Oren’s attention is focused ahead, on the battle on the ground, so we have an advantage.
He’s standing with his back to the main mast, though, so I can’t just shoot him and be done with it.
I grit my teeth. Lina is off to the side, closest to us, but she looks bored. I suppose the death and destruction of hundreds of peopledoesn’t excite her. I don’t know where Mouse is now. Maybe they’ve sent him ashore, too.
But there’s Oren, right there, against the mast. Watching Rian’s city fall. The fires are so hot that I can feel them from here.
Tessa’s hand brushes mine, and I give it a quick squeeze. We cling to the shadows and wait for him to move.
He doesn’t.
The ship fires again, another cannonball rocketing toward shore. The floorboards underneath us give a shudder, and I expect that to be the moment that Oren steps away from the mast, but it’s not. He’s clinging to that spot like it’ll save his life—and it very much is.
Sweat forms in the small of my back. We can’t stay here forever. Someone will eventually look this way. More sailors will eventually come up on deck. I look from Oren to Lina and wonder if we should shoot her first—but there are enough people on the deck that I worry they’d retaliate before we could get to Oren.
I consider my brother praising Rian’s crew, their devotion to him. I don’t get the sense that Oren has that. There’s a reason he spends so much time on this ship, protecting himself. Torture and fear breed something, but it isn’t loyalty.
We have to take him out first.
He needs to move away from the mast.
As if he knows it, he’s stock-still, braced against the wooden beam. In any other situation, his refusal to move would almost be comical. The few sailors on board have changed position. Even Lina has moved. But Oren doesn’t.
And then, suddenly, he does.
I lift my crossbow, but I don’t have a good shot. I have to slip out onto the deck, just a bit. Andthere, he’s turning.
A board creaks, or maybe light shifts, but Lina sees me. She gives a shout of warning. That might be what saves Oren’s life, or maybe he just has fate on his side. Because I pull the trigger just as a swell of water hits the ship, throwing us both off-balance.
My bolt goes shooting past him. And I’m visible on the deck.
Oren’s eyes flare wide, and I scrabble to get another bolt from my belt, but it’s not going to be quick. I’m not going to be fast enough. I can’t get it loaded, and Oren is surging toward me; he has a blade—
Another crossbow snaps, just beside me. A bolt appears in his chest, and he crumples.
Tessa is breathing hard. “I’m not watching you dieagain,” she says.
Lina screams in rage, and I lift my newly loaded weapon to fire just as Tessa is wrenched away from me. Lina’s body jerks as my bolt goes through her shoulder, but I don’t kill her.
She smiles anyway, and I look to my side.
“Good job, Mouse,” says Lina. “Break her neck.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Tessa
Arms have come around me from behind, and it’s like being grabbed by a mountain. I suddenly can’t breathe. My ribs might already be cracking. I remember Olive telling me about Lina and Mouse, and Corrick just told me about how horrific they are, but now I understand.
A woman’s voice is telling him to do it, too. “Crush her, Mouse,” she says, and her voice is undercut by pain. I wonder if Corrick shot her. I don’t know how many bolts he has left, but I wonder if he’s going to shoot the man crushing me against his chest.
“Smash her bones,” the woman says, and I want to whimper, but I don’t even have the breath for that. I’m beginning to see stars.
“Please don’t,” says Corrick, and I’m surprised by the even calmness of his tone. “Oren is dead, Mouse. Lina is about to be. You don’t have to listen to her anymore. Tessa never hurt you. Tessa never hurts anyone.”
The man’s arm’s don’t loosen. “She killed Oren.”
“Because he was killing all those people.” Corrick pauses. “I love her, Mouse. She’s very precious. Please give her back.”
