Chapter 234
Wake stands staring daggers at his brother, rigid and radiating fury, his arms hanging taut at his side, muscles coiled tight like he's moments away from launching across the room. Shoal, meanwhile, holds himself like he’s just come back from a beachside massage—calm, smug, as if he’s dealing with a grouchy pet instead of the man I’d seen level battalions.
Then he laughs. A deep, rich sound that echoes through the stone walls.
“There he is,” Shoal says, gesturing at Wake openly. “That’s the brother I remember. For a while, I was worried that life had made you soft. Pleasant, even.”
Wake doesn’t flinch. “Phoebe,” he says, voice low and dangerous, “Did he hurt you?”
I open my mouth, about to shake my head, but Shoal cuts in first.
“Me?” He grins. “I only just met the girl. I hope I’ve proven myself the more gentlemanly of the two of us.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m fine.”
Wake turns to me, and when his eyes fall on my busted lip and the purpling bruise on my cheekbone, his jaw clenches.
“You don’t look fine.”
The walls around us tremble slightly. Not enough to send anyone running, but enough to remind us that Wake’s fury is no idle thing. It’s pressure, heat, energy straining to escape.
I lift my hands, trying to calm him. “I had a run-in with Stan. I took care of it.”
“Is he still breathing?” Wake asked, his voice barely more than a growl.
I sigh. “Unfortunately.”
“Then you didn’t take care of it,” he snaps.
Before I can argue, Lily steps forward with that smooth politician’s voice she always uses when she’s trying to sound reasonable. “Stan’s actions were unapproved and inappropriate. He’ll be dealt with.”
Wake's lip curls. His stare sharpens into something glacial as it lands on her. “The way you dealt with me?”
Lily doesn’t back down, but I see her throat bob nervously as she and Wake size one another up. “If you’d like to talk about the past–”
“I don’t,” Wake says. “For your own sake, I don’t want you to speak at all. My shit list is growing longer every day, and you were already at the top.”
Cora shifts beside me, her arms crossed tightly. Her voice cuts like ice. “I second that.”
The group of unfamiliar Enkians flanking Shoal exchange nervous glances. Their murmuring builds, a low ripple of unease under the tension.
Shoal straightens, voice sharp now. “Enough. Sit, all of you. Please. We have much to discuss and very little time.”
The foreign Enkians obeyed him instantly, slipping into their seats at the long obsidian conference table. Lily hesitates, glancing at Wake, then at Shoal, and finally lowers herself into a seat with a tight-lipped expression.
I make the first move among our group, stepping forward and lowering myself into a chair with a wince. My bruised ribs protest, but I don’t let it show. Cora sits next to me, stiff but silent.
Wake remains standing, arms crossed now, his gaze drilling into Shoal like he’s daring him to keep talking, to say exactly the wrong thing.
Shoal exhales, the sound heavy and tired. “You know, I hoped we could start with something lighter. Maybe share a drink, reminisce about the time you stole Father’s crown and blamed it on me. It was just before a Council meeting, do you remember?”
“Get to the point,” Wake snaps.
Shoal nods once, then stands and paces to the edge of the table, laying his hands on it as he surveys the room. His eyes land on me.
“I will not mince words, nor am I bound by so many oaths as others of my blood. Not anymore, at least.”
Wake inhales sharply, “Shoal–”
“Leviathan’s slumber is coming to an end. The one they buried beneath the ocean floor like some shameful secret. You’ve felt the tremors. You’ve seen the kin. But you don’t know why he’s waking.”
I lean forward. “I’m listening.”
Shoal smiles faintly, almost sadly. “I’ve dedicated my life to researching the ancient Abyssinians. The original ones. Before our lines fractured into courts and politics. Before we crowned kings and hid ourselves from the land-walkers. We were scholars then, theologians, makers….”
He looks to Wake, then to Khale, then to Cora. “I found something buried in the archives of the Forgotten Keep. Something that no other Abyssinian knows, possibly something that no other Enkian alive can corroborate.” He pauses for dramatic effect. “Leviathan wasn’t our enemy. He was never a monster. He was a rebel.”
Cora's brow furrows. “A rebel against what?”
Shoal gestures loosely. “Against the Conclave. The same Enkian leaders who would rise to godhood on the back of their brother’s demise. But back then, they weren’t divine. Just powerful. A group of the oldest Enkians who found a way to harness deep energy from beneath the sea. Energy that allowed them to reshape biology, extend life, even create whole new species.”
My stomach flips. “You’re saying the gods made us?”
“I’m saying the gods engineered us,” Shoal replies. “And Leviathan didn’t agree with the way they used that power. He shared forbidden knowledge with the lower tribes—information that could have made the Enkians equal to the Conclave. Even allowed us to ascend past them. Rule land and sea alike. Together.”
Cora’s eyes go wide. “Evolution.”
“Yes.” Shoal nods. “He gave us tools to evolve. Faster. Stronger. Smarter. But the Conclave feared what he’d done. So they turned on him. Used the very weapons he’d helped build to lock him away. Then, they erased the truth from history and crowned themselves gods.”
“Why now? Why is Leviathan waking?” I ask.
“Because one god can not kill another. The seal on his prison is weakening as it always would have,” Shoal says.
“Your mining isn’t making things better,” I point out. “In fact, it’s speeding things up, causing more tectonic activity, letting the Elder Kin slip through.”
“Of course it is,” he says. “All is going according to plan.”
Wake’s hands ball into fists so tightly that his knuckles crack. “Explain yourself.”
Shoal looks directly at me. “My goal is only to finish what Leviathan started. He wants us to rise.”
The silence that follows is deafening.
Cora’s voice is quiet but firm. “And you believe this.”
“I do,” Shoal says, looking around at the other Enkians, the ones I don’t know. “And I am not alone.”
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