Page 85 of Pirate Witch
“Separate us,”he suggests.“I’ll stay with Val. You get the boy to shore.”
It’s a good idea, so I do as he says. The half-shift that turns us back into separate leviathans feels strange, like losing a part of myself, but I pay it no mind as I dive back into the choppy, murky bay and race back toward the mist-covered city bathing in a blood red dawn.
NILSA
My bare feet slip in the blood as I walk in a daze through the streets of my old home. The wraiths have disappeared, leaving only their rapidly fading fog and a city overflowing with death. Rysen is sticking close to my side, taking shallow breaths through his mouth as we head for the port. All of this blood has to be affecting him, and when he grabs my hand in a death grip, I don’t pull away. I knew bringing the wraiths to this place would be a bloodbath, but I didn’t realise quite how literal that phrase would become. The red liquid is so thick in places on the uneven streets that it comes up to my ankles.
I’m an assassin, and it’s turning my stomach.
I can only imagine what the people who live here will think when they get the all-clear and leave their homes for the first time.
I should be with my people; I may not be a Solar, but I can hold a healing poultice and wrap a wound when I need to. Kier and Klaus stayed behind to do just that, but Titan appeared by my side ten minutes agowithout Val. That, and the bloody handprint in his fur, has set my teeth on edge, so I grabbed Elsie and dragged her along with me to the docks.
“They killedeveryone,” she mumbles, staring wide eyed at the dismembered hand that’s sitting in the gutter. “The whole city is swimming in blood.”
And that blood is quickly turning to slushy red ice under the influence of Coveton’s cold climate, but I don’t want to point that out. She’s already struggling with all that she’s seen today. Goddess, she’s not the only one.
I unleashed this on those men. I know this is war, but… does this atrocity make me worse than the Queen? This horror scene certainly makes mefeellike the evil villain in this story. A Shadow’s work isn’t supposed to be like this. Rampant death. We’re scalpels in the night, not butchers.
We reach the sea front, and for the first time, the scent of smoke and salt outweighs the smell of iron lingering in the air. I take a huge lungful of it at the same time that Ry does. It’s not quite the fresh sea air that I’d hoped for, but I need to purge myself of what I’ve just walked through. My vampire mate’s grip on my hand loosens slightly in relief. Or it would, if the tables weren’t now turned. I hold on to him so hard that my knuckles hurt as we step out onto the dock and I get my first glimpse of the carnage in the bay.
There are bodies floating in the water, butting against the jetties and getting caught on the sea wall. They’re interspersed with pieces of splintered wood, rope, and fragments of cloth. The scattered bones of ships who’ve perished litter the surface, and across the horizon, wrecks are still on fire, adding to the smoke filling the air and making it impossible to tell if those ships are ours or the Eagle’s.
Goddess, let Val be okay. Let all of them be okay.
I can make out the head of a leviathan, and that calms me slightly. Nos or Cas—I can’t tell which from this distance—lets out a roar and winds his body around another ship before dragging it down into the bay.
That’s one less mate to worry about, but where’s the other twin?
Then everything is silent. Even Titan doesn’t make a sound as we watch the horizon.
“TheDeadwoodis still afloat,” Ry finally announces.
Afloat.
Does that mean alive? Do I dare hope for more?
I open my mouth to ask for more details, but I’m cut off.
A leviathan bursts out of the sea, sending debris and water flying. Cas’s head is further along the docks, but he spots us quickly and makes his way closer. I barely get a chance to feel relief that he’s here and alive before he opens his enormous jaw and out slides a soggy, bedraggled man.
I catch a glimpse of ginger hair soaked in blood before Elsie shoves past me with a strangled sob.
Sweet Lady Moonlight. It’s Cooper.
How the hell did he end up out there? Cas shifts back just as Elsie’s entire body lights up with the power of the dawn. My leviathan mate hovers on the other side of the Solar as she works, his hands balled into fists by his side.
None of us speak. We don’t dare interrupt her as she works in case we break her concentration. The longer she goes without her magic making any impact, the less hope I have.
When Elsie sits back on her heels and lets out a mournful wail, I know it’s too late.
Solars aren’t normally big on contact, but Elsie needs an anchor right now. I rip my hand from Rysen and fall to my knees beside her, tugging the younger girl into my arms. Elsie shakes like a leaf in my arms, the usual air of Solar invulnerability she carries shattered by grief.
“His abdominal aorta was severed,” she mumbles, her whole body shuddering as she drags in a gasping breath. “I never had a chance. He died in seconds. Probably didn’t even feel it.”
I’m not sure if she’s comforting herself or trying to explain things to me or both. Nothing I can say is going to make this better. All I can do is squeeze her tighter with one arm, and reach out with the other to close his wide, death-glazed eyes.
It must be almost half an hour before Ry quietly suggests we move the body. Elsie still hasn’t stopped crying, not that I expected her to.
