Chapter 3

ChapterThree

This time I don’t have any dreams in the darkness, which I’m thankful for, but I wake up to sharp, agonizing pain as something prods and pokes at my shoulder. I blink my eyes open, taking a second to recognize the male scent.

I mumble, “Lorenzo.”

He sighs in relief, looking more panicked than I’ve ever seen him look, and he cracks a smile. “Thank fuck you’re awake. I thought you were dead for a moment there. You can’t die on me and make me tell my brother you’re dead. No one deserves that fate, little faeling.”

“No dying here. Where is Emerson?” I croak out slowly, trying to smile, but wince as Lorenzo keeps poking at the cuts on my shoulder. Lorenzo’s bright eyes search mine with a smile on his face that doesn’t quite reach all the way across his face to be believable. “Ouch. That hurts. What are you doing?”

“Of course, you ask for my brother instead of asking if you’re going to survive these injuries,” he mutters. “Falling in love clearly means you lose your mind.”

I flinch, still watching as he uses some sort of yellow seaweed on my cuts. I’m guessing he is using it to stop the bleeding before he leans me forward to wrap green string-like weeds around my shoulder to hold them in place. It’s painful but it’s not too much that I can’t handle, and I might be able to move now. I’ve lost a lot of blood, but I can cope. “What is that stuff?”

“It’s called the devil’s string, a fancy seaweed that can stop bleeding for a short time. You were lucky I found some,” he explains, and I eye the dark blue leathers he is wearing that match my own, down to the scales on his chest. “Emerson. Where is he?”

Lorenzo sighs, looking at my arm and clearly seeing it’s broken. “Here, somewhere, no doubt ripping apart this place, looking for you. Now let’s fix that arm. Don’t worry about Emerson. You need to focus on staying awake with the blood loss. Keep talking.”

I tell him about waking up in the water without my weapons and how I can’t use my fire while he uses green reeds to make a strap for my arm and carefully helps me into it, pulling my arm tight to my chest. “You’re good at this. Thank you.”

“I’m used to dealing with injured people,” he tells me. “Even fae, once, when we fought together. Your arm will heal properly. It is already healing, but the cuts are something else. They are still bleeding, which suggests that it’s a magical cut of some kind and we need a healer. What did this?”

I lean my head on his shoulder, and he wraps an arm around me. “It was some sort of monster. It had a big mane made of water and ice teeth. Kind of looked like a cat.”

“Dimactas,” he growls. “Nasty monsters. You’re lucky you survived without your powers or weapons. I’m impressed, little faeling.”

We sit in silence for a moment, knowing I’m in trouble and he can’t fix this on his own. “Where the hell are we? Can’t we call a mirror portal and get out of here?”

Lorenzo looks down at me. “Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we aren’t getting out of here that easily. It’s a long story, but you’ve been entered into the Conquest of the Sea by the Siren King. The Siren King can forcibly enter people into this test as a punishment, and we believe the Fae King asked him to do this in exchange for safety for his people.”

“No one is safe from him, deal or not,” I snap. “That fucking betraying bastard.”

“That, we agree on,” Lorenzo replies.

“What is the Conquest of the Sea? I’ve never heard of it.”

Lorenzo leans his head on mine. “I’m not surprised you haven’t. It’s something that only high-up supernaturals know of, and it’s been kept a secret to make sure it isn’t flooded with people entering and dying. It’s a contest. At the end of it, you get a chance to speak to the god of the sea and water. Sometimes he’ll give you a gift. Not always, mind you. Sometimes he doesn’t find you worthy and kills you anyway. Depends how you win, so I’ve heard, but most people die in here and it’s no joke. One of us has to win so we can all leave.”

I close my eyes at the madness, taking it all in. “You and Emerson entered a deadly test to save me? Are you out of your mind?”

Lorenzo laughs but even he looks serious. “You’re my friend and no doubt sister in the future. Of course I did. Emerson? Like he was ever not going to enter. Zurine, Felix and Nerelyth are also here. Who, by the way, is a new member of the Wyern court.”

