Logan
Brie folds her arms under her chest against the sudden, humid chill in the air. Thunder booms around us as the Artemis creeps toward the towering waves that should be crashing down on the deck but seem to hang in midair, casting long shadows over the ship. I rest my hands on the railing, caging Brie in against the wooden slats while we look up at the waves, neither of us breathing.
In fact, everyone aboard the Artemis is standing on the deck, watching the unnerving sight in absolute bone-chilling silence.
The waves simply vanish ahead of us, rolling back into the depths, allowing the fleet of over a dozen boats to pass.
It’s unreal. It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
“Are you all right?” I ask my mate, resting my hand on her upper arm. She nods but is beyond words at this point. I don’t blame her. I feel like I’ve been holding my breath for the last half hour as the Artemis leads the charge.
Several men scale the ratlines to hang from the masts, keeping an eye on the ships just starting to make their way through the storm guarding the veil. A few shouts ring out from above but are quickly muffled by the groaning of the sails and lull of the engine.
Alex turns from the veil and looks up, then across the deck where the view of the other ships spreads out at least two miles behind us. A great distance away, purple lights breach the darkness, flickering in and out as they hang back beyond the storm's reach.
“We’ve got company,” Alex murmurs as he passes us, clapping my arm.
Sawyer steps up beside me, crossing his arms as he watches his Alpha race down the steps to alert the rest of the crew and passengers on board.
“They won’t catch up to us,” Sawyer says under his breath. “They’re in the thick of that storm now, and we’re…we’re–”
“We’re already in the veil,” I finish for him, my chest tight with unease. Even the water is silent here. It’s like we’re moving over glass. The ship casts no wake. No waves brush against its hull. I’m not sure we’re even in the water anymore. My mind can’t grasp this, and I’ve been wondering for several minutes if we’re flying, but a strange suction-like sensation peppers my skin with gooseflesh. Even Brie shivers, backing her body closer to mine as she trembles.
Her hair lifts from her shoulders as the air suddenly, inexplicably thins. Several people gasp, and murmurs of concern ripple across the lower deck, but then we’re… rocking again, moving against increasingly rough water.
“What’s that sound?” Brie asks with a wince as wind whips over the deck. Thunder booms overhead like a violent drum beat.
“Rain,” I breathe, shrugging out of my jacket to drape it over her head as a sheet of heavy rain barrels toward the ship, violently crashing down over the deck.
Sawyer races to the helm to steady the boat as we rock against the surging waves.
I clutch Brie close, trying to edge away from the railing, but her iron grip prevents me from moving as she looks over her shoulder, her lips parted in a gasp.
I follow her gaze, watching in awe as the Asteria, then the Atropos, come into view, appearing out of a haze of dark mist nearly invisible to the naked eye.
I look down at her, pressing a kiss to her forehead as other boats start to appear. I have to squeeze my eyes shut against the rain, but I pray, and I honestly can’t remember the last time I called upon the Goddess, but I pray in thanks.
Alex’s voice follows his heavy tread on the stairs as he pants, “Hold steady in this position. We’re just going to ride out this storm while the rest of the boats catch up to us.”
Sawyer nods from the helm, shielding his face from the rain. Brie turns to follow Alex’s progress across the uppermost deck, clutching my arm. She’s shivering and already soaking wet, but I can feel in my bones that the moment I ask her to come back to our room with me, she’s going to say no.
Alex says, “If the KiloKilo armada follows us out of the veil, we’re going to have to run. Full engines, full sails. Logan, I’m going to drop you in a skiff to join the crew of the Asteria if–”
“That won’t happen,” Brie cuts in, viciously shaking her head. Lightning crackles overhead, illuminating her eyes in shades of brilliant, vivid blue. “Eastonia and Crescent Falls have no current contracts or treaties of peace with KiloKilo. There isn’t anything pertaining to whether they’re allowed in our waters. They’d risk the might of the Allied Kingdoms naval fleet, and they know that.” She looks up at me, a delirious smile stretching from cheek to cheek. “We’re not in KiloKilo anymore. We’re home. Oh, my Goddess, Logan, we’re home–”
I steal the words with a kiss, clutching her face between my hands as rain falls all around us. Shouts and hollers from the masts bleed into the storm as more boats breach the veil. Within an hour, every single boat has passed through unscathed.
It’s like… It’s like a weight I hadn’t realized was there has been lifted from my shoulders. Brie is safe. Yeah, Alex and his people made it out, but I brought my mate home, and she’s safe. Thank the fucking Goddess, she’s safe. That’s all I ever cared about.
The boats sail through the eternal storm that guards the veil, racing toward the sunrise. The clouds part, the rain turning from a torrential downpour to sheets of warm mist, and finally, finally, the sea calms.
Tropical water stretches as far as the eye can see as the first light of morning paints the horizon in throws of pale pink and yellow. A ribbon of crimson sparkles on the edge of the water as the sun rises like it’s being pulled from the sea itself.
I watch it in silence, gripping the railing on either side of Brie. She leans forward, the soft, warm breeze making her hair flutter around her head. She stretches her arms wide and laughs. I love that sound. It’s like music.
I wrap my arms around her waist and bend down to rest my chin on the top of her head. “I love you.”
The words… well, I didn’t necessarily mean to say them. It’s not that I don’t mean it, because I do, with every fiber of my being, I do, and it also has nothing to do with the mate bond. I love her. I have since the first time she mouthed off at me on that grimy, rusty ferry.
Brie whirls in shock and blinks up at me, her eyes turning a bright, polished amber as the sparkling sunrise descends over the deck. “Why?”
My lips part in a groan. “That’s why.”
