Veiled Eyes

Chapter 15

Pain – noun: physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury.

"Kael!" I screamed.

I didn’t hesitate. I dove into the black, ice-cold water, the knife clenched between my teeth. The chill hit like a blow, stealing my breath, but I forced my arms and legs to move. Beneath the surface, there was nothing but darkness—absolute, crushing. My ears filled with the muffled roar of my own heartbeat as I thrashed forward, lungs already burning.

Then—contact. My hand brushed something solid. I surged toward it, my fingers sliding over the hard plane of muscle before a grip closed tight around my wrist. Kael.

I ripped the knife from between my teeth, my other hand skimming down his side until I hit something slick and cold. The Leviathan’s skin. The tentacles coiled around him were like living steel, unyielding, the ridges biting into my fingers.

I forced myself to follow one limb, sliding my hand along its armored length until my fingertips caught on a subtle change in texture—a ridge, a seam between plates. Without thinking, I drove the blade into the gap with all my strength.

The beast recoiled, its grip tearing away from Kael in a violent snap. I felt the sudden rush of his body rising beside me, his hand finding mine in the dark. His fingers locked tight, dragging me with him toward the surface. Pain flared white-hot in my injured leg as I kicked, every movement a battle against the crushing weight of the water.

We broke through with a ragged gasp, the cavern air searing my lungs. Kael shoved me toward the bank, the roar of churning water at our backs. I slammed into the stone edge, my fingers latching on in a white-knuckled grip. Kael’s hand landed beside mine, anchoring himself, then slid to my waist. With one brutal heave, he hauled me up and out of the water.

I collapsed onto the cold rock, coughing and sputtering, the sound echoing off the cavern walls. My chest burned, my pulse pounding in my ears.

Kael dragged himself up beside me, water streaming from his hair and clothes, his breath coming in harsh, controlled bursts. His silver-bladed knife was gone, swallowed by the deep.

For a moment, there was only the sound of our breathing and the slow drip of water from the ledge into the black pool below. Then—

Ripples.

They spread from the center of the water, faint but growing. The dark surface shivered as if something vast was moving just beneath.

Kael’s head snapped toward it, his body shifting into that unnatural stillness I’d learned meant danger. “It’s not over,” he murmured, low enough I almost didn’t hear. His gaze locked on the pool, his hand instinctively reaching for a weapon he no longer had.

The ripples broke into waves.

The beast was coming again—closer this time, faster. We had nothing. Kael’s silver blade was gone, swallowed in the depths, and my own knife was still lodged in the limp, severed limb trailing behind the monster like a trophy.

I tried to stand, but my leg gave out instantly, pain lancing white-hot through the muscle. A strangled gasp tore from my throat as I dropped back down, scrambling backward on my hands.

Kael’s gaze flicked between me and the churning water. The tension in his jaw was visible even through the shadows, his whole body coiled like he was fighting something inside himself.

Then his eyes locked on mine—steady, unblinking. His mouth pressed into a thin, unreadable line.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Confusion prickled in my chest. Sorry for what? The question was on my lips—then the answer came, and the breath died in my throat.

Before my eyes, the warm mocha brown I’d grown used to bled away, swallowed by a cold, unnatural glow. White. Bright and inhuman. The eyes of the Harrowed.

Horror clawed its way up my spine.