“Sachia!” one of the crew members yelled.
The pirate sobbed, throwing her body toward a cell on the left side. Darkness bathed the sullied floor, but Sachia didn’t seem to care. She didn’t seem afraid. They fumbled with the keys for two, three, four tries until Sachia cursed and ordered everyone to step back. Her hands extended, and she twisted her wrist sharply. The lock squealed, then clicked, the training she had done with Melisina paying off. Sachia threw open the door. She rushed in and dragged a smaller body out, Vaasa crouching to meet them.
He had red hair like Sachia’s, eyes the same stunning shade of green.
Except those eyes were open.
Unmoving.
His body did not twitch. He was pale, skin stuck in a lifeless pallor, his lips blue. His young face was contorted in pain.
A bloodcurdling scream broke from Sachia. Vaasa braced herself for the sound of guards, stumbling back to Reid’s side with her hand over her mouth.
Sachia slammed her hands against her brother’s chest as she attempted to resuscitate him. Over and over she tried, tears falling to his frozen body relentlessly. The keys lay motionless on the floor next to her.
Reid stepped forward, but Sachia growled, baring her teeth like a wild animal. “Do not touch my brother.”
Tears flooded Sachia’s eyes and rolled down her face. It was a connection Vaasa couldn’t relate to, yet one she understood. The pirate’s pain infiltrated the air around them. Sickness crawled up Vaasa’s throat as she watched Sachia search her brother for any signs of life. There was nothing that could undo what had been done.
Sachia whispered to him, “I’m so sorry.”
The door behind them burst open.
The pirate turned, looking down the hallway as three guards ran into the hall. Rage lit the green of her eyes, and Vaasa felt it when magic pierced the air. Sachia stood as if she held no weight. Her arms rose and every metal bar set in the prison cell doors around them shook. Reid’s eyes went wide.
With a shrill squeal, the metal snapped from the doors and flew through the air, impaling each of the guards.
They hit their knees as Sachia sprinted forward. She drew a blade and ran it across each of their necks in succession, not slowing between slashes. Sachia heaved in breaths as blood bathed the prison floor. Her knife dangled from her fingertips.
Vaasa knew the look in Sachia’s eyes, knew what it was to be out of control. “He did this,” Sachia seethed. “Karev murdered him.”
He’d likely done it that morning, given the freshness of the body. Punishment for her involvement with Reid and Koen.
Karev had died too quickly. Circumstances necessitated such a thing, but the thought would not cease in Vaasa’s mind. She should have dragged it out, should have made him suffer for each violent press of his hand and his orders.
Sachia threw herself back to the floor at her brother’s side, her hands shaking as she ran them over him. Members of her crew surrounded her, some of them speaking to her, but she snarled, “I won’t leave him! I won’t.”
One of the men with curly black hair looked at Reid, his tender brown eyes wet. He picked up the keys and handed them to Reid. “Go. We’ll meet you at the cliff entrance.”
Reid gave a solemn nod. “Be safe, Jonáš.”
Vaasa did her best to stay focused, to stay the course. “This way,” she said, weaving her fingers through Reid’s and forcing her legs to carry her down the hall. They were headed to the fifth floor when the sound of pealing bells filled the air. “Shit,” Vaasa cursed.
“What is that?” Reid asked.
“A distress signal. Any guard left on this island will know the prison has been breached.” They were going to have to fight their way out.
Vaasa sprinted to Amalie’s cell. Hands snaked out of the bars like the curling legs of a spider, and Vaasa knew whatever she faced was not Amalie.
Vaasa looked inside and found eyes white as snow staring back at her.
“Veragi,” Vaasa breathed.
The goddess nodded.
Vaasa fumbled with the keys again, putting one into the lock. It didn’t work. Neither did the next one. Or the next. Vaasa couldn’t breathe. Roman might not have even had the key to Amalie’s cell, maybe he’d never been able to—
The lock clicked.
