Conviction's King | Damian Book 1

Chapter 41

I nod. "Half-brother." I grunt in amusement. "Your dad got lonely after your mom supposedly died."

She frowns at me. "Let's go get him, then."

"Wait, what?"

She's marching toward Initi quickly, her bare feet silent in the trees.

"Wait, what are you doing? That is a bad idea. Bad, bad idea."

She turns around, huffily placing her hands on her hips. "Why?"

"Because he isn't on the island anymore. He's already a part of the underwater world."

She watches me carefully. "What do you mean?"

"Have you seen him around?" I ask. Cressa-la furrows her brow and shakes her head.

"I don't... think so..." She trails off, trying to remember.

"Right. Because he's gone. His name is Freidrick now, so if we come across him, address him as that."

"Freidrick," she repeats, a question on her lips, but she nods instead of asking it. "It's a good thing you know all these things already... I really hate being left in the dark."

"I know," I say as I begin to walk in the opposite direction, toward the beach. "So let's go take your mom home."

"Are you going to transport us there?"

I gaze at her wearily, feeling drained. Sighing, I say, "Look. I used to have a lot of power. Doing stuff like I've been doing all day would be nothing, and I wouldn't be this drained, but now... I'm regaining my powers slowly and my twenty-three-year-old body was conditioned to use and store enormous amounts of power. Since Morgiana's been using me non-stop for the past few years..." My throat grows tight and I shift her now unconscious mother in my arms. "There isn't a lot more I can do today. Not until I at least take a nap. We're going to have to swim there."

Cressa-la frowns, definitely displeased by my statement but not arguing, understanding as much as she can. "And how long will that take?"

I smirk. "Why? Do you have a date to get to soon?"

"No," she says indifferently, unfazed. "Lily-flor was out playing with her friend and I told her to be back before the sun sets..." She bites her index finger's nail once as she turns around to face Initi, walking backwards down the decline of the island.

I exhale. "We'll be back before sunset," I promise, and return to focusing on where I step. "But I promise you that Lily can take care of herself, even at this age."

Cressa-la gives a slight pout, and I curse as I nearly trip, distracted by her, feeling heat creep up my neck.

"But she's so young."

I snort. "Yeah, and so were you when you started moving away from your adopted mom, right?"

She frowns, giving me a hard glare, but softens the next moment, her shoulders slumping. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I think I'm just worried she'll pull away from me like I did to Nan-ah..." Sighing heavily, she tugs at her hair. "I shouldn't have done that."

A deep silence falls over us and we pass the tree line that breaks onto the shore.

"You're going to have to grow a tail," I say, stepping into the freezing water. I shudder as goosebumps trail along my skin. I stop when the water is at my knees. Going any further would cause a ton of discomfort for me, so I'd rather avoid that. "Just close your eyes," I tell her as I gently place her mother into the water, watching as her body switches to breathing through gills. Those born as mermaids or mermen don't have the raspatory system of humans, and therefore can't spend too much time above the water, whereas people like the three of us have both systems. We're like a hybrid of merpeople and humans. "Then you'll see yourself start to change."

Cressa-la peers at me through lashes as she scrutinizes my words, pursing her lips as she takes a deep breath in, the water lapping inches from her feet. I frown as her mother stirs, still out cold. There's a scar across the width of her throat, telling me Morgiana took her vocal chords. She can't speak.

There's a knot in my own throat as I swallow hard. When Cressa-la was invisible, teetering between the paranormal world and the physical, she was visible to me for only a moment, and in that moment, she reached forward and healed me, pushing a good amount of her own powers into my blood, her cyan intertwining with my own. I was able to communicate with words, sounds... it was yet another thing I could never repay her for. Yet another reason as to why she is the only one I could ever see myself with, the only one I have wanted for years now.

She huffs an exhale, her shoulders slumping as her fingers dig into her hips, her gaze dropping to the ground and sweeping over her mother and I. Looking over her shoulder once, she scratches her forehead, fighting with herself, and then shakes her head.

"Before sunset," she says, meeting my eyes.

I grin, letting myself sink deeper in the water, wincing as the cold wraps around my thighs and waist. With a laugh, I repeat, "Before sunset."