Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33

Evelyn

THERE’S A TICKING CLOCK PLAYING IN EVERYONE’S MIND, but like any plan worth having, it takes longer than anyone expects to get the pieces into place. By the time Bowen acquires a small boat similar to the one Nox used to drop us off, the moon is high in the sky. He glares up at it as he rows. “It’s practically a spotlight announcing our presence.”

“If the light doesn’t announce us, your incessant bitching certainly will.”

The other thing I didn’t anticipate about this plan: my ex and my current paramour, both more than capable of murder, trapped in a close space. They keep making little snarling comments at each other, and while they haven’t exploded into violence yet, I can’t discount it as a possibility. It’s incredibly irritating. And stressful. Which makes me bitchy, which only aggravates the issue, because they both respond to my bitchiness.

We all fall silent, though, as we leave the relative safety of the enclosed strait between First Sister and Second Sister. Even with the light of the full moon, I can barely see the Audacity bobbing gently in the distance. Surely they must have just as much difficulty seeing us.

The truth is that we might climb aboard to find a murderous crew waiting to slit our throats and toss us right back into the sea. We won’t know until it’s far too late to do anything about it. Not that I’m nervous or anything. I’m definitely not. I’m sitting here, cool and composed and perfectly at ease with the thought of what we’re about to do.

We have no choice. This is our only option. We’re putting a lot of faith in the fact that Nox apparently doesn’t actively want us dead. And a lot of hope in the crew members who are loyal to them. It’s a leap of faith to assume they’ll understand what we’re trying to do. We’re taking a gamble and not even a good one.

We sit in tense silence as Bowen continues to row us closer to the ship. Cato did one hell of a job on him. He’s not quite moving as if he was never injured in the first place, but the exhaustion and pain that seemed to be weighing him down is no longer in evidence. I’m feeling pretty fresh, too. All of my cuts have healed; aside from my used spells and slightly shallower magic reserves, I’d barely believe I was in a fight earlier today. And yesterday. Lizzie, of course, looks pristine.

“You should probably be the one rowing,” I say under my breath. “You were less beat up than him, and you’re not human. You have vampire stamina.”

“And deprive the big, strong man of showing us how big and strong he is?” She doesn’t look at me as she says it, matching my tone in a way that is designed not to carry. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Petty until the bitter end. But Bowen wouldn’t even consider the possibility of someone else taking the job. He snapped and snarled until we sat in the places he indicated. It serves him right to do all the work. Not that I’m interested in rowing.

If I’m going to stay in Threshold, I’m going to have to take up some kind of strength training and cardio just to keep up. Gross. But as little as I like the idea, I like getting bested in combat even less. If my time here so far is any indication, I’m going to see a lot of combat. As formidable as my magic is, Bunny was right when she said we shouldn’t rely on it at the expense of the other tools in our toolbox. It was one subject we always argued about, mostly because I was a lazy teenager.

Now I see the wisdom in her words … but that doesn’t mean I like it any more now than I did at sixteen.

Soon enough, we’re too close to the ship to risk snide comments. Bowen gives one last strong pull, sending us coasting over the surface until we nearly bump into the ship itself. Only Lizzie throwing out a hand to stop our momentum prevents it.

“I’ll take care of Hedd, as we discussed. Keep the crew off me. Whoever keeps fighting after he’s dead needs to be removed.”

My stomach twists in upon itself. There’s no going back now; truth be told, there was no going back the moment we reached that safe house and understood its implications. I’m not supportive of wholesale slaughter, but all it took was a couple days on the Audacity to realize that plenty of the crew members mimic their captain in his values … or lack thereof. They’re not good people. They’re gleeful murderers, and they don’t much care if the creature on the other side of their sword is truly a monster or not. The night before the fight with the mermaids, I overheard two of them laughing about killing a selkie. A fucking selkie.

Without their seal skins, they’re practically human. But that didn’t stop those two crew members from ending this one’s life.

No, I won’t show mercy. Not to people who would gladly cut me down just for questioning an order. Not to monsters in men’s skins.

Bowen slips past us, light on his feet as he scales the side of the ship faster than anyone has a right to. Lizzie watches him go with an unreadable look. “You next, Evelyn.”

“If you wanted to stare at my ass, all you have to do is ask.” It’s a testament of how freaked out I am that I’m flirting with her. There’s certainly no intent behind it.

She snorts. “I’m concerned about those weak little arms of yours. If you take a tumble, I’ll have to catch you before your splash alerts everyone that we’re here.”

“Bitch.”

“I’m not wrong, and you know it.” She motions for me to precede her up the side of the ship.

I’m embarrassed to admit how right she is as I climb. Even with the solid rest I got last night, I’m exhausted. I want a cozy blanket, a racy romance novel, and maybe some hot sex in between naps and reading. I don’t want to be damn near ripping my fingernails off as I search for a handhold on the side of a ship in the middle of the night.

