The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) (63 page)

“I don’t want you to either, you’re my daughter, but you’re also a queen, and if a queen won’t fight for her cause who will? It is not my place to stand in the way of this world’s safety for selfish reasons.” He passes this wisdom but I can tell he’s forcing it out, like it’s duty bound. I know he really wants my safety above all else deep down.
 

I think on this, looking into the swirling waters of the whirlpool. I wonder once more why it is me who has to make this sacrifice, why everything fell on the shoulders of the few of us who became mer to begin with.
 

Then, something Orion said once comes back to me.
 

We’re not made. We’re chosen.
 

I was chosen. I was chosen by Atargatis to be her vessel. If that isn’t a sign for the undertaking of such a journey, then I don’t know what is. I realise that being among the mer has shown me how to believe. I never would have trusted in the plan of a Goddess six months ago. But how can I deny that she knows what she’s doing? I have proof in the very man who I would never have chosen for myself, who was born five hundred years before my time, and yet suits me so perfectly.

“I want to do it,” I decide aloud, sure of myself for the first time in a while.

“Very well then. But before you do, I want to have a celebration. Just one night. I feel we must honour Starlet and Atlas. I have waited so very long to meet you. I also want a dance with my daughter before she leaves again,” Gideon sighs, looking at me with hopeful eyes, as though he’s wishing for my safety in the days ahead.

“Sure, why not? After all, we could all be dead tomorrow,” I reply carelessly, looking over at Cage. He’s watching me with bright eyes.
 

“We still need to find the vessel among you. You got that from what I said before?” I ask my father.

“Yes. I know. You said about wanting to use Azure’s visions.”

“I know. But I don’t think she’s really in the place for socialising right now,” I sigh.
 

Goddess, this is such a complete and utter mess. I realise suddenly that my heart is heavy in my chest; it’s been that way for a while I think, but I’ve stopped noticing. I breathe outward, keeping focus on the whirlpool that continues to spin, trying to calm myself.

“There’s another way,” I remember, thinking back to the Necrocazar.

“Oh?”

“Well, actually there are two. We can either use Ghazi. That’s how I first found out. Or, we can have me kiss every Adaro in the land…” I joke but my dad frowns.

“Yeah, Orion might not be too happy about the kissing idea. Also, I’m not ready to see you kissing random strangers quite yet. How about we try seeing if someone can absorb my powers?” Gideon suggests.

“We could do that… but when I first used my powers to absorb things, I only managed it because I was frightened. I was fighting,” I admit this.

“Well, we have a colosseum inside. Nothing the Adaro like more than a test of strength. Why don’t we set up a tournament?”

“Sure… I guess. Just no more killing okay?” I request with a faux frown, he laughs.

“Of course not. I’ll announce it. Come on.” Cage turns at my father’s final sentiment, leading us back inside the city. I watch Gideon swim next to me, his white tailfin stark in the clear water. He catches me staring out of the corner of his eye and smiles.
 

I find it hard to believe how quickly everything happens once my father announces the tournament. Adaro come from all over, rising from their frozen homes and flocking to the colosseum . My father blows out of a conch, which I know he must have brought from warmer waters, calling attention over his people. While he does this, I head back up to the tallest tower of the ice palace, seeking my other half. I’m worried. Azure was calm and sobbing when we’d left, but I know that she could turn back to a violent frenzy just as easily. I also need to find Ghazi and Cole. I’ll need them as fighters in the colosseum
 
if I’m going to make this thing work.
 

I reach the top of the spiralling ramp that leads to the tallest room of the highest tower, take a deep breath and open the doors, swimming forward into the room.
 

Ghazi and Cole are still inside, so is Orion, right where I left him; slumped against the wall, battered and bruised. Azure is still in his lap, her long onyx locks covering her face like a shroud of mourning. I shut the doors behind me softly.

“Hi. I need you two. We’re gonna hold a tournament to find the Adaro vessel,” I explain. Ghazi looks concerned.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be a controlled situation. I won’t let anyone get hurt. Besides, Gideon is refereeing,” I explain, trying to reassure him. Ghazi twists his mouth in a frown, looking concerned still. Slowly he nods. Cole looks back to Orion and Azure. A familial heap of melancholia.

“Can we leave them?” He asks me.
 

“I don’t think she can do anything worse to Orion than she already has,” I shrug.

“Well, she could kill him,” Cole suggests and I cock my head, scowling. Suddenly a cracked voice reaches us.

“I can hear you. I’m grieving, not deaf,” Azure looks around to us, her hair falling from her cheek and back down her back. Her pupils are icy blue. Her skin pale. She looks different. I smile at her. “What are you staring at?” She barks at me. I blanche slightly and she laughs. Orion rises from beneath her, his tailfin sliding out, stiff. He looks broken. His body is a sick masterpiece of coloured bruises. He moves over to me and I place my hand on his chest. He winces.

“Oh God. Sorry,” I apologise and he goes to smile, but then winces. Even his cheeks look swollen.
 

“It’s okay… I’ll be okay,” he says but I don’t believe him. “I’m going to take Azure back to the room with me. You go. Go find the vessel.” I twist my mouth, not liking the idea of leaving him alone. He senses my reserve. “If she was going to kill me, she’d have done it by now. We’re family. It’s going to be okay.” He places a hand on my cheek, whispering. I watch him wince again, the patch of ribs beneath his arm are exposed, showing purple and red blotches appearing beneath the skin.
 

“Okay. I’ll come and find you later. Hopefully I’ll have an answer by then.” He doesn’t acknowledge that he’s heard what I’ve said. I’m glad, because every minute movement seems to give him agony. Instead, he turns and takes Azure by the hand and leads her past us. Her eyes drop, and it’s the first time I’ve ever realised how she feels about herself. She’s ashamed.
 

