Free Fathoms of Forgiveness (Sacred Breath, Book 2) by Nadia Scrieva Page B

never get a chance to reach even Namaka’s stage of bodily development, and she might have heard Corallyn’s voice in her head wishing, like she frequently had, that she would grow breasts sooner rather than later. All these thoughts were interrupted when she was distracted by Trevain reentering the room. She immediately turned to him, with concern about Elandria at the tip of her tongue, but he was already answering her unspoken question.
    “She’s in a healing pod and the doctors are looking after her,” he said, as he approached her. “She should be fine.”
    “Thank you,” Aazuria told him with relief. “Thank you for seeing to her, Trevain.”
    “Nonsense,” he said. “Elandria took care of me when I was ill.”
    “She always takes care of everyone,” Aazuria said. She turned back to gaze at the limb in the box.
    “Rocket launchers,” Visola said as she entered the room. The echoing of her heavy footsteps made it sound like a giantess was approaching. She gritted her teeth together, as a growl was emitted from deep in her throat. “I am going to kill them all. With rocket launchers.”
    “We do not possess rocket launchers,” Aazuria said.
    “O, ye of little faith!” Visola responded. She placed her hands on her hips, and turned to Trevain with a raised red eyebrow. Although her voice carried a somewhat light tone, there was a new, predatory and almost reptilian hue glinting in her green eyes. “After all this time, she still doubts me and my capacity for vengeance.”
    “What are we going to do, Grandma?” Trevain asked quietly.
    “We’re going to give Vachlan exactly what he wants,” Visola answered. “He must have known somehow that we had decided to attack him instead of exchanging me for Corallyn. That means he has eyes and ears on the inside. A mole. It’s either someone extremely new to Adlivun who is masquerading as one of us, or an old ally of his from back when he lived here. I need to find this person.”
    “Before you decide what you plan on doing, you need to know the message…”
    “Probably more threats and bravado,” Visola said angrily.
    “What language is that written in?” Trevain asked, pointing at the symbol on Corallyn’s arm. “What does it mean?”
    “Much like our sign language, we have a universal undersea writing system,” Aazuria explained. “It is extremely old—it dates back thousands of years to the first undersea civilization. I believe I am babbling this history lesson to avoid facing the matter at hand, and I will just get to the point. The symbol means ‘Surrender’ and the little arrow at the bottom right corner indicates that it is a command.”
    “I see,” Trevain said, nodding to pretend he understood. In some part of his mind the information was registering, and he was forming a favorable opinion of the concise writing system, but in all the parts he could currently access, all he could think about was what Corallyn had suffered.
    Naclana sighed. “The rest of the message on the other body parts demands that we ‘Surrender Visola ASAP or Adlivun will be razed.’”
    “Then it’s decided,” Visola said. “I’m going.”
    “No. Without you we will lose for certain. We do not have anyone else who can lead the army. No one has the knowledge and experience…”
    “Sure, there are tons of folks who can lead. Plus Queen Amabie is here.”
    “Our troops need you, Viso. I need you. Name one other person who could take your place.”
    “Trevain will do it,” Visola said with a shrug.
    “Me?” Trevain asked. “No way. I’m the least qualified out of everyone…”
    “True, little grandson.” She reached out and pinched his cheek. “For now you are unqualified, but it won’t be that way for long.”
    Aazuria was glaring at both of them. “I will not sacrifice your life, Visola. That is not how bargaining with me works. I am not going to make it so easy—if he thinks that sending me my murdered sister is going to grant him