17 No options but him

Vali grabbed Narfi's arm, his urgency in his voice sheer panic as he feared she had been taken out to sea, "We have to save Maeve!"

"How?" He exclaimed looking at the sea and how utterly tumultuous it was, even as if more tumultuous than usual. 

Vali envisioned Lughs dangerous look and his immense control of water. Not to mention… whatever he had done to put them to sleep. 

He shuddered. "We can't swim it, Lugh will drown us. We need to think about this carefully."

"Do you think he….. ate her?" Narfi asked, as afraid for her as his brother, images in his mind of her bones being bleached out on the beach instead of the crabs'.

He was nearly whimpering at this point, if he had been a werewolf, he would have been whimpering instead of angry as he was not prone to anger. 

"We need to understand his abilities. We can't just rush in there and…." Narfi began, then he noticed that Vali had gone. 

Vali had become a wolf and went to the waters edge. "Come here Lugh you selkie piece of shi-" 

But suddenly the roar of the waves drowned out his words as icy spray stung his face. The water's unnatural rise sent a primal shiver down his spine, like facing a predator far beyond his strength."

And then the wall of water rose up above him again. The current sucking it off of the beach as Lugh gathered it up once again. Vali ran out of the water but it grabbed ahold of him in an instant. 

He punched at the waves and gurgled as he fought the current that strove to pull him under. His fur was weighed down, he spent more time under the water than out of it and his eyes and throat burned as water had gone up his nose. 

The water had become a living thing. 

The water didn't just crash—it reached for him, clawing at his limbs like it had a mind of its own, cold and unrelenting.

It made every attempt to drown Vali, as if a sinister pupeteer were plotting against him and then as quickly as it began, it stopped. 

The wall of water dropped him into the sand and washed away just as fast as it had come. 

Vali coughed and coughed. Grateful he had been spared, and utterly afraid of water now, as afraid as a cat. The waves filled him with dread and fear. 

This wasn't a battle he could win with teeth and claws. The ocean itself obeyed Lugh. They needed more than courage—they needed strategy.

Shivering in fear, he distanced himself as far away from the sea as he could. His shaken brother practically dragging him. His pants wet though he had not been in the water.

"We need to speak to the alpha." Vali said, vomiting water he had swallowed, the salty taste still lingering in his mouth. "Lugh is very dangerous. We will need an army."

————————

The moment Maeve drew the knife, a hand of a true assassin grabbed her wrist.

It was a guard who materialized out of nowhere, the one who she had sent to deliver the message. He hadn't trusted her one bit, and so the king had asked him to observe. 

Maeve screamed in fright as the man disarmed her, he practically crushed her hand and yanked her off her feet. She dangled in his grasp and then he lowered her to kneel, causing her to fall to the floor, hanging by her arm. Then the man held her by the neck, forcing her to face her king as quick as Lugh turned around. The man sheathed the knife and pinned her arms behind her back.

"Help me!" She cried, her voice breaking and her plea for forgiveness futile. She had been caught in her attempt, her crime was punishable by death. The situation had become more dire. 

The king turned slowly, his expression unreadable, his golden eyes gleaming with something far more dangerous than anger. The bond magic between them pulsed in the air like a heartbeat, its power intoxicating and oppressive. Then he smiled.

Maeve gulped at his smile, her challenge interested him more.

"My liege, she has tried to kill you." The guard announced, his voice dark and thundering in her ears, leaving her trembling. 

Lugh turned to face him, his expression unreadable, slightly sad, and slightly expecting this.

He would not back down so easily either.

His eyes determined he replied softly, yet commanding, "It seems my bride has not yet learned to behave, but you will NOT treat her that way."

Then Lugh smiled at Maeve, his selkie charm causing her to tremble, "keep trying to escape me, my love, it's making my life….interesting."

It was at that moment that Maeve really became sure she had no way out. There was nowhere to go that he would not anticipate. She had made a mistake giving up on Sirius and running away from Vali—not listening to his words. 

It seemed that if living with a vampire had scared her, that being married to a selkie would be worse—far worse. 

All dreams of a rescue forbidden. 

The guard let go of her wrist and took all weapons from the room. And then she was left alone again with the door locked.

Lugh had taken away all of her options but him.