Page 176 of Gods of the Sea

“This spell she has on you is so damn inconvenient…”

“Henrik!” she screamed. “Save me!”

I turned to see a sword at her throat, but Henrik pulled it back, his arm dropping to the side. He shook, the power suddenly gone from his face.

“So that’s what she’s doing,” Jacques muttered. “What an interesting strategy.”

He seemed to have no intention of moving from his place, even though everything in my body told me to run to them both. It would only take a moment for me to lose them again.

Maybe for good this time.

I had cheated death too many times already, and I doubted Fate was kind enough to let me off again.

Henrik’s voice was too soft to hear, but I could at least tell that it was normal. My brother was still in that body.

Please…I need my brother back. I’ll die myself if that’s what it takes.

I reached for the sword at my side, and not too soon.

“Dammit!” Henrik yelled, grabbing his head in pain. “You need to get out, Esmeralda!”

He lunged for her. She dove away, barely missing the blade.

I drew my sword.

“That’s a signal as far as I’m concerned,” I said to Jacques.

I stepped forward. Before I could even get two steps, however, my brother turned. His yellow eyes met mine, and I felt frozen to the ground.

He saw me, but he didn’t recognize me. My brother didn’t know me.

“Why are you hesi—” Jacques started.

But he didn’t get to finish.

“Get the humans!” Henrik commanded.

The sirens that had brought Esmeralda to Henrik swooped in to obey their commands. Jacques grabbed my arm and pulled me back just before one of them nearly slammed into me.

“Get it together!” Jacques barked, knocking me back to my senses.

I turned my focus away from my brother to the sirens, unable to shake the image of my brother’s hatred from my sight.

“Incoming!”

Jacques opened a flask of holy water and doused the rocks in front of him. Then he grabbed one of the sirens by the neck and slammed his head against the wet rock. The siren screamed in agony but didn’t quit his fight.

I jumped in to aid him, swinging my sword at the sirens with a new burst of energy in my blood.

I had nothing to lose at this point.

I had ruined my family name. I had no honor. The love I felt for a woman was a spell. And my brother—the only one who held out any faith in my redemption—wanted me dead.

The least I could do was make my final act an act of honor.

ENDING

“Just hold me for a little bit…until the storm stops.”

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