Ripples (DROPLETS Trilogy Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

Lathmor that I realized my hand was still glued to the hunting dagger. With shaking sobs, I laid in the water as two warm arms wrapped around me. I heard Kryssa’s whispers of comfort, but I could only focus my eyes on the dagger.
         It was all I had left of Patrick.
     

2. Gone
    Sun filtered in through the gauzy white curtains that draped the windows in the throne room of Lathmor. The familiar columns stretched from the ceiling and in between these pillars of strength were the decorative marble statues of men, women, and merfolk. The heads of the statues were turned in respect to the end of the room, looking at the throne where the Lathmorian king was seated. All around the room were the scattered remains of the Lathmorians who had made the journey to Hyvar; their shoulders hung in defeat.
         All my emotions were numb and I couldn’t think correctly. My body was exhausted and my energy absent. A steady mantra had taken over my mind the whole way back to Lathmor. Even though I’d fallen behind there was only one thing that ran through my brain. He’s gone. He’s gone. He’s gone.
         Elik had dropped back with me and I felt a sort of kinship with him. Even though he was still angry with me for defying him against that merman, I could tell he pitied me now more than anything.
         Tunder too was having a hard time grasping the idea that his friend was gone. When he and his men had rescued us in the forest, he had simply thought something had gone wrong. He thought we had been following the evacuation plan, which we were, only there was a bigger problem than he ever could’ve imagined. Once we were on our way in the water, Elik had sped up to Tunder and given him a detailed report of what had happened. The rigid set of his jaw and the sinking of his shoulders was enough to make me look away when he heard the terrible news. 
         I now waited patiently in the throne room for Tunder to finish explaining what had happened on the mission. My legs felt as though they would give way beneath me, but I focused my attention on anything that was outside of my body. All that was within me seemed to be shattering into a million pieces.
         “That’s not possible,” the king stood up from his throne, drawing my attention. He shook his head and a look a solemn disbelief passed over his face.
         “It is, sir,” Tunder said and his voice, though low, reached the corners of the otherwise silent room.
         “He wouldn’t kill him,” the king spoke again, this time more clearly. “He spent so many years searching for him.”
         “But he wasn’t there,” Tunder inclined his head and pointed in my direction, “Lissie saw him in the dungeon before she escaped. He was beaten, it’s possible he died from his wounds.”
         I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head away as though he had slapped me across the cheek. Tunder’s ease with speaking of Patrick’s death was a wound of its own that I wouldn’t forget and my stomach churned over threatening to release what was inside it.
         It remained silent in the throne room and when I looked back at the king he had returned to his seat but his shoulders hung in a similar manner to that of his captain. With his head hanging low, he rubbed a hand across his chin and pain filled his eyes in a way that I never would have expected. His pain reflected the loss of his wife Cordelia, who had given her life to save Patrick. I tore my eyes from his face and the deep silence of all the soldiers remained still as if frozen for a moment in time.
         “Get rid of her,” Voon’s furious voice suddenly boomed through the room. The other mermen, including King Oberon, turned to look at him. “She’s been nothing but a problem ever since she stepped foot on this island.” Voon jabbed his finger in my direction. For a moment I wondered if he was really angry at me or the fact that our mission had failed.
         “And