Once they’re gone, I feel myself exhale a breath I hadn’t known I’d been holding. Ghazi and Cole do the same. I turn to them.

“Let’s go,” I command. “We’ve got a vessel to find.”

Sitting in the chief’s box on the balcony surrounding the pit of the colosseum had been exciting at first. The Adaro were extraordinary warriors, there is no denying that. I have been watching them now for hours though and it is wearing thin. There has been no sign of the vessel, not anywhere. No matter how closely I look at the fighting, I’m not getting even a glimmer of anything vessel-like about any of them.
 

Gideon approaches me, rising up from his refereeing duties down in the snow-covered arena, now speckled with tiny spatters of red from minor injuries and scrapes.

“You look bored,” he frowns. I’m draped across the chair that is slathered in thick white furs; my tail cocked over one armrest, and my spine pressing against the other. I exhale.

“How can you tell,” I roll my eyes. This has been going on for hours and we still have nothing. Nika and Cage are sitting next to me, looking at me with disapproving stares. I know as queen I should probably pretend to be interested, maybe
oooh
and
aaahh
at regular intervals, but with Orion pulverised, Azure falling apart, and the mermaids being ridiculously over-excitable at the announcement of a celebratory ball, people are exhausting me beyond the point where I give a damn.
 

“I have brought you some light reading,” my dad gestures over to Cage, he swims toward us holding something large and brown in his hands. Gideon takes it from him as he stills, reaching us, and passes me what turns out to be a book.

“What it is? It’s huge!” I exclaim and he laughs.

“Sedna’s codex. I wondered if it might help us narrow down the search. You flick through it while I start the next match.” He turns from me and I watch him leave. I can’t believe he respects me so much. I’ve never had such trust from a parent before. I’ve not known that a relationship with a parent could be so much like a friendship, but better. I smile to myself, content momentarily.

The moment passes too quickly, but I look down,distracting myself, as I trace my fingers across the cover of the old leather bound book. It’s thick and the pages are aged and heavy, preserved in wax as usual. I open the book and the language inside is, thankfully, English. Diagrams of icebergs, text about ice formation and maintenance run on for chapters and chapters. Fighting techniques and indexes of several different types of heat radiating demons catch my attention with terrifying pictures. I flick through them absent-mindedly, not stopping until something catches my eye.
 

I sit up, and flick back a few pages, enjoying the crinkle of old paper beneath my touch. There it is. A symbol I had seen before. A circle filled in with four intertwining crescent moons. I look down at it, trying to remember where I had seen it. Then I realise I’d seen it twice. Once in Azure’s vision, the seal had been carved with the very same design. I know I’ve seen it somewhere else, somewhere before Azure… I stop, replaying my crystalline memories. The location comes back to me, the epiphany cresting like a wave.
 

The temple of Atargatis.
 

The symbol had been crafted into the wall of the temple. The temple where I’d found my scythe. The scythe that had been used to cause so much blood shed. The passage isn’t like the others. It’s been written in. Not printed. How strange. I read it to myself a few times. It doesn’t make sense. It just seems like a lot of crazy ramblings.

The vessel is a container. The vessel is a container. The vessel is a container, a container with bars.
 

I look at that handwriting. It seems familiar.
 

The conch blows a hollow sound, demonstrating that the latest match has come to an end. I see that Ghazi has smashed Sirenia’s face into the snow. Good.

“Next up… we have another challenger for Ghazi. Cage!” My father’s voice booms deep, reverberating through the water and making the particles within it vibrate. His last word hits me and I drop the codex.

“A container with bars… WAIT!” I call out but it’s too late. The fight has already started. It doesn’t take long for me to witness what I already know to be true. Cage absorbs Ghazi’s strength and slams him into the furthest wall with a massively overcharged outward push of both hands. He looks down at himself, clearly confused. The codex forgotten, I swim down into the arena. Ghazi looks at me as if to say
happy now?

“It’s him! He’s the vessel!” I point at Cage. I hear gasps above.
 

“It can’t be him. Why on earth would Sedna choose him? He’s not even the best fighter!” Cain yells from the stands. I turn to look up at him and shrug. If I knew the answer to his question I wouldn’t be fumbling around in the dark for answers myself.

“How did you know? You knew before he even touched Ghazi,” Gideon swims over to me, his tailfin barely moving but creating an immense speed.

“The Codex… there was a handwritten piece. It said the vessel was a container, a container with bars…” I begin. Gideon’s eyes widen.

“A cage!” He stares at Cage, his eyes wide with surprise. Cage himself looks like he might be sick.

“The lines. They were handwritten,” I whisper, feeling confused.

“The lines next to the symbol? The one with the moon?” My father cocks an eyebrow. He smiles knowingly, finally able to remember now I’ve pointed out the exact location of the information.

“What?” I ask him and he smiles

“That Codex was in the backpack Atlas gave to me. Before I came up here,” he laughs. Suddenly I understand.

“That wasn’t Atlas’ handwriting though…” I say. I’ve seen Atlas’ handwriting recently on the letter he gave to Orion. The scripture doesn’t match.
 

I think hard, trying to remember where I’ve seen the script before, where I’ve seen the long swirling lines.
 

Suddenly it comes to me in a wave of grief. It comes to me that long before I was ever a part of this world, visions of dark things yet to pass had plagued another. We had never seen eye to eye, we had never even been friends, and yet I miss her. I utter her name. Vowing never to forget her sacrifice.

“Starlet.”