Page 47 of By the Flames of Her Fury

My breaths were ragged as I struggled to draw air through panicked lungs. Dark spots appeared in my vision. My head became lighter and cloudy at the same time, darkness dragging me under until⁠—

Mortep muttered a spell, and suddenly, my lungs expanded. I sucked in air through my nose as my vision cleared.

Mortep tutted. “I can’t have you passing out. You need to be alert to exhibit proper reactions.”

He disappeared from view again, his footsteps tapping against the floor. Something rattled on the table. And then he was back, another syringe in hand—this one with a darker red liquid inside.

No, I wanted to beg. Please, no more. But my lips wouldn’t move.

He smiled down at me. “We checked the light. Now, for the shadows.” The needle drove into my chest once more, and the agony began anew.

21

Vera

Starke looked up at me from behind the desk in the captain’s cabin, his jaw twitching in irritation. “I don’t want to have this argument again, Vera.”

I slammed my hand on his desk. “Why are you being so difficult?”

He crossed his arms. “Because you’re asking me to abandon my job and go hunt a nonexistent kingdom guarded by something that wants to kill anyone trying to find it.”

I rolled my lips. “I don’t see the problem.” When he continued to stare at me, I sighed. We’d been arguing for a day, ever since we left Shipwreck Cove. My chances of chasing this new lead became more and more distant with each mile we sailed.

He was right. He and his crew had jobs, had lives, and it was irresponsible to go after this legend. I was the hotheaded, spontaneous one who dove in without thinking, while Starke was always so logical, just like⁠—

I swallowed down the sudden image of Everett and met Starke’s glare. “Look, I’m running out of time,” I said. I paced in front of his desk, anxious energy making my feet move of their own accord. “If everything Odessa said is true, the kingdom will rise on the spring equinox. That’s in three days. I have to start looking for it now. I can’t ask you and your crew to come with me again, so if you’ll just leave me back at Shipwreck Cove, I can find passage on another⁠—”

“Vera, listen to yourself. I’m not going to let you run around Blackwake on your own.” He shook his head. “You’ve been going nonstop for a year, hitting dead end after dead end. This is just another one. You’re going to run yourself into the ground if you don’t rest.”

I stopped moving, muscles clenched. “I can’t rest, Starke,” I snapped. “Don’t you understand? I need this to be over.”

“Alright, alright.” He held his hands up in a placating gesture, then slowly lowered them. “But then what happens?”

I blinked. “I…” I trailed off, brow furrowing.

He grabbed a bottle of rum from a drawer in his desk and pulled the top off. He wouldn’t look at me as he poured two glasses and asked, “When you find Mortep, when you finally get your vengeance. Then what?”

Then what?

Then what?

My mind stuttered. I hadn’t let myself think that far. There was only this. The hunt, the chase, the thrill. The escape.

Dual-toned eyes appeared in my vision, and I shoved them away. Everett had been my “after.” But then he was rescued, and I was left behind. That was the day I lost any hope for a future, and when I’d been unexpectedly granted one, I didn’t know what to do with it.

“I don’t know,” I said, taking the cup Starke offered me. “Maybe…travel.”

Starke didn’t let go of the cup. His fingers hovered over mine until my gaze snapped up to his. “Why don’t you stay?” His words were quiet, almost indiscernible.

“Stay…where?”

He cleared his throat, then set his cup down. Taking my free hand in his, he rubbed his thumb along the underside of my wrist. “With me, Vera.”

My stomach fell. The office was suddenly sweltering, an uncomfortable warmth pressing against my ribs. Maybe he didn’t mean what I thought he meant. Maybe he just wanted me to stay on as part of the crew, or be an apprentice to take over his salvaging business one day, or⁠—

When he stepped even closer and laced his fingers with mine, I sucked in a breath. Fates, I was so stupid. I should’ve seen this coming. His lingering stares, his excuses to touch me, his inability to say no to anything I asked. Had I been so blinded by my own desires that I took advantage of his? I would never want to hurt him. What we had was good. It worked. But if he wanted anything more…

I couldn’t give more. Not to myself, not to him, not to anyone.