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“And deliver the heir to a bunch of bloodthirsty outlaws?” said Cael. “No. You willnotgo.”
I stayed put, afraid to get out of earshot from Cael. With his radio in hand, he could call backup or bring in more weapons.
Cael clenched his jaw. “With them refusing to come to shore, our plans have already been disrupted, and I don’t trust them to comply with our requests for non-violence. We are here to capture a bunch of killers, if you remember your plan!” He stepped closer to me. “Go to their boat and retrieve Dunn now.”
“And then what?” I asked.
“Then I will provide further orders,” said Cael.
I turned and went to the boat.
Graham followed, speaking softly once we were out of earshot from Cael. “I don’t like this.”
I felt the same way. I was being targeted, intentionally removed as if Cael knew I wanted to keep an eye on him. “I know,” I said, “but don’t let Cael know. Keep him happy, for your own safety. Do not make him mad.”
“He doesn’t scare me,” said Graham.
“Then why have you been following his orders? You seem to be afraid of something.”
“I have a strategy, too, Mara,” he said. “I’m not afraid of him.”
“Maybe you should be,” I said, wondering if I should be more scared too. At some point, I thought I was aligning with the devil I knew, but after he’d murdered Pearce, I wasn’t so sure I knew him anymore.
Of course, I’d agreed to be a part of the murder, so I couldn’t say I knew myself either.
We reached the rowboat, and Graham helped me push it off the sand into the waves.
“Keep an eye on him for me,” I said as I climbed in and picked up the oars. “He’s up to something.”
“I know.” Graham glanced over his shoulder at Cael. “He always is.”
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
I paddledthe rowboat toward the vessel on the horizon, rising on the crests and dropping into the troughs, the motion familiar and soothing. Even in the midst of chaos, the power of the sea made everything else feel tame in comparison—even men like Cael.
When I got to the hull, Vaughn unfurled a rope ladder over the port side.
“Who is this dandy?!” He shouted.
I looked up at him from the rowboat, giving him a half-hearted wave. “Hi. The dandy is me.”
“Mara? Why?” Vaughn said. “You promised you’d be keeping an eye on the devil.”
“I know.” I tied the rowboat to the ladder and started to climb. “I’m sorry. Turns out I didn’t have a say in the matter.”
At the gunwale, Vaughn grabbed my hand, pulling me up and onto the deck. “Well, better you than anactualEnforcer.”
Vaughn stepped aside, revealing Dominic Dunn.
His ankles were shackled and he wore branks in his mouth, the harsh metal device wrapping around his jaw and the back of his head. A patch of dried blood marked his chin and he lookedseveral pounds lighter than the last time I’d seen him. With the branks on, he probably hadn’t eaten in days.
“You put him in branks?!” I said.
“He deserved it,” said one man.
“We suspect he gave us up,” said Vaughn. “Keeping him alive was merciful, but he had to be kept silent in case he found a way to get to our radios.”
