Page 172 of The Stolen Throne
And then the darkness clears.
I’m no longer standing on the bottom of the ocean, or in a bubble holding back the water, or even on the cliff overlooking the Whirlpool. I’m in the palace in Tropikis, staring straight into the turquoise eyes of the Shadowraith I gave my heart to.
The real one.
73
The Call of
the Reverie
“What the hells?” Reven is up and stalking across the room in a heartbeat. So menacing, I swear the shadows still fading from me creep back almost protectively.
Shock has made me numb, though.
“Meren?” Reven is in front of me. I can see his lips moving. He frames my face with his hands. “Meren? Talk to me.”
The Reverie has them. My mouth doesn’t want to form the words.
She has Cain and the amulets, and I’m in Tropikis, where I can’t help. Horus is back there, but he’s Vex with no powers. At least Bene is with them. But will they be able to see Cain? After all, she made it so he couldn’t see or hear or even feel me.
My hands fly up to cover my mouth, and I’m shaking so hard my eyes might fall out of my head, but I don’t give a shit. I finally manage to find my voice. “Cain—”
“What about my brother?” Pella’s harsh voice demands from behind me.
“The Reverie has him under her spell. He thought she was me, and he pulled her out of the Whirlpool and left me there.” Realization strikes hard. If the Reverie needed a way in and out, then once they’re out…
“She’s going to kill him as soon as they reach land.” We have to do something. Anything. “Reven—”
He’s already ignited his hands, the purple glow filling the room. “Let’s go,” he says with a wave. While the others run to us, Omma remains by Tabra, holding my sister’s hand. She never held my hand when I was sick. Not ever.
Grim-faced, Reven takes my hand and waits for Hakan, Vos, Tziah, and Pella to touch him. Then we go.
There’s a longer bout of darkness than what brought me here—long enough that I tighten my grip on him just to feel grounded. Then, in a burst of moonlight and thundering sound, I find myself back on the cliffs above the Whirlpool, the pummeling water even louder after the quiet. Reven sits, shoving his head between his knees and breathing hard.
Horus is at the edge peering over and startles when we appear. “Meren. Thank goddess!” He takes my hand in his, dropping to one knee before me, his relief palpable.
Over his head, I see the way the water starts to ripple at the center. Ripple, then bubble like a natural spring, boiling up from the ocean itself.
Cain and the Reverie are coming.
“There!” I point. Only, how do we get to them? Reven can’t. He needs to save anything he has left to fight her.
I look over my shoulder for Hakan. “Can you zap her?”
“I can’t use my power while they’re both in water. I’ll kill him.”
Cain appears within the opening to the vortex, and then they are both rising together. After a lifetime of seeing my face on another woman, it’s not all that strange to see myself down there. But to see me next to Cain, who is looking down at false-me like Reven does sometimes—like he breathes better when I’m near. That hurts.
A shadow passes overhead, and we all duck only to find Bene soaring above us, shooting straight for them, full size.
“Bene!” I shout. “She was your…” His what? His friend? His relation, as they were both heartmates of sisters? “You can’t!”
“Never trusted her. Never will.”
With a self-satisfied smile, the Reverie scans the shore. I know the second she sets eyes on Bene because that smile slips to a scowl. She goes up on tiptoe and puts her lips to Cain’s ear. Can he even hear her?
But he nods and starts them moving across the water toward the shore. How they’re being held up by the bubbling, frothing water at their feet, I have no idea, but it slowly crawls across the torrent, unaffected by the currents, the opposite direction from us.
