Breakwater (17 page)

We followed the Enders to the throne room where they stood Ash in front of Requiem.

“You’ve been a naughty boy, following the ladies around when you weren’t supposed to.”

Ash said nothing, his back straight despite the hold the Undines had on him.

“Nothing to say? Just as well, wouldn’t want anyone having second thoughts about sending you to the cells.”

Ash startled as if he’d been hit, and Requiem laughed. “That’s right, your two compatriots asked me to throw you in the cells. I thought it a lovely laugh.” He tipped his head to one side and the Undines backed away from Ash. Belladonna grabbed my hand, her fingers digging in and it was only then I realized I was moving toward Ash.

“You can’t. Lark, you can’t stop this,” she whispered to me.

Requiem waved at Ash. “Have fun.”

The floor opened under Ash, a black hole that swallowed him in a single gulp, slamming shut as his head disappeared. I couldn’t help myself, I ran forward dragging Belladonna with me. The floor was smooth with no visible lines of how to open it. No way to get in and no obvious way for us to open the trap door back up.

I swallowed hard. No turning back now.

Requiem let out a long, low laugh that built to a crescendo before he seemed to control himself. “Women are so stupid. You had me send away one of your own, a very accomplished Ender from what I understand. All because you wouldn’t bed him?” His eyes flicked over me. I backed away, anger, frustration, and confusion building in me like a storm. Dolph stared at me, his turquoise eyes dark with anger. Ash was his friend.

And in Dolph’s eyes, I’d betrayed him. Hell, in my own eyes, I’d betrayed him.

“Men are so stupid,” I parroted Requiem’s words back to him, glaring. “They think everything is about sex and their ability to have it with whomever they want. It clouds their judgment. Amongst other things.”

Belladonna tugged on my arm, pinching me hard. “Thank you, Requiem. Will we see you at dinner?”

“Another meal watching you two refuse to eat while your bellies rumble? I wouldn’t miss it. I have not had so much fun in many months. I may have to keep you two around after my coronation.” He gave us a deep, mocking bow, even going so far as to flourish with his one hand rolling it at the wrist.

We made our exit, and got all the way back to the room before Belladonna let me go. “Why would you provoke him like that? Calling him stupid is not how we make friends, Larkspur.” She spoke rapidly about what we had to do next to make sure Requiem believed we were on his side. But the words flowed around me, barely reaching my ears.

I paced the room, my fingers laced behind my head. Ash was in the cells. We were safe from him. And yet, I felt lower than worm shit. Throat tight, I wrestled with myself. He had lied about the note sending us to our deaths. I knew that. Belladonna knew it.

“Larkspur, snap out of it!” Belladonna slapped me, catching me off guard. “We have to focus.”

“I am.” I rubbed my face.

“You aren’t. You’re still thinking about Ash . . . mother goddess . . . do you care for him?” Bella’s gray eyes went wide.

Fighting to keep my face smooth and neutral, I shook my head. “Not like that. He was one of my mentors. I can’t think of him as an enemy.”

She wrapped her hands around my wrists, sliding them to my hands, squeezing gently. “I know that look. I’ve seen it in the mirror. He is not a good man, Lark. Don’t mourn him. He would have hurt you in the end.”

I jerked away from her, confusion rocking me. Staring at her, I searched for the telltale soft pink glow that would indicate the use of Spirit on her words and actions. I wanted to believe Cassava was behind this, so much easier than thinking my twisted up emotions were my own. But there was no glow of soft pink, no use of Spirit. Belladonna spoke from her own beliefs, and my emotions were all my own.

Jaw tight, I stepped back. “Go to supper, I’m going to get us something to eat.”

“No, I’m coming with you. We can’t be separated.” She met my gaze and arched an eyebrow. “You can’t say it isn’t safe. I know you’re going to the kitchens.”

I threw my hands into the air. “Fine. But you’re carrying some of the food back then.”

Silently, we made our way to the kitchens, the only sound that of her silk dress sliding across bare skin.

We stopped in front of the kitchen doors. They were barred with a thick beam of wood and a heavier lock had been placed on it, a lock I was sure even my thin knife wouldn’t do any good against.

“So much for getting food that way,” I muttered.

Belladonna slid her hands over the door. “He’s trying to starve us out. The same way he’s starving his people.”

