High King had placed them somewhere else? What if they were still there but I couldn't get to them? What if they were gone… truly gone?

My heart cracked along with one of the wooden planks as my cerulean tail battered against it in a rush. A soft, sweet, and lyrical voice made my ears twitch, the sound too clear to be a mortal within these waters. It was resounding and serene, like a harmonization with the Circadian Sea itself. Glittering blue magic shimmered in my outstretched hands, but even with my shifted sight and magic, I couldn't see but a few feet in front of me.

Next came a chorus of mournful voices, their frail throng threading through the depths. They sounded minuscule and cramped and hushed but numerous. Like there were hundreds of them and they were being muffled by something— no— by someone.

Golden paint chips floated up gracefully, my opalescent light making them shine like metallic scales. The large mirror still lay upon the ship's deteriorating floor, its glass cracked and unusable. The voices continued their wistful symphony as my hand began to tremble, noticing that no reflection of myself or my power stared back at me through the cursed mirror.

No ruddy eyes or even a washed-out likeness of them.

Its fissures still looked deep and shredding, but no crimson seeped between the cracks. That sorrowsome chorus lingered, making my heart ache as I reached out to trace one of the lines. The High King was gone indeed, his corrupt magic with him, and I feared the worst… That my parents were gone too.

A webbed hand stayed lit with my magic while the other felt the jagged edges of the glass, now completely dull to the touch.

My gills contracted, my breath stuttering as one of those cracks grew wider, my taloned fingers moving through the mirror. I didn't even have time to scream before something grabbed my fingertips, their strength tugging me forward and towards the shattered mirror. No reflection showed the terror upon my face, my skull directed towards the glass.

Only I didn't crash against the enchanted mirror but instead went through, yanked by someone on the other side.

Balmy air hit me first, its sulfuric taste making my head spin. I landed on chilled cobblestones, my tail flapping uselessly as my gills and body began to shift to accommodate the air. I was gasping and coughing, my throat dry with this horrid, bitter taste on my tongue. "Cord?" a comforting voice filtered through, a soft hand pushing back my plastered curls. "Thank the Goddess."

My eyes popped open and I was still sputtering from the portal mirror as I took in the Queen of the Circadian, Kailani Mare.

My mother.

Tears streamed down my face, making the sea water coating it even saltier. Her shape began to blur between the tears but I could still make out her deep, brown skin that was littered with colorful scenic tattoos of her adventures. Those bright blue eyes, the twins to my own, gazed down at me with love. Little specks of brown floated in her irises, her humanity shining through even in her bound Siren form. Her usually rounded face was gaunt, hollowed out cheekbones making her look drastically different.

Even her opalescent tail was practically lifeless and limp, the fins cut at jagged, serrated angles.

If the High King wasn't already dead, I would've boiled his blood for what he had done to my mother. Within seconds, I could see her malnourished form and the iron chains restraining her wrists and magic.

That sadistic bastard needed his throat to be ripped out a hundred times over.

"Cordy?" A male's deep timbre went through the cavernous space and had me sitting up with elation, murderous thoughts pushed to the side.

No words came out, only another sob as I took in my father and his depleted form. My father was large for a human, his hulking body towering over even some High Fae males. He had strength and muscles galore from his time as a human fisherman before he Mated with my mother. Even in his Siren form, he was broad, his massive tail needed to support his lumbering body.

But this male before me was like a ghost of the one I once knew, his tanned skin now pale and placid. His light brown hair was matted, unruly pieces sticking out in every direction.

But his eyes were the same.

Soft and light blue. Like a summer day's sky rather than the deep blue of our sea.

Calder's chains rustled as he wrapped them around me, his weakened arms encasing me and making my heart pound with rage.

I didn't know what my parents had gone through here, didn't know what horrors they'd faced, but that bloodlust simmering inside of me began to boil over; my predatory instinct was to maim and kill those who hurt my loved ones.

My father pulled back from our embrace, but not too far, his hands bound behind my back as he whispered, "We've been so worried about you, guppy."

Another sob burst out at my dad's nickname for me—he'd called me that since I was nothing but a tiny fish in this vast ocean. Shaking my already dry curls, I looked between him and my mother. "Worried about me? I've been looking for you for months!"

Kailani gulped, her gilled throat retracting, "Months?" She looked at Calder with wide, panicked eyes.

He lifted his weakened arms over me, and I could finally make out their prison cell. The stone floor was cold and damp, a direct contrast to the humid air. The walls were also made of stone, their black edges jagged and threatening. Iron bars were fixed behind me, the rods going up to the ceiling of the cavern.

Moans sounded off around me, their desperate pleas for help echoing throughout the cave—the same ones that I heard through the mirror just moments before.

Beyond both my parents was a brick-layered well, the scent of salt water lingering from inside. It was a sizable reservoir, and could easily fit a great white shark through it without a scratch. Our bodies required the Circadian's minerals, and our immortal life spans were powered by the Goddess Kano and the sea herself.

