Page 71 of Veiled in Stars and Silver
“No,” I whispered, nausea making me feel weak.
His gaze met mine, the odd lighting trickling into the dark, highlighting something like regret in his expression as the pirates yanked his arms behind him, tying them together. He grimaced, a sad smile crossing his lips. “Sorry, love, couldn’t let you go through this alone.”
I remained rooted to the spot, my world twisted on its head. I’d come to fight for my brothers. I’d come to sacrifice myself in a foolish effort to save them.
And now I might also lose James.
“Here is the new deal,” Tinker Bell said, her beautiful gown swishing in soft swirls of victory as she faced me. “Give me the dagger and the book, or I will kill your lover boy in front of you.”
Chapter 27
Wendy
James knelt with arms bound on the floor of the cave, the pirates training their guns on him. Paralyzing fear issued through me. This was wrong. This was all wrong.
He gave a small shrug, his smile turning gentle. “Don’t worry about me, lass. Let’s finish what we came to do.”
But it wasn’t that easy. I couldn’t let Tink take James’s life any more than I could allow her to take John or Michael’s. It was the real reason why I’d had to leave him behind.
Because losing him would shatter me like glass.
“Gag him,” Tinker Bell ordered.
One pirate ripped a section from his shirt and tied it against James’s mouth.
The fairy woman turned to the forever boy of Neverland. “My book.”
Peter edged around me and handed Stardust’s spellbook over to Tinker Bell. “It’s time I accepted the truth.” His eyes met mine briefly and flicked away.
I blinked as I recalled our conversation from earlier. Was Peter on my side? But then why had he given the spellbook to Tinker Bell?
“I want Hook,” Peter growled. “If he is to die, I want it to be me. A last adventure with my one true rival.”
Tinker Bell flipped open the book, making sure it was truly the tome she wanted before closing it. “Not now, my boy—”
“That is my condition if you want me to stay in Neverland and help with the fairies. You're not going to let someone else do him in. Not after all this time. This has always beenmygame.”
Her mouth twisted into a frown, but she nodded. “As you wish.”
Peter turned away from Tink and had the nerve to smile. “Don’t move, Wendy. After everything, you had to realize things would end this way.” He winked at me.
Shit. What did that mean? Perhaps he was toying with me, rubbing it in. Or was he signaling me to do… something?
He flew around me and stopped in front of James.
“Leave us. Wait at the cave’s entrance,” Tink commanded the pirates on guard. They turned without a backward glance and left the cave.
A cautiousness filled me as Peter gripped James by the hair, laying his sword at his throat.
My heart pounded in my ears, my mouth had gone dry.
Part of a game? Or reality?
Truth or false?
“If you want a chance for him to live,” Tinker Bell said, “give me the dagger.”
I rested my palm on the dagger’s fine hilt, drawing it from the case, weighing it in my hands, feeling the loss of the missing finger. At least the Crocodile had left my dominant hand intact.
