“Did you hear that?” Kilia snarled. “He won’t save you. No one will save you.”
“Stay away from her,” Ivren shouted from somewhere to my side. “Lika might not be here, but I am.”
“So sweet,” Kilia cooed. “Is that your plan, then, Ivren? Marry and merge with the most powerful chiefdom to make your own stronger? Does her brother know?”
“Watch your fucking mouth,” Ivren snarled.
Just as I tried to whip my head up, I was shoved forward.
I reached for the railing, but my hands found only air. Terror flushed my veins as the railing caved in on itself, leaving a steep drop behind me. The wood quivered and shook as if in laughter, and my entire body went rigid when the planks lifted, sending me into the air.
My arm jerked when Kilia tried to remain on the ship, and I screamed even before his body was flung off the deck as well, his head slamming into mine so hard I blacked out for a second.
Kilia’s cries echoed in my ears as we tumbled toward the cold, dark water in a jumble of limbs and rope and fear. The last thing I saw before we cut the surface was Darcke’s equally cold dark eyes as the ship rebuilt itself, and the final thing I heard was his drawl: “So. Fucking. Boring.”
Thirteen
Iwasn’t sure what was worse: the fiery sensation as the rope twisted and pulled at my arm until it snapped out of its socket, or the harsh, unforgiving cold that slammed into me when Kilia and I hit the stormy surface.
Bubbles burst from my mouth as my scream died in my throat, and my hot tears were lost to the brackish water when Kilia’s weight became an anchor, dragging me deep into the dark and sending shards of white-hot pain through my arm.
Despite what it would mean, I tried to tear my hand free from the rope tethering me to the twin. The urge to live was too strong—I couldn’t fight it. But my fingers only slipped on the hard knot, and the sea drowned another of my shrieks as I failed. I had to clamp my lips shut not to pant—not to pull murky seawater into my empty lungs.
We were still sinking. And we were doing so fast.
That I could tell through the haze of agony that clouded my vision.
Fuck. I twisted my body, biting down on my lip at another jolt of pain. Kilia was unconscious, the darker cloud around his head not just a shadowed spot of the ocean but a cloud of blood. I cursed again as his body jerked, his lungs replacing air with sea.
Darcke’s spiteful eyes simmered in my mind.
Coward. Spoiled. Liar.
“I hate you,” I tried to scream. Even the bubbles taunted me, growing smaller and smaller with every moment the sea drained the life from my body. Pain shattered my thoughts, stabbing at my lungs and my legs and my arms.
But I couldn’t just save myself. I needed Kilia to get out of here alive. I needed him to keep my people alive.
A whimper rattled my rib cage when the current took hold of us, throwing us back and forth until I was certain my arm would pull clean off.
Darcke’s grin flashed in the dark water.
That fucking bastard.
I desperately threw my head back and forth, searching for any darker spots—any shadows breaking through the clouded sea—when another surge took hold of us, lurching us forward with its bottomless strength.
Again, I cried out into the thieving flow, my arm wrenching against the waters and Kilia as we overtook the ship, the vessel’s wide body casting an eerie veil over us. As I scowled at the dark formation, silently sending a threat of a violent death to the warrior, a hacking breath tried to find its way into my lungs, and my jaw quivered as it fought it.
The shadow mocked me—teased me with its nearness.
The current had brought us closer. If I had my full strength, I could reach it in seconds.
Coward.
I acted before I could second-guess myself. Reaching down, I wedged my foot in the empty sheath hanging by Kilia’s waist, and at the same time I tugged him upward, I gripped my dislocated arm and pulled on it as hard as I could. For the first time, I was glad we were beneath the surface because the scream leaving me wasn’t filled with any honor—the sound was entirely unfit for the blood running through my veins.
Fucking Fenrir’s grave, thathurt.
But when I flexed my fingers and they responded, I drowned the pain like the sea tried to do me. After freeing my foot, I used it to kick at Kilia. The twin didn’t respond. Only a trail of blood trickled up from his nostrils, like a taunting thread that could do nothing to get us out of here.
