Page 17 of High Seas

My sister’s eyes snapped to mine. “Are you out of your mind? You know who she is! This is your chance. Do to her what you’ve done to the others. Unleash her, brother.”

“What did you do to the others?” Eve asked from behind. The ocean’s roar tried to drown her out, but there was no sound more powerful than her voice.

I stared my sister down, arguing, “She didn’t know. The attack wasn’t her fault.”

Terah choked out a single, harsh laugh.

“Enoch,” Eve said sternly. “What did you do to the others?”

I turned to look at her, keeping Terah in my line of sight. “I turned them. And when they became the thing they loathed the most, I killed them.”

Eve shook her head and then pressed the heel of her hand to her temple. She winced, closing her eyes. “What’s the matter?” I asked.

“My head,” was all she could say. Her teeth raked together before she fell to her knees. “I need Titus,” she sighed before she closed her eyes and slumped sideways.

I caught her and tried to hold her upright. “Is he here? Eve? Is Titus on the island?”

She was unconscious. Neither my voice nor the rain roused her. But if she was asking for Titus, I had to assume he was here on Brutulo somewhere. And that she knew he could help her when I could not.

A giggle bubbled up through Terah at the sight of Eve’s piteous plight. She looked between her and Edward, who was still unconscious. “We should just leave them lying there. With any luck, the storm will favor us and drown them both.”

Ignoring her, I gathered Eve in my arms, carrying her quickly down the path into the ravine.

“Or not,” she quipped, rushing to catch up with me. Terah knew I would leave her behind on Brutulo. It was her decision to continue her fight over Eve and make herself unwelcome on my ship, or to learn to shut her mouth and cooperate for once in her life.

I paused on the deck as she dragged Edward aboard, his arm at an odd and probably painful angle. Terah grinned cruelly. “Are we going for a sail? It’s a beautiful day for it.”

“Shut up, Terah. We have to find Titus if he’s on the island.”

She grinned, hauling Edward on deck with a thump and leaving him for me to deal with. “Hunting is much more fun than arguing. Let me make amends. Allow me to find Titus for you, brother.”

Terah was a blur as she raced through the rain. The blood she’d fed on made her stronger, faster. It also made her emotions spiral. One moment she was fine. The next, she was a whirlpool, threatening to consume everyone and everything who ventured within her grasp.

“Don’t kill him!” I yelled.

Through the wind and rain, the roaring sea and battering waves, I could hear her laughter.

* * *

I carried Eve into my quarters, placing her on my bed. Her tech suit was warm and already half dry. Pushing strands of wet hair out of her face, my knuckles brushed her skin. It was ice cold, her lips a purplish blue. “Eve,” I whispered, trying to rouse her. Bending down, I put my cheek beside her lips. Her breath was shallow, but warm on my skin. “Eve.”

I nudged her.

A little louder, I called her name again. “Eve.”

She wouldn’t respond. I pushed her shoulder. I snapped my fingers beside her ear and patted her cheek. I could smell Thatch’s scent on her… cheek. He would die for touching her.

“Eve!” I shouted.

I couldn’t think. What if she doesn’t wake? What if she’s dying? What if traveling is killing her?

I scrubbed a hand down my face and waited, watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest. She was breathing. She would wake up. Titus can help her, I told myself, all the while wishing I’d told her that I didn’t hate her at all. That I still loved her despite all that had happened, and that I knew she didn’t play a part in Victor Dantone’s plan.

I watched her chest rise and fall, rubbed my thumb along the back of her hand, and watched her eyes dance behind their lids. I writhed within myself at the knowledge I was completely helpless. There was nothing I could do to help her.

Only time would tell if she would be okay.

Terah couldn’t have been gone more than a quarter of an hour, but it felt like a decade had passed before she announced her return by bursting through the double doors and tossing a very lucid, angry Titus inside. Irate, he scrambled to his feet, his hand instinctively plucking a stake from the holster on his thigh. His suit was punctured at his middle where blood stained the torn, pale fabric. Rainwater pulled traces through the fabric and the bloody water pooled beneath him, thin, iron-rich rivulets swirling through the puddle.

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