I glanced at her. “What else are we missing?”

She snorted softly. “I wish I knew.”

As long as she was talking, I didn’t have to think about what happened. The way Ash’s eyes had stared into mine, the understanding in them that he’d been betrayed. I clenched my jaw tightly, but Belladonna didn’t notice my continued internal upheaval.

“He has some sort of hold on the people, something that makes them very afraid of him. I can’t put my finger on it.”

I knew what it was, but telling Belladonna meant I trusted her completely. And while we’d come a long way in a short time, trusting people hadn’t gone so well for me lately.

But the mother goddess had told me that operating in fear was not the path. Now was the time to take a chance on my sister.

“I know why they are afraid of him, why they bow down to him.”

“You do?”

We were out of the main building, the winding, twisting hallways of the palace gave way to the open-air courtyards that led to the water’s edge and brilliant white sand beach.

I drew close to Belladonna, putting my mouth near her ear. “He’s a half-breed.”

She burst out laughing. “That would make him weak.”

I grabbed her upper arm and squeezed it tightly, barely managing to keep my voice low. “Not him. He controls two powers with equal force.”

Her eyes widened and the color slipped from her face. “The other?”

“Air.”

Closing her eyes, she swayed. “That makes sense. The scene above the dinner table that first night. It wasn’t the Sylph Ambassador, it was Requiem.”

“Yes.”

Belladonna slipped her arm around my waist and we walked like that toward the water. “We have to escape, Lark. Sooner rather than later.”

“What about Ash? We can’t leave him here, and Barkley if he’s still alive . . .”

Before I could finish my sentence she was shaking her head. “They don’t matter. We have to get out of here while we still can. You may be a bastard, but we are both of royal blood. Our lives matter.”

I pulled away from her. “They matter, too. Even if Ash was going to betray us, and I say
even
because I still have my doubts, he is one of us. He is of our family. We don’t leave family behind.”

We were at the water’s edge with the false beach and pure white sand under our bare feet. The heat soaked through my soles. “We need a plan. Weapons first. I can’t protect either of us with nothing more than a miniscule knife.”

Nodding, she said nothing.

“The Enders’ barracks would be the best place.” I put my hands on my hips and looked back the way we’d come. Belladonna had taken a tour of the place, I had been too busy trying to find the cells. “Do you know where they are?” While I’d been searching the interior of the palace for the cells, Belladonna had been touring around the entire Deep.

“Yes, the boy Urchin took me and Ash on a mind-numbingly boring tour.” Striding out, she led the way.

I jogged to catch up to my sister, wondering if this friendship we had would last once we returned home to the Rim. It was something for my mind to play with other than the guilt and fear we’d made a mistake by sending Ash to the cells.

“Mother goddess, help us,” I whispered the plea.

There was no answer, not that I really expected one. There would be no rescue from on high. If we were going to survive this, it was on me to get us out. And whether Belladonna liked it or not, I would get Ash out too. I had to get into the cells in order to find Barkley regardless of Ash. I just had to find a way in.

The Enders’ barracks should house the tools and weapons I needed for my rescue mission. At least, that was what I was hoping for. Belladonna stopped on the far eastern side of the Deep and pointed across the water. Separated from the rest of the palace by a narrow rope bridge that hung low over the water, the barracks rested on a tiny island by itself. Made up of white sandstone, the building seemed to glitter in the sunlight. Four stories high and perfectly square, it was a fortress despite how pretty its exterior was. Thin slits for windows, and only one set of doors that, at the moment, were propped open. I frowned. That seemed sloppy. At home, in the Rim, we never left the barrack’s doors open.

I shook off my unease. “Bella I’m going to need a lot of gear. Grappling hooks, ropes, and a harness for myself. You’re going to have to help me carry it all. Understand?”

“I’m not your pack mule, Lark.”

“This is for the safety of you and our family. You will do what I say,” I said, somehow managing to keep my tone even.

She glared at me, eyes snapping with fire. “Fine.”

I approached the edge of the bridge, eyeing the ropes. The wooden slats floated but as I stepped onto them they sank so I was knee deep in the water. “I don’t like this.”

“I’m not really happy about it, either,” Belladonna said. I glanced over my shoulder at her. She shrugged, but I saw the sheen of sweat on her forehead, the tremor in her shoulders.

