“I don’t understand why you’re so angry!” Thane finally snaps. “You have your treasure! You got what you came for!”
“Yes, but at what cost?” Algar shoots back. “I did this for the treasure, yes, but also because I thought we were doing a good thing here! Breaking a curse, helping Zaira? That felt necessary. Yes, I wanted to change my life with all this coin and crystal, but I just—Fuck, Thane! I just thought for once, everything would work out and I could have afamilyagain. That, if we survived all of this, there would be people I could call on when I didn’t want to spend my nights alone.”
The tears sting my eyes as Algar limps backward.
“But that was never going to happen…was it?” Algar’s voice softens so much an ache develops deep in my chest. With tears in his eyes and a disappointed shake of his head, he gives Thane his back. “I’m fucking done. I tried being there, but you’re too fucked in the head to bother.”
When Algar approaches the rowboat, Rynthea storms past me, reels her elbow back, and punches Thane square in the face.
He grunts as he lands flat on his back on the hard sand. Blood leaks from his nose and mouth as Rynthea stands over him and grimaces with flaring nostrils.
“I’ve been looking for a reason to do that since the day we met.” She looks Thane up and down, still seething. “Get in the boat, Zaira. You don’t need him anymore.”
Idon’tneed him anymore…
But there was a point when he was all I needed in order to survive. I counted on him. Relied on him. I saw the best parts of him. Igavemyself to him, all because I had the stupid idea that he could change—that he could be a better person and get rid of his dark life if he saw just a sliver of light.
But it was all a lie.
He used my vulnerability like a cloth and expected it to wipe away all the mess he’s created. He knew duringevery single secondof our journey that the stones weren’t there. All the opportunities he had to tell me, and he didn’t bother sparing me the heartache once.
Yes, maybe I’m the fool for believing that the stones could still be around after so long, but I would rather he crush my hope with the truth than lie and use me every step of the way.
Analla is going to die, and I just risked my life over and over again, all to wind up back where I started. It’s an awful feeling, sitting with this.
He may as well have taken a dagger and stabbed me in the chest. Perhaps that would’ve been less painful.
With a grunt, Thane gets up and brushes the sand off of his clothes. I step closer to him with a trembling bottom lip, looking deep into his eyes. I want him to take it all back. To apologize. Tosayhe regrets it. I want him to say everything he feels all so I can tell him that I willnever, everforgive him for this. I want him to understand my hurt so he can hurt, too.
“I’m really sorry, Zaira,” he whispers. His eyes are wet. His voice defeated.
Hearing those words come out of his mouth reminds me of the same ones he uttered in Gadonia.
Mea trelanak.
So that’s what he meant.
Sorry for lying to you.
Sorry for wasting your time.
Sorry for breaking your heart before you even realized it.
I shove the tome into his chest so hard he grunts again. That doesn’t stop him from wrapping his arms around it. He cradles it, as if this book is more important than anything else in his life.
Perhaps it is.
We all board our rowboat after pushing it into the water. Algar offers to help row, but his overuse of magic has left him weak. Thane is also drained after bringing Algar back to life and fighting off the assassins.
Rynthea gives me a little wink as she hands me the second oar. “We can handle it from here.”
I force a smile her way, dropping the flat blade into the water.
Chapter 58
We arrive at theEmelliejust before sunset, and Algar gives his horn a blow to alert the crew.
Captain Solyen and the crew are shocked to see that we’ve made it out alive, and when we board, they bombard us with questions.
