Cassius' eyelids fluttered open only to find that the ship was still intact. His first instinct was to check on the Duchess. He immediately turned behind to look where she had been just moments ago, and he found her sitting on the railing of the ship's bridge like before. But then, as his eyes drifted past her, his breath caught in his throat.
At first, he thought it was just the towering waves of the sea, a vast wall of water rising high behind the Duchess. But as his gaze swept across the horizon, his pulse quickened. The water didn't break against anything—it moved with an unnatural fluidity. No matter where he looked, the rolling sea surrounded them in every direction.
