Page 10 of Ruthless Scoundrel
“Brace!” someone screams.
Darkness erupts from the back of the ship and splinters the wood, board by board, all the way to me. I watch as if time has slowed to a crawl, but I can do nothing. I’m only an observer. I cannot change this.
The boat detonates and Men fly. My body burns as I twist through the air, but my gaze is trained on Reina. She’s fallen to the destroyed deck, her ankle bindings snapped but her wrists still bound.
I hit the water with a clap that numbs my senses. Little crashes of debris and Men fall around me, breaking the silence of my mind. They wail and splash, but they know their fate is sealed. I look up at the evil cloud and wonder if Reina’s is sealed, too, as she’s dragged from the wreckage.
She kicks her legs, keeping her back rigid as the blackness pulls her up to its face.
“You cannot escape me, vessel,” the cloud says haughtily.
The dark draws Reina closer and my gut bottoms out. A deep sense of awareness fills me suddenly, like a shock from the sea. It is not my own, but I know it to be true all the same.
This isn’t just about using Reina to kill Vansen. This isn’t just about my people. If Reina doesn’t survive this encounter, all of Gaien, and every creature on it, will burn.
Lightning rips through the sky and the storm drifts back toward Fynren. Reina’s scream jolts me into action. I snatch a thick hull plank from the water and hurl it at the cloud. The wood shatters on impact, sending splinters raining down, but the darkness loses some of its mass.
I can wear it down.
I throw another piece of the deck, barely keeping pace with the storm as it retreats. The next plank shreds apart into sharp spikes, but they don’t fall harmlessly to the water. Instead, they turn and rush directly toward me. I lift two of my tentacles to shield my body just in time.
Pain spills up my limbs to my core and I want to scream, but I have no means to release the sound of pain. I rip out the spears and throw with a new target in mind.
Reina.
The evil monster wants her so desperately, it’ll protect her over attempting to retaliate—I hope. The cloud blocks my attack and roars angrily. It’s torn between retreat and ending me. I throw projectile after projectile until my tentacles are weak and my hearts are thundering.
I grab a barrel and stop as I scent black powder. This could easily kill the princess if I’m not careful. I hold it up, but hesitate.
“Throw it!” Reina screams.
Does she know what it is? I can’t risk killing her.
“Now!” she cries, getting farther and farther away despite my speed.
I’m going to lose her anyway, and it’s obvious she’d rather be dead than captured.
Fine. So be it.
I throw the barrel and the dark cloud moves to intercept it. The drum bursts on impact, sending the explosive dust through the air. Reina shouts a war cry and blue brighter than the sun pierces through the magical darkness. I wince, watching in awe as the princess’s skin shimmers and glows. It’s the same as when I saw the guard draw back from her in pain.
It’s her magic.
Blue ignites along the powdered explosive, traveling up the tendrils of black wrapped around Reina. The monster goes up in glorious flames with a shriek that shakes the sea. Then itpoofs, disappearing on the wind.
Reina drops, slamming against the water limply. I dive and tear after her unconscious form. The princess sinks in her copper chains, little bubbles escaping from her slack mouth. I wrap her securely in my grasp and drag her swiftly to the surface.
I let my eyes breach the surface only to scan the horizon for more threats, but there are none. It’s clear and sunny, a horrible shipwreck amid a calm day. This otherworldly feeling ofwrongnesswashes over me as I look upon the screaming, scrambling Men trying to haul themselves up onto whatever’s floating.
They’ve seen me, and some of them must’ve watched me transform. I should kill them, but when I look at Reina, the need for my own safety evaporates. Her skin is bright red and irritated, burns covering most of her exposed skin. I need to heal her, soon, and I can’t do that in the middle of the sea.
I can’t keep up my shift forever, and predatory creatures are bound to be attracted to all the flailing Men. Power vibratesdown my tentacles and the water whispers back its secrets. There’s a small island two miles south of us. It’ll have to do.
A nearby plank serves as a raft for Reina. Men scream and swim away in fear. Some who’d seen me transform beg for help. I ignore them all, dragging only my quarry with me. There is nothing more important than ensuring Reina’s survival, and I will not compromise that for anything else.
I keep one eye below and one above as I switch off dragging and pushing Reina’s raft through the choppy sea. The storm’s disturbance from earlier sets the tides fighting, and the wind is confused. All of Gaien is struggling to recover from it, as are my hammering hearts.
It’s not enough that I have one tentacle wrapped around Reina’s waist. I check on her again. She’s breathing. She’s well.
