Part 28 (2/2)

I tried to be good, Perrin wanted to tell him. I tried to be your son.

Turon said, ”The girl.”

”Not part of this,” he replied, sinking into the cold place. Live or die. Live or die. For Jenny.

But his father shook his head, finally looking troubled. ”I was certain Pelena was mistaken.”

Perrin frowned, but A'lesander swore again. He tore his gaze from Turon, just in time to watch Jenny scratch her nails across his old friend's face.

”f.u.c.k your protection!” she screamed at him. ”You murderer! You tried to kill Maurice! You killed that merwo-”

A'lesander struck her. Jenny hit the ground and didn't move.

Perrin roared, lunging at him. His father and several others caught his arms, holding him back. A'lesander stared at Jenny, then his fist. He looked stunned, utterly lost.

”Enough,” his father snapped, and nodded at one of the hunters. ”Give her to the sea.”

Perrin froze. A'lesander's head snapped up. ”No.”

”You don't want her,” said Turon coldly. ”You told me she would keep our secrets, but I a.s.sumed it was because she cared for you. Obviously not.”

Perrin did not bother arguing. He fought harder, slamming his elbows into guts, twisting and kicking, using every dirty trick he knew as two hunters grabbed Jenny under her arms. A'lesander reached out, making a small sound of protest. For a moment, Perrin thought he would fight them.

But A'lesander did not. All he did was watch, self-loathing creeping into his eyes, as Jenny was dragged to the rail. Her eyes were closed, and her head lolled. The dog, panting and still, whined.

Perrin broke free just as she was tossed over the rail. He followed, entering the water only seconds after her. He tore off his swim trunks and s.h.i.+fted shape, hauling Jenny to the surface. She dragged in a deep, coughing breath.

”Jenny,” he said urgently, just before they were pulled under. He tried to hold on, but she was ripped out of his arms. Her eyes flew open.

More hunters appeared from the darkness below, bodies pale as daggers and armed with hooks and rope. Fists slammed into his gut, holding his arms, grappling with his tail. Every time he managed to slip free, someone else would catch him. Jenny was swept away. Hunters gripped her arms and legs, holding her underwater.

Perrin knew the moment she ran out of air. Her face twisted in a terrible grimace that was frantic and wild-and he screamed for her. He screamed. Every broken piece of his soul reaching for her heart.

Heat spread through him, that throbbing fire in the base of his skull. Old power swelled, tingling against his skin. The Krackeni holding him flinched in surprise, fingers loosening. Perrin broke loose, swimming from them in long, powerful strokes as he raced to reach Jenny's side. He sensed his father approaching. Faster, stronger. He had not been on land for the last eight years.

Jenny jerked, head tilting up. Her mouth opened, bubbles escaping. Perrin cried out again, desperate- -and watched as a nimbus of blue light surrounded her head.

All the Krackeni froze, even Turon. Perrin faltered, as well. He knew that light. He knew it so well, but there was no way-no way at all it could be possible. Jenny was human.

And you are bonded, whispered a dry voice inside his mind, achingly familiar, and gentle. I have known her, in dreams, as long as I have known you.

I should not hear you, thought Perrin desperately. You were taken from me. You are no longer in my soul.

The voice of his kra'a murmured, But she is.

The hunters let go of Jenny, drifting away from her, stunned. Perrin, reckless, swam straight into the human woman and hauled her away, tight in his arms. She was still alive, eyes open, clawing at her throat. Sucking down seawater. Blowing bubbles from her nose.

Breathing. She was breathing.

Perrin buried his fingers into her hair, against the base of her skull. He felt something hard and flat against her scalp-hot to the touch. The blue light intensified. Jenny shuddered against him.

Too much. He couldn't even think about it. The hole in his head ached, briefly, and for one moment he felt a terrible jealousy, a profound envy that was dark and bitter.

No, he told himself, ashamed. No, you will not. This is not her fault.

But how was it possible? No matter the bond, no matter the will of the kra'a, Jenny was human.

Wasn't she?

Not according to the sea witch, he thought. She had known all along. All her riddles. Telling him the kra'a was with him, that the answers were between them.

And Jenny . . . she must have known, as well. At least that something was attached to her skull. Why hadn't she said anything?

Perrin glanced over his shoulder. The hunters were following him, and he sensed movement from below. White shapes, distant. Screeching cries and clicks filled the water. Jenny stared at him with frightened eyes. The nimbus of light had faded. Bubbles poured from her nose. Still breathing.

Not that it would help her, or him. Panic clawed, bleeding fire in his belly. Perrin didn't know where to go. Not the boat. No land nearby. He was tiring. His muscles burned.

He glimpsed another flash of movement, a silver streak angling toward him from the darkness. Dolphin, he realized at the last moment.

A dolphin with glowing golden eyes.

Rik.

Perrin rolled sideways, throwing out his arm as the dolphin slid in tight beside them. He caught the dorsal fin and held on with all his strength.

Dolphins were fast. Much faster than a Krackeni.

But his old clan was everywhere-and they had summoned help. He glimpsed the s.h.i.+mmering bodies of viperous deep-sea dwellers, darting quick from the shadows in front of them; men and women s.h.i.+ning with a faint bioluminescence, cavernous bodies mutilated and pierced with decorative bone shards. None of them would ever be able to come on land. No bones, just soft cartilage. The sun would burn their milky eyes. The only reason they could come so close to the surface now was that above it was night, and dark.

They carried nets and spears. Rik twisted, swimming hard in another direction, but the clan hunters were already well ahead of them, sharp whistling clicks vibrating through the water, translating into his mind with all the speed and ease of telepathy.

Herd them. Stop them. Kill the human first.

Jenny's fingers dug into Perrin's shoulders. He didn't see bubbles coming from her nose anymore. Her lips were clamped shut, and her gaze was wild, desperate.

He could not let go of Rik, and there was no good way to tell him to surface. No time, either. He wasn't even certain breathing for her would work.

Do something, he called out to the kra'a. Save her.

And just like that, the nimbus of light returned. Flaring blue as the sky, then deeper, s.h.i.+mmering from Jenny's head down to her feet like fire. Perrin remembered what that would feel like-heat and power, and the throb of a million tiny heartbeats on his skin-but all he felt now was a tingle: pins and needles, as humans would say. He held Jenny close as the light slammed outward in one single pulse.

Rik made a startled sound but did not stop swimming. Everyone else did, though. Perrin glanced back and saw bodies floating, unconscious.

He also saw his father, who was very much awake, though unmoving, his body floating straight as a silver dagger in the water. Staring at him with unfathomable eyes.

Those same eyes, even after eight years. Those same eyes, even after a lifetime of Perrin wis.h.i.+ng he could see, just once, something warm in them. For him.

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