Page 116 of By the Flames of Her Fury

Gurgling sounded behind me, along with choked inhales. I looked over my shoulder to see bubbles at the surface where Julius and Maeve had once been. They had dragged Everett too deep, and he now fought to keep his head above water.

I glared back at the siren. Her lips split into a devilish grin, sharp canines extended as she lunged for my throat. Without thinking, I shoved the sun amulet into her chest. Just as it had with the kraken, light burst from the crest in a glowing arc, and the siren shrieked as it sizzled against her skin.

“Mark my words,” she cried. “If you forge this path, the Fates will be the least of your worries.”

With a final wail, she flipped away from the amulet and dove into the water, silver tail shimmering as she raced away from us. Spluttering sounds came from behind me, and I spun to find Everett hauling Maeve and Julius from the water, soaked to the bone and gasping for breath. Attached to the tree where I’d left her, Tessa fought against my shadows with wild confusion.

“Vera, what in the—what did you do?” Tessa grumbled, struggling to extricate herself from the shadows. I waved a hand to release them, then grabbed Maeve’s arm, helping them back to dry land.

“Everett and I had another little chat with our friend, the siren,” I said with a scowl. My boots squelched with water, and my clothes clung uncomfortably to my skin, water-logged and freezing.

Tessa’s brow furrowed. “The same one from the ship?”

“Yep.”

Her eyes flickered from me to Everett. “How are neither of you dead?”

“Lots of practice,” Everett huffed, wringing out water from his drenched shirt.

“What did she say?” Julius asked. “Did she give you any hint about the amulet?”

I shared a look with Everett. He held my gaze, silently communicating one singular message: don’t tell them. He heard everything I had. He knew the siren’s warning, her threats about a cost. I didn’t know what it all meant, but for some reason, I didn’t want to reveal everything just yet.

I tore my eyes from his and shook my head at Julius. “She just told me to give up the quest, and then she tried to drown all of you.” I waved a hand at Maeve. “Your sun amulet drove her away.”

Maeve took the chain back from me. “We owe you our lives, Lightbringer.” She and Julius both bowed low in reverence.

I shuffled awkwardly and looked at Tessa out of the corner of my eye, who shrugged and said, “Don’t expect me to bow for you, too.”

“Do not be too discouraged about the amulet, Vera,” Maeve said, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. “We’ll simply have to keep looking. We have faith in you.”

Her words did little to encourage me as we traipsed back to the palace. I had a feeling we were going to need a whole lot more than that.

55

Everett

Ishut the book with a snap, sending a plume of dust into my nose. I stifled a cough as I reshelved the tome on one of the towering shelves in the Hall of Archives.

“What are you even looking for?” Vera asked, scanning the spines next to me. “We’ve already gone through a dozen other books.”

We’d been here for a couple hours, ever since we returned from our day of amulet hunting. We were the only ones in the Hall of Archives, save for the record keeper, who sat perched behind his pedestal in the back of the room. He was frail and hunched over, with pale, parchment skin and eyes that never seemed to blink.

“Something we can use to decipher the symbols on the crypt wall,” I replied.

“What do you think that’ll help us find?”

“I don’t know yet, but anything that sheds more light on this kingdom is worth learning.”

She picked up another book and ran her fingers along the pages. I watched, transfixed, imagining those same fingers dancing across my skin. Heat burned through me, and I looked away as she said, “You still don’t trust the Elders.”

“Of course not. And after today, I don’t think you do, either.” I kept my voice quiet. “Otherwise you would’ve told them the warning the siren gave you.”

Her nose twitched. “Maybe she was lying.”

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. “Come on, Vera. You might be reckless, but you’re smart. The Elders are keeping something from you. The siren asked what you were willing to surrender. She asked if you knew the cost.” I took a book off the shelf. “I’m not about to let you surrender anything for these people.”

“And you think the answer might be here,” she said, eyeing the hundreds and hundreds of books.