He clearly didn't want my parents dead, the large well filled with just enough water to keep them from fully perishing.

My voice rang out over the soft wails, "Where are we?"

Kailani and Calder stopped their quiet, spooked conversation. My father spoke first, his deep voice filled with his misfortune, "One of the High King's holding cells."

"But something's changed," the Queen of the Sea drummed her webbed fingers on the stones. "There was this release of some kind, people screaming and yelling, the earth shaking and then…" she looked down and tapped a crumbling stone, cracking the pieces to dust.

"And then?" I queried, sizing up the hanging lock outside of the cell's door.

"And then nothing. No more guards, no undead creatures lurking outside our cells. No nothing, " my mother finished, shaking her locs that no longer held her jewels and shells.

It was just as I expected.

The powers the High King had either exchanged or enslaved through Medies had returned to their rightful owners as well, just as Arron Lennox's did when Selene killed Radha. Those trapped here were the people the High King had made his Blood Oaths with and those still living now had their powers back but were shackled by those iron cuffs.

"The High King is dead." I looked between my aghast parents and started smiling, "Ladon and the Circadian are free from him."

Ever since I'd been born within this sea, I was taught to befriend the mortals that walked upon the surface. That they were kind and others were just fearful of unknown creatures like me. But that quickly changed after the Siege of Menodore and that darkness crept into our seas. The High King's culling of Sirens and problematic teachings left my kind to be hunted, but my mother never bowed to his commands.

Our alliance with Menodore had dissolved, the trade between land and sea ending as corrupt rulers stepped in, wishing for my people to be slaughtered.

Both my parents' jaws went slack, eyes widened in shock as my father closed his eyes in disbelief. "We're free from him," I vowed before standing up on my humanoid legs. Palms glowing with luminescent blue, I let my powers ground themselves, having to concentrate harder while surrounded by so much iron.

The pool of sea water shifted and sloshed over the brim, wetting the already damp stones. "What are you doing, Cordelia?" my mother questioned but I could barely hear her over the roaring in my ears, like the roar of a vicious tidal wave. That salty liquid lifted again, more controlled this time as I directed it into a wall of pure, heinous power.

My fingertips were tingling, the glow building brighter and brighter as sweat continued to bead down my back. "Guppy?" that deep voice whispered in disbelief.

Pulling from the well, that wall of angst grew in size, becoming wider, taller, until it reached the roof of the cave. Slowly, I tucked both of my arms towards myself, palms still facing outward as I pivoted on the balls of my feet. With a resounding crash, the tidal wave burst through the iron cell, blowing the metallic door off its hinges.

The cavern was flooded, the well of water still pulling from the ocean. My hands dropped, the magic sputtering out as the Circadian's water settled on the rocky floor. There were no more moans, no more screams or pleas of agony.

Everyone went silent, the only sound was the dripping of the sea off the stones.

My mother's opal tail flicked in the water, her melodic voice confused but proud, "That was one way of getting out of this prison."

Calder was chuckling, his webbed hands floating through the water. "A little forewarning next time would be nice, Cord."

"There's not going to be a next time," I rolled my eyes, exhaustion setting into my bones as moans racketed through the oceanic air once more. My magic didn't harm anyone with its blast but that didn't mean any other survivors in this cavern could swim or handle the frigid chill of the Circadian.

But my mother and I were too alike, her thoughts mirroring my own. She was already gliding to the opening of the cage, my father hot on her tail as they swam through the shallow water.

There was nothing to discuss, not when we all knew what we had to do.

A silent agreement went between us as my mother took the iron keys from the wall and began unlocking the cages, huddled figures shaking inside. My father had disappeared for a moment, his speed in even the shallowest of waters notably great. Within a flash, he had a smaller, golden key in his webbed hand.

The scent of putrid, rotting decay hung from it and I wrinkled my nose. He saw my expression and shuddered, "Don't even ask where I found that." He unchained my mother's wrists first, her magic flooding through her body in a fluorescent light as her muscles filled back in, curves taking their place once more.

The Queen of the Circadian let out a sigh of relief, her power enveloping her. Water rose around her, creating a spherical ball that began twinkling with light.

A portal and our way out.

The male faerie that was hunched over just moments ago looked at the portal with longing in his light gray eyes before looking back towards my mother.

His cuffs remained on, as we didn't know if he was dangerous or not, but my mother would still free him from this hellhole. Kailani nodded at the malnourished male before he sloshed through the water and stepped through the portal, landing wherever my mother willed it.

"Only another few hundred to go," she joked, her voice already lighter and less hollow.

We didn't know how many people were down here, how many were even still alive, but that didn't matter. If it was three hundred people or ten people, we would save as many as we could now that they were released from the Medies.

"We've got a long day ahead of us," my father said with mirth before sliding the key into his own cuffs, the iron splashing into the water.

And indeed we did.