“You can wait here, if you want, but don’t go far. Alright?”

She nodded and folded her arms over her chest. “Yes, I think that would be best.”

I didn’t blame her. Getting chewed on by a shark in the dead of night would leave a scar on the strongest of people. I crept across the bridge, the slats sinking with each step until I was in the middle where the water rose to my waist.

“Lark,” Belladonna squeaked my name and I froze.

“What?”

“Hurry, just hurry. Don’t look down.”

Grabbing the edge of the bridge I couldn’t help myself and looked over the side. Tentacles with suction cups the size of my head wrapped around the bridge, the wood creaking under the pressure they exerted. A deep, ruddy red they moved and flowed through the water, almost gracefully if it weren’t for the fact that they were attempting to pull the bridge out from under me.

Swallowing the scream that lurched in my throat, I pulled myself forward. Bella’s screaming behind me was enough for the both of us. But that wasn’t what drove me.

Shouting echoed across the water to me from the barracks; the cries of a child’s fear piercing my heart. The bridge crumpled around me and if I didn’t do something fast, I was going to be tangled into the lines.

I sucked in a deep breath and dove into the crystal clear ocean, praying I didn’t make a mistake and get myself killed.

Images of open mouths filled with rows of triangular teeth filled my mind and spurred me on, driving me to swim faster than I ever had. There was a flick of a muscular tentacle slipping around my leg as I gave the final kick before I gripped the edge of the landing. I hauled myself out of the water and spared a glance back. The tentacle creature dropped out of sight, but not before it looked at me, red eyes seeming to burn through me, parrot beak open in a silent roar.

Bella stood on the far side and even at that distance I could see her shaking. I gave her a wave with both hands. “Stay back from the water.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Like that’s going to be easy on an island!” She did however take more than a few steps back.

Her words followed me as I ran into the barracks, water dripping off me. The scene that unfolded, stole my breath. Three Undines fought on what could only be the training room floor. Dolph and Urchin faced an Undine I didn’t recognize. His face was scarred and had been stitched back together badly. His nose was split down the middle and snot flung from both nostrils in a steady stream. His skin was the same pale blue that Mako’s had been, though that was where the resemblance ended. Big Ugly was fast, and he kept both Urchin and Dolph dancing as he swung a long line over his head—barbed hooks dotting it—in one hand and a four-foot-long sword in the other.

Across the room under a rack of weapons lay a tiny girl who couldn’t have been more than ten years old. Her hair was a deep blue and lay in ringlets over her shoulders. Pale, creamy skin accented the blue of her eyes and hair. She clutched one hand over her side, blood dripping past her fingers. What was a child doing in the Enders barracks?

“Urchin, for all you’re worth, protect Finley. She is our only hope,” Dolph yelled, his eyes darting to me. As if I were the enemy.

Finley. The princess.

Urchin was blocked by Big Ugly, and I ran to Finley’s side. “It’s going to be okay, but you need to stay out of the way.” She nodded, and I reached above her, pulling down a trident. It wasn’t my spear, but it would work just as well.

I spun in time to see Urchin drive a short sword into his father’s side. Dolph stumbled away, his hand reaching for his son.

Dolph fell to the floor, a groan rolling out of him. “No, not my son, how could you betray the princess?” He looked to me, raised a hand, and I nodded, a flood of energy zinging through me. “I’ll protect her.” The words were out of my mouth before I thought better of them. But I knew I couldn’t leave the princess to fend for herself, not against two Undine warriors.

Dolph gave me a weak smile. Big Ugly kicked him, sending him flying across the room into the far wall with a heavy thud.

Urchin and his ally approached and I steadied myself. No room for fear, no room to hesitate. Not even for Urchin.

The boy’s cheeks were streaked with tears but his eyes were hard. Empty. “I didn’t want to kill him. He made me do it. This is all his fault, if he would just do what Requiem wanted and hand her over, I wouldn’t have had to kill him.”

“Shut up, boy,” snarled Big Ugly. He whirled a hand over his head, the long line of hooks whistling as he snapped it toward me with a sharp crack of his wrist. I leapt to the right, one hook burying into my arm and tearing through the flesh. I bit back the cry that rose to my lips, turned on the ball of my foot and snarled at the two Undines.