I can’t believe they all came for me. They are out of their goddess damned minds.

“Wait, what?” I ask, my eyes wide. “What do you mean? Nerelyth is a new member of the Wyern court?”

“Yes,” he affirms, flicking my hand. “It seems like it’s only you that’s not a member of the Wyern court now.”

I shake my head in complete disbelief, unable to believe it. “She did that for me, didn’t she?”

“Of course she did,” Lorenzo replies with a sigh. “The crazy siren best friend of yours stormed into the throne room, told us all where you were, and made her vow to Em, to the court. She did the speech and everything. Emerson accepted her.”

“Why would he do that?” I question. “She is a siren princess.”

“And she chose you over her family. My brother knows you’re her best friend, and she was brave enough to kneel in front of him, knowing what her father did to you,” he replies. “She has balls, that one. I personally think she will be a great addition to the court. So would you, for the record.”

I chuckle. “It’s one of the reasons I love her, and the record is noted.”

Neither of us say a word for a moment. “I feel like shit, but we need to get out of here. Are you sure we can’t just leave?”

I lift my head as he replies, “No. This cavern is magically sealed. You can’t leave until someone wins the test, and it has to be one of us because everyone else dies if the winner wants it. Whoever wins could ask to make sure all of us get out safely. That would be great.”

“I don’t know. I was going to wish for a nice castle in the sky away from all this trouble,” I joke.

Lorenzo grins. “As long as I can come. Maybe we could have a rule about walking around naked on Wednes—”

“No,” I cut him off, laughing under my breath. “Come on, we need to move.”

“Can you move?” Lorenzo asks, and I look up at his pretty face, expecting to see humor lacing his eyes, but instead there is concern.

“I’m fae, not mortal. I can do this,” I firmly tell him.

“Stubborn, like my brother,” he sighs, moving to the left and kneeling back just as we both hear a strange noise, like a small squeak. I look down at Lorenzo’s pocket of the cloak he has on at the same time he does, where the noise is coming from. “Fuck, I forgot.”

“Real nice, bat asshole,” Posy’s voice fills the tunnel. He reaches into his pocket and picks out a small, little bat. “You forgot me?”

“Posy?” I whisper. “You brought her here?” I ask Lorenzo.

“I was kidnapped by this one, and now where are we? It stinks of salt, water, and blood in here. Oh, it’s just you are bleeding. Never mind,” Posy mutters, leaning up and biting Lorenzo’s hand. He yelps, letting her go, and she flies to my uninjured shoulder. “Where in the witch hell are we? And why does it smell like water? I do not like water,” Posy demands.

“Did you like water in your mortal form? Or did you just stink like your attitude?” Lorenzo demands, rubbing his hand and glaring at her.

“Bite me, asshole,” she replies with snark, but I hear the fear in her voice. I know her too well.

“We aren’t safe, and it’s a long story. You should hide in Lorenzo’s pocket for now,” I tell her. She looks down at me and, for once, she doesn’t argue and flies herself into his pocket.

Lorenzo raises an eyebrow, but he doesn’t say a word about that. “I’m sorry she is here. I went to get her out of the fae court for you, and I completely forgot she was there. She was being a pain in the ass, so I used my magic to knock her out.”

“And you’ll pay for that unless we all die here,” Posy adds from his pocket.

“Tell me about this Conquest,” I ask, ignoring Posy for the time being as we struggle out of here.

Lorenzo wraps his arm under my shoulder. “There’ll be tests. Three tests usually, maybe more. They are all completely random and difficult, even for supernaturals, to survive. Most of the tests are something to do with water, which is not good when none of us can breathe underwater like the sirens. Nerelyth and the other sirens here will have that advantage over us.”

“When I was ten, my local school made everyone learn to swim. I was last in the class, and the instructor said he wouldn’t teach me anymore,” I tell Lorenzo, most to distract from the crippling pain of him pulling me through the tunnel. “I’m a terrible swimmer.”

