Trying to take down the most powerful witch alive is a death wish. Even if we somehow make a deal with Taika, it would just be another debt hanging over our heads. A deadly debt, owed to an even deadlier witch.
I had to leave the room before I pushed him further, before I told him exactly why we shouldn’t go after her. If the sirens are asking for Taika, they need her for something. Maybe they have a debt to settle too. Part of me wishes they would have come to me instead of Kai. After all… I’m one of them.
We spend the day sailing. I avoid Kai as much as possible, which isn’t hard. He and Jay are locked away in the study plotting gods know what. I’m tired, and all I want is the open sea and the quiet, endless horizon.
The sun has long since set. I climb the ladder to my favorite spot high up on the ship’s tallest sail, where the ocean breeze kisses my face and the night feels endless. Up here, with the world quiet and still, it always feels like if I just reach out far enough, I could pluck a star from the sky and tuck it into my pocket, saving a wish for another night.
Below, the deck is mostly dark aside from a few glowing lanterns. Some of the crew linger near the railings, smoking, sipping rum, and swapping old sea tales. I love this time of night when nothing is happening. When the world feels hushed and the moonlight turns the ocean into a silver mirror.
I listen to the waves splashing against the ship’s hull and feel the gentle sway of the deck beneath me. I lick my lips and taste salt, the ocean’s breath on my skin. The sea was my first love. It was supposed to be my only love until he came along
Making my way down the ladder from the sail, I decide to explore the parts of the ship I’ve never dared to before. Taking advantage of the quiet night, I slip past a few crewmates, nodding to them as I pass. I keep my steps light, careful not to startle anyone. Before I boardedThe Leviathan, Kai told me hisfather was still here, very sick but still alive. I haven’t heard a word about him since. Part of me wants to ask—the other part doesn’t care to dig. For all I know, the bastard could be dead.
But an uneasy feeling settles over me, prickling the back of my neck. For the first time on this ship, I felt unsafe. I quicken my pace, glancing over my shoulder, seeing nothing.
Then a strong hand grabs me, yanking me into a side door so fast I can’t fight back. Whoever this is knows exactly what he’s doing. The tall figure shoves me down a few steps, picks me up again, and slams me into the wall. Pain explodes in my skull, my vision going hazy. I try to focus, but the room is nearly pitch black, only the moonlight spilling in through a small window.
“So you’re the one who’s brainwashed my son,” a voice rasps from the dark, cold and venomous. “Such a pity.” My heart stutters in my chest. Captain Eldoris. The man who slaughtered my mother in front of me when I was just a child. The man whose life mission is to wipe out my entire bloodline. Now he has me.
If he’s as insane as they say, he’s a loose cannon. He could kill me right here and no one would know. Kai has no idea where I went. I haven’t seen him since morning. If he were following me, I would have noticed.
I am alone.
“A pity?” I spit at him, trying to steady my breath.
“Mhmm,” he groans, locking the door behind him with a click that makes my blood run cold. Now it really is just him and me.
Rage burns through me. I want to gut the bastard who destroyed my family, the monster who haunted my nightmares.
“Pity I’ll have to kill you like your mother,” he sneered, stepping closer. “My son will be heartbroken, but he’ll get over it. You’re just another dumb wench.”
Red bleeds across my vision. My voice trembles with fury. “I’m not just another one,” I hiss. “I amtheone. And you’ve alreadymade your last mistake.” If he kills me, Kai will fall too. “If you don’t want to watch your son die, then put that blade down. Because killing me is killing him.”
He moves like smoke, quick and twisted. “He's tied to you?” he spits, venom thick on his tongue. “What a disgrace.” He steps closer, and the cold in his eyes slices deeper than any steel. “Maybe I’ll kill you both. Tear out his heart by ending you. Let him drown in the bond he never asked for.”
He lunges at me, his long, bony fingers wrapping around my neck. He lifts me off the ground effortlessly. I gasp, clawing at his hands as he squeezes, cutting off my air. He reeks of tobacco and rum, his eyes wild. “I make no mistakes, child,” he growls. “You are a disease. I could end it all now. Wipe your bloodline from the sea forever.”
His grip tightens and my legs kick uselessly as I try to fight back. He’s too strong. I feel helpless—exactly how he wants me. I’ve never let my guard down this much before, and now it might get me killed.
He has me pinned to the wall, no room to move, no room to breathe. Everything starts going fuzzy, my ears ringing like a war drum. Then I hear the faint noise of a lock unclicking. “What the fuck did I tell you about touchingmy treasure, old man?” Kai’s voice is low, lethal. “You wish to die where you stand?”
Eldoris drops me, and I crumple to the ground, gasping for air. My throat burns, bruises already blooming beneath my skin from where his fingers crushed me. I can’t catch a breath. My body aches from the fall, from the lack of oxygen. Bile rises in my throat, but I swallow it down, focusing on the scene in front of me.
Eldoris steps toward Kai, rage twisting his face. “I could have rid the world of her cursed bloodline,” he snarls. “You always find a way to fuck things up. You’ve been in the way since youwere a child. Now you tied your soul to this filthy disease? Maybe I should kill one of you, so I can watch the other die.”
I can’t see Kai’s face, but I can feel his anger radiating through the room, thick and suffocating. His shadow grows larger as he steps forward, his magic crackling just beneath the surface. “If this is what you’ve become in your lucid moments,” Kai says, voice cold as steel, “then there’s no point keeping you alive.”
Eldoris moves closer, sneering. Kai drew his sword, the moonlight glinting off the blade. “You’d kill me for her?” Eldoris roars. “Your own blood? Your father!?”
“I would kill anyone for her.Especiallymy sick twisted father.” The next sound is wet and final, Kai’s blade sliding through Eldoris’s stomach. The old man chokes on his own blood as his worthless body slides off the blade and hits the floor. The scent of iron fills the room, stinging my nose, thick and metallic.
Kai stands over him, staring down. Eldoris gurgles, blood bubbling up his throat as he choked out his final words. “Taika… my love… free me…” His voice drains away with his last breath.
“What the fuck? What did he just say?” Kai growls, his shadow falling over the lifeless body.
I can feel the crack in his heart, the weight of what he’s done pressing into him like a crushing wave. All I can think is that Captain Eldoris, the man who haunted my nightmares, has just been brought down by the one person no one ever saw coming.
The room reeks of blood, old smoke, rum, and death. My mind reels to make sense of what I’ve just seen.
