A flash of blue eyes in my mind.
It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.
I kept blowing the horn anyway.
Chapter 26
Elira
“Man the cannons! Get ready to fire!”
Phoenix’s voice rang out above the chaos, sharp and commanding. I didn’t wait—I ran for the top deck, boots slipping on the damp boards. Behind me, Leo bounded after me, face pale but determined, still looking a little too green from the sea.
The wind whipped at my hair as we reached the rail. Smoke curled in the distance. I could see the other ships already shifting—cannons swinging into position, men scrambling like ants across the decks.
They were getting ready to strike.
And we were dead centre in the middle of it.
“Everyone brace for impact!” Slade shouted, his voice cutting through the roar of the wind.
Across the water, a cannon fired—a deep, thunderous boom—and I watched the shot arc straight for us.
Phoenix and Caelen were at the helm, pulling the wheel hard as the deck tilted beneath our feet. But it wasn’t just one ship anymore.
They were all coming for us.
The first cannonball slammed into the water just off our bow—too close. The second struck a ship to our right, splintering it in a spray of fire and debris.
The armada lit up in a storm of flame and iron.
One by one, boats began to catch—floating like blazing bonfires across the sea.
The deck lurched again. I caught myself on the rail as another explosion rocked the waters behind us. Heat licked at my back. One of our ships had taken a direct hit.
Phoenix was shouting commands across the wind, directing the gunners below deck while trying to keep the wheel steady. Caelen was beside him, teeth clenched, one hand wrapped in a bloodied cloth as he adjusted the sail rigging.
“Leo, help with the rear!” Phoenix barked.
Leo hesitated, glancing toward me—always toward me—but then turned and ran.
Maddie stood near the base of the mast, hands gripping the ropes, her face pale with strain.
Phoenix had just turned back to the wheel when another explosion rocked the starboard side. A ship behind us burst into flame—one of ours.
Screams cut through the wind.
I turned and saw it—the fire crawling up the rigging, splitting across the deck like hungry veins. The men aboard were trapped, their sails already turning to ash.
We were too far to reach them.
Unless—
I clenched my fists.
“Use the calm between your heartbeats,”Phoenix had once told me.
“Don’t fight the shadows. Let them follow the shape of your will.”
