in the liquid glass wilderness, something answered in a voice not of sound but of vibration that made the rock beneath her feet shiver.
Still, the ap didn’t appear.
Ospodine’s rapturous expression soured, then blackened. Brida stepped back. “Summon your lover,” he practically snarled at her.
Brida glared at him. He was mad if he thought she’d use the flute to bring Ahtin here. Did Ospodine think her so stupid that she didn’t readily see his objective? If he couldn’t entice Edonin to answer him, he’d lure her. “No. I’ve done as you wanted, played the two notes. Whatever I’m calling chooses not to answer.”
“Summon him!” His bellow might have pinned her ears back if the wind hadn’t torn it to shreds.
“No!” Terrified now, she bolted for the path, calling her escort’s name.
Agony exploded across her scalp as she suddenly went airborne before slamming into the ground on her back. Every scrap of air in her lungs rushed out of her mouth in a hard gust. She fought to draw in a breath, even as she was hauled to her feet and suspended just above a cluster of mussel shells by Ospodine’s merciless grip on her plait.
Tears streamed down her face, and she could do nothing more than wheeze in pain when he shook her like a dog held by its ruff
Ospodine pointed to Endel who hadn’t moved. His empty gaze stared beyond them to the rolling Gray. “He can’t hear you.” Mockery oozed from every word, and he shook her again for good measure. “Ensorceled by your own playing. Now you know what true siren song can do.”
He dragged her back across the rocks. Brida clawed at his hand on her braid, trying to keep him from scalping her even as mussel shells broke under her weight and shredded the back of her skirt. She’d lost the flute somewhere in the struggle and prayed it had fallen into the water.
Ospodine finally stopped, dropping her like a sack of refuse. Brida just missed smacking her skull on the hard surface. Wet heat tickled the back of her neck, and she touched the spot, following the line of its source into her scalp. Blood, dark under the moon’s light, stained her fingers.
Her ordeal wasn’t over. She’d hardly regained her breath and rolled to her hands and knees to stand, when Ospodine snatched her up by her blouse, his grip preternaturally strong and unyielding. He spun her to face him. She twisted in his grasp, desperate to free herself. He held her with little effort, the grin he wore one of pure malice.
“Lost the flute, didn’t you?” His eyes shone almost yellow, reminding her of a wolf’s gaze. He shrugged at her silence. “No matter. You can whistle his name. I’ve heard you.” That shark’s grin widened. “Ahtin, isn’t it?” He laughed when Brida struggled even harder. “Sounds like Edonin finally got the fast swimmer she always wanted.”
When Brida still refused to summon Ahtin, even by whistling, Ospodine gave an unconcerned shrug. “No matter,” he said. “We can do it the hard way.”
He overpowered her struggles, dodging the punches she tried to land on him, and bound her hands and feet. She screamed for help to no avail. Endel, still imprisoned by siren song, stared unseeing at the sea, unaware. Those in the castle were too far away to hear her, especially with the roar of the breakers as they hurled themselves against the rocks.
The bindings Ospodine used were neither rope, nor cord, nor silk, but threads of lightning bolts woven into sorcerous shackles. Vibrations traveled up her body, forcing her muscles to involuntarily contort and contract in places. More of the woven lightning coiled around her waist, spooling out to a silvery tether that ended in Ospodine’s grip. The shark smile flitted across his face before he shoved her off the rock’s flange.
Brida plunged into the surf and sank like a stone. The churning water shoved her one way and then the other amid a froth of bubbles and sand whipped into underwater whirlwinds. She held her breath, lungs on fire, and kicked her bound feet for the surface. Her chest felt close to bursting, her body’s natural instincts screaming that she find air and breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
A tremendous force smashed her stomach into her backbone as she was yanked upward, clearing the surface in a cascade of seawater to fall on cold rock with a jarring thump. Brida opened her mouth to suck in a gulp of precious air. Her manacles sizzled against