AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sebastian stares at me, his face falling. “I—I don’t know.”
“When you sent her overboard, it came from beneath the ship. What if it was following you? Is it always that one that eats them?”
The ship sways, and he steadies me on my feet. “Not always, but mostly. I can’t worry about the why, right now. I have to go. Promise me you’ll stay right here.” I don’t answer, lost in my mind. With one last lingering glance, he disappears into the shadows, leaving me alone in the dimly lit room.
My heart hammers in my chest, and I struggle to catch my breath, glancing down to see some sort of glowing ball in my hand. I lift it up, eyeing the glassy surface. Cold sweat trickles down my spine, and my hands tremble, but inside is something fluttering. A bug, maybe?
With a sickening lurch, the ship tilts almost upright, and I’m flung into the wall of Sebastian’s room. The ball leaves my hand and rolls away. I grit my teeth, scrambling to my feet. Ducking down, I cover my head with my arms as anything that’s not bolted down or locked inside cabinets goes flying. A chair slams into the door and busts it open as the ship continues to tilt. The tail end is being dragged beneath the water.
The sight before me steals my breath away; the crew members hang on for dear life, dangling from ropes and fixtures—whatever they can—as they try not to fall into the water.
I flatten myself against the cabinets, the wall now becoming the floor, and peer through the doorway. The hinges whine as the wooden slab dangles, and I swallow hard. We’re going down… The ship can’t survive this kind of torture for much longer.
My gaze is drawn to the creature. Its blue scales reflect what little light pierces the fog, forming a constellation on the deck. Its serpent-like body coils around the ship, constricting and threatening to splinter the hull into pieces. With each heave of its muscular form, the vessel groans and creaks, teetering on the brink of destruction.
Sebastian dangles from the broken mast. It’s snapped in the middle, but the two halves are still held together by fragments of wood. His shadows are wrapped around the dangling piece, and other tendrils hang on to other crewmen, trying to keep them from disappearing into the deep.
He grits, his muscles flexing and straining with everything he has. Those stormy green eyes meet mine and for a moment, everything stills. Something in that stare… He knows as well as I do that in a matter of minutes, we’re all going to drown unless something changes. And I’m the only one with the power to make that happen.
He’s slipping bit by bit, holding on to too much for one man. Any moment now, he’ll go over. My mind races, searching for some way to help, but fear holds me captive.
I have to do something… I don’t have a choice. It’s now or never.
Taking a deep breath, I flip my legs through the hole of the doorway, holding myself up by the frame until my back is against the deck floor. And I let go.
I slide, picking up speed as I aim for the forward mast, the smaller of the two, but it’s level with the creature’s head. As I slide by, barely missing it, I snatch the rope loosely coiled around it and slam to a stop. The rope bites into my hands as I swing off the wooden planks and then slam back against them. Pain roils through my arm and hip, but I don’t let go.
I need my hands… Stealing a glance up, I only have about a foot or two to climb and if I can do that, I can straddle the mast, putting my body right in front of the beast’s face. Turning so I can brace my feet on the deck, I walk up it, gripping hand over hand on the rope. I clench my teeth, hissing out air as I gain each inch until I can pull myself up and over the poll.
Locking my ankles around the round beam, I tie the rope around my torso. Sebastian yells my name, but I can’t afford to hesitate. I have to act now and seeing his face, knowing everything is about the change, will only make what I’m about to do feel worse.
My hands tremble as I lift them up, staring into the beast’s bright yellow eyes. My fingers curl into claws as power surges through me, so strong it steals my breath away. But I won’t stop. Translucent threads shimmer into existence, and I start to pluck at the invisible strands. The ship starts to lower as the sea beast releases its grip. Its movements are slow and fluid as the ship settles back to a natural angle. Once low enough for me to stand, I get to my feet. My gaze never wavers or twitches from the beasts as I breathe heavily, feeling the energy within me running out like an hourglass.
My time is limited. I won’t be able to keep this up forever.
Its blue-hued scales shimmer like liquid moonlight as they ripple with each movement. The fog grows thinner as I take in the thin gill strands hanging from its face, its rounded eyes full of curiosity, and something I can’t put my thumb on. That is until they flash black as night.
She did… I knew killing a witch powerful enough to possess and take control of a druid like Lorian wouldn’t have died so easily. The beast fights against my magic, its mouth opening to reveal the blue lightning. If I let go, it’ll try to sink us again, under the control of the bitch who won’t die.
The sound of feet sprinting across the deck hits my ears, but if I look away, there’s no way my strings will hold. I have to focus. I have to buy them time to kill her. A boom echoes over the deck, loud enough to make my ears ring, and something flies past me and my hair swirls wildly around my face.
A silver spear, tipped with some sort of brassy metal slams into the beast’s chest. The momentum knocks it backward with a jolt. It’s wail breaking my heart… It didn’t ask for this. It’s innocent, but that thing inside it is not, and unfortunately, without her body, her host will have to pay the price.
The creature falls backward into the water, sending a wave crashing into the ship so hard I lose my footing. My hands hit the deck, saving my face from colliding with it, but the loosened nails that held the boards down stab into my palms, creating shallow wounds and drawing blood. I cry out, trying to stay put as the ship slides relentlessly sideways. It twirls, spinning us like a top until the wave dies out and the water stills.
With ragged breaths, I sit back on my heels, turning my face toward the hell flame that’s hidden by the clouds. My world stills, regaining my bearings, and I cringe, trying to untie the rope around my waist.
That’s it. It’s dead. She’s dead… and soon, so will I.
“Scarlet!” Sebastian shouts, his voice breaking. It’s not concern that powers it, but true, guttural fury. I deserve it…A part of me knew I should’ve told him the night we were married. Just because I didn’t have a choice in placing the glamour on my mark, doesn’t mean I didn’t keep the truth from him willingly.
I kept waiting for the right moment, but the longer I waited, the harder it was to say… and the more I didn’t want to hurt him.
My shoulder blades are on fire… The witch mark is burning so hot that it feels like it’ll level me to ash. Tears stream from my eyes, but I’m not scared.
I’ve never used this much magic at once, and I nearly depleted my soul in the process of saving this ship. I felt the very edge at which the line of no return was drawn and had it been another moment, I’d have shattered. Still, I’d do it again. I’d do every bloody second again if it meant saving him.
I was already living on borrowed time, anyway. I’d made my peace with the end before he’d ever walked into my life. But I refuse to let him die with only half of his soul. He’s given me so much… so much more than he’ll ever understand. I owed it to him.
