Page 9 of Ruthless Scoundrel
“Port side swell,” someone screams from the deck and I scramble up the rest of the ladder.
Although I’m more than equipped to handle the sea in perilous states, Reina and this ship are not. I need her alive. This storm cannot take her from me.
Will nottake her from me.
The sun disappears behind the darkness descending on us and my mood blackens with it when a face materializes. Eyes crackle with lightning and a mouth yawns with a groan of thunder.
“Where is my daughter?”
Oh.
Fuck.
Deep down I hadn’t truly believed that this storm was for Reina. Did the queen pray to the gods and summon the wind itself to come after her? If I could call up a storm like that, nothing would stop me from destroying Vansen’s kingdom and bringing my family home.
The Men on deck use their magic, pull their weapons, and do whatever they can, but it’s all to little effect. I stand in the midst of the storm, legs braced and hair whipping my cheeks, knowing that this monstrosity is beyond my power.
But my family is worth dying for.
The clouds above the ship circle low and open wide like a predator preparing to strike.
“Where. Is. She?” it asks again, and I can’t help but feel the queen of Fynren in the demand. Perhaps I’m deranged, but I cansmellher.
I need to get the princess out of here. I need to get her somewhere safe and out of sight.
But it’s too late.
The dark cloud descends on our ship with a loud crack. Why had I thought that wood could hold up against shadow—against the very blackness of the abyss itself? Magic so dark it consumes the light breaks the mast and rips open the deck. Men fly and I stagger back against the taffrail as tendrils of onyx delve the hold.
Reina’s scream slices through the air and a knife twists my guts.
My fault.
This is all my fault.
Reina writhes and screams as strings of darkness drag her out. I watch, dumbstruck, as the blackness retreats, holding its prey tightly.
“You’ll never take me!” Reina clutches a jagged wooden shard of the deck, her hands poised to thrust it into her throat.
Gods, she’s going to kill herself.
Fuck the Men. Fuck that they can see me. Fuck it all.
Opal magic swirls around me and my body contorts. I sense my shape growing and modifying to fit that of a giant octopus. My body slaps onto the deck and I reach toward the shadow with my tentacles. Reina screeches, her skin undulating with blue. I wrap myself around her with four tentacles and tie myself to the ruined deck with the others.
I will not let her go without a fight.
The dark cloud roars. “Release her!”
My white limbs constrict around her harder and Reina’s screams turn to gasps.
Lightning flashes through the sky and sizzles down my tentacles, but I don’t relent. Reina is mine.
MINE.
I need her.
The storm shifts as the blackened cloud swirls toward the aft.
