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For fuck’s sake. I drew in a deep breath and stepped up to Petra. “Do we have a deal or not?”
She licked her plump lips. “Not. You have nothing to offer me.”
“I offered you my soul. Youjustsaid I’m powerful. How is that nothing?” I asked, swallowing back the panic rising in my throat. That was my bargaining chip. My only one.
She paused, drawing out the moment and playing on the drama of it like a pro. “You can’t give me something that doesn’t belong to you anymore.” She cast a knowing glance at Hook.
Dread coiled in my stomach as a chill raced down my body from head to toe. “What is she talking about?” I asked, directing my question at him. The way he refused to acknowledge me only fueled my growing agitation. “I will cut you, pirate.”
Petra’s laugh echoed across the deck and the rest of the situation came back to me. We were a spectacle every person on the ship was watching. “You tricked her. How wonderful,” she teased.
“It wasn’t a trick,” he finally said, his voice low with warning.
Her expression shifted again, taking on a menacing scowl. “Whether it was or not, she’s no good to me as a trade. But she may still be useful as a bargaining chip.” She flicked her hand in a circle, setting the frat boys in motion.
I flipped my blade in my hand and lunged forward, slicing a deep gash across Petra’s neck, fighting a gag when her black blood erupted from the wound. It splattered my face and spilled in sheets down her body. Her shriek was so loud it felt like my ears were bleeding, and I stumbled backward.
49
NEVER
I backed up another step, not looking behind me as I moved. Leo was nearby, murmuring something low and foreign, but violence erupted around me, drowning out his words.
Then I heard it. Matty’s voice.
I glanced over my shoulder and spotted him. Leo was setting my now conscious brother on his feet, and my heart leapt right before it launched into a frenzied gallop.
He looked dazed, but the moment he spotted me his eyes cleared and he straightened up. A smile bloomed across his face, and he started to say something before Leo grabbed him and shoved him behind his big frame.
I had to get to him.
I couldn’t tell if he was shielding my brother from me or the other frat boys, at least not until Matty’s gaze landed on Petra. She was positively fuming. If this were a cartoon, little tendrils of smoke would have been curling up from around her head. Her carefully constructed glamour flickered, letting her true appearance bleed through the island beauty facade.
I didn’t think, I just ran, shoving past men locked in battle with zero regard to who I was pushing out of my way.
A hand wrapped around my wrist, and I spun, dagger in hand ready to strike. It was through sheer force of will that I didn’t plunge the blade into Hook’s neck before my brain registered who he was. Will and luck. I managed to stop my swing just a few inches short, but he didn’t flinch. His eyes were pinned to mine, pleading.
“It wasn’t a trick, Never.” His voice was little more than a whisper over the din of the fight, running beneath the sharp clang of battling swords, but I understood the words perfectly.
Understood and didn’t care.
In that moment, all I cared about was my brother. I yanked free of Hook’s grasp and shoved the nearest body out of my way. I scanned the deck. When I couldn’t spot Matty immediately, my stomach did a panicked little shudder.
A few excruciating seconds later, I saw his shock of curly brown hair hiding in a corner. Leo was still in front of him, and when he spotted me, he tipped his head back, motioning me forward.
Maybe the giant Adonis was on my side.
A beady-eyed frat boy shoved me aside, but hard enough to knock me off balance. His sneer was almost comical, until I righted myself and kneed him in the groin. He bent in half, gasping for air, and I shoved the blade down, burying it to the hilt in the soft spot at the base of his skull. His body crumpled like a deflating balloon, and I moved around him.
Matty stared at me wide-eyed from where he was crouched. Even Leo gave me an approving little nod as I eased past him warily, still uneasy about where his alliances truly fell. As long as he didn’t get in my way, it didn’t matter.
I knelt next to my cowering brother, turning my back to the wall beside him and looking out at the melee. “Are you okay?”
“You just killed that guy,” he said, his voice wobbling.
“I stabbed him, yes, but he’s not dead.” I said, scanning the action, watching for an opening. Petra and Hook were locked in a battle of their own, but the demon refused to let go of the glamour, morphing between beauty and monster every few seconds.
“He looks dead,” Matty said. He glanced down at the small streaks of red racing down his chest. “Am I bleeding?” He reached up to touch a spot but didn’t quite have the nerve to make contact. As if the pain had only just registered at the sight of his blood, he curled forward. “Ow.”
