CHAPTER 12

Finley shook her head. “We can’t leave her. She is part of Requiem’s plan.”

I lifted my hands, which pulled on the barbs. “I’m not a part of anything he has planned.”

She looked to Dolph, ignoring me. “We take her with us or we don’t go.”

Dolph shook his head. “She is a traitor to her own kind, Princess.”

The voices in the main room grew louder and Requiem let out a roar.

They’d found the bodies, but no princess to go with them.

Finley didn’t seem afraid or even terribly bothered. “I want her with me and I am not leaving without her.”

“And I’m not leaving without my sister,” I said.

“The whims of women will surely kill me one day,” Dolph muttered.

He held his hand over the water, blue sparkles dancing over his fingers as he called on his power. The ocean rose in a perfect curl. Dolph put Finley into the water and then held out a hand to me. There was no choice. I took his hand and he pulled me into the cradle of water. The salt stung the gouges in my skin, and I fought to get to some sort of surface as the wave curled down around us.

I realized in that moment that Dolph could end my life right there, and no one would be the wiser. My body would sink to the bottom of the ocean and I would be lost. If he would kill his own son, what was keeping him from killing me?

Only one thing. A tiny princess who’d decided I was worth saving.

The water smoothed around us. I broke the surface and sucked in a deep breath. Dolph was already in a small boat, Finley at his side. They helped me inside, and the water pushed the boat along.

“Belladonna was waiting for me on the city side of the bridge.” I pointed to where I’d last seen her.

“Requiem could see us, Princess, we have to go.” Dolph ignored me and went straight to the helm.

Her blue eyes fixed on my face. “This is your sister? Is she an Ender like you?”

“No, she is an ambassador.”

“Do you love her? Is she a good sister?”

Honesty might not have been the best idea, but I was in shock from my injuries and answered quickly. “I love her, yes, and no, she is not a good sister, but she is getting better. And when she wasn’t good, it wasn’t really her fault.”

Finley gave a slow nod. “Get her, Dolph.”

A loud snort of frustration blew out of him, but the boat continued to slice through the water. I tensed as we coasted over the deep section between the barracks and the city where the tentacle monster had dropped out of sight.

I stood in the boat and scanned the edge. “Bella!”

A flash of white and she was running across the loose sand. I held a hand out to her and she scrambled into the boat. “Requiem, he went in. I thought you would be killed.” She wrapped her arms around me and I let out a groan.

“Not so tight.”

She pulled back and gasped as she looked at my body, gingerly touching one of the hooks. “Mother goddess, what happened?”

I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t like it? I could start a new rage, piercing every available piece of my body.”

Finley giggled and Belladonna twisted to stare at her. Unbelievably, she bowed from the waist. “Your majesty. I see your mother in your eyes.”

Damn, she really was good at this ambassador thing. A small part of me hated that father was right about that.

“Where are we going?” I stared at the city behind us, shocked at how quickly it was swallowed up into a fog I had never seen from inside the city. We were headed west which was open water. Not a good idea in my estimation.

“There are Undines who support Finley, but they keep to themselves. We must track them down,” Dolph said.

“How long will it take?” Belladonna asked, staring behind us.

Dolph shrugged, wincing. He put a hand to his side and pressed hard. Blood seeped through his fingers. “A month or two. Less if we’re lucky.”

My mouth dropped open and I stood, rocking the boat. “A month? Requiem will have the throne by then!”

“What does it matter to you?” Dolph glared at me, as if I had done something wrong. What was his problem?

Belladonna let out a bitter laugh. “Requiem’s plans go far beyond the Deep, Dolph. You should know that. My father explained it to me before I left. Requiem is one of those who stood with my mother to remake the world as a few Elementals saw fit. We have to stop him.”

Shock and hurt filtered through me in equal measure. No one had trusted me enough to tell me the truth about Requiem. Not my father, not Belladonna, not even Ash because it was likely he knew too.

As if reading my thoughts, Dolph pointed at me, then Bella. “You two sent one of your own to the cells. Why should I trust anything you say?”

I reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder. “My father sent Ash to make sure we were both finished off. Do you understand? Ash is the one you can’t trust, he was sent to kill us!” I was yelling, but I didn’t care. The words poured out of me, like purging a venom buried deep in my body. “He was supposed to be my friend, my mentor. But he’s not. He’s a liar and I couldn’t let him hurt her.” I pointed at Bella.

Belladonna sucked in a sharp breath. “You . . . you weren’t trying to protect yourself.”

“Of course not! You are my charge. Your life matters here, not mine.”

Dolph stared at me, understanding dawning in his eyes. “The note, that’s what happened, isn’t it? I told him to show it to you. The fool is afraid to tell you . . .”