And no feelings came.
Chapter Thirty
Her friend was gone.
Her friend had never been there to begin with.
Vi continued to lay in the sand, inches from Jayme. She stared listlessly, eyes unfocused.
Get up!a voice urged in her.
Why?
The voice didn’t have a worthy retort, so Vi continued to lie there. Perhaps, if enough snow fell, the whole world would freeze over and put a great hold on everything. But the Mother was not so kind.
The world was ending, just not by ice.
The sound of sand beneath the hull of a rowboat brought Vi back to alertness. She finally pushed herself upward. Magic crackled off her, igniting the air with the rage that still simmered under her skin.
She didn’t make it very far before two arms suddenly appeared, hoisting her up. They yanked her hands forward and before Vi even realized what was happening, a man clamped shackles made of what looked like shimmering glass—crystal, she realized dully—around her wrists. Her whole body was instantly heavier as the spark retreated from her.
Darkness. Nothing but darkness within her.
Vi slowly found her feet as the men began to pull her away from Jayme. She had to keep moving. There was nothing more for her here—her friend was gone.
Her friend had never been there to begin with.
Ten pirates had come to retrieve her, each more hardened and terrifying than the last. If Jayme’s devious tasks had been some kind of trial to join Adela’s crew, she couldn’t imagine what horrors these men and women had wrought in the pirate queen’s name. Vi hoped Adela had sent her best after the display she’d shown on the beach.
A fist balled itself in her hair. Pain barely registered to her anymore. Vi’s entire threshold and understanding of what pain was had been shaken. She hadn’t even set a new baseline. But the pirates were working to do that for her.
Whoever had a hold of her braids yanked. Vi’s mouth opened on instinct to let out a yelp. But before she could, a ball was shoved between her teeth. The gag was cold. It burned her teeth and her tongue stuck painfully to it before the natural heat of her breath warmed it from the inside out.
“In the boat.” One of the pirates pushed her forward.
Vi stumbled, eliciting snickers from around her. Balancing herself was awkward with the heavy shackles. But she straightened enough to look them each in the eye to convey a single thought; She had killed to get this far. They should keep treating her like the threat she was.
The rowboat glided across the lagoon. Two men for each oar made quick work of the lagoon. Vi kept her eyes forward, ignoring the debris-littered waters, the carnage, and the conversation happening around her.
“Who would’ve thought she had it in her?”
“She is Aldrik’s daughter.”
“He fought like hell, didn’t he?” Vi glanced at the man who said the last part. His eyes locked with hers and a grin widened his face. “You hear your dear ol’ dad’s name? Wanna go running after him?” The man leaned forward, getting right up in her face.
The last person who got in her face and threatened her family was dead on the beach.
“Well you’re too late. We got him locked up tight on our Isle of Frost… Pretty little bargaining chip, that. Can’t wait to see what Adela cashes him in for.”
“Shut up, Edgar,” one of the other pirates snapped. “Adela won’t like you talking to her.”
“Upset Adela, and you’ll answer to Fallor.”
Fallor. Vi’s eyes widened and she fought the urge to try to speak. Moving her jaw only seemed to further press the agonizingly cold ball gag against her teeth.
Of course Fallor was alive. Why would Jayme kill one of her own? They had likely been in cahoots the whole time. It must have been some kind of test, to prove Jayme’s loyalty. Or perhaps it was all a set-up to deepen Vi’s trust in her “loyal” guard.
The hull of theStormfrostwas nearly three times the size of theDawn Skipper, making the smaller vessel look like little more than the remnants of a toy crashed on the battering ram. Vi saw the hulking form of Marcus, face down, amid the debris bobbing in the relatively still waters of the lagoon.
