Stars exploded in her vision. Pain rocketed through her head, her body lurching forward as the world tilted violently. She barely registered Cirrus’ scream of rage before her knees gave out beneath her.
Rough hands snatched at her arms.
Cirrus was fighting. She could hear the struggle—his roar of fury, the grunt of fists connecting, the sound of bodies colliding against rock—but she couldn’t turn to see.
Her vision blurred, darkness rushing in, swallowing the cavern.
The last thing she saw before the abyss dragged her under was Enyo’s sneering silhouette standing over her. His scarred face split into a cruel smile.
Then—
Nothing.
44
The throbbing in Vivienne’s skull came first, a sharp, blinding pulse radiating from the back of her head. A wave of nausea coiled in her stomach, threatening to drag her under again. The stone floor pressed cold and unyielding against her back, her wrists burning from the bite of tight rope.
She opened her eyes, the cave around her was swallowed in deepening twilight, shadows stretching along the jagged walls. Her muscles screamed as she turned her head, a low groan escaping her lips.
Cirrus was slumped nearby, his head bowed, his chest rising in uneven breaths. Blood trickled from a gash above his temple, streaking down his face. His hands and legs were bound, but the bruises marring his skin told her one thing—he put up an everdark of a fight.
A muffled shout cut through the cave. Vivienne’s gaze snapped to the opposite side of the cavern, where Enyo stood over two figures forced to their knees—Florence and another bloodied, battered Zephyrus crewman.
Florence! She’s alive!
The gunner’s face was streaked with dirt and blood, but her hazel eyes still blazed with defiance. The Thanatos crew paced like wolves, waiting for their captain’s next move. Enyo wasn’t yelling, but his body was tense, his words low and seething. Vivienne couldn’t hear them, but she didn’t need to.
A hulking crewman with a shaved head and gleaming piercings plucked a Noctilum bud from the vine. The moment the silver petals left their stem, the bloom wilted into lifelessness. He tried again. And again. One by one, the flowers shriveled.
The frustration on Enyo’s face turned murderous. Without hesitation, he drove his sword straight through the man’s chest.
Vivienne barely bit back a scream as the crewman crumpled, his blood staining the cave floor. Florence flinched but didn’t look away.
Enyo turned his fury on her, grabbing a fistful of her curls and jerking her head back. His words snapped out in rage, but Vivienne could only catch fragments from reading Florence’s lips.
“I don’t know… I don’t know how to fix it.”
Wrong answer. Enyo released her hair, raising his hand in a sharp gesture. A brute stepped forward, his dagger gleaming.
“No!” Florence screamed as the man yanked back the Zephyrus crewman’s head—and sliced.
The wet gurgle that followed would haunt Vivienne’s nightmares.
Blood sprayed across the cave, splattering across Florence’s face, her chest. The body collapsed, lifeless at her knees.
Florence trembled but lifted her chin, glaring at Enyo with pure hatred in her narrowed eyes. Then, in a slow, deliberate motion, shespatin his face.
The Thanatos crew froze, waiting for their captain’s reaction. Vivienne’s heart pounded, knowing this was it—Florence had signed her death sentence.
Enyo wiped the spit from his cheek, his expression unreadable. Then, with one brutal backhand, he sent Florence sprawling. Her head cracked against the stone, her body falling limp.
Vivienne’s vision turned red.
Rage uncoiled inside her, hotter and deadlier than anything she had ever felt. She had never killed before, never felt the bone-deep certainty that someone needed to die.
Now she did.
If she could tear Enyo apart with her bare hands, she would. Instead, she forced herself to think.How do we get out of here alive?
