Page 100 of The Devil

I glance back at Severin who shakes his head. This is no good. No fucking good. Only three soldiers accompany us. We can take them. Even if all three are armed, which I’m certain they are, we can take them. But not yet. I need to see the boat. We need to ensure our escape off this hell-island.

The ground grows wet with sea water coming in. We’re almost there. And when I see the light at the end of the tunnel and realize it’s a spotlight from the boat bobbing on the wild sea, I breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe this is it. Maybe they will let us go after all. We are Blackstones. We cannot simply disappear. People will look for us, and they won’t want any attention drawn to them.

We step out of the cave like tunnel, our feet in several inches of water, the bottoms of our clothes drenched. I keep hold of Amal. She’s barefoot and it’s slippery.

“Go. The boat will take you to the mainland,” a soldier says. He points as if there are several to choose from when there’s only one.

I look out at a wobbly boat tied to a rickety pier slimy from seaweed and disuse. I look at the man I suppose is the captain. He looks rough. As do the two soldiers flanking him. Not anything like the soldiers within the walls of the castle.

I glance at Sev as we walk toward that pier, soldiers blocking the way back into the cave.

“This isn’t right,” I say quietly although the sea is so loud it doesn’t matter.

“I’m not sure what choice we have.”

“You coming? It’s only going to get worse,” the captain calls out, taking a drag on his cigarette.

“We’re coming,” Sev says as I glance back up at the castle at the top of the cliff we just came out of. I see the lights of the Great Hall from the windows.

“I’m telling you, this isn’t right,” I repeat.

Amal grips my arm with both hands, and I look down to see what she’s trying to tell me but it’s too dark out here to see her face and she can’t use her voice.

“It’ll be okay,” I reassure her.

Sev steps ahead of me and as he passes me, he whispers something. “I took the letter opener on the desk. Things go south, I’ll take the captain.”

This feels better. “I’ve got the others,” I tell him and follow my brother onto the pier. Frigid water splashes us. One of the soldiers jumps out onto the pier and once we’re on board, he unties the rope then hops back in. The captain starts the engine, and we take off into choppy waters.

Keeping hold of Amal, I scan the castle as the shabby boat bounces on the stormy sea. The captain glances back at us from behind the helm, his cigarette now a stub in his mouth. We’re barely out to sea when he gives the nod and the two soldiers approach, taking pistols from their holsters.

They’re not wasting any time.

I push Amal out of the way and she stumbles backward.

“Get down!” I yell at her as Sev plunges his dagger-like letter opener into the throat of the one closest to him. It’s such a surprise that it takes the second soldier a minute to process the other dropping, blood spurting from his jugular.

“Thought you said you’d take the soldiers!” Sev yells as he moves toward the captain who can’t hear over the raging sea, who probably thinks it’s our bodies thudding to the boat floor.

I attack the other soldier, gripping his gun hand, hurling myself at him so the boat wobbles at our joint weight crashing against the side. We battle, my fists against his gun. He manages to smash the butt of the pistol against my temple, and the world goes sideways for a second. Or maybe it’s just the fucking waves. I grip his gun hand and slam it against the side of the boat so hard I hear the crack of bone, but it’s muted by the sound of the gun going off.

He’s off balance and I throw him over the side. He screams before the black sea swallows him whole. I glance at Sev who slits the throat of the captain, but when I hear a woman’s cry, all the blood in my body goes frigid.

I turn. And it’s fucking slow motion. I fucking turn and Amal is there, on the floor of the boat, lying in a puddle of water. But as I move closer to her, I see that water is turning pink. Her hand falls away from her chest as I rush to her.

“No!”

There, in all that lace and silk, red pools beneath her, the fabric at her breast black with her own blood.

Sev calls out as the boat crashes down from the top of a too-high wave, but I can’t hear him. Not over the water or the storm or my own frantic brain.

“Amal. Amal!” I drop to my knees beside her, rip the silk open at her chest, see where the bullet entered her heart. The very center of her heart.

No. No. No!

This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t⁠—

A gasp. A hand on mine. Bloody.