“But Sereth.” A whisper. “I’m your sister.”
“Stepsister,” she corrected, the word flicked like ash, before turning away.
I was left in complete darkness again. I slumped to the ground.
Alaric!He was going to die.
I was going to die.
And there was nothing I could do about it. Except… I hugged my arms.Akua… help us…I knew I had done the wrong thing in making the apple. I should’ve known Sereth long ago. She had always been cruel to me and then thatonetime, when she came, the kids were there, and she seemed so nice. She seemed like she was struggling and desperately needed the apple so mother could sleep while Sereth escaped.
But she lied. And because of her lie, and because I couldn’t reveal the truth to anyone who might listen–because nobody listened to me anyways–I was going to die.
That wasn’t the worst part though. The worst part was knowing that Alaric was going to die. And there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I didn’t sleep,tormented as I was about everything: Alaric, the twins, the truth. Sereth had orchestrated everything, except it was all wrong, like a tea brewed with all the worst kinds of herbs.
I thought about how I loved Alaric, and, if things were different, maybe we could settle down and live a quiet, happy life together.
But he loves the sea.He loved whaling. He wouldn’t be able to stay put for long.
Then the thought occurred to me. Would he stay if I fought for him? For us? All my life, I ran from a fight. I hid. It was easier.
But what had hiding done for me? I’d lived in isolation for five years, and when Alaric showed up on my doorstep, everything changed.
I changed.I sat up and wiped my tears, feeling like sunlight was pouring into the room, even though it was still pitch black. He showed me I was worth something: tending to me, talking to me, listening to me, even defending me–without a thought–to the people in town.
And then… I looked up. I couldn’t see the stars or the sea, but I imagined it in my head.
I’m worth something to Akua.He spared me time and again. How many instances had I evaded my wicked stepsister and survived?
And I’m still alive.
I swiped my hair back and thought about Alaric. He hadeasilyovercome the assassin last time.
He can do it again.And, for some reason, I just knew he wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be. Nobody could touch him…
Except me.A smile crept up my lips as I realized he loved me. He really,reallyloved me. And though I didn’t know what our future might look like, especially with our different views of whaling, I had to make the most of these last moments. I had to fight. And sothat is what I did.
I wasn’tsure what time it was, but when footsteps approached, I expected to see the guards. Instead, two tall teenagers stood at the prison doors.
I quickly stood. “Lilo. Niko.”
They stared at me, and I could tell they were probably feeling as lost as I felt earlier. But now… Now I was ready to take on the world. For Alaric. For myself. For our future.
“I’m not sure why we’re here,” Lilo said, then looked at Niko. He couldn’t meet my eyes, and I knew it was because of the guilt. They had burned me, thrown me into the furnace and left the house to crumble to the ground. They cornered me, poisoned me, and captured me.
“It’s to say goodbye I guess,” Niko said, adding, “But last time should’ve been goodbye.”
“We tried twice to kill you,” Lilo said. “But you survived. Against all odds.”
Another confirmation that Akua had saved me for a reason. “She would’ve killed you too, you know,” I said and they frowned.
“We serve Sereth. She cared for us and took us in when nobody else wanted us. We aren’t going to listen to you.” Lilo’s voice was firm.
I held onto the bars. “Icared for you, and the apple you saw me making wasn’t for Sereth. It was for my mother, because Sereth said she needed it to escape from her. My mother ended up loathing Sereth, and yes, she did send a huntsman to kill her, but Sereth came to me for the apple. And she lied to you behind my back. She planned all of this.”
The twins looked at me like I was crazy. “The ship that ambushed Alaric… that was from Sereth. She wanted you killed.”
