Although his words stirred hope within her, Adara swallowed it down, noting the cunning glint in his irises.
Adara nodded. “It’s not like he can leave the island and spill all our secrets anyway. He can’t man this ship alone and there’s no other way out.” Technically, a portal orb could be a means of escape, but the mermaids were reluctant to even give those to Dominic.
“No, but he could slit our throats in our sleep,” Vesper sneered.
Evreux rolled his eyes. “Don’t you think if that was my intention I would have done it already?”
“Not helping,” Caleb snapped at his side.
“I trust Adara’s judgment,” Asher added.
“Well, I don’t,” Tyson grunted.
“I saidenough,” Dominic snapped. “One night on the island. See if he survives. If he does, he’s one of us. If not . . . well, the mutants will tear him apart, and we won’t have to clean up the mess.” Dominic drew his sword and leveled it at Evreux’s throat.
Evreux’s eyes widened with terror. He raised his empty hands in surrender and retreated a step.
Dominic did not stop his advance until the back of Evreux’s boots hit the hull of the ship. “Starting now,” Dominic said. He sheathed his blade and shoved Evreux over the railing.
They all rushed to port, watching his body tumble into the undulating sea.
For a moment, Adara worried a sea creature had already claimed him, but then Evreux’s head popped above the surface. He glanced up at them, as if hoping they’d change their mindand reel him in. Tyson and Desmond only laughed. Vesper wore a winning smirk.
Adara angled her head to the island, eyes locked on the mountain piercing the sky. She placed her hands on the railing, pretending to simply drum her fingers along the wood in anticipation, but she subtly pointed her index finger to the mountain, indicating where Andreilia’s enchanted water lay. Evreux dipped his chin slightly, and she prayed he understood her gesture.
“Did you know about this?” Dominic seethed.
Adara crossed her arms over her chest as the two of them stood at the edge of the wood line. The rest of the Andreilians had left them behind as they marched toward their camp, unloading stolen supplies from the ship.
She could try to play dumb with Dominic, but Adara knew he’d see right through her lies, so she did the next best thing. “Of course,” she said arrogantly. “Nothing gets past me.” There was something so fulfilling about seeing the fury that twisted Dominic’s features at her insinuation: that she was clever enough to figure out someone snuck onto their ship while he remained clueless. The corners of her lips tugged up.
Dominic’s scowl deepened. “Why the Hel are you helping him?”
Adara huffed. “I already told you,” she said, “he deserves a place here like the rest of us.”
Dominic laughed. The sound, dark and bitter, sent a chill along her bones. “Us,” he spat. “There is nous,” he snarled. He jabbed a finger at her chest, right over the mark that deemed her a Flamecarrier. “Youdo not have a place here. You are nothing more than a naive girl strutting around here thinking you’re so clever for challengingmein a game of love. When really you’re just some stupid girl with a god complex, all because you were born with magic in your veins. But you did nothing to deserve it. Nothing toearnit.”
Adara’s fists balled at her sides.
Dominic snatched her hand, prying her fingers open and tracing their matching scars with a heavy hand. “You had to make me promise to keep you alive because you can’t defend yourself. How the Hel do you expect to protect someone else when you can’t even protect yourself?” Dominic gestured to the jungle where Evreux was probably fighting off the strange creatures that roamed the island.
Those words struck Adara like a physical blow. Blood roared in her ears. She blinked and she was back in the meadow, blood coating the verdant grass. Mutilated bodies lay around her, the white of bone gleaming through gallons of blood. Chunks of flesh and organs were scattered about the ground, their faces lacerated beyond recognition.
She gazed hopefully at the castle in the distance, right over the hill. They were so close.I promised them escape,she thought.I promised I would protect them.But there they lay—Callan, Draven, Kiara, Fallon, and Alecsander—dead, buried beneath the shadows.
She blinked again, and the vision was gone. Dominic’s glare fixed on her, waiting for a response.
Adara heaved a deep breath through the nausea churning her stomach. “I made that oath,” she began, attempting to keep her composure while she wanted nothing more than to scream athim. To shout in his face all that she had been through. To show him what carnage played in her mind day after day. Then maybe he would think differently of her. “To be sure your allegiance would lie with me. I know where my loyalties stand—and that is with you. At least until we forge the Realm Fracturer and one of us wins this game.”
“Your loyalty will be your demise,” he said, tossing her hand out of his grip, which returned to a fist at her side, suppressing the embers threatening to set him ablaze.
Adara barked a humorless laugh. “Funny, that’s what has kept me alive so far.”
He shook his head with a mocking laugh. “No.” Dominic hooked a finger under her chin, tilting her head up to meet his eyes, demanding she understand his next words very clearly. “Ihave kept you alive.” His touch was so cold it burned.
Adara jerked her face away.
“What have you done?” he asked, arms splayed at his side. “Besides putting us in danger? You didn’t solve the riddle in those ancient tomes to find out what is needed to forge the Realm Fracturer. You didn’t discover the whereabouts of the Whisperer. I bet you don’t even know where to find a dragon scale or shadow steel!”
