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“Might,” he said, laughing hollowly, “isn’t good enough. Youhaveto make it. For Liam. For the kingdom.”
“Garath—” My voice broke, tears welling and spilling over instantly. “Please don’t do this. Please don’t leave me.”
He offered me a grim smile, but his shadowed eyes were filled with devotion. “I believe in you, Del,” he whispered, cradling my face in his hands. He leaned in, pressing his lips to my forehead, then pulled away and gave me a gentle push deeper into the tunnel. “Now, go.”
My stomach knotted, my rib cage constricting around my lungs. This couldn’t be happening. Garath had always been there, one of the few constants in my life. I couldn’t do this without him.
I stumbled backward until I reached Ada, who gripped my arm and dragged me deeper into the tunnel. Every few steps, I glanced over my shoulder, watching Garath grow fainter and fainter in the distant shadows as he prepared to make his last stand. And then he was gone, and there was nothing but darkness behind and ahead, Ada’s electric torch the only thing lighting our way.
The first crack of gunfire echoed down the tunnel a moment before we emerged from the exit, stumbling through a mausoleum and out into the cemetery.
“Highness,” Saira said, rushing forward to meet us.
My feet felt leaden, my heart stuck at the other end of the tunnel where Garath was giving his life so I could be free. My legs refused to move. I couldn’t stop staring back at the mausoleum concealing the tunnel’s exit.
Saira grabbed my arm and helped Ada drag me between and around grave markers. “Let’s get you out of here,” she said. More dark figures emerged from the shadows to guard the way ahead and behind. “The others are waiting.”
I dug in my heels as a burst of gunfire echoed out of the tunnel, followed by muffled shouting and growling dogs.
A sharp slap to the side of my face made my ears ring. I blinked, surprised to see Ada’s delicate features mere inches from mine. “Garath’s sacrifice is a gift, Del. Do not waste it. We must go—now.”
Too stunned to argue, I let Ada and Saira lead me away.
25
Fin
My mind was a storm cloud. A chaotic churn of tumultuous emotion as images flicked through my head. Images of that guard’s filthy hands on Del. Of that snakelike look in eyes I would have gladly removed from their sockets if I could have. And the irrefutable truth that Garath had just given his life to save Del. As Sid, I’d felt his familiar mind fade to nothing.
“Fin,” Liam said, his voice quiet as it stirred me from a daze.
I stopped absently stroking Tick’s ear and blinked the bay back into focus. The whitecaps crested to the staccato of my heart. I pushed off the mast. “Yeah, bud,” I said, swallowing thickly. I looked down at him, into his big green eyes that housed far more worries than any nine-year-old should have to bear.
How did I tell him Garath was gone? That the man who had been so loyally at his side his entire life, protecting him from shadows, was dead?
Liam stroked Tick’s head too, sensing she was afraid of the water. “Do you know when my mother’s getting here?”
Clearing my throat, I offered him a reassuring smile. “Soon. She’ll be here soon.” I feared what state she would arrive in, though.
“Hey, Liam,” Lyra said, calling him over to her with a wave. “Stone said you can help the crew ready the ship to set sail.”
That seemed to distract him enough for now, and he hurried over to her, his auburn hair catching the gleam of the swaying lantern light as he passed. The water was growing choppier by the minute.
“What is it?” Callon said quietly. He came up beside me and crossed his arms over his chest, his stance widening as he prepared himself for whatever I had to report.
I watched Lyra and Liam helping one of the crewmen untie some of the ropes. “Garath is dead.”
On the other side of the ship, Lyra froze, hearing every word. Straightening, she quickly recovered and answered something Liam asked with a forced smile.
“He held out as long as he could,” I told them.
“And Del?” Callon said thickly. “And Ada?”
I nodded, peering down the dock, hoping they were close. Without Sid’s eyes, I couldn’t be certain, but my head was heavy from so much mindwalking, and I needed the rest of my strength for whatever the night still had in store for us. “Garath kept the dogs from following them. They were at the edge of the city the last I saw them. They’ll be here soon—”
“You’re talking about your friends, I hope.” Stone’s baritone met my ears as he strode closer. Smoke from his cigarette swirled for only a moment before it was carried away by the breeze. Thumbs hooked on his suspenders, he stopped a few feet away, his blue eyes glittering in the moonlight. They shifted between Callon and me, impatient. “Because these men are still waiting to get paid.”
“For what?” I practically growled. “Your intel came far too late.”
