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He scoffed. “Yousaid you could get them to separate— Oh never mind. Captain, grab the ungrateful girl, will you?”
I turned just as someone took my hand in his and pulled me away from them both.
Adrian.
“Come on, Princess Blood,” Adrian said. “You belong on my ship.”
I looked over my shoulder at Henrik, his face pale with anger. When Adrian squeezed my hand and pulled me forward, I followed, not knowing what else to do.
“Don’t go with him!” Henrik’s voice shouted across the cavern.
My feet planted in the ground, nearly throwing me over. Adrian caught me before I could hit the ground face first. Holding me, he turned to his brother.
“You’re better than this!” Adrian yelled to Henrik. “The brother I had would never use his power to hold a woman captive.”
Henrik’s breath shattered as he exhaled. “She held me captive first.”
I shut my eyes, trying to keep out the pain.
“She’s innocent and you know it,” Adrian replied. “Don’t do this. Don’t take your revenge for me out on her.”
My eyes shot open, looking at Adrian. He wasn’t looking at me.
“I was the one who got you kicked out of the king’s navy,” Adrian continued. “I was the one to ruin the family name. Your abilities were a gift. I had none, and all I could do was make a reputation for myself in the only way I knew how: by destroying everything.”
His hand squeezed mine again as he tried to steady his breath.
“You made me captain because you had hope for me, even when I had none for myself,” Adrian continued. “You thought the responsibility would make me honorable, didn’t you?”
Henrik didn’t answer.
“But taking care of criminals, pirates, and the scum of the ship didn’t make me honorable. Taking care of Esmeralda did.”
I stared at the profile of his face, desperately wanting him to turn toward me so I could see if he was telling his true feelings.
But something in the way he gripped my hand told me that he was.
“Let her go, Henrik,” Adrian said. “You can hate me more if you want, but at least let me keep you from destroying yourself.”
I couldn’t bear to look over my shoulder at Henrik, but I felt him staring at my back.
“Also,” Jacques added, breaking the tension with his apathy, “remember that I have a sword in your back and your little rock doesn’t affect me in the slightest.”
There was another pause. Then Henrik huffed out a breath.
“Go then,” he said. “Both of you get out.”
The tension in my feet released, and Adrian pulled my hand to take me away from Henrik and Jacques. I couldn’t look back, and I could barely raise my head to look at Adrian either.
“No, don’t you—!” I heard Jacques yell.
There was an ear-splitting streak once more, shaking the den. Right as we turned to look at the sound, a rush of air blewpast us. Adrian yelped right before letting me go, stumbling back with a hiss as he dropped to his knees on the ground.
There was a sword completely through in Adrian’s side…with Henrik as its wielder.
There was a cruel, murderous glint in Henrik’s yellow eyes that flickered out the moment Adrian twisted in pain. In the pause, Adrian grabbed the sword and pulled it from his side, right before collapsing completely on the ground.
Henrik’s eyes flickered back to their original color, his face drained in terror.
