Page 49 of Captive of Secrets and Storms

Someone grabs my hand.

Shadows dive into my mouth. I gag, but relief fills my collapsing lungs. More shadows wrap around my torso, and I’m yanked through the heavy water and into the air in a blur of darkness and a shift of gravity that leaves my head spinning.

Wind slaps my cheeks. Water drips from my body.

I’m lowered onto a hard surface. A shadow shoves me onto my side and strikes my back. Once. Twice. On the third hit, I cough up seawater and bile, wheezing, gasping.

I force my eyelids to part. Debris covers the ship’s deck. Broken crates. Shattered glass. There are no shadows in sight.

Time blurs between my coughs until air finally fills my chest. The scraps of magic I have left gather and press gently against the damaged lung tissue, softening the lingering pain.

Exhausted, I lay on my side, and my pulse begins to slow when a striking, tan face appears above me.

“Elara?” Rian’s wild eyes search mine. “Can you hear me?”

“Y-yes.”

His features soften.

Then they harden into a fierce scowl. “What the fuck do you think you were doing?”

I roll onto my back with a groan. “W–what?”

Fangs descend over his bottom lip, pressing against his chin. “You stopped fighting. You gave up. Why the fuck would you do that?”

“Are you kidding?” I croak. “I almost died.”

“Because you refused to use your magic!” Shadows whip off his shoulders.

“Rian… Relax.” Jaxon steps forward, hands outstretched, as if to pull his prince back.

“No.” I push myself upright, unwilling to sit beneath Rian while he speaks to me this way. “I tried to use it. I did use it. I just⁠—”

“Waited too long and almost lost your life.” Silver flares in his glare. “Don’t you dare ever fucking do that again. Do you hear me? You are not allowed to give up. You are not allowed to die. If you do, I swear to The Mother, I will follow you into the underworld and rip you out of its depths and make you pay for daring to leave me.”

His words sink under my skin, stirring something I can’t name.

As a healer, I’ve heard so many different responses when loved ones are hurt or sick. Fear. Sadness. Anger. But I’m not a loved one. Rian has no reason to be so…rattled.

Unless this isn’t about me at all…

Rian needs me to cure Darius.

That’s all this is.

I think.

“That’s enough.” Silas steps forward. His soaked shirt is askew, and water drips from the ends of his hair. “Control yourself, Rian. Before you regret it.”

Rian snarls, but his eyes never leave mine. One of his shadows coils at my ankle, the one the monster grabbed. The dark magic caresses the sensitive flesh. It’s gentle. Tender.

And confusing.

I pull back. “Don’t touch me.”

The shadow dissipates.

The markings on my arms flicker with disapproval.