Myrine was tall as ever, her translucent skin glowing in the moonlight, her eyes pools of mercurial light. She had always been a mystery to me, more goddess than earthly being.
The Admiral’s voice was calm as she pushed back the hood of her anorak to reveal a silver crown of hair. “Your people fought us when we released them from the Chiorics’ grip,” Myrine replied. “They caught them coming out of the Library of Amarante. We were forced to bind them for their own safety.”
Myrine’s words sounded like a lie. Still, I nodded. She and her people were too powerful for us to fight with an incomplete cohort. “All right. But we are here now. Release them into my custody.”
Myrine smiled again, this time at Lara and Rhiannon in turn. “Two of your cohort are already helping me, Ember. Why not join us?”
Rhiannon glared, lurching forward. “Does my mother know you’re doing this?”
Myrine laughed as though we were all a bunch of sassy babies. Ares glanced at me, sidelong. He, Eryx and Avaline all tensed. They knew they couldn’t survive a fight with this many Maere, but they were willing to stand with us. That meant more to me than they knew.
Myrine’s gaze drifted, seeming to notice what I had. “You have done something unusual here,” she said, her words careful. And smug. She was far too smug. Nausea crept over me as she continued speaking. “Without your swords, you changed.”
This wasn’t what someone who wanted to help me would say. This wasn’t what the Myrine I knew would say. I shook with fear for what this really was, but I answered the Admiral. “Yes, Orphium will come back into balance, if I have to spend the rest of my life devoted to it.”
“And what of the humans?” Myrine asked, obviously testing me. “What will you do with them?”
I wanted to throw the unholiest of fits. To leap across the small strip of river between us and throttle her into telling the truth, into shooting straight. Instead, I tried to word things the way that Rhiannon probably would. “There’s a lot to be worked out, Myrine. And if you’re working against the island, you are no longer my superior officer.”
Myrine simply smiled. It was a knowing smile, one that I’d seen a thousand times. Usually when I was being taught a lesson of some sort. The kind that was hard won, after she’d pushed me just a measure too far. All my hope that this was better than it seemed died, shriveling into a cold, dead thing.
Rhiannon stepped closer to me, obviously understanding the conclusion I’d already come to. “It was you. You took the swords. My mother would never approve of this.”
Myrine smiled again. “She didn’t like the idea… at first. But she came around to my way of thinking.” Rhi’s face fell, and I hated Myrine. Hated the queen. Hated the whole damn island for fucking with us. “But we needed a way to prove your worth, to prove that your cohort wasn’t the result of nepotism, and it worked.”
Rhiannon’s shoulders instantly slumped. “You did all of this because ofme?” Tears slid down her cheeks. I would never forgive the entirety of Otrera for this. “Why? I could have just stayed home… Sera…”
Sobs choked my princess’ words and in the other boat, Sera struggled against her bonds, her eyes wild with anger, and worry for Rhi. I pulled Rhiannon against me, beyond fury at this point.
Sera. No. They wouldn’t have... Ares glanced at me, cold rage in his eyes. Was he thinking what I was? I shook my head, just once, just slightly, hoping he understood that timing was everything here.
Myrine kept talking, as though what she and the island had done wasn’t an incredible betrayal. “You all did so well. And now all can be made right. You have passed our test of strength.”
Anger simmered in my veins. I was tired of being buffeted about by all these groups scrapping for power. “No,” I said, after a long moment of what I was sure Myrine read as contemplation. If that’s what she assumed, she didn’t know me as well as she obviously thought she did. I stared deep into the water, watching as a dim pair of crimson lights raced towards us. My heart leapt. If that was what I thought it was, we could still win this. “Give my people back and I will let you go.”
I reached behind me, where Rhiannon still held Sera’s sword, and took it from her. To her credit, she didn’t so much as flinch. She simply released it into my hands.
They had stolen our swords for some arbitrary test of our resolve. And for what? To prove to the island that they had not sent Rhiannon here in some act of nepotism. It was ridiculous and cruel. Frankly, I didn’t give a flying fuck why they’d done it.
“Come now,” Myrine said, still infuriatingly calm. “Surely we can discuss all of this. I believe we want more of the same things than you imagine.”
I shot back, immediately, “Did you kill those girls yourself? The potential Maere in the spirit traps?”
Myrine’s eyes widened, as though I’d offended her. Her people tensed, ready to fight. “No, child. I stole their souls from the Asylum. Lara’s job while she was inside paved the way for my people to grab them.” Her gaze slid to Lara. Mine slid to the water. I sucked in a deep, steadying breath, certain now of what I saw. Myrine kept talking, unaware of what I now knew. “Thank you for that, my dear. You executed my plan perfectly, causing the scene you did.”
Lara looked as though she might vomit. She turned her head away, closing her eyes, before gritting out, “You didn’t kill them, but you tortured them. Used them. Just like you used us.”
Not everything could be solved by talking. My grip tightened on Sera’s sword. I was tired, but if Myrine wanted a fight, I would give it to her. She had the numbers on us. That much was obvious. But she and her people were not a true cohort. They were not connected. Not the way we could be.
The way wewouldbe in just a moment...
I held Sera’s sword out over the edge of the boat as the Kraken rose out of the water, Calypso Montague riding it like it was a horse. She leapt into the air, her wet, coppery hair tossing a glorious spray of water over us all as the giant cephalopod sank beneath the river’s surface. She landed on the deck of Myrine’s boat, Sera’s sword in hand.
“Hi,” she said simply as she moved, lightning quick.
In mere seconds, she had Sera’s bonds cut, and pressed her sword to her back. As she did, the connection between the five of us snapped into place. Our eyes glowed with the same crimson light. We were a cohort. Complete.
Myrine and her people simply watched. It was eerie, and somehow not unexpected. Awful as her methods had been, this was what she wanted. Us back together and stronger than ever. All my senses sharpened to a fine point. It was like taking a shot of my own immortality. Having my sword back was one thing, but the bond between a cohort of sistren was another altogether.
