Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Several hours later, I still hear the royals talking. Since I am unable to even close my eyes, I cannot sleep. Listening to them is really the only thing to do. I mean after I finally accepted my fate. My eyes are so dry it’s painful. Their plans right now are to take me back to Linru, where I’ll be guarded every second of the day, until Greyson can be found. That truly goes against my plans. My plan is to hunt the little fucker down and kill him.

“How is she?” Silas asks, sounding concerned, but mostly angry.

“Still the same.” Sarian answers. “Did you find anything?”

“No,” Alek says darkly. Oh great, his royal assness is here. “His trail went cold the second we got to the clearing. Looks like he stole some other powers.”

“Is there anyone dead?”

“Nothing we can find. There are no reports of any missing people, especially shapeshifters.” Silas answers. “Why would he go after Senja here? It’s crowded and right in the heart of Viliesia’s royal family. It’s suicide.”

“This is likely the only place he knew she’d be. He was the one that sent her here.” Sarian says. “But why Senja?”

“She did stab him.” Charliean muses. “Maybe she presented a challenge.”

“That’s horrible,” Serina huffs.

“Senja did say he goes after girls of strong bloodlines and are social.” Alier admits. “She’s not exactly social, but maybe this party did provide the perfect setting to get near her. Also, since she was able to track him down and harm him, she proved she was powerful enough for him. So, if he was the one to directly go after her, he probably considered her to be worth the risk.”

“Maybe, but if that’s the case why didn’t he just kill her?” Ellian asks. “She was gone long enough to have been able to accomplish that.”

“Wait a minute, did anyone else notice where he bit her?” Silas asks, a sudden coldness in his voice.

“In her neck?” Alek says.

“No!” Sarian gasps, realization hitting him the second it hit me. Oh Greyson is so dead.

“What is it?” Serina asks.

“Where he bit, is lower than where someone would bite for a meal,” Silas starts, then takes a steadying breath. “This bite, is where someone of a vampiric or lycan nature would claim a permanent mate.”

“Excuse me!” Serina screeches. “He’s mated to my daughter?”

“Serina, it’s okay.” Murrow soothes. “She’s yours and Sarian’s daughter. She’s not a vampire, nor wolf. Where did I have to bite you to claim you as mine?”

She gasps a breath of relief, “So she’s still unmated? She’s safe from him?”

“Not necessarily.” Charliean says hesitantly. “If he sees her suitable for a mate, he’s not going to leave her alone.”

Well that’s just perfect, I grumble in my head as I close my eyes. I stiffen as shock registers. I can move! My eyes are beginning to water as relief sweeps through them. I’ve never been so thankful to close my eyes in my life.

“So how do we keep her safe?” Sirena demands.

“I’m not sure.” Sarian says with a soothing tone. “She’ll be okay Serina. We just have to bring her home and we can protect her.”

“So we’re screwed?” Serina wails, starting to cry. “Why did we do this to her Sarian? Why did we choose to cut her out of our lives? Why does she have to be so stubborn?”

“Because she’s your daughter,” Sarian chuckles. “She’s never listened to a word we said before. There is no way she’s going to start now.” Truer words have never been spoken.

“Then we’ll have to force her by bringing in the Goddess.” Ileen says. “She was willing to bless Senja with a blade made with her and Senja’s blood. She’s also chosen by her, so she’ll be willing to protect her charge.”

“In the meantime, we’ll have to have guards escort her home. She’s not going to come willingly.” Ellian says. “We’ll enlist in our guards to help.”

Yeah, that’s my cue to leave. I get up slowly, looking around to see the only one in the room is Miyla, who is still sedated. I put my feet on the ground, careful to walk on the balls of my feet. After getting to the window, I put my feet on the ledge and jump.

The oddest sensation of my skin numbingly tearing, tickles my back as my wings come out, spreading wide. I have a love hate relationship with flying. I love it, but I cannot manage wind currents well and tend to crash. My mermaid half and Valkyrie half tend to clash a lot. Since my mermaid nature is stronger, I tend to side with it.

I don’t fly long, well aware that my coordination skills could land me a concussion. My goal is to get me to my room. Once there, I land outside and walk in. I whistle for Kia as I go to gather my things. After kissing her head, and putting my things in her saddle pockets, I instruct her to find me at our next location. I need to recharge, and not to expose my scent to the outside air. She takes off after I give her another hug.

Once I’m alone I hear people coming. I hear Silas yelling my name. Crap. I kick off my shoes and dive into the warm water. On my way down I pull off the mask, surprised they hadn’t removed it, letting it float to the surface. After that, I take off my dress before my tail can grow. It floats upwards as I continue my descent, determined to get away from my mother. She’s alarmingly faster than me, especially when I’m feeling weak.

Several hours later, exhaustion is starting to take hold. My muscles are still stiff from his venom. It’s almost as if they’re hardening. It’s hard to move them without pain following. I know I need to push past it, or it’ll likely force my body to settle into something so stiff I’ll look like a board. I’ve never heard of venom being able to do this before. Out of the hundreds of species in this world, not one of them has been known to do this. Hopefully it doesn’t kill me.

After forcing my muscles to move for a few more hours I surface outside the beach, gasping in pain as I try to breathe. My heart is racing, and it’s hard to even move my tail. I don’t even think I can drag myself out of the water. Nearly screaming, I force myself to the beach, just to lay down for a bit. I can’t fully get out of the water, but at least I get to lay down. Right now, my options are to sleep at the bottom of the ocean; or seek cover so the Valkyrie cannot spot me as they fly over. I know they’ll have a search party looking for me. If I stay in the water though, those stupid water nymphs will find me.

Eventually I roll onto my stomach and look up when I hear something in the jungle move. A breath of relief strikes me when I realize it’s Kia. Kia comes over to me and starts licking my neck, making me whimper slightly. She growls as she starts sniffing it, once she realizes the bite mark is not going away. She gently walks over to my tail and bites it. I cry out as she starts dragging me out of the sea. It’s too hard to tell her to stop. I can barely keep my eyes open.

Kia pulls me under a curved tree and pulls vines and bushes around us. After laying on me she starts licking me, licking the blood off of my tailfin. It’s just cartilage so there will be no permanent damage, but it doesn’t make it hurt less.