King of Tides (The Immortal Iron Brothers #3)

Chapter 16

Just Children

I ’m not even sure what I’m looking at. This can’t be the cute little five-year-olds I met this afternoon. As I look up, the two are looking down at me with glowing blue eyes.

They’re huge and look more like men than two small boys. They are looming over me by about five feet. The name water titan makes sense in this moment as they move like they’re surfing on water instead of moving on legs.

“What the hell?” I murmur to myself.

The sound of water rushing fills my ears as I stand frozen, trying to process what I’m looking at. The guy with the sword looks like he’s going to attack now that the boys have their attention on me. Without thinking, I throw up a shield of ice between them and the man.

I look at my hands in surprise, wondering how I made that happen. I don’t want any harm to come to these boys. I may not understand what’s happening, but these are two cute, innocent little boys. I can’t allow them to be hurt.

“ Ben kral?m ,” Ardan roars behind me, causing me to look back up at the boys as they surround me.

They each have a bolt of water in their hands and are aiming them at me to throw. I throw my arms up to shield myself. However, nothing happens.

After a few beats, I peek around my arms to find what looks to be water knights. They are surrounding me and covering me with shields. They are the only reason I wasn’t struck.

“I command you, titans. Stand down, now. This is over,” Ardan booms.

Instead of obeying, one of the titans produces a sword and jabs it at the soldiers shielding me. I watch with wide eyes as Reilly jumps into the air and touches the forehead of one titan. Then, faster than the speed of light, he appears before the other and does the same.

Right before my eyes, the adorable little boys from earlier appear. They look around with wide eyes before falling to their knees in tears. I turn to look at Ardan and stumble back.

He’s standing, glaring at me angrily, but that’s not what throws me. Behind him stands what looks like a holographic version of him. It’s taller than the boys were. Much taller.

Both the figure and Ardan have a crown on their heads. Water flows through and around the crown as ice forms around the base. The figure has his arms across its chest as he wears the same angry look on its face while glaring down at me.

The soldiers straighten and they all line up in front of me. The sheer weight of all of this causes me to drop to my knees in the puddle of water surrounding me. The water soldiers rush forward to surround me once again. I look up and see they have expressions of concern on their flowing faces. Two of them grab me beneath the arms and help me to my feet.

I look back and forth between the two, trying to process what’s going on. Before I can gather my thoughts, they move back to where they were standing with the others. All the soldiers place a hand over their hearts and drop to one knee, then bow their heads to me. I don’t know what to do.

I can only stand with my jaw flapping. I turn my gaze back to Ardan and he still looks pissed. That’s when Kai groans and I turn to look in her direction. Reilly is with her, and he seems to be healing her.

“What happened here?” Ardan barks out.

“We don’t know. They were asleep. I heard a commotion and went to check on them. I found them in titan form,” Kai says.

“What is triggering this?” Ardan says in frustration.

“How was any of that possible?” I breathe.

Ardan cuts his gaze to me sharply. I force myself not to cower. Although the look he gives me makes me want to piss myself.

“I will deal with you later,” he says.

I frown, but I can’t argue as he moves to sit on the wet floor and beckons the boys to him. They both scramble into his lap and wrap themselves around him.

“It will be okay. This will pass. We will figure out what’s going on.”

“I feel funny,” Bourne says.

“Me too. I’m so cold,” Beck says.

I don’t miss the look that passes between Ardan and Reilly. I look around and know I’m in over my head, but I want to be here to help. I need to learn so I can help.

Feeling bad, I try to talk to Ardan through our bond. “I’m sorry, but it’s in my nature to protect. I didn’t mean ? —”

He sighs in my head, cutting me off. “My anger is not with you. It’s with the fact that you could have been hurt. I think we’re moving too fast. I need to do better. This is my fault. Go back with Reilly. I will see you when I return.”

“You’re not coming back?”

“Not tonight. I need to remain here with them. They are frightened and confused.”

“I understand.”