Imogen’s cry became a gasp, then a trapped whimper, but she remained standing, even as Eftan twisted the blade he’d sunk into her stomach. She staggered and raised her taloned hands. I thought she would fall, but she bared her white teeth, then drove her hands violently down, clawing them into Eftan. Across his cheeks, down his throat, over his chest.
Eftan remained quiet. He didn’t rear back or try to stop her assault. All he did was let go of the knife he’d driven into her.
“Imogen.” Her name frayed in my throat.
Blood began to seep through the sailor’s coat she wore, darkening its front with a bloom of wet. I wasn’t fast enough. Imogen’s face slackened. She stumbled back, her spine hitting the ship’s rail. A crowd rushed forward, and for a moment I couldn’t see her as sailors shouted and Markis and Aleka tried to reach for Eftan.
I jerked one sailor to the side, shoved a courtier away. “Move.”
Somehow, Lachlan had gotten in front of me. His hand met the center of my chest and pushed. “Stay back.”
“Don’t you dare—”
Imogen had pulled herself off the rail and pressed a hand beside the blade in her gut, but her attention was on Eftan. I watched on as horror blanked her features. She shook her head in terrorized disbelief.
I pushed against Lachlan. “Imogen.”
The ship’s movement made her sway. She would fall, and I wouldn’t be there to catch her. With a snarl, I threw my shoulder against Lachlan’s breastplate, forcing him back.
Lachlan righted himself before I could slip past. “Theo, stop.”
Eftan remained still, blood pouring from his face and neck, as Imogen fell to her knees. When she cried out, her voice was a mangled plea. “Lachlan—”
I froze. She’d said his name. Not mine.
“Release your lure, Imogen,” Lachlan commanded as he held me off. He’d taken on the fearsome stillness of a predator before it struck. He reached for his sword.
Imogen shook her head, tears slipping down her cheeks. “I can’t.”
I tried again to get to her, refusing to watch her die, but Lachlan pulled back a fist and drove it hard into my stomach.
On a wheeze, I bent in half.
Lachlan’s growl was guttural and violent. “Gods damn it, Imogen. Try harder.”
I straightened in time to watch her brow crumple imploringly. I couldn’t comprehend how she still remained upright, how she still spoke, even as that bloody stain on her stomach spread wider.
“Youpromised,” she said to Lachlan in a small, heartrending voice.
Suddenly Eftan’s spine straightened. He spun and began walkingto the ship’s rail with dragging steps. His gold-threaded waistcoat was soaked in red, and his eyes were wide and empty. His bloody lips moved, muttering something I couldn’t make out. He looked like he was ready to throw himself into the sea, but before he could, Lachlan made it to Imogen’s side.
The sun gleamed off his breastplate as he lifted his sword high. In one sweeping movement he drove the hilt down atop Imogen’s head.
She collapsed to the deck, the gold hilt of the blade in her stomach pointing toward the bright sky. A moment later, Eftan collapsed too.
Everything around me rushed in and blurred—the shouts of the surrounding crew and guards. Aleka’s voice, and Markis’s. I noticed the choppiness of the sea and how it agitated the ship. I heard, but could not understand, Halla’s panicked words.
Lachlan stood above Imogen, breaths racing, sword hanging at his side. This time he didn’t stop me as I came to lift her limp body into my arms.
Aleka appeared at my side, her voice unusually hoarse. “Does she live?” she asked. She shook her head. “And what of the chancellor, Your Majesty? You must see to his care.”
“The queen outranks him. The ship’s healer can see to Eftan.” I didn’t slow as I made for my stateroom and kicked the door wide. The open windows had filled the cabin with damp, salty air. Lachlan raced in with that Godsdamned sword still in his fist.
“Fucking sheathe that.” I laid Imogen down across my bed and shoved up my shirtsleeves. “I could kill you—”
“I was keeping a promise.” His sword remained in his fist, his worried gaze locked on her.
My heart struck like a forge hammer, my anger a flame, but I set my focus and power on Imogen. Inexplicably, Imogen’s pulse wassteady, and despite the amount of blood that soaked her clothing, I couldn’t sense any vitality leeching from her.
