A beast dropped out of the sky like a fallen god. A twisted crown. Feathers like black ash. Eyes like obsidian voids to nowhere.
It landed on Myron’s other side, black wings arched.
A deep rumbling call was her only warning—it snapped across Myron’s body, wings flared.
Selene skittered away, heart in her throat.
Thorne strolled to the beast’s side, the thing easily reaching the pirate’s hip in height. “It’s all right, old friend. Let her mourn her dead.”
The bird-beast relaxed and took three steps away from the body. Talons like bone scythes clicked on the cobbled stone.
Thorne came to loom over Selene. Behind him, the sun was almost gone. A sickle of light, sharp as a blade.
“These people were innocent,” she spat.
“You can end the suffering. Say the word.”
Suffering? The dead didn’t suffer. Everywhere she looked, a familiar face stared back at her from blank eyes.
Men: Rafail, Alekos, Giannis.
Women: Persefoni, Eugenia, Angelina.
The number of dead friends was too vast to continue naming. Her heart couldn’t take any more.
Selene turned her wet, throbbing face toward the sky full of rich, twinkling stars. The sun had vanished almost entirely, but for a slight ring of light.
Going…
Going…
Gone.
Throat thick, Selene dragged herself upright and turned, body aching. She had to see. Had to know. Was this really all there was? Was she the only thing standing between brutal, cold steel and another breath?
Inside the smoke, people scurried to douse the flames with their meager buckets. The once brave cries had morphed into wrenching sobs. A woman cried into her apron, rocking back and forth. A boy stood by a stall, blood on his knuckles, staring at nothing.
No Augustus.
No Oskar.
No one had come.
Even Petrina had vanished.
Selene’s chin fell. “Tell your men to stop.”
Thorne raised a single hand, and his men began their retreat.
He offered Selene his elbow. “Shall we?”
All around, Pereans sat or stood in silence. Too many eyes looked away when Selene tried meeting their stare.
The fight had been too much.
Only she could save those who had survived.
Selene raised her chin.
