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I blinked. “The children, too?”
Valentina nodded. “All of them. King. Queen. Their line.”
My mouth dropped. I was responsible for the children dying as well as the kingdom falling. How was I going to make this better for anyone when everyone was bleeding? My mother, Martha, I grew up with, I don’t think she’d ever do anything like this, so the idea of killing senselessly was so foreign to me. Were there no rules? Regulations?
“And that was when the sky turned. Since then, some kingdoms have begun to freeze over.”
All of it, war, murder, freezing skies, was stacked on top of one thing: me. I didn’t know how to process that. One half of me was sinking. The other half said, “Get over it. You’re a king.” I didn’t feel like a king. I felt like the universe was orchestrating me to be a cosmic puppet... shoved into a storyline I didn’t audition for. I dragged a hand through my curls and asked, “Okay—but even if we strip down, how are we not walking into the kingdom dripping wet? That bag’s going to be soaked.”
With a smirk tugging at her lip, she said, “Don’t worry, love. I already let my friend Arianna know we’re coming.”
“What?” I blinked. “You guys have some kind of secret vampire telepathy or something?”
She shook her head, still wearing that smug little smile. “No, she sees the future. She’ll already know I’ve brought you.”
I stared at her. “That’s… concerning. Don’t you think that’s concerning?”
Chuckling under her breath, she took my hand, easing my tension, and we knelt near the mouth of the lake. “It’d be more concerning if she couldn’t see what happens next. Don’t be afraid when you meet her, she’ll smell it,” she teased. “You really have to stop questioning everything,” she said, toe slipping into the water. “Once you go through that portal, anything’s possible.”
TAINTED ׀ CHAPTER 6
New world
Goosebumps prickled my skin as the emerald stream lapped against my chest while I dove after Valentina. She’d convinced me to strip down, shove what little clothing I had into the backpack, and strap it tight against my back. Once I was deep enough, the pale mermaid cut against the current toward me like a predator sizing up prey.
My gut knotted at the sight. A flash of crimson hair twisting through black water.
Its webbed hand clamped around my wrist and flung me onto its back like I weighed nothing. Scaled flesh struck my chest like daggers—sharp and unforgiving. Every nerve in my ribs lit up at the too-slick glide against my skin, and in that second, I forgot how to breathe.
Fathoming leaving this place felt almost as impossible as meeting Valentina had been. As impossible as stepping into a life I never knew existed. I scanned the cavern one last time, toward its mouth, and let myself remember what came before. I’d been genuinely excited to start my new life. To see what this world would bring me.
My friends. Conner. Bailey.
Her voice at its most agitating every time I picked him up. I hope he doesn’t think I just didn’t show up yesterday. Hell, even my coach, I was excited to see that bastard every practice.
It was the simple things, really, that suddenly felt so far out of reach. Was it really all just going to slip away? Maybe this wasn’t goodbye. Maybe it was just… later.
I finally forced my arms around it, fingers tangling in its slimy, matted hair. Its entire body was coated in a slick, clear membrane that felt almost warm against the chilled water—or maybe that was its body heat. I clung to it, fighting against its slippery skin just to stay attached. The smell rising from it twisted my stomach as my nose brushed those slimy fire-colored locks. Pure salt and rancid algae. Even as the stench bit at my senses, a rush of cold anticipation surged through my veins as the mermaid’s body began to glide over the surface. I felt my pupils dilate, adrenaline sharpening everything at once.
“Take one last breath!” she sang, her voice angelic and eerie all at once.
Opening my mouth, I dragged one last rancid-laced breath into my lungs. My ribcage strained against the predator’s back as I forced myself to hold it there. Within that single breath lived my hope that I would make it. My wonder. And the smallest sliver of my anger. It was all there, waiting to escape. But I kept my mouth, my soul, sealed tight as the mermaid finally plunged beneath the surface.
My face went numb instantly, skin prickling with a thousand frozen needles. Squeezing my eyes shut against the water rushing past, I clung to her as my life depended on it, because it did. Every second counted down in my head. Stay calm. Don’t let any air slip out.
Thirty seconds in, the black behind my eyelids shifted to red, then white, so bright it burned. Heat surged through the current as the mermaid shot toward the bottom like a bullet. I cracked my eyes open for a glimpse—just long enough to witness the magic. A stream of silver bubbles blurred my vision as they slipped from my nose and the corners of my lips. That last breath finally giving way. Pressure built in my lungs, crushing hard against my ribs the deeper we went. My chest heaved in protest, begging for another inhale. Oxygen starvation sent bitter bursts of heat through my body, and I had to fight myself to stay latched to the mermaid. This must be what dying feels like, not quick. Not peaceful. Panicked. Fighting every second just to keep my eyes open. Then the lights vanished. And everything went black.
It could have been minutes or hours before my consciousness flickered back. The first thing that greeted me was cold, unexpected and sharp, as my eyelashes tried to flutter open. I had to fight the frozen droplets sealing them shut. When they finally broke apart, a few lashes tore free from my waterline, and I caught sight of tiny shards of ice clinging to the strands. Even the first harsh pull of air into my lungs was laced with frost, exhaling in a pillowy white cloud. It bit at my skin, freezing. Dry.
The panic that had driven me through the current gave way to relief. I’d made it.
It didn’t last.
The cold settled deep into my bones as my brain finally registered the winter landscape my bare body was sprawled across. The only thing spared direct contact with the ice was the strip of fabric covering my hips.
Val hovered over me, her golden skin pale with worry. She was already clothed, but her snowy curls clung damply to her face as she assessed me. Just behind her stood another woman, both of them staring down like I might slip away again. When she noticed my eyes were open, she grinned. “I thought you said you could hold your breath.”
Running my fingers down my face, I wiped away the fine powder of frost clinging to my skin. Finally, I let myself take in the landscape I’d landed in. Snow stretched for miles—heaped over trees, draped across jagged rocks. The bay that had carried us through gleamed a startling blue, its depths so clear I could see chunks of ice breaking loose beneath the surface. Some were no bigger than stones. Others looked large enough to crush a body whole.
