Seize the Day

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I tumbled down into the darkness that sucked me in like a ravenous beast. The earthen tunnel collided into my body as I went over and over…

Until I was falling.

I cried out, but my voice was cut off by the cold liquid that engulfed me. I thrashed wildly, searching for a foothold in the water, but everything was dark. I could see nothing, and I could only feel the frigid, slick water against my skin.

Suddenly, my feet found the ground and I propelled myself upward with what little strength I had left. I gasped for air when I broke the surface. Moonlight streamed down from various cracks in the ceiling of the tunnel. It was the same shaft I had entered when Nezira was taken to the guillotines. I pushed myself over the edge of the water channel and forced the water from my lungs.

I was a sopping mess. The skirt of my sleeveless crimson dress was ripped in half and covered in mud. My hair was an unbounded, tangled mess, and my bare knees were knocking together from the cold. As a plus, my shoes were missing.

And Titus…

Royal on both sides.

It didn’t make sense—it wasn’t possible. Titus couldn’t be the Sylph Queen’s son. She was the ruler of all the nymphs. All the female nymphs. Male nymphs didn’t exist. But he said he was her son. Why would he lie to me?

I shook my head to clear it all away. Titus and Mayra made a sacrifice. I would escape through the hole in the tunnel like last time. I would run away. I would alert Natz. Alert Aria. Save them…

I sobbed on the ground, pounding it with my fist in frustration. I could do nothing. Even if I did alert someone—even if I alerted Aria—it would be too late. Therin would take Titus and Mayra would be killed.

I had never felt so powerless before. I had never had such a reason to want power before.

And I had failed. I had failed to obtain that power. The spirit rejected me after I summoned it.

I was unworthy. Unworthy of power. Unworthy of everything.

If I couldn’t even protect those I cared about, why was I on this planet in the first place?

“Are you done now?”

Despite myself, I jumped at the melodic voice that sounded from the water. I looked over to see the dark-skinned naiad, her jade eyes narrowed in anger. It made sense now—these were the underground tunnels that connected the two lakes to each other.

But I didn’t bother to move from the channel’s edge. She could drown me if she wanted to. I didn’t care anymore.

She brought her face up next to me, probably preparing to grab my arm. What she said next confused me. “I have never been so ashamed to see a human crying.”

Ashamed?

“You are supposed to be one of the four Harbingers,” she snapped, leaning a hand on the stone floor and bringing herself up to face me directly. “You are supposed to save this world. Why do you weep when the Drakain is present within this castle? You have the power to defeat him.”

How did she know Therin was here? “No,” I said weakly, “I don’t. I can’t even summon the spirit.”

She bared her fangs at me and grabbed my bodice, pulling me to meet her eyes. “If you do not defeat him,” she growled, “our Queen will be in danger. And if that happens, I will kill you myself.”

“Go ahead!” I was angry with her now. How could she expect so much of me? I just told her I couldn’t summon the spirit! “I can’t defeat Therin.”