I unsheathe my dagger. Try to keep my hand from shaking as panic
floods my body.
“Who the hell are you?” I ask.
They don’t answer. On their breastplates is the symbol of a
kraken. Scarlet scales cover their brown forearms and shins. Their
hair is long and tied down to their backs. They all wield swords
except for one, who readies another arrow.
But he’s not the leader. Standing on the ledge is a familiar face.
The same amber eyes, like melting fire. The same stubborn frown
between the brow-Adaro’s father, herald of the Southern Seas. His face
is crushed, furious. I had that face when Kurt let Layla get away. The
deep grooves around his eyes mark his ancient age.
“Leomaris,” Kai says breathlessly.
“Lord Leomaris.” One of the warriors takes the end of his spear
and points it at Kai’s face.
“You killed my son,” Leomaris says to me.
The gold band around his head glints. He points his sword at me.
He’s too far to stab me with it, but the intent is clear. There are
ten of them and three of us. Blue is dead, and Vi wordlessly holds his
brother’s body.
Two men have taken hold of Arion’s ropes, stretching him as taut
as possible, immobilizing him.
“That’s not true,” I say. “Adaro was my friend.” Then instantly I
wonder, was he? His cousin Sarabell did try to convince him to kill
me. He refused. We were going to join forces against Nieve. But she
got to him first. Nieve killed him and took the staff of the trident.
“Lies!” His warriors shout. “They saw you on Adaro’s ship. They
told us.”
“Since when do you take the word of our enemies?” Kai asks.
“It is Karanos who betrays the throne,” Leomaris says. “He didn’t
listen to my counsel. Adaro should be on that throne. Now because of
you, he’s dead.”
“I didn’t kill him!”
No matter what I say, it isn’t going to matter. He blames me for
their deaths. And really, could I have saved Adaro? I stopped myself
from giving Nieve my scepter. I wouldn’t do it for Adaro, but I would
have for Layla.
“We’re doing you a favor, land mutt,” one of the guards shouts.
“Yeah, how’s that?”
“There’s a bounty on your head from the sea witch herself. The
whole of the oceans will be looking for you.”
“Then it’s in your best interest to take us alive,” Brendan says.
Leomaris holds his sword steadily. “Treasure won’t bring my son
back. What will I take from you, Tristan Hart?”
“That’s really brave,” I say, glancing at the urchin, now
clutching a decomposing mound of flesh. “Going after someone less than
half your size. He was innocent.”
“None of them are innocent.” His eyes flicker to Arion. “Besides,
I’ve found bigger targets.”
I shouldn’t turn my back to Leomaris, but I do. Arion pulls and
pulls on his ropes. The ones on his left hand are loosening. Their
archer raises his bow to our captain.
I run up the deck and aim my scepter at the bowman. A weak burst
shoots from the quartz, but it’s enough to knock him overboard.
“Tristan!” Kai shouts.
Leomaris’s shadow looms over me. Kai blocks his blow. He raises
his knee into her gut and she falls back.
“Didn’t your mother teach you not to hit girls?” I flip my scepter
like a bat and slap it across his face.
“Do not speak to me about mothers,” he says, “when yours is a
disgrace to our kind.”
I lash out blindly, but he throws me off balance with the flick of
his wrist. I roll onto my knees swinging my scepter upward, but I hit
air. Leomaris is gone.
Brendan dances around the biggest guards. The smile on my cousin’s
face hides the sheer panic in his turquoise eyes. Brendan is fast, and
he rolls between the merman’s legs. With two small blades, he slashes
at the opponent’s ankles, and the giant crumbles.
A sharp blow knocks the wind out of me. Leomaris appears once
again. I block his sword with my scepter.
“You’ve got the wrong guy!” I try to reason with him. “It’s Nieve
you want. It’s not too late. We can defeat her.”
There’s something electric in his eyes. Sarabell had it too-the
dark spark of the magic in their family. Leomaris smiles cruelly. He
raises a hand and a wave rises up in the air, following his movements.
It crashes over the deck, washing Blue’s body away. Vi picks up a
discarded weapon on the deck, a spike carved of stone. He stabs a
guard in the thigh. But the guard turns around with a fierce growl.
Leomaris is on me, pressing his hands on my chest. My body seizes,
and for a beat, my heart stops. I blink. See black. The guard raises
his sword and brings it down, cleaving Vi in two.
“No!” Kai shouts.
Leomaris electrocutes me. I’m shaking, crying, convulsing. My
muscles lock, fingers gripped tightly around my scepter. I search for
the power inside my scepter but all I can do is scream in frustration
because when I need the power the most, it’s failing me. Leomaris
lifts his hands off me to watch me choke. He reaches back down for my
throat, but the ship heaves under a wave. I roll out from under him
and onto my knees. I stab the scepter into his thigh. Leomaris screams
at the same time his fist hits my face. My head spins as I land on my
back, my entire body shaking.
Beside me, Kai is screaming, pinned under a merman with muscles
like boulders. Tears spill from her face as if her strength is leaving
her, and her eyes focus on the bloody mess of the urchin’s body beside
her.
Brendan loses his grin and uses all his strength to drive a sword
through the warrior pinning Kai down. The body decomposes into a messy
splash over her face and she chokes.
Two remaining guards flank a bleeding Leomaris, balancing like
statues on the side of the ship. They’ve let go of Arion’s restraints
and the captain rises up beside me.
“Are you all right?” I ask.
“The mist,” Arion hisses. “You must swim to it.”
The air thickens around us. I step forward, keeping my friends
behind me. My head is a jumble of words. What do you say to a man dead
set on killing you?
Leomaris pulls out a slender flask with a liquid that radiates
neon blue. Blood trickles down his leg, but it doesn’t stop him from
smiling.
“Combat fire,” Kai says breathlessly. She takes a step back.
The last time I came across combat fire, I saw it consume a
Brooklyn street.
“Don’t do this,” Kai pleads. Her fingers are white, pulling at
Arion’s ropes. Brendan slashes with his sword but it won’t cut. I
can’t concentrate enough to channel the scepter, and as a last resort,
I stab at the rope with the crystal end.
“I didn’t,” Leomaris says, pointing a finger at me. “He did.”
“We have to get off the ship,” Brendan hisses. “Now.”
“Arion,” I say.
“Go, all of you. Go now!”
I can’t. It’s caught in my throat when Arion takes Brendan and Kai
and flings them overboard. It makes Leomaris chuckle. He wags the vial
in his fingers.
“Even after all the court has done to you, you spare them?”
Arion won’t answer. He grabs me with the full intent of throwing
me off the ship. It’s for my own good. I have to get to the mist. But
I won’t let him, and neither will Leomaris’s guards because they
launch themselves on me, pulling me back and out of Arion’s grip. I
lash out but I slice at air. The merman hits me so hard that I wonder
if my head’s been split in two. I fall forward on my face and brace
for the next hit that never comes. The mermen retreat beside Leomaris.