Pretty Stormy (The Fallen Gods #3) - K.A Knight Page 0,3

myself. I hang my head for a moment as my skin dries, and a flash of emerald eyes haunts my mind. Who is she?

It’s a question that’s plaguing me. I thrive on knowledge, on having seen everything, and then she comes from the dark with her red hair draped around her, her pale skin glowing like pearls from the deep, and her emerald eyes locked on me, making me feel something for the first time in over a thousand years.

Who is she?

Sighing, I raise my head and look up at the only painting in the room, the one of my family. My brothers stand in order of age—Mishal then Ciar then me, the three youngest, with Blaise, the oldest, on the other end. They were always so close, those two. I was not. I loved them, I did, but I was never as close as they were. I couldn’t understand their bond, so I spent my time at sea. I miss them now.

Between us all is Lilith. She’s sitting on a chair with her usual, bright smile on her face. Blaise’s hand is on her shoulder as he stands right by her side like always. He tried to hide it, but his feelings were obvious in his eyes. Even now, the love he had for her is captured in the painting as he looks down upon her. He told us once she was too young, too human for us, although we only thought of her as a sister, and I often wondered if he was reminding himself…

Moving away from the fire, I strip off my wet trousers and towel dry in the adjoining bathroom before sinking into the furs on the bed. I struggle to sleep, like always, but eventually, the sounds of the ocean lure me into slumber, where my dreams are filled with emerald eyes and pale skin.

Mira

With the man in my arms, I drag us deeper and deeper into the black abyss of the sea, well past what the humans have discovered. I keep my lips on his, wrapping my power around him to keep him alive, and he sinks with me willingly, seeking the oblivion and sins I offer. The dark lights up around me with sea life, with the predators that hide down here in the pitch-black, like me…and him.

I spot the cave and head its way, the darkness making me shiver. It’s not the stygian depths of the ocean, it’s unnatural, terrifying. The white runes of the spell keeping him trapped encircle the entrance and light the way as I force myself to take the human inside with me.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, because no matter how dark his soul is, I’m truly sorry for the pain and death that’s coming his way.

I swim us inside, pushing through the darkness that reaches for me, trying to steal my voice and soul, until we get into the bubble. It’s actually a cavern in the middle of the underwater caves. It has air and a little pool of water. We break the surface, and my eyes flicker everywhere, searching for my master as fear winds through me. I can never tell what kind of mood he’s going to be in, after all.

The rock floor surrounds the pool of water, the only entrance and exit—not that he can leave. He’s trapped here, like I’m trapped to him. There is a small, hidden alcove at the back where he sleeps, littered with old bones of stolen sailors and skulls used as decorations. The darkness here is a stain on the world, filled with evil. In the top dome of the cavern is a hole. It shows the sky above the sea, taunting my master with what he craves most but can never have—freedom.

Ironic that we are both seeking the same thing.

Dragging the human onto the rock, I leave him there, dazed and confused, as I slip into the water. I ensure my eyes are the only part of me visible in case I need to make a quick getaway. The human male climbs to his feet groggily, stumbling around in fear. I watch as he falls over the bone of a young French sailor named Timtay. He was nice, and my master kept him alive for a while. I think he was lonely. Timtay looked after me and took my master’s wrath so I didn’t have to, but, like always, the anger and hatred in my master won, and he killed him.

Something moves to the left, a slithering in