AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She wasn’t about to let that happen.
In that moment, her intentions crystallized into a needlepoint of focus. He wouldn’t be killed. Not the man she loved. Not the man she would give up this earth for.
It took her less than a second to scan her surroundings and find a dagger hanging in a sheath off the waist of a deckhand six steps from her.
Without a sound, she turned and ran for him, yanking the dagger free as she knocked the two of them down. Arms and legs tangled, a litany of curses showered upon her as she found her feet.
One quick glance at Bockton. Amused, he chuckled at the scene.
Exactly as intended.
Let him think her a desperate, clumsy oaf.
Dagger in hand, hidden from his view, she stumbled a few steps on her feet facing the deckhand. Without looking over her shoulder, she slid the blade between her breasts, ripping downward through the bodice of her ball gown, tearing the fabric wide.
The deckhand’s jaw went slack, the cursing silent as confusion registered in his eyes. Confusion she saw reflected on Bockton’s face as she turned and ran toward the railing of the deck, ripping off her gown as she aimed for the railing.
Bockton saw her intention just as she set her hand upon the railing. Her gown only half off her body, it would have to do. She lifted herself over the railing just as Bockton lunged at her, his long fingernails scratching her arm. She flicked the blade in her hand outward, digging into his hand as she flew over the railing.
His scream pierced the air above her.
For one glorious second, she was free.
Just her and the air around her.
Free.
She hit the water hard, feet first. The shattering pain shooting up her legs stole her breath just as the sea swallowed her.
Her skirts heavy, pulling her downward, she sawed at the fabric pulling her away from the air. Away from the sunlight. Away from Reiner.
Now she had to survive.
~~~
“Row man. Row.” Reiner’s holler at Falsted cut above the churning of the sea with the furious pace he’d set with his own oar. “Faster. Faster. Faster.” He looked over his shoulder at the ship. He could see Sloane’s head above the top railing of the deck.
Sloane and Bockton.
A surge of fury poured through his veins and he pulled the oar with the strength of a hundred Vikings. “Faster, I said.”
“I’m an old man.”
“You’ll be a bloody dead man if you don’t keep pace. Faster.”
Falsted looked over his shoulder at the ship they were closing in upon. “What?” He stopped rowing.
Reiner spun around.
Twisting backward just in time to see Sloane drop into the sea, feet first.
His world, his breath, his soul stopped.
One second passed. Two. Three.
She didn’t resurface.
“She’s gone,” Falsted whispered. “That gown is dragging her to depths as we speak.”
