“You’re not hearing Oliver.” Logan grabs my arm, yanking me to him so hard I nearly fall over. “You’re hearing sirens. They’re trying to kill you. Whatever they’re saying is a lie.”
I try to shake him off, but his grip is iron.
“You’re wrong.” I try again to free myself, failing miserably. “Oliver’s alive. The Crown’s magic healed him. He’s been here this whole time, waiting for us.”
“The Crown’s magic didn’t heal anyone.” Logan’s eyes are hard, his grip so tight and strong it feels like he might break my wrist. “You have to fight this.”
I glare at him. Because I don’t want to fight it. I want T to give me answers. I want to hear Sam forgive me. I want Elizabeth to tell me it wasn’t my fault. I want Oliver to be alive so I can stop carrying the weight of his death every single day.
So, I try to squirm out of Logan’s grip again, but I might as well be trying to pull my arm out of concrete for all the good it’s doing me.
“Let me go!” I claw at his forearm with my free hand. “We have to get them!”
“Kieran!” Logan calls out. “Drop the sail.”
Kieran doesn’t respond. He’s still adjusting the rigging, his movements mechanical, his eyes fixed on the horizon.
Evie’s joined Callie at the helm, and they’re working together to steer us to the cliffs.
I continue trying to thrash my way out of Logan’s grip, magic crackling at my fingertips. The air around us charges, the smell of ozone sharp, and electricity arcs from my hands, striking themast. The sail catches fire for a split second before the wind snuffs it out.
Logan holds me tighter, and I can’t break free, no matter how hard I struggle.
He’s trying to stop you. He’s always trying to control you.
The voices are speaking together now, weaving into a single melody so beautiful it makes my eyes burn. It’s a song I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear, and it knows every hollow, lonely place inside me that aches to be filled.
I drive my elbow back into Logan’s ribs, but it’s like hitting steel.
“Let me go!” I throw my head back, trying to connect with his face, but he shifts at the last second and my skull hits nothing but air. “You can’t keep me from them. Oliver’sright there.We can save him. Sam and Elizabeth, too.”
“They’re gone,” Logan murmurs in my ear. He has both arms around me now, holding me from behind, his head resting on the crook of my shoulder. “Those things are trying to kill you. But I won’t let them. I’ll never let them have you.”
The sky above us darkens, clouds rolling in, the first rumble of thunder shaking the boat.
“You killed him.” Electricity buzzes over my skin, and I’m not sure if I’m talking to Logan or Oliver anymore. “You killed him, and you made me help you cover it up.”
Logan goes rigid against me. “Don’t?—”
“What else have you made me do?” The storm’s building now, wind whipping my hair around my face, rain falling in sharp, stinging drops. “How many times did you rewind time until you got the reaction you wanted?”
Yes. Ask him.Tempest again.Make him tell you the truth.
“The Drowned Tower. The Fury Loop. The passages.” Each one hits harder than the last. “Every time we were together, youwere…” I can’t finish the sentence, can’t put words to the feeling clawing up my skin.
Logan’s arms loosen just enough for me to twist around and face him.
His face crumples in devastation.
Good.
“How many versions of me did you practice on?” I shove at his chest, but he’s like a brick wall, not stumbling back in the slightest. The wind picks up, howling around us, and a wave crashes over the side of the boat. “How many times did you reset until I kissed you back the right way? Until I touched you where you wanted? Until I said what you wanted to hear?”
“It wasn’t like that.” His eyes drop to the deck, and that tells me more than any confession could. “I was keeping you safe.”
“You killed Miles,” I whisper. “You rewound time over and over trying to stop him, and you couldn’t, so youkilled him.”
Lightning cracks across the sky, so close I can feel the heat of it. The boat lurches, and Kieran stumbles at the rigging, Callie losing her grip on the wheel.
