Sewn & Scarred (The Fated Creations Trilogy #3)

Chapter Ninety-FourEvaline

Chapter Ninety-Four

Evaline

A s soon as we made impact with the water, I felt the sear of Lauden’s Fire die against my skin.

But we did not stop moving.

I created a rip tide, a current, but instead of pulling us farther out to sea, it tore us down to the bottom of it.

I held my breath as long as I could before a bubble of air erupted around us, and we both took deep breaths.

What little daylight was even visible through the gray clouds, dimmed quickly as we descended further and further down into the water.

With my face pressed against his chest, my shoulder still lowered as I tackled him toward the bottom of the seafloor, I could hear the way his heart raged.

He started to fight against me, his hands ripping at my shoulders. But when he wasn’t strong enough to pry my arms off of him, I heard the sizzle of his flames try to light against the spray of water around us.

I stared down the water as we tore through it, and gave up on trying to predict the end. When all the light well and truly disappeared, I let Neomaeries’ moonlight filter into my eyes, until the entire world around us—the small pocket of air we dove through and the water around us, glistened.

Finally, the ocean floor approached. I let go of Lauden, slowing our speed, letting my feet land softly while I let his head fall back against the sand below us.

My Air opened up into a large area around us, the size of mine and Maddox’s bathroom on the island, and I widened my stance as Lauden stumbled his way to his feet.

“You’re fucking insane,” Lauden hissed. “We’re going to die down here.”

A small smile spread across my lips as I let my head tilt to the side.

“The Fire Caster? Maybe. The Water Sorceress? Definitely not.”

His eyes narrowed as he finally pulled himself up, as he straightened to his full height, the light of my eyes reflecting off of his—off the wall of water suspended behind him.

“This is not how I die,” he growled, and flung his hands toward me, a whip of fire slapping out from each one.

I let water from the ceiling of our small enclosure fall into the space between us, slicing his whips into two.

I took a step toward him.

“No, Lauden. This isn’t one of your lessons, and I’m not Sage. You do not get to control this moment, or me, not anymore.”

He ground his jaw, and his hands clenched into fists at his side.

“Even if you kill me, the Kova will lose. You will all lose, and when Vasier discovers what you’ve done to his Sorcerer, he’s going to—”

“You’re going to die today,” I said softly, interrupting him. “You are going to die, and Vasier is going to die, and both of your bodies will join the waters of the Madierian. And for the rest of Rominia’s existence, for as long as humans, Sorcerers, and Kova live here, in harmony, they will look out into these waters, and they will know. And instead of that thought haunting them, they will rejoice. They will know that we got revenge on the two beings who wanted to watch a kingdom burn so badly that they were willing to allow the slaughter of countless innocent civilians.”

I took a step toward him, and the light around us grew brighter as my hatred burned hotter.

“I know what you did to Sage. I know what you did to Ankin. I know what you did to the wards.”

I listed off his crimes. “I will see to it that you will never hurt anyone, ever again.”

He took a step toward me, one hand igniting in flame as one reached for his pocket, but before he could pull whatever was in it—a dagger or potion or Gods knew what else—and get off his ball of fire, I pulled the air that wrapped around us close.

Until it sucked into a small bubble around my body, until it, and the current, swung beneath my feet and began to shoot me to the surface, once again.

Lauden never got his lash of Fire out, only rose his opposite hand toward his mouth, as if to silence a shriek, as the water crashed in behind him, over him, around him, and crushed him below.