Then two familiar figures stumbled up the stairs, gasping for breath.Delilah’s eyes glowed green with her magic, while Santiago appeared to have armed himself with some mercenary’s swords.
“Delilah!Santi!”Kieran cried.“You’re okay!Where are Ariel and Briar?”
“Downstairs,” Santiago said, pointing.“Briar brought down two of those men.Ariel went to the control room to get us off the ground, and Briar’s fighting the last mer—”
“Briarwasfighting the boss,” a new voice came from the stairs.A moment later, Briar herself appeared, a cut on her cheek weeping blood.She wiped it away with her fist, eyes glowing with magic and mouth curved into a wicked grin.“Let’s just say I won.”
Sebastian wiped his mouth clean, meeting Kieran’s gaze.“I’m beginning to like your twin more and more.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Delilah said, going to Briar’s side and wrapping her arms around her.“I was worried about you.”
“Please,” Briar scoffed.“That guy was nothing but dumb muscle.He didn’t stand a chance.”
Suddenly, the ground below them shifted.Kieran looked around and realized that the ship’s wings had begun to beat, slowly at first, then faster and faster.After a second, they began to lift into the air.
“Looks like Ariel got to the control room,” Santiago said.“Good.I was worried they were going to get distracted kicking as many of those mercenaries in the crotch as possible.”
“They got two solid kicks in,” Briar confirmed.“Really helpedme stop that witch, honestly.Hard to cast spells when you’re hunched over crying.”
“Wait!”Kieran looked around in panic.“We can’t take off yet!Seaweed is still on the ground—”
“Actually,” Briar cut in, gesturing to the stairs.The blue-scaled otter appeared at her side, looking quite pleased with herself.“Seaweed is the one who saved us.She managed to sneak down the steps and chew through our restraints.Once the mercenaries left to deal with you, we were able to take care of the rest.”
“B-but—I told you to keep watch outside!”Kieran said to the otter, hands on his hips.
Her only response was a little wiggle before she chirped and ran for Kieran, jumping to climb up his shirtsleeve and curl around his neck once again.Kieran sighed, giving her a little scratch under the chin.“I guess I can’t be too mad, seeing as you saved everyone.”To Briar, Kieran clarified, “So everyone’s okay?”
Briar nodded.“Thanks to you and your familiar, yeah.You saved the day.”
Thanks to you.
Kieran exhaled, smiled, then threw his arms around Delilah and his sister.They enveloped him in a hug, squeezing tightly.
For the moment, at least, they were safe.
Chapter Fifteen
Cleaning up the ship after the fight with the mercenaries was a deeply unpleasant experience.Two of them were still alive but knocked out, so Ariel brought the ship low enough to drop them off in the woods.It was the most kindness the pilot could offer them, considering they’d arrived fully intent on using Briar, Delilah, Santiago, and Ariel as bargaining chips to make Kieran give up the Hilt and Stave.And considering what the crew had learned from Sebastian about Elias’s plans, the mercenaries absolutely wouldn’t have hesitated to kill any of them to get what they wanted.
Still, human life was human life.It didn’t feel good to know that people had died, even if had been in self-defense.It only made Kieran hate Elias more, knowing he’d paid all these people enough to kill or be killed.Kieran just felt lucky that, aside from a black eye for Ariel and a few cuts and bruises on everyone else, the crew had escaped unharmed.
As for the mercenaries who were dead, Sebastian volunteered to deal with them.While Kieran was grateful, the thought made his stomach churn.He’d never considered himself someone who could take another person’s life.So far, he hadn’t.And he truly didn’t know if he’d be able to, even in the worst of circumstances.
Kieran had waited down in the study, staring out the window, while Sebastian finished his work.In front of him on the coffee table were the Hilt and Stave, looking strange and otherworldly in such a pedestrian setting.Seaweed had elected to leave the room as soon as Kieran pulled out the Hilt.He didn’t blame her, considering what it had done to her.Plus, she deserved a nice nap on his bed for her heroism.
“Good to see you at least got the Stave out of all that.”
Kieran glanced up to find Delilah entering the study, taking a seat on the couch.Her pink dress had been singed on the edges, and her curls were mussed and out of place, but she looked fine otherwise.
“Is Briar okay?”Kieran asked.
Delilah nodded.“She offered to help Sebastian up on the top deck.It sounded like she wanted to talk to him about something, so I decided to give them a little privacy.”
Kieran’s back straightened a bit at that.He was, at his core, quite a nosy person, even if he did his best to hide it most of the time.“Do you know what she wanted to talk to him about?”
Delilah shook her head.“No.But if I had to guess, it might be an apology.”
“For what?”
