Torrents (DROPLETS Trilogy Book 3) (35 page)

     “I won’t deny it,” the Hyven leader shrugged.

     My nerves were stretched nearly to the point of breaking. I couldn’t fully comprehend what he was telling me. The past year seemed different now, as though I wasn’t making my own decisions but simply playing out a role he had specifically designed for me.

     “You couldn’t have predicted all of this,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief. Maybe it was my turn to speak out loud to myself. “It’s not possible. There’s no way you could’ve guessed he would fall for me again, and remember his old self. No, you couldn’t,” I continued to shake my head, my words running together. “If you knew he would go to my house and begin to pull away from your control, then you would’ve stopped him. If you had wanted him to leave, then you wouldn’t have come to me, asking where he was.”

     I shot the words at him as though they were weapons. I desperately needed to believe they were true.

      “I only wanted you to believe I needed him back.” He smiled again, and once more I shook my head.

     My memory of his last visit along the beach of Coveside was not one I cared to remember. He had threatened me that evening, but it was also the moment I knew Zale was free of his control. Seeing the memory from Morven’s point of view, placed it into a whole new light.

     “No, you wanted to know where he was, and you had no idea where he’d gone.”

     “It’s true, I didn’t know where he was. But I wanted you to know he was fully yours, and it worked. I’m guessing the next time you saw him, you welcomed him with open arms?” When the heat rose in my cheeks, he chuckled.

     “But you told him to kill me.”

     “To drive him away,” he shrugged. “I don’t think you really understand what I’m saying.”

     “I understand perfectly.” I lashed out, lacing my words with as much venom as I could manage. “You’ve designed this whole thing to turn me into your siren so you can control me, and then control Patrick again. You’re telling me all of this was your plan? My waiting at home, returning to Hyvar, fighting Bolrock, learning to use my voice, Patrick remembering his past, all of it, you predicted? I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe it.”

     “You don’t have to,” he said, and I hated the way my body pressed further into the wall as he came closer. He stopped just before me, and I fought the urge to kick him. When he leaned in, I could smell the tangy sweetness upon his breath. “I didn’t predict everything, I simply understood one important fact. Patrick loved you more than life and would do anything for you. His love for you became my weapon. I didn’t predict everything, but it doesn’t matter does it? Because you’re here, and there’s no one to save you.” He ran a finger along my jaw and my stomach dropped.

     If I had thought my heart was beating fast before, it was nothing compared to the erratic pace of it now.

     “Why kill King Oberon?” I asked, desperately trying to think of anything that might draw his attention away. Having his face so close to mine was enough to make every nerve ending burn with fire.

     He sighed and moved back a few inches. The infinitesimal move was still enough to feel as though I had more space to breathe. Sucking in a breath, I waited for him to tell me the truth. Shocking me, he pulled away and returned to the chair near the fire.

     “That little event was Ressa’s idea.” He ran a hand through his dark hair. The strands fell in individual waves along the sides of his face, brushing just past the bottoms of his ears. “She wanted Zale dead, I didn’t see any reason to go against it.”

      A laugh of disbelief escaped my lips, and I looked toward the ceiling. “You make no sense!” I yelled, and felt as though something inside me actually snapped. “If you wanted Zale to be under my control, why would you kill him? Why would you kill the king? None of this makes sense!”

     “No,” he shot back at me. “It does make sense, and it scares you, doesn’t it?”

     Even as he spoke the words, I knew he was right. He claimed to realize he was losing control of Zale; all he had done, since that moment, was establish a situation to force him to trust me even more. Little had I known, Morven was hoping Zale would remember his past and be as much in love with me as before. Even the king’s death had tested our commitment to one another. Zale had walked into Lathmor knowing he could easily be executed on the spot, but he did it because he wanted to be near me.

     The full realization of everything Morven was telling me entrapped my mind, and I was surprised to hear a laugh escape my lips. This time it wasn’t a laugh of disbelief, but a laugh of desperation I couldn’t explain. The worry of the past few days fell to pieces, giving into hysterics. Over and over again, my scratched throat coughed out a choked gargling sound and it lifted throughout the room. The muscles in my stomach began to hurt with the amount of heaving and my ribs ached, as I straightened once more. Tears blurred my vision and as the nervous laughter came to an end, they rolled from my eyes, past my chin, and disappeared into the darkness surrounding my feet.

     “Are you finished?” Morven asked.

     The deep wave of his voice brought me back to reality after my moment of hilarity. Refusing to answer, I simply stared back at him, wishing I had some way of regaining my voice and breaking through his calm façade.

     The siren inside was alive and moving with eagerness in my veins. She surged in my blood, the anger I had tried so hard to quell, began to reign.

      For just one moment, I wished I was able to bait him. I wanted him to beg on his knees before me. I wanted to use my voice to torment him over and over again, forcing him to give me the answers I needed. Paying him back, blow for blow, for what he had done to Patrick.

     
Patrick
, his name brought forth a glimmer of hope.
Breathe, Lissie
.

     The anger ebbed, if only slightly. I shut my eyes, refusing to look at Morven. Seeing his face made the fury return all too quickly. Trying desperately to dispel all the rage inside, I struggled to regain control, until Zale’s words came back to me.

    
“You have to hold onto your anger, use it to get you through the moment, but don’t hold on too tight or it will overcome you.”

     “I won’t,” I whispered, so quietly I could barely hear it.

     Raising my eyes to Morven standing before the fire, a sense of urgency entered my mind. I had no way of knowing how long he had been in this room with me, and still, nothing had really been done to break me.

     Fear was my enemy and my ally, threatening my future and pushing me to draw him out. Grasping for thoughts, I opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it.

