I take another step away from Dorian and smooth the skirts of my dress. “What are you doing here?”
Her mouth falls open in an exaggerated gasp. She takes a step forward and folds her arms over her chest. “What amIdoing here? The better question is what areyoudoing here? Why don’t you tell him, Maisie? Tell him what actually brought you here.”
I furrow my brow, eyes narrowing as dread crawls up my spine. “You don’t seem sick.”
“I’m not.”
“Where have you been?”
She examines her nails in a bored manner. “I had a body to dispose of.”
Dorian stiffens. “Excuse me?”
Her eyes flick to mine, and her dark irises flash to a pale shade, the pupil shifting into a shape like aW. The eyes of a cuttlefish.
“Zara,” I say, taking a step back. “You killed Vanessa.”
“What?” Dorian looks from me to the false Vanessa, then throws an arm out in front of me as if to shield me from the threat he’s only now starting to understand. “What’s going on?”
Zara ignores his question. “I didn’t kill Vanessa. She’s tied up at the bottom of her wardrobe. Her chaperone, on the other hand…”
“Brothers!” Dorian bellows, and his voice rings out strong and deep.
Zara simply rolls her eyes. “No one can hear you. I put a silencing enchantment over the room, and a locking enchantment on the windows and doors. Spells I learned from Maisie’s mother. Did she tell you her mother is the Sea Witch, the most powerful enchantress in the ocean?”
Dorian says nothing, only edges closer to me.
“No? She never mentioned the Queen of Assassins at all? Perhaps you’ve at least heard of her. Queen Nimue, Unseelie Queen of the Sea Court. Maisie’s dear mother.”
My mind reels. Did Nimue send Zara to compromise my mission? I glance around the room, seeking something that could help me defend myself if she attacks. There’s nothing but sparse furniture and a framed painting. That won’t do a thing when she has sharp claws. Ones I can’t see right now but know are hiding beneath her disguise. “Why are you here? How long have you been Vanessa?”
“Since last night.” Her scales flutter, briefly revealing the visage of Brother Billius before returning to Vanessa. “I followed you in from the alley. I’ve been watching you, trying to gauge if you were capable of fulfilling your mission. When I realized you clearly weren’t, I knew it was time to take matters into my own hands. Something I’m more than happy to do. Dorian and I have unfinished business.”
Her gaze turns to Dorian and her scales flutter again, this time turning a deep blue. She remains in humanoid form, but she has no hair, only fins, gills, and large eye sockets filled entirely with black. If her true appearance is what I saw at Nimue’s palace, this is yet another glamour.
Dorian, however, seems to recognize it. Keeping his eyes on Zara, he reaches for my arm and tugs me halfway behind him. “You attacked my ship.”
“And you doused me in oil and pushed me into a fire.”
“You tried to kill me.”
She bares her teeth, claws sliding out from the tips of her webbed fingers. With a growl, her scales shift again, revealing her true form, her lithe body covered in brown and white scales in a striped pattern. “And you killedher.”
Dorian sways briefly on his feet. “No. No, you’re dead.”
Zara creeps closer, one slow step at a time. My eyes flick to the belt she wears around her hips, one that holds a sheathed dagger. Since this is her true form, I assume the weapon is real and not a glamour. I pull Dorian away from the wardrobe, guiding him to the wall to give us more space. His steps are slow and clunky, his skin a shade paler. He seems like he might be in shock. I can’t imagine it’s easy seeing what looks like the ghost of the fae he killed.
“You murdered my sister,” Zara hisses. “I was supposed to kill you in divine retribution. You weren’t supposed to survive that shipwreck, human. I was supposed to drag you to the depths of the sea before I revealed to you my true form, reminded you why you deserve to die. I didn’t get the chance that time, so I won’t waste much now. I relish the fear in your eyes. If only it never had to end.”
Dorian says nothing, but his shoulders start to sag.
“Leave him alone, Zara,” I say, burning her with a glare. “Dorian doesn’t deserve to die. Nimue was wrong about him.You’rewrong about him.”
She snarls and turns her gaze to me. “Oh, how I wish I could get away with killing you. Your mother would never forgive me. And yet…I doubt she could begrudge me a taste.” With that, she opens her jaw wide, revealing sharp teeth as she charges for me. Just as she’s about to close in, Dorian snaps into action as if coming out of a daze. He angles his body toward her and slams the full weight of his arm into her gut. As she stumbles back, he kicks her legs out from under her and sends an elbow to her chest. She strikes the ground hard but is only down for a single breath. With a hiss, she scrambles to her feet. Before she can take a single step, he thrusts her against the wall. He shoves his forearm under her chin, pinning her by the throat.
Relief floods me but it’s short lived. That’s when I notice the glint of a sea glass blade pressed to Dorian’s neck.
Dorian must feel the knife at his throat, for he freezes.
