The men with him—the Blades, the Rangers, the pirates—all formed a haphazard line following the sound of her voice, everyone struggling across the hazardous floor.
What he didn’t understand, and what he didn’t have the energy to question, was why they were all hearing a different person.
One of the Blades heard his mother.
Felix, a brother who died years ago.
Blaze kept calling out to Augustus—the man was clearly blind.He was right here.
Oskar kept saying Emanouella’s name. Or Em. The dead queen?
“Augustus, hurry.”
Augustus could only nod.
He was so tired.
The forest blurred, and when it refocused, Lili was there holding him by the shoulders. “What’s with you, mate? What’s going on?”
Didn’t she know? Couldn’t shehear?
Further down, Roslyn slapped one of the Rangers in the face. Luc,maybe. Or Xavier. He couldn’t tell them apart, honestly, and he didn’t much like them anyway. They wanted to take Blaze away from him.
“Get a hold of yourself,” Roslyn was saying to the bald one. “Nia died a long time ago, remem—Oh gods.” Roslyn shot a wide-eyed look at Lili. “I know what this is. Fuck.”
“What?” Lili demanded.
Augustus didn’t have time for this. Selene needed him. He pushed Lili aside, but she only yanked him back by the arm. A growl rippled out of his throat.
She slapped a warm palm over his mouth. “Stop that, you stupid bastard.”
Roslyn pulled a pair of swords from the cross sheath on her back. “There might still be time. We have to find her and kill her before?—”
Kill Selene?
Not while he still had breath in his body.
Augustus faced Lili, fingers curling into fists. He didn’t want to hurt her. But he would. If she got between him and Selene, he would. He’d kill her with his bare hands if he had to.
Beside him, Oskar glared down at the sailing master. “You’ll touch her over my dead body.”
Roslyn backed up a step, swords up, eyes darting between Luc, Xavier, and the two Blades closing in. “Now, now, boys.”
“Ros,” Lili said, eyeing the line of men stalking toward her, including Felix and Pavle. “Care to explain?”
“There’s a Nahrin on the island.”
“Awhat?”
Roslyn sighed. “A swamp siren.”
If Selene was a siren, so be it.
He would die for her.
Selene tamped down the exhaustion and sprinted after the two dronsian.
“Where are they taking us?” Petrina called up from behind.
