Adara was a blur of motion, throwing her weight off his chest and into the ensuing chaos. Dominic slowly sat up, and it felt like the world stopped. Protruding from Ace’s right forearm was one of those fatal barbs, so thin and innocuous-looking, but the way his veins bulged, turning black and quickly spider-webbing up his forearm, suggested otherwise. Another anguished scream tore through Ace’s throat.
“NO!” Dominic cried, voice cracking as he struggled to stand, knees buckling at the sight of his best friend dying.
It was Valen all over again. There was absolutely nothing he could do to stop this. He was completely, utterly useless as the venom spread. Ace’s skin turned to angry red blisters, charring to that blackish-purple color of the lykren’s blood, sloughing off the bones of his hand and forearm. He fell to the ground, thrashing and twitching as if he could fight the poison already invading his bloodstream.
Dominic collapsed to the deck, pressing a hand to his mouth to stifle a sob that racked his body.No, this can’t be happening. Not again.But it was. His chest strained, breath catching in his lungs as he heaved through the tears blurring his vision.
A figure was upon Ace in an instant, careful to avoid his kicking limbs as he writhed on the deck. Dominic squinted, hurriedly blinking away the tears. Adara stood over Ace, Infinova raised in her white-knuckled grip. Despair was written in the sharp lines of her features, in her glossy eyes, and Dominic knew what was coming.
She was going to end his misery, taking his life before the lykren blood could infect his heart and brain, where it would cause the most tortuously woeful death. Dominic couldn’t watch his friend die, not again. So he closed his eyes and listened to the sound of steel cutting through the air, silently thanking Adarafor giving him a swift, merciful death, because Dominic was not strong enough to do anything in the face of this nightmare.
The sound of a sword slicing through flesh and bone was trailed by a trilling shriek. Dominic’s eyes snapped wide open. Adara’s hands were under Ace’s armpits, dragging him to the relative safety the stacked crates provided. A stark trail of crimson slid in their wake, leaving behind a severed arm. Dominic’s lips worked for words, but they could not get past the lump in his throat.
She’d cut off his forearm before the venom could spread. She’d saved his life—that was, if he didn’t bleed out. Her fingers grasped at Ace’s belt, ripping it free from his waist and quickly tying it tightly above the bloodied stump of his arm, which now ended just above his elbow.
“You . . . ” Dominic’s voice came out a hoarse croak, tears stinging his eyes. “Y-you saved him,” he whispered, brushing damp strands of Ace’s hair from his eyes, which were squeezed shut.
His features were contorted with pain as he heaved in breaths through clenched teeth. The infected blood flowing from Ace’s severed limb could have sprayed onto her, the single touch of its poison condemning her to the same wretched fate, but she’d taken the risk to amputate his limb in time to save his life.
“You saved him,” Dominic repeated, as if this was an illusion and he needed to say it aloud to be sure it was real.
“Yes,” Adara breathed, like she, too, couldn’t quite believe it. She ripped the sleeve of her tunic off and wrapped it around his arm, trying to keep as much blood within him as possible. “Stay here. I’m going to see if I can help the others.”
Before Dominic could protest, Adara charged back into the hurricane of flesh, blood, and steel. Pirates still fought for their lives, fought to use the Andreilians as bait for the sea monster.
A throb pounded in his abdomen, suddenly reminding Dominic of the cut someone had scored on him. He pressed a hand to his stomach, a futile attempt to stanch the bleeding.
An arrow soared through the air, bouncing harmlessly off the lykren’s armor of dark green scales. A flash of movement and the person was hidden behind a mast from its sight. The mighty beast swiveled its head, baring its fangs and eliciting a growl of anger. Asher peeked around the post, taking aim again. His arrow struck true this time, sinking into one of its six eyes. The creature screeched, and Dominic covered his ears. A tentacle rose from the water, slamming into the hull. More water flooded the ship, and it began sinking faster. But there was nowhere to run, nowhere to go. They couldn’t swim to their ship. They’d never make it that far—not with their injuries or the lykren between them and the others.