She arches a brow, smoothing her hands down my sides before wrapping her arms around my waist.
“Because you question everything. Always. You always get the last word, too,” I amend.
“Those don’t sound like good things.” She laughs.
“They are for us. We’ll never have a boring conversation in our lives.”
“You do like to talk. And argue,” she says pointedly, smiling wickedly as she presses her chin into my abdomen.
But I’m… in awe. Overcome, if I’m being honest. I was so wrong. Wrong about damn near everything for most of my life. I used to think my purpose was finding home again, taking back what’s mine.
I should have known the moment I saw her and our bond snapped into place that home was her.
“Do you want to go back to our room? I’d like to get into some dry clothes.” She slowly unravels her arms, taking a step away from me.
I open my mouth to reply, but Alex appears at the top of the stairs, glancing at the helm I’ve been guarding while he and Sawyer took reports coming in from the other boats.
“Everyone’s accounted for. Every ship made it through,” he says absently, moving toward the crude, hand drawn map Sawyer splayed out on the table after the rain stopped. He’s trying to remain cool and collected, but he runs his fingers through his sandy blond hair, his brows pinched with unease. “So, where do you think we are?”
I hold out my hand, motioning for the compass he keeps in his pocket. He casually drops it in my hand, glancing at the stairs as Sawyer jogs up to meet us.
I smooth my thumb over the bronze circle, over the etched symbols I can’t make sense of, then flip it open. “We’re positioned south as it stands.” I scan the water for any sign of islands or other boats, but we’re alone in open water. “We need to move east. We’ll meet land that way eventually.”
“Where do you think we’ll land?” Brie asks, leaning against the railing, the sunrise casting her in a halo of light.
“I don’t know. Not yet, at least, but it’s warm here on the water, which means we're south of Crescent Falls, for sure. I’m willing to bet we’re close to Veiled Valley, however.” I squint as I look up at the sky, at the fading stars. It’s too light out now to catch any glimpses of the constellations I know so well, constellations that could tell me our exact positioning. “We’ll know in a few hours–”
A crackle of energy splits the sunrise into pieces. The boat lurches, the masts groaning as a gust of violent wind crashes through the sails. I stumble before catching myself on the railing, snatching Brie to my chest with a grunt.
“What the hell was that?” Alex snarls, rushing to the far edge of the upper deck to look at the water. “Did we just hit something?”
Another shockwave bursts over us, knocking Sawyer and Alex to the ground. The sails strain against their lines, against the sudden pressure building in the air. My ears ring painfully. It’s a… familiar feeling. When that dark mist begins to trickle in, shielding us from the sun, I realize we’re either saved–or royally fucked.
The tension snaps, and another shockwave bursts over the boat, causing it to rock side to side. People on the deck below shout in confusion as they grip whatever they find to hold themselves steady. A whirl of air sends anything not nailed to the ground flying from the ship. Paper, the lids of crates, and a few hats sail into the water.
Inky dark mist curls over the floorboards of the lower deck. People are screaming, trying to jump out of its way. Several people shift–likely by surprise, their clothing shredding to ribbons and hanging around their necks as they jump to safety anywhere they can find, but I’m… I’m not even breathing as the young, dark haired woman who just appeared in the center of the mist slowly turns her head, scanning the strangers clambering to get away from her. Her cloak of deep, dark crimson looks like a waterfall of blood as her sea-green eyes catch the light of the sunrise.
She whips her head in my direction before settling her gaze on Brie.
Brie gasps, tears in her eyes, her mouth stretching into a smile as her body slumps in my arms.
But Maeve scowls, her eyes narrowed and… gods, I can feel the fury radiating from her even though I’m standing above her, looking down at her, watching in horror as her expression shifts to dark, dangerous, rage.
Maeve swishes her cloak and stalks toward us. Alex draws a short-sword from his belt, but she lifts a hand, her magic ripping it from his grasp and sending it flying into the water. He doesn’t have a single second to react before her power has him and Sawyer pinned painfully against the railing, both of them gasping for breath and writhing to get out its invisible hold.
“Maeve,” Brie breathes, looking wildly around before settling her gaze on her sister, who’s just reached the top of the stairs.
Maeve stops short of her, her chest rising and falling in a rapid breath. I catch a single, fleeting glimpse of tears in Maeve’s eyes before she blinks, her eyes slowly dropping from Brie’s face to her… chest.
Brie’s wearing a men’s shirt and loose trousers–another borrowed outfit that doesn’t fit her. But her shirt is unbuttoned just enough, and the breeze formed by her sister’s magic has pushed the shirt further apart–apart enough to see the beginnings of the mark I left on the upper slope of Brie’s breast.
Maeve stares at it, her expression unreadable, before she slowly, slowly, turns her gaze back on me.
On my neck.
The Firestone witch doesn’t say a word to us. She tears Brie out of my arms with inhuman strength, and I… lose it.
“Get off her,” I snarl, grabbing Maeve’s thin forearm and twisting hard. She tries to yank her arm away, but I’m stronger, even against her powers. I’ve dealt with her before. I also know the searing pain in my hand well. I have scars that tell our story, from when she was a baby, and I saved her life. She can burn me all she wants.
Her eyes dance with… light. Crimson light, the same light now dancing in the moonstone necklace around her neck. I keep my grip on her arm, squeezing tight enough to break bones.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I growl. “She can’t handle the jump. You know that.”
“Maeve,” Brie says hotly, trying to get her sister’s attention. “Let go. Please, we need to explain.”
“Dad’s naval forces are their way,” Maeve says, then blinks, and I have a single second to catch, and notice, the apprehension flaring to life behind her eyes when she says, “Hold on.”
And the world around us goes pitch black.