Chapter 33

We wereawoken before the sun rose. Still groggy from all the energy we'd exerted last night, we staggered through the castle to a fleet of pterolycus. Why not dragons?

"We're not flying in," Rania said. "We don't want to be seen. We'll ride the wolves to the boats."

Fine by me. Riding one of them was a fair bit like riding a drooling horse, and I'd done that at least three county fairs.

Since each saddle fit two of us, we argued for a while about who would ride with who. I didn't give a shit, but Graham and Ezra were bickering about who had taken up more room in the bed last night, causing the other to lose sleep. Graham suggested I ride with him so he could nap along the way. Ezra said that wasn't fair because I would be exerting the most energy today, and I should have the opportunity to take a nap. So he should ride with Warren, and I should ride with Ezra.

Warren didn't give a shit either, but he teased and buttered up Graham until he finally agreed. They were pretty cute cuddled together on that giant winged wolf, but I knew Ezra was right. A nap was not a bad idea.

With his arms around me from behind, he manned the reins and let me rest my head on his shoulder. The swaying of the beast's steps weren't much different than a cradle rocking a baby to sleep. I was out in no time.

When I woke again, it was to a kiss on my forehead and Ezra's sweet voice whispering, "We're here, love."

With chattering lips, my eyes fluttered open. Now I was starting to regret riding with Ezra. As much as I adored the man, he was an ice cube. I was amazed I hadn't woken up sooner. Supposed hypothermia was known for putting people to sleep, though.

The site before me was… disappointing.

Call me naive, but when they told us we were going to an island, I expected beaches. And there were beaches. But they were rock beaches. It couldn't have been more than thirty degrees. Ocean stretched on for miles, only a distant blob of land somewhere in the middle. No trees, no grass. Rocky soil underfoot, water so dark it looked black, and a mountainous, snowcapped island in the distance.

And a tiny boat. Not a ship. Just a boat.

Or maybe not a boat. Canoe may have been more accurate. I wasn't sure my fat ass would even fit into one of the five tiny seats.

"Get the all the pterolycus back," Rania said, dismounting a few feet ahead of me. "Keep your voices down."

Behind me, Caeda whispered, "Up to the water, we are invisible. No one can see us past that line. But they can hear us, so remain quiet."

Noted.

"Will those be a problem?" I asked, nodding to my ravens overhead.

"Doubtful," Rania said, glancing up at them. "Plenty of birds fly over the ocean. Usually doesn't suggest people are nearby."

"Why do they follow you everywhere, mil?" Caeda asked, squinting up at me. "Do you control them?"

Ezra dismounted first, silently and gracefully. He extended a hand to me, and I did my best to climb off the beast's back with some finesse. Thank the stars for Ezra, though, because if he hadn't caught me, I likely would've fallen.

Would I be surprised with myself if I ruined a mission because I fell? No. No, I would not.

Sure would be humiliated though.

"It's a long story," I said, adjusting my coat. "Probably shouldn't get into it right now. But yeah, they do what I tell them to."

"Might have to show me that spell," Caeda murmured, watching them dip and rise through the air.

I smiled. "Sure. Any time."

"The rest of us are staying here," Laila's voice, walking past me from behind. "Rain, Luci, Rania, and Caeda are planting the crystals."

"That's them then?" Ezra pointed to the island. "That's where they are?"

Gazing at it somberly, Rania blew out a deep breath. "It is."

"And you four will be out in the open," Ezra said, confusion pinching his brows. "Literally, you will be sitting ducks in the middle of the ocean."

"Do you think we're stupid?" Caeda shot him a look. "Of course not. The boat is also disguised with the spell that makes us invisible. Combined with the spells we have around ourselves, our energy signatures are virtually untraceable."

"So no, we will not be,"—Rania held up air quotes—"sitting ducks."

"We also won't be taking questions, nor orders, from leeches," Caeda said. "Do as you're told or leave."

Ezra pouted, but remained quiet.

"We also won't be doing that," Rania said, shooting Caeda a look. "One of these leeches is part of the reason we're able to eliminate thousands of the swine at once. We can extend a bit of respect." She turned to Ezra. "But do not play the hero. That is not your role today. And no, answering all of your questions is far from our top priority."

Ezra's lips were still slightly pursed, but his eyes had softened.

Like I said: I liked Rania.

"Where do you want us?" Luci asked, walking up from behind me as well.

"I'll take the lead," Rania said. "Then Rain, you, and Caeda."

A-okay with me. I obviously wasn't the person to direct this. Rania knew what she was doing. Caeda was a bit too mad for leadership, but she was strong. Wedged between them, I had faith that I would stay safe throughout this. And once we'd assembled the cage, the rest would be smooth sailing.

After a quick kiss with each of my guys, I followed Rania into the canoe. Luci offered me a hand to get inside, but I managed on my own. It reminded me of the short boat ride that Ezra and I had taken on our trip to the Bahamas last year.

Then I sat down, and ice-cold water bled through my jeans onto my ass.

The others climbed in as well. Rania told us each to grab a paddle from the floor on our right and left, and then to row. I had never rowed a boat before, but it was pretty self-explanatory. Rania would whisper the instruction, I would do as she said, and the boat would move in the direction she wanted it.

Rocking side to side on the icy ocean, the freezing wind bit at my cheeks. We stayed quiet for the next few minutes. Then, in a hushed tone, Rania spoke from beside me. "Caeda informed me that you're eternal."