Lorenzo laughs. “Good to know, not so good for in here, but you’re not alone. I won’t let you drown.”

“Stop,” I pant, and Lorenzo pauses so I can get my breath back. Sweat trickles down my neck, and my shoulder burns. It really burns.

Lorenzo puts his hand on my forehead. “You’re boiling. That cut is infected with something. Fucking hell.”

I want to panic, but I know it won’t help us. “We need to keep moving again.”

Lorenzo rubs his face with his hands. Hands soaked in my dried blood. “I should leave you here where it’s safe enough and find Emerson. Maybe he can heal you enough to keep you alive. He’s more powerful than I am.”

“No,” I wheeze. “We go together.”

Lorenzo’s soft, leaf green eyes search my own before he nods. “Fine, but if you pass out, I will hide you and find Emerson.”

“Deal,” I mutter. Lorenzo helps me out of the tunnel slowly, and every movement makes me want to scream. It’s no longer just my shoulder burning, but it feels like all of my blood in every vein of my body is on fire. Eventually we get to the end, and he pulls me out, holding me to his side as my legs wobble. We both take a second to look around for any danger, especially after what happened to me. I want to shout for Emerson, Zurine, Nerelyth and Felix, but shouting in here will attract far more than just them.

Thankfully, there doesn’t seem to be any monsters here, and everything is quiet other than the falling water and the waves. Endless rocks are spread around the edges of the water. “We should walk around the edges.”

Lorenzo nods in agreement, tightly wrapping his arm around my waist and letting me lean on him because he knows damn well that I can’t walk too well on my own right now, and he can’t carry me in case we get attacked. We walk in silence for so long I find myself needing conversation to distract from the pain and darkness inching into the corners of my eyes. “Louie was taken into the Rift.”

Lorenzo briefly pauses, and when he looks down, his eyes are a mixture of sadness and anger. “Who the fuck would send him there? The Fae King?”

“Yes,” I whisper. “He lied to me. Louie was never in the castle; he was one of the first children taken, and I didn’t realize. I had a weird dream of Louie in the Rift, and I’m worried. The longer he is there, the more damage is done. I might not find the boy I consider a brother anymore. The Rift… there is no good in that place.”

“Maybe it’s not all bad,” Lorenzo says, no doubt trying to give me hope. “You emerged from the Rift, and you are not a bad person. Louie can come back from that place.”

“I wonder if my parents, my family, are good or whether I was saved from them by being left in this world. Somehow, I ended up protected by the enforcers, and I don’t know why,” I say. “Selfishly, for a moment, I wondered if I should ask the god of the sea and water to show me my family.”

“It’s not selfish,” Lorenzo gently replies. He looks like he’s in deep thought for a while before he says, “I’m not sure there will be answers for you in that place.”

“A child’s been taken into a world of shadows and death, likely been put on a throne and crowned one of their kings,” I say. “We should win this to save Louie.”

“Maybe we can,” Lorenzo agrees, and hope warms my chest. “There’s nothing we can do about it right now. We have to survive here first and then worry about Louie.” He looks at me for a moment, his eyebrow raised. “If the god can’t help Louie, then you’re going to go into the Rift when we get out of here, aren’t you?” I nod. “I’ll come with you. Just mostly to make sure my brother doesn’t die in there when he no doubt follows you.”

“Thank you for being my friend,” I admit. “I never let anyone close before… and now I know it was because I hadn’t met my real family yet.”

Lorenzo grins. “I should’ve known better when I saw this little mortal with a bad attitude. Look where you’ve gotten me.”

We both chuckle, and for a moment I forget how much trouble I’m in. I forget how my body is failing me. I didn’t want to be fae, but right now, I wish my fae healing would kick in to save my life. Who knows, maybe it’s the reason I’m still alive. We don’t say anything else as we carry on climbing and walking around the uneven rocks. We’re just heading over a slope of smooth rocks that were too high for us to see over, when we pause, taking in the view. We’re not alone. Three siren males are crouched around a gigantic purple fish, cutting it into pieces. They all pause at the same time and stand up. Two of them are holding long gold daggers with sharp tips at the end and strange patterns on the metal. We can’t fight, Lorenzo has no wings to fly us away, and I’m useless. Two of the sirens look at me, their eyes lingering on my body far too long.

