Shattered by the Sea Lord - Starla Night Page 0,102
they executed him.”
Bex held Prince Lukiyo’s gaze. “It’s not your fault.”
“But I wasn’t ready to go. And I couldn’t convince Grandfather—I wasn’t a warrior. I was weak. I begged for Dad’s life when I should have been strong. He had to execute Dad to…to kill the weakness.”
“You were a child. He manipulated you. ”
Prince Lukiyo shook his head. “He trained me. He tried to make me strong. He wasn’t all bad.”
“He was pretty bad, though.” Nuno rubbed the cuts and bruises Meg had healed, and the other young fry agreed. “Your dad said he’d lost it. And he did. Way before he tried to take on the kraken.”
Prince Lukiyo frowned.
Dannika tapped Ciran’s chest. He released her, and she swam to Prince Lukiyo. “I’m not an expert, but I do know something about relationships. Abusers are never all bad, and trauma bonds are still bonds.” Dannika pressed Prince Lukiyo’s hands gently. “It’s okay to grieve for your loss. It’ll take time, but you will heal.”
Prince Lukiyo remained quiet, but his soul light brightened and stabilized. These were the words he needed to hear.
Bex nodded to Dannika in thanks.
Dannika let go of his hands and swam back to Ciran.
Prince Lukiyo wiped his face, then looked up and frowned. “Who are you?”
The other young fry laughed and gave him an abridged version. They were in great spirits, squealing and darting.
But Prince Lukiyo did not crack a smile. He surveyed the destroyed city. The Luscans had given up their disagreements and searched the wreckage for trapped survivors. Now that the king was dead, responsibility for the city fell on his shoulders.
Bex floated quietly next to him. “You can do this.”
“I wish I didn’t have to.” Prince Lukiyo gripped his trident. “It should really be Dad.”
“Then let’s go get him.” Bex held out her hand.
“He’s alive?” Prince Lukiyo frowned at her hand, and at the rest of the queens and their husbands gathering around. “The Atlantean said so, but I thought he was lying.”
“Second Lieutenant Ciran does not lie,” Konomelu promised. Itime nodded.
“Your father is alive.” Bex nodded at Ciran. He was the first to believe in her, and his belief had started their rebellion. “I feel it.”
The rest of their island family surrounded Lukiyo—Itime and Meg, Konomelu and Angie, and even his old lieutenant Figuara—and their faith moved Prince Lukiyo.
“Come on, Luk.” Hadali grabbed his other hand and tugged him toward the trench. “He’s waiting.”
Prince Lukiyo took Bex’s outstretched hand and let his family pull him over the edge. “How can Dad be alive after all this time?”
Everyone turned to Bex.
She shrugged. “We’ll have to ask him.”
Ciran had never in his life imagined he would willingly descend into a trench—with his bride and multiple energetic, untrained young fry, no less—but Dannika and Angie remade their shield, and they voyaged into the depths like a mystical, glowing human submersible.
In the absence of the apex predator, all the lesser predators could safely come out.
Trench fish burst from hidden holes and gnawed on their shield. Colossal squids tried to entangle them with feeder tentacles, but the suckers slid off. Strange creatures had survived around the kraken, and all wanted a bite of the pliable but impenetrable bubble.
They wended beneath cliffs, descended into pits, and twisted into endless caverns deep beneath the city. Figuara ended up being particularly helpful. His skill at foreseeing which wily young fry thought it hilarious to dangle an arm out of the shield, into a fanged mouth, saved Meg from multiple healings.
Their journey felt aimless, but Bex flew unerringly onward until at last, they pushed through a veritable forest of trench worms waving deadly pincers. Beyond the turn, Bex stopped.
A group of weakened, half-starved warriors were making their final stand. Worm corpses piled around their feet. More worms hissed, forcing them against the rock.
Bex blasted the worms with a brief, powerful burst. The corpses tumbled like piled leaves before a strong gust, and the living worms wriggled away furtively into deep tunnels.
The exhausted warriors turned to their saviors with shock.
Bex flew into the center and entwined an injured warrior with fiery red tattoos.
“Bex. My love, my dream. Here you are.” The warrior pressed his bleeding forehead to hers. “I never gave up hope. I knew I would see you again.”
“Prince Ankena,” Angie breathed.
“He really is alive,” Meg said. “Barely. Ugh. Look at those bruises.”
“Dad!” Hadali crushed him in a hug.
He moved Bex to one arm and hugged his son with the other. “Hadali. You have grown so tall and strong.”