Of course, I realize with a blinding burst of rage, bruising myself as I continue to thrash in my captor’s hold. These must be Hadrien’s orders to the spirit soldiers: To leave me alive long enough to watch my friends die. To bring me to him, so he can kill me himself.
After helping Azelie escape a soldier, Kasmira manages to reach Jax and drops to her knees beside him, trying to stanch his bleeding by putting a hand over his wound and pressing down. As I watch, furious at my own helplessness, I try to remember if there’s a healer among theParadise’s crew. Since Dvora died, there may not be, and Kasmira’s efforts won’t be enough to keep Jax alive for long.
The whole world seems to narrow in the space of a few heartbeats, shrinking to nothing but a burst of violent sound: Valoria’s choking, Ruthie’s cries as she bangs on the shins of her older sister’s attacker, people screaming as they’re thrown into the water, soldiers’ creaking limbs, Jax’s delirious groans, and Kasmira’s cursing.
Above it all, an eerie, wordless melody begins to echo in my ears.
The song Meredy and I have been hearing at night.
I look everywhere for the source of the sound. It seems to be coming from somewhere to my right, where Nipper stands gazing up at something on theParadise, mesmerized. Is someone on board our mystery singer?
Suddenly, the soldiers freeze—just like the spirits in the Deadlands, the three figures seem unable to move. Simeon frees himself from a soldier’s grasp and hurries to my side, though I manage to break free of my captor on my own. Together, we drop down besideJax as everyone else relieves the metal soldiers of their weapons by tossing the spears into the water.
“Who was singing just now?” I demand. But no one is listening.
Freeing her neck from the grip of iron fingers, Valoria staggers over to embrace Ruthie, looking dazed from lack of air.
The remaining guards kneel at the water’s edge, searching for survivors, while Azelie examines the precious glass vials in her hands, checking them for cracks before another cloud obscures the moon. Shards of glass glitter near her feet like fallen stars, the result of her struggle against one of the soldiers.
Gazing down at Jax, I take over for Kasmira, holding the life inside him for who knows how much longer. I can barely feel him breathing.
I’m not aware of how much time passes before Simeon gives a startled shout and runs toward something behind me. I tense at his cry, reaching for my fallen blade with my free hand, wondering if more metal soldiers are headed our way. But it’s Danial who appears and swoops down beside me without a word, his white healer’s robes stained black and crimson.
TheParadiseisn’t the most beautiful thing I’ve seen, after all. Danial is, even when he’s covered in other people’s blood, looking like the face of Death.
After a few hurried minutes of Danial’s careful ministrations, Jax gasps and sits up, clutching the spot where the spear pierced his chest. Valoria trips over the dock’s uneven boards in her haste to embrace him, and as Kasmira helps our queen up, she says firmly, “There will be time for reunions on the ship, Majesty.” Glancing back toward the city, where the ruddy glow of a fire is beginning to spread, and then to the soldiers as still and civilized as statues, she adds, “We need to hurry.”
Already, Azelie is running up the gangway with her remaining vials of potion, giving a wide berth to the three unarmed metal soldiers who are still frozen in place. Of course, even without their spears, they can be deadly, and I don’t know how long this mysterious reprieve will last.
I grab Valoria’s arm and start to follow Azelie, but turn back at the sound of a huge splash. Jax has thrown one of the heavy iron figures into the water.
Letting the others run ahead of me, I hurry back to help him.
He leans on me for support—just a little, not enough that he’d ever admit he accepted help from someone—as we watch Noranna’s creations sink. Water bubbles out of their empty eye holes as they go down.
“Come on, you two!” Kasmira calls tersely.
We dash aboard, and as the crew prepares to depart, most everyone else heads belowdecks to give the sailors room to work.
I can’t bring myself to leave the railing, though. My skin prickles with heat as I watch the city burn, hoping to hear a grizzly’s roar amidst the human screams. Hoping for Meredy and Elibeth to emerge from the blaze and run toward the ship.
Several times, I think of leaping over the rail to go find Meredy. After all, Valoria is safe now, and so is the black fever cure. I’ve done what I promised Meredy I would: I’ve gotten our queen to safety. Still, Meredy would want me to stay by Valoria’s side and help her come up with a plan to stop Hadrien’s army. I’m as sure of that as I am of my own name.
As we begin moving slowly seaward, my knees grow weak, and I lean harder against the rail. Meredy and I had barely gotten back together, and now we might never see each other again. I just want to hold her one more time.
“Hey, Sparrow.” Someone wraps their arms around me from behind. “Just because she’s not here doesn’t mean...” Valoria whispers in my ear, but she can’t even finish the sentence. “I’m here,” she says instead, holding me tighter. “I’m here, and so are you, and we’re going to figure out how to fight this together.”
I shake my head. “Things just keep getting worse. Every time I think we’ve solved one problem, there’s a bigger one right behind it. It’s never going to stop.”
“That’s life,” Valoria says softly. “But there are good parts, too. Like this.” She leans against me. “This is why we keep fighting.”
Trying not to think about the girl who stood beside me the last time I watched Karthia’s shore grow smaller, I will myself into numbness and let Valoria lead me belowdecks. We step into a crowded cabin where Nipper greets me with an enthusiastic bark, and Simeon makes space for me on the cot I once shared with Meredy.
As I sit between Simeon and Valoria, I somehow manage to keep my grief buried down deep. Hopefully, it won’t resurface until something reminds me ofhertoo strongly to be ignored.
“To business, then,” Simeon says, casting a look around at the handful of mage students, the few surviving volunteer soldiers, his husband, and his friends. “We need to get the spirits out of those metal bodies. Without a physical home to anchor them here, they should be sucked right back to the Deadlands through the nearest gate. We already know we can’t burn them, beat them, or stab them. So... who has another idea?”
“The singing,” I say at once. “You all heard that wailing sound right before the soldiers froze, didn’t you?”
