Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
They aren’t on our side, but at least they don’t want us dead.
This is the moment when Bowen chooses to wake up. He coughs a little, so I turn him onto his side to keep him from choking. His neck still looks pretty gnarly, but he hasn’t started bleeding again. At least my spell’s holding. It should continue to do so until his body heals enough that he won’t die when the spell fades.
“Evelyn.”
“I’m here.” I move around so he can see me without straining. He’s too pale, his dark eyes standing out. Worry worms through me, but I swallow it down as best I can. “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”
He curses and slumps onto his back. “Good news.”
“Rookie mistake. You always ask for the bad news first. It makes the good news feel more optimistic.”
His lips curve, but that’s the only hint of amusement I get. “Give me the good news, Evelyn.”
“Suit yourself.” I sink onto the rocks next to him and try not to shiver in my cold, wet clothes. “We’re alive. Hedd was going to kill us both after you collapsed, but Nox stepped in—very cleverly, I might add—and saved us.”
He shudders out a long breath. “Okay. And the bad news?”
“Funny story. Really, you’re going to laugh.” Damn it, I’m stalling, and not even in a clever way. “It seems we’re stranded again, and about to watch another one of the Cŵn Annwn ships sail away.”
“About what I expected.” He presses his hand to his wound and winces. “What happened? The last thing I remember is a mermaid on my back.”
I swallow hard. I really don’t want to revisit the events that ended that fight, but he has a right to know. The sooner we finish this conversation, the sooner we can find somewhere warm and dry. Hopefully. “It bit you. Quite badly. You sent out a wave of power that, as best I can tell, turned every bone in every mermaid body to liquid and made their bodies flesh sacks. It was really impressive in a horrifying, nightmarish kind of way.”
Bowen is silent for several beats too long. “Did I kill anyone else?”
CHAPTER 28
Bowen
MY CHEST TURNS TO ICE AS I WAIT FOR EVELYN’S RESPONSE to my question. It’s been so long since I’ve lost control, and I don’t know that it’s ever happened to this degree. Except … there’s something that almost feels like an echo of a memory lingering in the back of my mind, a surety that I have lost control and someone I cared about died when I did. It must’ve happened before I came to Threshold. It’s the only explanation for the bone-deep fear that rises in response.
“I don’t think so.” Her expression is troubled. “I would really like to promise you didn’t hurt any of the crew, but it was pure chaos in that moment and right afterward. I didn’t see any of them taken out by your magic, but I’m not willing to lie to you just because I’m not sure.”
I exhale in something that’s almost like relief. My body hardly feels like my own. My throat and shoulder are pulsing in agony. I’m not sure I have the strength to move right now. Which is a fucking problem, because we have to get off this beach. “Let’s get going.”
“Nox said there was a safe house thirty minutes up the coast from us. If you don’t have a better idea, I think we should head for it.”
A safe house? What are they talking about? That’s not something the Cŵn Annwn possesses. There are permanent locations where our people can rest or recover, but they are public knowledge, at least among the crews and captains. A safe house is a secret.
Kanghri on First Sister is to the west, a port town nestled across the strait from its twin, Mairi on Second Sister. Together, they form one of the largest communities in this part of Threshold. It’s not quite as large as Lyari, but no other city in this realm is as large as the capital.
I’ve stopped in Kanghri often enough to know some of the locals. That’s where we have to go if we want to find a ship sailing south to Lyari … but I don’t know if I’m thinking clearly. The size of Kanghri means there’s plenty of danger there, and being a Cŵn Annwn has been enough protection previously, but I’ve never come to the city on foot, without a crew behind me. Weak. It might be fine, but I can’t guarantee it.
On the other hand, Nox saved us. Maybe we should trust them.
“Let’s go see the safe house. Kanghri is farther away, and Hedd and his crew will likely make port there tonight before they head back south. It would be best if we don’t run into them.”