     “You really are much more intelligent than I originally expected.” He turned to me. “When I saved you from the waters that night, I thought for certain you would easily give in to everything I demanded of you. Maybe I was the fool.” A flicker of a grin passed over his face. “And now, here you are, a
siren
.”

     “I’m not a—”

     “Ah,” he raised a hand and cut me off, “you are. And you know it.”

     “It doesn’t mean anything.”

     “Doesn’t it?”

     I was so tired of his questions and the constant battle he waged against my judgment. “No!” I yelled at him, displeased to see his complete lack of surprise. “It doesn’t matter if I have found my voice. It doesn’t matter if I can control others with it. It doesn’t matter, because it will never be yours to use. I will never use my voice for you.”

     “Oh, but you will.”

     “Never.”

     The word hung in the air, filling the space between us and when he turned away, I felt as though I had gained some ground. It wasn’t until he returned to his seat and raised his eyes to mine once more I realized the battle was only just beginning. My challenge had ignited something inside him.

     “What do you know about the differences between our blades and scales?”

     I was left with my mouth agape. King Oberon had asked me a very similar question once.

     “Not much,” I feigned interest, as I leaned away from the wall. “I know the scales are what transform a human into a merperson and I have the scar to prove it.” I added the words on to the end, not entirely certain of why I even said them. It wasn’t as though he cared what I thought about his transformation of me. “And I know the blades are what give a transformed merperson their special abilities.”

     He nodded his head and I couldn’t help but notice the look of pleasant surprise. “You know more than I thought you would. So you’re aware Patrick can see and hear as well as you can?”

     I nodded. “What does this have to do with anything?”

     “Aren’t you excited to be stronger and faster than all mermaids?” He quirked an eyebrow. The idea had crossed my mind once before, but I hadn’t really taken into account what it would mean.

    “I guess I haven’t thought much about it,” I shrugged, even as the thought of him placing one of his blades in me stirred up the terror I had been trying to hold back.

     He scoffed. “You amaze me. You have the chance to be something never seen before and you’ve hardly considered it?” When he stood up again, my stomach tightened.

     “Why does it matter?” I felt he was hiding something from me.

     “Ah,” he clicked his tongue. “There’s one thing your precious Lathmorians don’t understand; the blades give control over a transformed merperson. Didn’t you wonder how Patrick gave up his mind so easily? Did you ever stop to wonder why he did exactly what I said? I didn’t have to beat him within an inch of his life to gain control over him. I only did that to make him forget who he was.”

     My mouth opened to answer, but even as he said the words I realized they were true.

     “So you’re going to do the same to me?” I asked, finally recovering. This was what I had been waiting for. I could tell it was coming. His moment of assault was nearly upon me. “I will fight you,” my voice shook, “Patrick was able to break the control you had over him. You said it yourself, I’m stronger than you realized. I will fight you, and I will win.”

     He smiled and the pleasure he took in my fear made my blood boil. I would do whatever it took to destroy the control he would have over me. If Patrick was able to break through the fog of his commands, then I could too.

     “But that’s just the thing,” he said and began to roll up his sleeves. I noted the two patches of scarred skin on his forearms. I knew one was a result of the scales which now rested in my hip, the other was for Patrick’s. “You won’t be able to fight me. My mother placed the blade inside Patrick’s body, not me. I beat him because I needed him to forget who he was, and you only made that more difficult. He forgot his past and was willing to listen to me, but my control was not complete. I only have half of my mother’s blood.

     “But when I say I will be able to control you, I mean that with everything I am.” He paused a few steps in front of me, and with every word he spoke my body constricted. “My scales turned you into a mermaid and it will be my blade which will complete your transition. So you see, no matter what you do, you won’t be able to fight me. My control over you will be absolute.”

     “No,” the word escaped my lips and I pressed back against the wall.

     Fear was winning, I knew there was no escape. It was the reason he hadn’t begun to beat me, it was why he was speaking so candidly. There was no reason to be cautious, I would be his.

     “Yes,” he breathed and stepped closer, his blades flashing into existence.

     Reaching his left arm toward his head, he brought the blades of his right closer. I looked away at the last second, but heard his sharp intake of breath, as something hit the floor. I was pinned to the wall, my hands hanging helplessly above me.

     Forcing myself to look, I watched him bend over and pick up the detached blade. My eyes widened in fear as he took the last step to bring us face to face. Blood was running down his arm and when he held up the blade, my eyes widened.

     Until this moment, my heart had thrummed, beating with a ferocity I didn’t know it had, but now everything seemed to go still. Each pulse was a full breath and exhalation; a heavy drumbeat inside my head, pounding against my temples as the moment drew near.

     He spun me around, my arms tangling up above my head, and I cried out. Ripping the back of my shirt, he exposed the shoulder Bolrock had wounded. Just when I thought I could gather my courage and push back against him, he crushed my body to the wall with his legs and his blades came down to meet flesh. The pain was just as I remembered it.

     I screamed and still the time didn’t pass any faster. A wet trail of blood rolled down my back, soaking the rest of the fabric of my shirt. When he shoved the blade inside the wound, an ear splitting scream pierced through the room, and it took a moment for me to realize, it was my own voice.

     With a jerk, he spun me around to face him. Dizzy and sweating from the pain, I was no longer standing of my own accord. If it wasn’t for the cuffs around my hands, I would have been a crumpled heap on the floor.

     “Goodbye, Lissie,” he panted in my ear, as I blinked heavily. It was the first time he had ever used my real name. The darkness was closing in, and I remembered something like this happening the night I was transformed.