“No,” Ravesley growls. “It’s too dangerous.”
Leon looms over him, his glower far outstripping the captain’s.
“It wasn’t a request,” Leon says. “We paid you handsomely for you to take uswherewe wanted,whenwe wanted. Now, you’ll put in at the next port, or you’ll learn I’m much nastier to tangle with than the Temple.”
At Leon’s words, the captain goes pale, his eyes widening to show the whites around them. I feel bad for him.
“I would’ve thought you’d want to get us off your boat, captain,” I say to him. “We are, after all, something of a Temple magnet.”
The captain tugs at his beard so hard I almost wince. “I can’t do it. You have to believe me, it’s not possible.”
A tightness coils in my stomach.
“Look at him,”I say to Leon.“He’s terrified.”
Of what?
“Whycan’t you take us?” Leon demands, reaching forward to grab the captain by the collar of his shirt.
But his hand never gets there, because just then a roar fills my ears, and we all look across the bow to see a wall of water hurtling toward the boat.
Chapter 20
Morgana
“Grab onto something!” Leon shouts, pushing me toward the starboard side, but we’re not fast enough. All I can see over my shoulder is a vast stretch of gray bearing down on us, and then the wave hits the boat.
I’m tossed up into the air, the force of the wave rolling the whole boat onto its side for a moment. Cargo flies around me, and I narrowly avoid being hit on the head by a barrel spinning past, orbiting it away from me just in time. After a few terrible seconds, gravity takes over, and I hit the deck in a spray of water, my back smashing into the hard wood.
As the boat rights itself, the water flooding the deck pours back over the sides, and I lift my throbbing neck to see crew thundering past.
“Those bastards!” I hear Ravesley scream. “They promised not to hit my boat!”
I don’t have time to process this, as strong hands grab me and drag me to the side again, wrapping my fingers around a metal pin embedded in the gunwale. I look up into Leon’s gray eyes.
“Hold your breath,”he orders, and then the world is swallowed up by water again.
The second wave tugs me off my feet, but this time I hold firm. Even as the water tries to pull me over the side entirely, even as I’m vaguely aware of figures flying past me in the dim, liquid light, I don’t let go.
It feels like hours I’m caught in the deluge, but it must only be seconds. By the time the water disperses, Leon’s gone, and I look frantically around for him. To my relief, I see him, sodden but alive, wrapped around the mast.
Beyond him, over the port side, I see a sight that chills me to my bones: a row of more than twenty figures on the riverbank, their red robes fluttering in the breeze.
The Temple is here.
There’s another shout from the crew, and the whole boat shudders, a huge crunch quickly followed by an ominous gurgle.
“Hull breach!” a member of the crew bellows.
“Leon,”I call to him, meeting his eyes across the deck.“The othersare still below.”
The boat is sinking. I don’t need the smugglers’ shouts to tell me that. We’re already listing to the port side, which means we must be taking on water fast.
“They’re on their way up,”he responds.“Hyllus told me. But we need to get off this?—”
This time I see the wave form, rising vertically out of the water in a way that could only be aquari magic. We have barely any warning before it crashes down on the deck again.
I grab hold of the pin once more, still focusing on my connection with Leon even as I’m being battered by the water.
