*No.*A muscle ticked in her jaw. She stretched her neck deliberately, her mind racing ahead. *We assumed she didn’t know the location of your family’s home because everyone was waiting for Harper to release the coordinates. But Harper is dead. And Elly is after the Devourer of Souls, not your family. I don’t know whether she stole the info from Harper or someone leaked it, but she knows exactly where she’s going.*
Julian’s gaze shuttered. Francine sighed and flexed her fingers. *If we can delay the ship somehow—sabotage the vehicles for once we make landfall—*
*No.*His voice was icy.
She frowned at him.*It wouldn’t be unthinkable that one of the others might try to cause problems. I could make it look like—*
*The risk is too great. You must appear in all ways to be Eloise Fairchild’s ally.*
*Until you’re recovered.*She narrowed her eyes. *Two days?*
*Two days.*
When had she walked up to him? They were barely inches apart. His green eyes filled her vision.
If she let herself breathe, she would breathe him in. If she breathed him in, he would fill her senses, desire a rising tide that would wash away all the cold certainty she needed to cling to.
So she did something even worse. She kissed him. Firmly, harshly, the way she had the night before with terror biting at her heels—but it only took a heartbeat for it to melt into something softer. Somethinggentle.
She tore herself away. Heat bloomed in Julian’s eyes. She looked away.
When he spoke, his voice was cold, but still not cold enough to quench what was inside her.
“Was that part of your plan?”
*Speak more quietly. We don’t know who might be listening.*She drew herself up. Haughty. As cold as he was. Someone Eloise would trust, someone Eloise knew—animal ruthlessness, polished to perfection within a human skin. “And it’sourplan.”
Unless there was something else he was hiding from her.
Francine stepped out of her suite and into hell.
Another day with Elly. Another day of being pampered at the spa and brought hand-selected morsels suited perfectly to her taste, and ignoring the stink of fear that slowly filled the whole ship.
The staff must know what was going on. Even if they didn’t know the details, they must know that several of the VIP guests had disappeared.
Hell, some of them probably had to clean up after thedisappearances.
“Everything okay, Frankie? I feel like I lost you there for a second.”
Francine blinked. Eloise was watching her from the other side of the dainty table they were sitting at. Mrs. Smith completed their little get-together. A few feet to her left, one of the waitstaff stood frozen, holding a multi-tiered serving dish that held their morning snack.
High tea. On a luxury cruise liner on a direct course to the end of the world.
Francine’s stomach lurched, and at the same time, the ship tilted.
“I don’t know how you can stand these swells,” she complained.
“Oh, it’s going to getsomuch worse from here,” Eloise said gleefully. “We’ve actually had incredibly good luck so far. The crossing was so calm!”
“And now as soon as there is something to see outside, the weather changes.” Mrs. Smith sighed.
“Will that hold things up?” Francine asked.
Eloise pursed her lips. “A little storm won’t stop us.”
“What about a big one?”
“Now you’re just looking for reasons to be glum, aren’t you, Frankie? Aww.” Eloise grinned as the waiter set down their morning tea. “What’s the matter? Did you not sleep well?”
