Torrents (DROPLETS Trilogy Book 3) (40 page)

“Don’t listen to him!” Patrick growled, his voice straining over the rain. He swallowed heavily, his throat bobbing. I shook my head; he didn’t understand, I didn’t have a choice.

     “You aren’t Marina,” he cried, and Morven chuckled, folding his arms as his eyes swiveled back and forth between us.

     I gritted my teeth, wanting to hurt him in some way, again it was impossible. I was trapped, backed into a corner of his making.

     “Your name is Lissie! We love each other. You aren’t the monster he’s turned you into.” Patrick yelled and was about to continue, when I held up my hand. It was my turn to speak and put him at ease.

     “Silence,” Morven hissed before I could say anything and my jaw locked. He turned his attention back to Patrick. “She knows who she is. I may call her Marina, but she hasn’t forgotten.”

     Patrick’s hand twitched and he shifted his weight. He attempted to hide his surprise, but it was written in his eyes, making him squint, as he peered more deeply through the rain. The veins in his neck were visible beneath his skin, as he strained to maintain control.

     “She knows exactly who you are, and who she used to be. But there’s nothing she can do about it.” Morven opened his arms wide, accepting the rain coursing down his face as though he had created it. A maniacal cackle issued from his tight lips, and Patrick’s jaw tightened.

     His eyes met mine once more, and I felt myself falling into their depths. For the first time, I saw what he really meant when we spoke in the armory of Lathmor. He was afraid, terrified of what was about to happen. He had been terrified for us, for me. Had he known something like this might happen? I opened my mouth to speak, the tears creeping into my eyes and nothing came out.

     “Break him.”

      The command destroyed every thought, every feeling, every sense, and the siren returned. She reared up, opening my eyes, and looking through my lashes, she saw the merman before me in a different light.

     The command resounded in my mind, and as the tune broke forth, the man’s face furrowed in concentration. He was preparing. When the song hit him, he hardly shifted beneath the tune. Fury raged and my back straightened, gathering strength from somewhere deep within.

     “Fight him!” the soldier yelled at me, pointing toward my master.

     I smiled back, sizing him up. He was large to be sure, his blades raised and angled in my direction. The rain coursed in rivers over his face, sometimes hanging on the tips of his lips before falling to puddles at his feet. Darkened strands of hair hung in lank strips across his forehead, but it was his eyes which drew me in.

     “Fight him!” he repeated, the water spraying from his mouth. Even as he said the words, he hunched over into a crouched stance, ready for another onslaught.

     I smiled again, beckoning to him.

    
What are you going to do with those?
I glanced at his blades and back up. He faltered, I felt my strength growing for a moment, but all too soon he regained his hold.
You can’t beat me…you won’t beat me.
I had struck a nerve and pressed on, shifting my feet forward, as I wove the song all around him. I was all he could hear.

    
You won’t beat me… You can’t hurt me… Did you think you could win?... There is no escape…I want you with me, come to me.

    
His eyes clouded and I knew I was getting to him. The siren pushed harder, my master’s command resounding in my head.

    
We don’t have to fight, come to me. We can be together, just as you want.

    
I extended my hand toward him, the song turning achingly sweet and pure. He was all I could see, the rain seemed to fall but I never felt it touch my skin.
Come to me, we can be together…we can be together…just come to me.

     As though in slow motion, I saw his back straighten and his arms lower. I repeated the words to him again, and his eyes cleared of all worry, he was becoming mine. The siren smiled and took another step toward him, I was going to win, he would be mine.

     I was ten steps away when a crack of thunder split across the sky, shattering the connection for only an instant, but one fraction of a second was enough. By the time I had regained the song, he had retreated within himself. The siren pushed against him, but he was a stone wall. He wasn’t going to break again.

     Frustration took over and I paced forward anyway. There was more than one way to end this.

     My blades shot forth from my fingers and with the last few steps, I ran at him. His eyes widened in surprise for only an instant, before they darkened and his blades rose before him.

     Leaping into the air, I cried out as my blades met his arms. He grimaced as one cut along his forearm. With a twist of his limbs, he spun me around, flipping me over and away from him. My knees hit the stone roof with a painful crack, but I was back on my feet before I could think otherwise.

   I came at him again, the heavy folds of the dress entrapping my ankles. This time I aimed lower, searching for some way of reaching his body, but he blocked each parry with a blow of his own. He stepped back and dodged, ducked under and avoided, every move was to keep me at a distance. I grimaced, knowing he was beating me.

     The muscles in my limbs strained against the weight of my blades, the exhaustion of trying to beat him weighed heavily on my shoulders. My master’s command rose in my thoughts clouding everything, there were only the two words telling me what to do.

     I had to break him. It was all I could do.

     The anger rose in a torrent with the pouring rains, as I gathered myself from the ground once more. The siren raged, glaring at the merman before me. Her voice gathered and I let it pour from my lips, as I danced forward.

    
Don’t hurt me,
I called, and he flinched as my arm shot forward.

     I nearly made it through his defenses when he knocked me back. My blades had been so close to touching skin. Anger deepened, as the desire for completion took hold. I smiled and sang forth again.

    
Don’t hurt me!
I sliced toward his chest again, he stumbled back, the sound of my voice echoing all around him. His defenses were falling. He had to give up one or the other—he couldn’t fight my voice and my blades.

