Page 31 of Dare

Fucking hell. Clearly, it did not occur to this creature that negligence would result in death.

I reached for her, but the woman saw it coming. With a glare, she cranked her arm, then slammed her knuckles into my jaw. My head rocked sideways, spots blotting my vision. She couldn’t weigh more than ninety pounds soaking wet, yet that punch could have snapped my neck.

Clenching my teeth, I lunged. Heaving in her direction, I rammed into the fool, using every inch I had to roll us over. Landing on her back, the beast’s slick thighs flew apart and flanked my hips, the upper half of her chemise riding high. My chest mashed into hers with the weight of an anvil, her rabid pulse thrashing against my own.

Pinning her like a moth, I snatched the female by her wrists and fixated on those gilded irises. “Cease, fool,” I hissed. “Or we’ll drown.”

Her lips curled into a snarl. She had the nerve to glower as though I was a moron.

Fresh rancor scalded my blood. Seasons flay me, this firebrand had defied my commands more times than I could count. The second she had projected herself into this behemoth of an ocean, urgency had overcome me. The chase had continued as I’d descended from the cliff to the shore, my gaze tearing apart the coastline and my limbs prepared to dive after my quarry.

The chopping waves could have consumed her. Yet she wouldn’t have escaped the tower just to sink voluntarily. A fool she may be, but she was also a sand drifter, therefore a swimmer.

Registering the wharf’s proximity, I had launched into a run. Apart from the sentinel I’d killed, it hadn’t been a shock to find only a small faction on patrol. Regardless of the alarm, what fool would make it that far? What escapee would take a boat? A loose prisoner would be on land, heading for shelter.

Of course, only a fool wouldn’t know better than to brave a storm. I had discerned her dark silhouette on the tidefarer. By then, more bodies had charged in the wharf’s direction.

That should have done it. They would have caught up. No need to have put myself in jeopardy.

Yet. Fuck.

I had thrown off my boots, then stared at the black ocean. A subterranean tomb filled with sea dwellers. A tank of them. My breaths had grown shallow, and sweat had crept up the nape of my neck. To compensate, I had recalled the liquid I’d consumed in the castle infirmary, the tension draining from my pores.

Fine. I was fine.

Seconds later, I dove. Let no one … let no fool … prove me wrong.

The saltwater had stung my eyes and clogged my throat. But although I wasn’t the most adept swimmer, I was strong. Focused. Furious. Those emotions had driven me forward, my need to capture this female eclipsing any fear of leviathans lurking in the deep. I’d kept my eyes on the fleeing conveyance, refusing to look elsewhere.

Without her noticing, the boat’s tether had slipped into the ocean. At which point, I’d caught the slack and held on.

Presently, I tightened my viselike grip on her wrists, my arms still burning from the ascent to the boat’s rim. The mainsail’s bar swooped, beating hectically from left to right. Through the clouds, thin rays of sunlight trickled across the water.

The beast glanced toward the waves, then back to me. Either we both died in the next five minutes or lived to slay each other at a later date. Finally, this logic stretched across her face, and her joints relaxed.

Much better.

I hoisted her up. At once, the woman floundered to the steering lever, her thin arms pulling, making tenuous progress. As I strode over to help, she thrashed her hands about, signaling what to do, and we rerouted the boat.

Toward the sunrays. Not toward land.

Because there was no sign of land.

Implausible. Due to their construction, Summer conveyances could travel at fast speeds. But not that fucking fast. Yet over my shoulder, the coastline had … vanished.

The mad woman kept checking the rays filtering through the storm. Her fanatical expression alighted, those eyes blazing with elation. Worse, the gleam on her face intensified as she directed the boat.

Suddenly, the sky burned with light and heat, the dawning sun ripping through the clouds like gauze. I twisted back around. Ahead, a new landmass appeared, a dark blot where there hadn’t been one before.

The boat surged forward, pushed by another wave, driving us toward that absurd shape, which grew larger. Then bluer. Then greener. My forehead knitted, and numbness overtook my limbs.

In the water, had I been bitten by a siren shark and not registered it? Was I going mad?

Rocks broke the wave. The boat cracked open like a shell.

Instinctively, I reached for the beast. My hand shot out to grab and yank her behind me, to block her from the impact. But before my fingers could snatch the fool, she ducked her head.

Wood exploded, splintering and blasting us upward. Snatching my arm, she vaulted with me into the air. My body hit the ocean, the tide seizing my limbs and vacuuming me down. Fluid shoved me under, the depths glistening like liquified glass.

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