Page 105 of Daughter of the Dark Sea
“Kora!” Blake cried out as a rope snared around her. She slipped on the ocean water coating the deck, falling to the floor as the thick rope tightened around her chest, pinning her arms to the side. Her head smacked against the wood, salted water washing over her face and body, and her vision blurred as pain sang down her neck into her back.
Throngs of red and grey pirates swung and leapt fromHell’s Serpent, abandoning the Galenite mercenaries. They held their ground, fighting the oncoming wave of empire sailors, but Kora’s crew had been forced to the forecastle, fighting off lingeringGolden Harpypirates.
Cassidy pulled on her lasso rope, dragging Kora across the deck to the edge of her ship, kicking and screaming.No, no, no!
“Hurry!” Skylar snapped, her doe-like eyes warily watching Erick battle through the remaining mass of mercenaries. “We need to get her away from him!”Who?She was surrounded by males.
Iridescent clothing—the colour of labradorite—hugged Skylar’s tall athletic frame. She leapt from the edge ofHell’s Serpentlike a bird, extending her arms to reveal a hidden fabric connecting them to her body. She soared across the ocean expanse, floating on the tempest winds, before landing ontoGolden Harpy.
Kora’s skin burned against the wet wood as the thick rope crushed her chest. Cassidy raced across a gangplank, hauling Kora to the very edge of her ship. Her fingers clawed at the wood, nails breaking and bleeding, her precious daggers discarded by Blake’s knees. He wrestled on the deck, trying to break free of his shackles.
“Kora!” Erick plunged his sword into the gut of a mercenary. “I’m coming!” A series of mercenaries fell as he sprinted for her.
“Captain!” Samuel’s voice followed. He leapt from the forecastle, tumbling over the balustrade. Ivar and Theron remained, each working in tandem with a group of sailors, forcing pirates back over the gangplanks.
Kora screamed in pain as her back bashed against the railing of her ship.Golden HarpyflankedHell’s Serpent, and Cassidy and Skylar stood on the yellow-sailed ship, pulling the lasso until Kora couldn’t breathe anymore. Gangplanks fell as the remaining pirates rushed onto their ship, and mercenaries jumped overboard as empire sailors barraged across the deck.
Erick, Samuel, and the sailors were all running for her. But they wouldn’t make it.
Her legs pushed against the railing, hopelessly trying to hold on to her home in time for her family, her friends, to reach her. Several mercenaries grabbed hold of the lasso, heaving with their might, and the rope bit into her skin, cutting through her jerkin as she resisted with a wrenching scream.
An arrow ricocheted through the air, spearing into the dark brown wood ofGolden Harpy. Aryn sped down the length ofHell’s Serpent—his longbow raised. Every arrow fired embedded intoGolden Harpy’srailing—narrowly missing Skylar’s fingers as she gripped the edge, desperately trying to haul Kora onboard.
Why was he missing?
Her vision tunnelled as half her body hung over the side ofHell’s Serpent.She could barely see for shit. Maybe he hadn’t missed? Stormy seas crashed against the ship, seemingly reaching for her.Hello, sweet ocean.
At the sight of Aryn, Skylar faltered, losing her grip on the lasso, and it curled and trailed down the side of the ship like a snake.
“What are you doing!” Cassidy screamed into the storm. “You’re letting her go!”
Kora collapsed backwards, and Erick caught her before she hit the deck.
41
Kora wrinkled her nose at the smell of the disinfectant salve as Koji Sanatorre lightly brushed his fingers over the burn marks across her chest and arms, smothering her skin in the cooling gel. Behind him, Blake paced around the med bay, running his hands through his damp, raven hair.
“I can’t believe it . . .” he exasperated. “Galen areback.”
Koji gently hummed as he inspected her head. A small smattering of blood stained her white hair, and she winced as his bony fingers probed the wound with the eye-watering herbal salve.Gods that stuff reeked.“Their return has been foretold for some time,” he murmured quietly, his golden slanted eyes growing distant, the lines in his aged face creasing into deep thought.
Blake paused in his pacing and eyed the ancient healer. For a moment, his emerald eyes burned with green fire, and Kora bit her lip. He was growing more irate the closer they sailed tothe Citadel, and she didn’t have the capacity to ease his mood swings.
Koji inspected her bandaged arm, tutting at her poor job of patching it up. The rope had narrowly missed her wound from the exiles in the desert. Maybe she deserved all these battle wounds.
“That’ll do,” he continued, oblivious to Blake’s increasing temper. “No more fighting,” he scolded, and shuffled out of the med bay with his medical bag in tow, seeing to the remaining crew on deck. Kora’s heart squeezed as the memory surfaced of Finlay following Koji around after their battle withDemon Sea Siren. That squeeze quickly frosted as she remembered his lies.
Whilst she’d been unconscious, they’d sailed after the Galenite warship and pirate lords. But they hadsailed faster than the wind, according to her crew, escaping into the Mist. And no fucking way were they sailing back intothat.
“We anticipated this would happen.” Kora shrugged her shirt and jerkin on, her jaw clenching against the sting of the fabric on her rope burns. “This confirms they’re allied with the pirates.”
She hooked her talisman over her head, securing it beneath her uniform, and it flared in response for a moment, morphing into its evolved shape. The continuous, warm, gentle hum of power returned.
“They . . . they nearly took you from me,” Blake choked, his eyes so wide they nearly bulged from his sockets.
Kora tentatively reached out to hold his calloused hand, and he shuddered as their skin touched, fiercely pulling her towards him and placing his forehead against hers as he cupped her face. She jolted at the contact, and her mind flashed to Callan groping her—violating her—with his disfigured hands.
“War is coming,asterya,” Blake warned. “Galen attacked us. The piratesareallied with them. Rebellions in the lower districts. They want to see us fall.”
