Page 27 of Daughter of the Dark Sea
A heat consumed Kora so bright, and her veins felt like they were on fire. With a sob wreaking from her breaking chest, she launched her twin blades through the air. They sank into Silas’ back, impaling him through the heart and shoulders. She screamed her burning rage—her grief—as she ripped her blades from his back. She repeatedly stabbed him until Silas sagged to the floor, with her on top, tearing her despair into his flesh until the flames banked into cold hatred.
“NO!” Jack whirled as his twin collapsed.
A painful roar tore from his throat as he clawed behind him, his back arching. Tears brimmed his eyes, and he kicked Samuel in the stomach, his abnormal strength winding Samuel as he flew into the thick of the fog. He stalked towards her, with Blake’s sword shaking in his grip.
“Do you know what you’ve done!” he raged.
Kora released a deep, perishing breath, and she prepared to embrace death by Blake’s blade. She couldn’t fight Jack. Even she wasn’t skilled enough against a mighty cutlass sword wielded by his supernatural strength. The ocean stilled, the water so calm that her ship froze in time.
She would join Blake, Finlay, and her unknown family in the spirit realm—or would she end up in the Locker? Either way, she was ready. She was so tired of fighting.
A whisper of a shadow caressed her, cold breath tickling her neck. Thanos had come—
An arrow ricocheted through the air.
Its force parted the fog as it speared towards Jack. It struck his hand and he dropped the sword with a pained yelp. The sound of it clattering across the wood shook Kora awake, and she jumped to her feet in a flash.
Her life was spared.
Aryn sprinted through the fog, his longbow armed and raised between his skilled hands as he cautiously approached. “Get on your knees, Flint.”
He aimed another arrow at Jack, and Samuel stormed over, yanking Jack’s arms behind him. He produced a thick pair of shackles to bound his wrists, with Aryn’s arrow still pierced through his bloody palm.
“This is all wrong,” Jack mumbled through his tears, his brown eyes glued to Silas’ stiff body. “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.” He hung his head in defeat.
Anger consuming her, Kora whipped her palm against Jack’s cheek with such force it made Samuel wince.
“What wasn’t supposed to happen?” she seethed, her palm smarting. She welcomed the pain.
Jack kept his head lowered, and Kora cried out in frustration, pouring her grief into harsh blows across his face, a red haze numbing her mind as Jack remained unresponsive.
“Look at my friend!” she cried. “Look at what you fucking did!”
It wasn’t Jack’s face, bloody and bruised, but Silas’ menacing smile as he snapped Finlay’s neck, staring back at her. Jack winced, as if he knew what she was thinking, what she was feeling.
Kora sobbed again, and she collapsed beside Finlay. Her hands hovered over his body, unsure of what to do, or say. His devoid, dark eyes endlessly stared at the night sky, and she bit her lip, holding in her tears as she lightly brushed her fingers over his lids, closing them shut. They were never to sparkle again.
Her promise to him was broken.
“Captain,” Samuel’s melancholy tone washed over her. “What’d you want us to do?”
She bristled. In times like this, she could lean on Blake’s strong character to see them through.
Blake.
“Who killed Blake?” her tone was flat, distant, and cold. Her mask practically suctioned to her face like a kraken’s sucker. Jack audibly swallowed, fear leaking into his gaunt face, his cheeks red and already swelling from her punches.
“You . . . you don’t understand,” he stammered. “He was going to—”
Blake groaned.
Kora startled, sprinting over to him, her mind in chaos. His body was still motionless, blood pooling around him. Had she imagined the sound?
His fingers twitched and her heart lurched, tears pouring down her face as she reached for one of Blake’s cold, limp hands. Gods-damned the appearances they had to make. Samuel raised an eyebrow—his only indication of surprise.
“Blake?” she whispered. He groaned again and hope bloomed in her chest. “Aryn, see if you can find the healer!”
Aryn took off, but not before he ripped his arrow from Jack’s hand. The hope in her chest withered as the pool of blood beneath Blake spread, dripping through the wooden cracks.