    
You love me, you won’t hurt me. Please, don’t hurt me…let me help you…let us be together…

    
With each phrase, came a blow and with each blow came a closer dalliance with his skin. The knife was balancing on its tip, and I was going to force it to fall my way. He would be mine.

     Over, and over again, I repeated the words, and he flinched as my voice reached new heights of strength and power. I was an oncoming torrent he couldn’t overcome.

     Merely thinking of him kneeling before Morven’s feet made the siren smile. She cried out louder, always drawing him closer, even as my blades pounded him back. He pushed against both, his mind struggling to hold me back, even as he expertly blocked my advances with his blades. Yet, he was losing ground, and he knew it.

     His hands shook and trembled as he deflected another blow. It was only when he stumbled backward, having to catch onto the stone wall to maintain his balance, I actually smiled. We were nearly there.

     He was breathing heavily, his hand pressed against the stone wall, near the door he had burst through. His chest rose and fell, and I realized I wasn’t the only one to feel the weariness in my limbs.

     Even as the thought took hold, I called forth to him.

    
It’s done,
the sound was a soft echo and he nodded his head, slowly straightening. His arms hung by his sides, his blades flashing whenever his muscles twitched.

    
There’s no reason to be afraid.
His eyes flickered toward me and I felt him weaken. He was becoming mine slowly, he was nearly there. I only had to draw him out.
Trust me…trust us.

    
He nodded, and the corner of my mouth twitched when his blades retracted. Closing the space between us, I crooned over him, keeping him in the warmth of my voice. Rain ran off his hair as his head hung forward, and when my blades disappeared I drew his face up. My thumbs brushed against his cheeks, and when I looked into his eyes, I knew I had won. Somehow, in some way, it was done.

     Cocking my head to the side, I smiled and pressed my lips to his as clarity slowly returned. He was stone beneath my mouth, unmoving as though there was nothing between us. When I moved my hand behind his neck to pull his head down, I felt a slithering against my wrist and pulled back in time to see my dagger balanced between us, the tip pointed directly above his heart.

    
No!
The thought electrified my mind like a star shooting across the black pitch of a midnight sky.

     I remembered, suddenly, everything, it all came back. I had broken him, I had done what Morven told me to do and this was what he had wanted. He needed Patrick to be under my control, he wanted to have the siren and warrior at his sides and I was his way of maintaining it.

     My job was complete. My heart was shattering as I looked into Patrick’s eyes. Everything I needed to know was stirring just beneath the surface, but I didn’t want to confront it.

     My fingers wrapped around his, and he flinched at my touch. His skin was smooth, and soft, the point of the knife anything but. His hands trembled beneath mine, shaking more violently with each passing second.

     “Don’t do it.” I gasped, finally breaking through the last of the fog.

     “I have to,” he whispered, and the knife made a dent in his chest. If he hadn’t been wearing the black soldier’s garb it would have already pierced his flesh.

     “No,” I gasped, and from somewhere off to the side Morven approached.

     His hands wrapped around my shoulders and Patrick shifted slightly, his eyes burning over my head, boring into Morven. The anger broke through his façade of control, and for a moment, I knew I was looking at the creature who had come to me in the caves long ago. I could almost feel the cold steel against my throat.

     Morven’s lips were at my cheek, where he placed a kiss before whispering softly in my ear. “Finish it. Awaken the warrior.”

     My eyes closed as the fog took over once again.

     Morven retreated and as he did, everything I was, began to slip away. His control was complete and absolute. Though the siren voiced a song to surround Patrick, my mind held onto what it knew.

     Patrick wouldn’t fight me, the siren was right. He would never hurt me, he would always be there to keep me from harm. Even when he didn’t remember who he was, he had kept me safe. Even when I had betrayed him, he had fought off the war inside himself to keep me alive. He had been my warrior.

     My voice surrounded Patrick and our hands slipped on the handle of the dagger. His forehead resting against mine.

     “Let me do this,” he breathed, the water dripping from his lips. “I can’t…I can’t fight it.” He closed his eyes and struggled against the music surrounding him, his will was breaking, falling into mine. It was obvious now.

     Even when I had been trying to control him, he had darted out of my reach. He was resisting without hurting, escaping without retaliating. He was still protecting me, even when he was the one who needed help.

     For a moment, everything inside me went cold. There was only once chance, one way to change it all. There was only one creature who could stop me, and when the music began to change, the hand on the dagger tightened.

     I had been trying to coax him beneath my control, but he had already given me the answer I needed. He had told me how his mind worked, all I had to do was push him a little farther.

     My master wanted me to awaken the warrior inside him. And I would.

    
Don’t be a coward
,
I cried, and he winced when the sound pierced him.
Fight me, fight me you coward!

    
He flinched again, but something was beginning to stir. I could feel his heart beating faster beneath my hand. He was so close. The dagger steadied.

    
Become him…you know what it takes…give in.
Show me who you really are.

     Slowly, he raised his head, the wind whipping past us and lifting the heavy, lank strands of my hair around my face. One stuck to my chin as water rushed past my mouth, but all I could see was him. He glared at me, as the stoking of the fire within him was beginning to catch flame.

    
Show me who you are…Zale.

    
As soon as the name passed my lips, the deed was done. Fury burned in his eyes. When the dagger moved, it was pointed in my direction.

     I had only a moment to realize the change before he pushed back, throwing me across the stones. My body collided with the roof in agony, and the dagger clattered away, skidding to a halt in a puddle near the edge of the wall.