Shattered by the Sea Lord - Starla Night Page 0,89
the Life Tree, the sound felt holy, but unlike the Life Tree, the vibrations could also do damage. Its duality tingled in her fingers. This bell was anger, and anger could create or destroy.
The brides of the past had experienced tragedy.
The warriors had lived on twisted by their grief, closed off to future brides, unable to seek new soul mates.
Dannika had almost done the same. Rejecting the devotion of Ciran, she’d preferred her solitary, stunted, upside-down life.
But now she embraced Ciran.
She took his strength and she gave him her strength.
Wherever you are my love, feel me. I am coming for you.
Hope welled in her like a bubbling fountain.
She was coming for him.
Dannika opened her eyes and lowered her hands. In unison, the other women did the same, each blinking and flexing their still-bright fingers.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to kick some fins.” Meg cracked her knuckles. “Lovingly, of course.”
“You must be my daughter.” Angie smiled at her beatifically. “Because I feel exactly the same way.”
Bex grinned.
A discordant noise echoed into the lake. Something was very wrong.
Bex turned toward the lagoon entrance.
Meg gasped. “Did you hear that?”
Angie stiffened and pressed a hand to her chest. “I’m sure it’s…Hmm.”
A panicked scream echoed down the tunnel from the lagoon. “Mom!”
Hadali.
Oh, no.
Bex’s fins erupted and she dove for the underwater tunnel, flying faster than Dannika had ever seen a mer move. The others followed.
Dannika’s heart pounded. Dread reverberated in her chest. Her fins bashed the inside of the narrow tunnel. She’d unfurled them without thinking.
Dannika burst after the other women into the lagoon.
The boulder had moved.
Bex darted into the open ocean, heedless of danger.
The ocean was empty of mer, but filled, absolutely filled, with squid.
She shoved one derpy squid out of her path. “Hadali? Hadali!”
Angie and Meg floated behind her, calling for their sons, too.
But wherever their children were, they weren’t calling back.
Bex put out maximum power, vibrating to fill the ocean. “Hadali!”
No one answered.
The women swam into the cavern, not because they had any doubt about where their children were, but because they had to know why.
They had to know everything.
Dannika chucked water to shift as fast as possible. Bex staggered to her feet first, forcing herself to move as she threw up.
Val collapsed on the cavern floor rocking and crying. She saw them and tried to get up without her crutch. Her leg gave way. She fell back with a cry.
Bex helped her to sit upright. “What happened?”
“I’m so sorry,” Val sobbed. “I thought we’d be safe here. I thought we’d be safe.”
“Val.”
“We were up on the headland, searching for seabirds, and Tulu saw them. They were in that shallow water, where you usually let the kids play. Then one of them walked on the land. We hid in this cave. It was supposed to be holy ground.”
“It’s okay,” Bex said.
“It’s not okay!” Val sucked in a choking breath. “They came up from the lagoon, like you three just now, with weapons and screaming. The one big one said, ‘The males are all gone, and females cannot protect the young fry on land, alone,’ so they had to take the kids for their own protection. And, I had my staff, but I just froze. I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do. They took the children and I—I did nothing. Oh no.” Val shook, horrified at her own inaction.
“It’s really okay,” Bex repeated.
“But I let them take—”
“Val, we know these warriors.” Angie rested a calming hand on her shoulder, gentle but inflexible. “Bex means you did the right thing. If you’d interfered, they would have hurt you.”
“I did nothing—”
“You’ve told us what happened.”
“But I let them go. I let them all go.”
“Val.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so, so, so—”
“Val.”
“Sorry.” She blinked and focused on Angie. “Sorry?”
“We need you.”
She shook her head, confused.
“We’ll have to leave you for a little while.” Angie sat on her knees and bowed. “You know how to operate the radio?”
“I mean, as much as we can operate it, sure.”
“Then you must remain ready with the radio to tell our story.”
“Tell? Story?”
“Val, we need you,” Meg repeated Angie’s earlier statement, and it finally seemed to sink in.
She calmed down, sniffled, and wiped her cheeks. “Okay. I can be here. I can tell your story for you. If it takes ten years before a ship crashes on that reef, I’ll tell your story. I’ll, uh, woman the radio and, uh, eat your squid jerky.”
After all these weeks, Val knew how to get fresh water, how to