"I am," I said, watching the island draw closer.

We were still thousands and thousands of feet away, probably somewhere around a mile, if I had to guess. It was hard to tell because there was nothing on the island for me to estimate the scale. No trees, no bushes, just snowcapped peaks.

"What is that like?" she asked.

I wasn't sure how to answer that question. "Physically? Mentally?"

"Both."

Again, not an easy question to answer, but there was one word that came to mind. "Freeing."

"How so?" Caeda's voice came from behind with an edge to it. "What does that mean?"

"Physically, it takes a lot to kill me," I said. "Death isn't around every corner anymore. I can take risks that I couldn't before."

"And mentally?" Rania asked. "How freeing is it?"

"Endlessly." I couldn't help the smile that touched the corners of my lips. "I lost my mom when I was young, and then my brother, and then my grandma. The clock was always ticking, you know? I knew that one day, likely before I got to do the things I wanted to do and see the things I wanted to see in the world, I would die. It comes for all of us, right?

"But then I got eternity, and now I have eternity. The clock's not ticking anymore. There's so much opportunity that comes with that. Knowing that I have more time. I'll be able to see everything I want to, and do everything I want to, and I won't run out of it. There's freedom in that. Knowing that you have time to fix it, and to live it, and to… do whatever you want to do. You can set goals in a way that you never could before."

"Hmm," Caeda murmured.

Rania's voice was softer than I had yet to hear it. "Did she have any reservations?"

"When I asked her for it?" I asked.

She didn't look at me, but she nodded.

"Yeah, she had one. She suggested that I have a tubal ligation first." A quiet laugh escaped me. "I don't want kids. She didn't want me to get pregnant and regret it."

"Not because of anything you had done?" Rania asked.

"It's less about what you've done and more about who you are," Luci said behind me. "Laila is not unreasonable. I find her too reasonable, most of the time. If you want eternity, ask her for it."

Caeda made a noise in her throat, a few octaves louder than I thought we were supposed to be during this. "Fuck eternity."

"Fuck it then." Luci didn't match her tone. He spoke flatly, plainly. "Do what you would like, Caeda."

"I would like if I hadn't taken thousands of souls to stay alive," she snapped. "I would like to travel backward in time so that I and my people wouldn't have had to see what we've seen and deal with what we've dealt with for my entire life. For all the lifetimes that came before me. For my mother, and my grandmother, and my?—"

"I believe she would like the same." Rania's voice was still quiet. Not soft in the affectionate sense, but in an understanding manner. "You are my elder, your Majesty. I truly mean no offense. But it is not as though they have ignored us for thousands of years. They were dead. They didn't choose that any more than we chose to be born into this war."

"So they say," she said beneath her breath.

"I read her mind," Rania said. "I saw it all. I saw what she did then. For us. The sacrifices she made. We are queens as well. We know the sacrifices we make for our people. We know the way it hurts. The sacrifice you've made—using maalaichte cnihme magic—hurt. But you did it to support your people. She had to make hard decisions like that too, and I can't blame her for the ones that were out of her control."

"Then get on your knees and beg her." Though quiet, Caeda's voice was like venom. "Plead with your life. I will not."

If her problem was that she had needed to use the dark magic to stay immortal, a solution was right in front of her. But she didn't want a solution. She wanted to be angry. I could understand that.

Didn't change that it was childish.

Rania seemed to feel the same way, because she only sighed.

We rode in silence for a few more minutes. The island was still deep in the distance. And I had a question.

"Do gràs?" I looked to Rania, and then to Caeda behind me. "I know we're planting the crystals, but how exactly are we doing that? Are we diving?"

"Think we'd survive that?" Rania asked me. "No, of course not. We have a bit further to go, and then a few friends will assist us."

"What kind of friends?" I asked. "I don't see anybody else out here."

"As above," Luci said, pointing at a few of my ravens overhead, then gesturing to the ocean, "so below."

I squinted with confusion.

A quiet splash sounded on my left.

There'd been many splashes out here. Waves tended to do that. But this one was different. Louder. Somehow softer at the same time.

When I turned that direction, though, all I saw were white bubbles.

"There she is," Rania said.

There who is?

Something popped out of the water.

At the front of the boat, inches from Rania, a ball popped out of the water.

No, not a ball. It was a head.

It took a moment of staring, a moment of blinking hard at it, to understand what I was looking at. Even then, I couldn't fully comprehend it.

A bald, bluish head. Two eyes that took up most of its face, black in color and almond-shaped, with a thin circle of violet in the middle. Two holes between them, like a person without a nose. Thick lips that stretched all the way to its ears, which were really just open holes in the head. Gills fluttered on its cheeks. Rainbow, iridescent scales shimmered just below them, ascending down its neck.

"Are all of you ready, mil?" Rania asked.

Webbed fingers stretched out for her.

Rania cupped the creature's hand in hers.

With a smile, Rania nodded slowly. "You will be repaid for this."

Rania rummaged on the floorboard for the bag of crystals. She passed the ruby to the creature. The creature dropped beneath the water, and another one, incredibly similar in appearance, peeked their head up behind her. Again, Rania passed them a crystal.

"They're beautiful," I murmured.

"They are," Luci said. "Has Graham told you about them?"

I shook my head, watching the next one poke its head out of the water, extend a hand with webbed fingers, accept the crystal, then dip back into the ocean.

"Merrows," Luci said. "What you would call a mermaid."