The Quelling affected Adler instantly.He staggered, trying to gasp.He won a thread of breath, only for me to stifle it again, holding his breath captive.
His stare became a lance, spearing through me as he found his feet, cutlass still clutched, and stalked across the cabin.As he passedthe table, he set the bottle out with stiff, pointed movements, then, in a sudden change, unfolded like a whip towards me.
I darted to the side.He missed my arm by a hair, and, as his face swelled red and his eyes bulged with near-manic determination, he seized Elsher instead and ran her through.
“Run!”I shouted to the girl.I seized a chair and threw it at Adler but missed, hitting the bulkhead with a resounding crack.
My control faltered.I heard the lieutenant rake a shallow breath and he grabbed for the girl.
“I’ll drink it!”she shrieked, snatching desperately for the bottle.“I’ll drink it!”
He pinned her to the windows.Somewhere in the struggle, the bottle slipped from the girl’s hands and shattered on the floor.Light cut around the young mage, igniting stray, glossy dark hair in a halo.Her already bloody face became a mask of shock, her hands limp at her sides.
Adler’s muscles twitched to strike, delivering me one last, warning look.
I let my power fall.He gasped like a drowning man, still holding the girl in place.Never once did his eyes leave me.
Elsher was dying not far away, leaking blood and more pungent fluids onto the deck as she sobbed in disbelief.
“What did you do to me?”Adler growled.
An impact shook the deck.Shouts arose and feet pounded—not just above our heads, but in the passage outside the cabin.Fists pounded on the door with renewed urgency, and voices clamored.Wood began to splinter.
Any second, they would break through.Elsher and the girl— they could still be saved.
Then why did Adler look so calm?
He seemed to read my thoughts.“Wewereabout to be boarded, that was no lie.”I saw a flicker of something new in his eyes, not threat, but avarice.“I also meant what I said—I will kill only thosewho are a threat.Come with me alive, or I will kill you like the rest.You have no loyalty to Solace, Ms.Firth, I know that.”
Perhaps it should shame me to admit it, but I was sorely tempted to give in, to buy even a few more minutes of life.
Still, I had one more card to play.
Against the window, the girl shuddered.Fearing her legs might give out, I spoke faster.
“You realize what they think of you, don’t you?”I asked.“The Ess Noti?”
He was unsurprised by the name.“They are our brethren.”
“They despise you,” I threw back.More pieces were clicking into place now, nudged in the right direction by Adler’s actions and expressions.“Ignorant savages dancing in the moonlight.They are using you.”
Adler, to my dismay, laughed.The sound was jarring and genuine and made my blood run cold.
“Of course they use us,” he tossed back.“As we use them.That is the way of humanity, Ms.Firth.Of all nature.”
The door buckled.Figures poured through the doorway, led by a Mereish officer with a pistol raised.
Adler momentarily looked down the barrel of that pistol before the deafening report filled the cabin.
I grabbed the girl, the last of my sisters, and dragged her out onto the balcony.She let me, her body loose and her eyes blank with shock.
I slammed the balcony door.Just before it closed, I summoned every scrap of air in the room and pulled it in a blood-scented, smoky gust.
Beyond the glass, the Mereish staggered.The room wasn’t sealed well enough for the Quelling to last, but I’d bought us precious seconds.
“We have to swim!”I grabbed the sides of the girl’s head.My heart hammered, all too aware of the Mereish still pouring into the cabin.Their officer was mere paces away, wheezing but intent.
“I can’t swim,” the girl whispered, her voice thready and toneless.Her eyes were listless, struggling to meet mine.