Bowen is a bastard for making the climb look so easy.

Knowing Lizzie is behind me, judging, keeps me moving. By the time I reach the top, my arms are shaking and I’m not sure I’m strong enough to pull myself over. I don’t get a chance. Bowen leans over the railing and then his magic wraps around me like a gentle hug. He lifts me up and deposits me next to him. I almost snap that he could’ve done that to begin with and saved us a lot of trouble. But he presses a single finger to my lips.

I realize why a moment later. There are three people hovering in the air, Their limbs plastered to their sides, and their mouths closed. It takes a moment to realize how they’re gagged. “Bowen,” I whisper. “Are you holding their jaws shut?”

“Yes.” He barely waits for Lizzie to land on the deck before he’s moving again. “As we discussed.”

It’s not a very good plan. Or maybe it’s brilliant in its simplicity. He’s going after Hedd, and Lizzie is to take care of anyone who attacks us. And I am supposed to find Nox and somehow convince them to see things our way. Like I said, easy peasy.

Before I can move away, Bowen grabs the back of my neck and pulls me in for a rough kiss. “Be safe, Evie. You can’t afford to hesitate. Not tonight. Promise me.”

I might hate this, but I’ll do anything to get back to his side. I want all three of us to survive to see the dawn, and I refuse to be the reason one of the people I care about falls. “I promise.”

He releases me slowly, as if it pains him to do so. And then he’s gone, striding toward the captain’s cabin. Technically, I’m supposed to be headed down to the crew’s quarters, but I follow my instincts and circle around to the helm instead. In the time that we were aboard the Audacity, I saw Nox there more often than Hedd. If the captain spent the last day partying like Bowen suspects, I bet he put them in charge.

Sure enough, I find them leaning against the wall with their eyes closed. Sleeping? Not sleeping? I’ve seen what they can do with their elemental magic, and I have no desire to be on the other end of that. “Nox.”

Their eyes fly open and the breath is jerked from my lungs. It happens so fast, I don’t have time to even make a choked sound. I claw at my throat, but it’s not my body betraying me. It’s Nox’s magic.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” They grab me by the throat and spin around to pin me to the wall. Only then do they allow me to breathe. Barely. “You should be at the safe house recovering. I expected Bowen to have a death wish, but you seemed much more practical. It’s a pity I was wrong.”

“I think so, too.” My voice is so raspy, it’s nearly incomprehensible.

“I’ll ask you one last time.” Menace radiates off them in waves. “What are you doing here?” This is not the charming, flirty pirate I interacted with a handful of times on the trip here. This person is dangerous. If I don’t find the right words, I have no doubt that they’ll kill me.

I spent a lot of time on the ride over considering all the charming, manipulative things I can say to get them on our side. They all fail me now. There’s only the truth. “We came to kill Hedd and his supporters. We want to know who’s running the network of safe houses, because there is a network; don’t tell me there isn’t. We want to help—by serving on a crew that’s loyal to the cause, not the C?n Annwn. Like you. Like the people on this crew.”

Nox’s face gives nothing away. “Not all of them.”

“Not all of them,” I agree. My lungs finally feel like they’re fully expanding again. It’s everything I can do not to suck in great inhales. “But those loyal to the C?n Annwn aren’t the reason you haven’t taken over, are they? It’s Hedd.” If Bowen wasn’t entirely sure he could take the captain in a fight without losses, then there’s no way Nox can do it.

They all but confirm my suspicion when they lean in close, pressing harder on my throat. “Regardless of what you think you know, that motherfucker is damn near unkillable. As long as he is captain of the Audacity, things will remain the same.” They push me away with a disgusted sound. “You came back here for nothing. All you’re going to do is die.”

I really fucking hope they’re wrong. “And if we don’t die? If we succeed, will you help us?”

Whatever response they may have had is lost in a roar that I swear shakes the very boards beneath my feet. It’s the only warning I get before the door to the captain’s cabin blows off its hinges and crashes into the sea. A body flies through the air and hits the railing hard enough to splinter it. He staggers to his feet, and I have to press my hands to my mouth to stop myself from crying out.

Bowen.

He looks like shit. Hedd obviously got off a few good punches, because one of his eyes is already swelling shut, and he’s bleeding from the mouth. He’s steady on his feet, though. That has to mean something. It has to.

The being that comes through the door is barely recognizable as human. I thought we saw the full transformation into berserker in the fight against the mermaids, but that obviously wasn’t true. Hedd is easily seven and a half feet tall, and broad enough that he has to come through the door sideways. Each of his meaty arms have doubled in size, but they’re not perfectly proportioned. He looks like a clay doll that a child molded into the approximation of a warrior. That lack of grace should slow him down, at least in theory, but he’s fast on his feet. Too fast.

He charges Bowen, and even as I scream, it’s already too late. They collide in a crash of limbs and topple through the splintered railing and into the water.