“Please say you’ve got weapons,” I ask Lorenzo, trying to ignore the leering look in the sirens’ eyes. They are planning far worse than killing me. I’d rather drown myself than let them get anywhere nearby. I should run but I’m too weak, and we all know it. Lorenzo is the only defense I have, and it’s three against one.

He shakes his head, never taking his eyes off the siren males, who are walking around the fish. “The only weapons you can get are what you find in here. It’s one of the rules. I remember hearing about it a long time ago. They must have found those, and we need them.”

“Well, what do we have here? A fae and a Wyern. Interesting. Not the mix we usually find together,” one of the males muses, looking at his friend. All three of them have dark brown hair, deeply tanned skin littered with scales, and they look similar to each other. They have on dark blue leathers that match our own, but theirs look more fitted for swimming.

“I’ve heard about a pink-haired bitch fae that was recently turned from a mortal. Apparently, she was fucking the Wyern King,” another one replies.

Lorenzo and I briefly look at each other. We are going to have to fight them, and I’m in no fit state to fight.

“Interesting,” the middle replies to what I think is his brother.

Lorenzo lets me go, taking a step in front of me at the same time. “I have nothing against the fish folk, so why don’t we both go our separate ways?”

“What did you just call us?” the male growls, lifting his dagger.

“Fish. You know how you always smell like fish? It’s really not appetizing, but I’ve learnt your females smell much better. They taste delicious too,” Lorenzo taunts, winking at them. He is distracting them from me. “Apparently, us Wyerns offer far more than the males in their own race. Sirens are always in our city.”

“You stupid fucking bat!” the male, the leader of the three, shouts. In his anger, he charges at Lorenzo, and Lorenzo meets him halfway. Even with the siren male’s force, Lorenzo is quick. Fast. I’ve never seen anyone move so fast as he slides around the siren male. He moves like he’s water himself, fluid, and he spins around on the male. In two moves, he punches him hard in the face, hard enough to break his nose, with a crack that echoes. In the same move, he somehow manages to get the dagger out of his hand. Lorenzo doesn’t pause. He doesn’t even blink before he beheads the male with one swift swing of the long dagger. The siren’s head rolls across the floor towards my feet, and I step aside to let it fall off the side of the rocks.

I trained with Lorenzo, and I now understand he was not showing his true strength. He was holding back. This is why Emerson has him in command of his armies.

The other two males attack Lorenzo in a fury, and he easily holds one of them back. The other manages to escape past Lorenzo. The male fighting Lorenzo pulls him into the water, and neither of them comes back up, leaving me alone with the siren male who clearly wants revenge. I barely have time to defend myself as he lunges his fist towards my face, and I duck. I kick him hard in the stomach, but I’m too weak, too slow to move out of the way as he kicks me hard in the stomach. All the air leaves my lungs as I fall, only for the male to grab me, wrapping his hand around my neck to lift me in the air.

“Maybe I should keep you alive and make your Wyern watch as I slowly kill you,” the male suggests, pulling my body against his so I’m forced to look into his blue eyes.

I smile down at him as shadows darken the cavern, and a familiar male scent makes my heart beat fast.

“Get your hands off my Calliophe before I rip you apart,” Emerson darkly warns, and the male’s hands pause around my throat, his body still pressing harshly into mine. “It would be a shame to kill you so quickly, but I’m feeling like I will enjoy your death all the same.”

The male looks over his shoulder before he screams. Shadows ripple over his body like snakes, pulling him off me, and I collapse to the floor. The male’s screams are cut off quickly, and I look over to see nothing but a pile of black dust, right before everything goes dark.