But Adara seemed foolishly determined to defeat this monster, and he wouldn’t let her face it alone, despite every instinct inside him that screamed and begged for him to stay hidden.
“Ash!” Dominic called. The archer whipped his attention to Dominic.
BOOM!
A cannon fired, but the lykren dove beneath the waves and popped back up all too quickly. One of its tentacles snatched up the pirate who had fired the cannon, strangling the life out of him.
Asher sprinted across the deck, hurtling over debris and sliding to a halt next to them. He paled at the sight of his brother’s unconscious form.
“Stay with him,” Dominic ordered and, as stupid as it was, hefted his blade, charging into the fray.
He was weak and wounded and could easily die, but some magic trickled back in, slowly mending the reopened lashes on his back, the lingering stab wound in his leg, and the newlaceration across his abdomen. The cuts itched and burned as they gradually clotted, new skin growing together. Too slow, it was all too slow. He was desperate to use his magic to fight this monster, but he couldn’t risk expending it anymore as it was already draining away. So he kept it contained inside, marching onward.
He would never forgive himself if he let Adara defend them, only for something terrible to happen to her because he was afraid. It was better to die fighting in the dark than to live cowering in the light.
Painfully, Dominic limped through the maelstrom, each step sending sparks of pain shooting through him. Tyson and Desmond fought against three pirates, back to back, so they could see the lykren and their enemies. There was a flash of movement in the captain’s quarters, and Dominic saw Silas, Vesper, and Tobias holding their ground there, sheltered from the onslaught. He gritted his teeth and surged onward. Adara’s red-streaked hair and flame-wrapped sword were a beacon guiding him. She cut a path through the enemies, eliminating anyone in her way, leaving Dominic with a clear shot at her.
Someone tackled him to the floor. He hissed at the searing pain in his abdomen as he rolled backward. Gritting his teeth, his entire body protested, but Dominic rose to a knee. The insolent pirate reached him, and Dominic turned on his knee with his sword, weapon slicing upward in a perfect arc as he rose. It cut cleanly through flesh, gutting the man like a fish. Dominic ignored the entrails spilling onto the deck from his victim. Without a glance, he elbowed the enemy approaching from behind in the face, bone cracking. Then turned with his sword, decapitating the man in an instant. Blood spurted from the body as it fell, head rolling into the chaos.
A pirate stepped into Adara’s path, sword swinging at her head. She quickly ducked and barreled her shoulder into hisgut, grabbing at his legs and hurling him over her back. The deck splintered on impact, leaving the man gasping for breath. A tentacle wrapped around his leg and tossed the pirate into the air. His screams abruptly cut off with the loud snap of the lykren’s jaws, devouring him whole. Dominic’s eyes widened as the lykren reached for Adara. She twirled away, swinging her sword, wreathed in bright blue flames, at the beast. A guttural screech echoed through the night as one of its tentacles collapsed onto the deck, wood cracking beneath its massive weight. Its barbed tail lashed for her, but Adara was quick as lightning, diving and rolling into a gaping hole that opened to the lower decks.
Dominic released a breath of relief when she emerged a minute later, soaked from the water flooding below decks. Behind her, a pirate poised to strike. Dominic hurled himself in front of the blow, throwing his sword up with all his strength to protect her.
The pirate turned into a pile of dust. Dominic gaped at the ashes at his feet, drifting off with the wind. Adara had incinerated him without so much as a glance. She whirled around to pin her furious glare on him.
“I told you to stay put,” she reprimanded, fire blazing in her eyes.
“And miss out on all the fun?” he huffed out as he lowered his sword, practically dropping it. He rolled his shoulders back, relieved to be free of its weight. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to the ground, their backs pressed to the hull of the ship, trying to stay below the railing, out of the lykren’s sight.
