I swallowed, their attention closing in from both sides. The smell of blood, the creak of the ship, the frozen standoff of two crews—all of it faded under the truth I couldn’t say here, not with both of them waiting to tear each other apart over it.
My throat tightened. It wasn’t true… but it wasn’t not true either.
“It’s not like I went looking for him,” I said, my voice steady even as my pulse hammered. “But when I needed help, he helped. And bought me dinner...”
Alaric’s expression darkened, something raw flickering across his face—hurt, disbelief, maybe even betrayal. “And you didn’t think to mention that to me?”
The deck between them felt like a no-man’s-land, blood pooling in the seams of the wood. Veyrion was smiling faintly.
“You weren’t exactly listening to me the last time I tried to tell you about Shadeau,” I shot back, heat creeping into my voice.
Alaric flinched—just barely—but I caught it.
“Well,” Veyrion said, taking a slow step closer, “now that we’re all caught up…”
The deck was still, but it wasn’t quiet.
Alaric stepped forward, blocking part of me from his view. “Why are you here, Veyrion?”
The name was bitten off like it tasted foul.
Veyrion kept looking past me anyway. “What? A man can’t visit two old friends?” He let the silence stretch, then bared his teeth. “The Eye.”
Alaric’s lips pressed together.“Not a chance.”
Veyrion’s eyes glinted. “After I helped you get it,Sirena?” He said the name like it was both an endearment and a claim. “Seems a little unfair to keep it all to yourself, don’t you think?”
I forced my voice steady. “What do you want with the eye?”
He tipped his head, the faintest smirk curving his mouth. “I’m just here to make sure it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.” His eyes flicked to Alaric, all heat gone, replaced with something cutting. “And some hands arefarworse than others.”
Alaric’s tone was low, dangerous. “By which you meanyourhands.”
Veyrion’s smirk deepened, his attention drifting back to me like we were the only two people on the deck. “I’ll make this simple,” he said, resting his hand on the hilt of the axe at his belt. “You give me the Eye, and I let your crew keep breathing. Refuse…”
His focus moved across the Black Marrow’s deck—pausing just long enough on each man to make the threat sink in. “And I take it anyway… but it will involve a lot of unnecessary pain.”
The words were calm, but the promise in them was pure steel.
Alaric stepped forward, his shadow cutting across the blood-slick planks. “You’re welcome to try.”
“Do not test me,” Veyrion said, voice almost playful. “Captain.”
The air on deck went still. Alaric’s fingers twitched, the faintest tell, but enough for me to know Veyrion was not bluffing.
“We both know she’s not the type to give it up so easily,” Veyrion continued, his eyes cutting to me. “Which is why—”
His men moved in unison, forming a tightening ring. The creak of boots on wet wood was the only sound.
“—I’m not here to ask.”
Veyrion’s focus lingered on mine. “That thing will destroy you,” he said quietly—too quietly for anyone but me to hear. “Better it be in my hands than yours.”
Alaric’s jaw locked, his stance promising blood. “You’ll have to cut me down first.”
Veyrion’s grin shifted to something wicked. “I’d hate to ruin the mood by proving a point.”
Veyrion’s attention slid back to me, the way a shark’s gaze finds the weakest fish. “Show me,” he said.
