Chapter 22
Jane’s listless as I carry her, her dirty hair partially in her face as an arm dangles and sways. I eye the cliff edge; that had been far too close for my comfort. She demonstrated a clear modicum of a soldier’s honor, harboring that sense of loyalty required to survive in Skull’s Row and on the oceans we sail.
She’s willing to die for her little siren friend more than trust the witch she sought. For whatever reason, all I felt when she spoke of Cypress was distrust.
It’s not the reaction I expected, which means I need to tread carefully.
I move Jane to a flatter region where Phantom can reach us, laying her down on the grass so I’m not carrying her the entire way. There’s no point in exhausting any ounce of energy if I don’t have to, not when the air feels wrong. It’s like the change in the sky before a storm approaches, although this is something only I can pick up on. I search Jane’s body until I find my bag of coin tied around an empty belt loop, pausing to examine the laceration on her thigh.
Taking the bag off of her, I open it, looking at how much she spent. My brows raise as I see something wrapped in goat skin—the very thing she had pulled out—and unwrap it to confirm there are, indeed, ruby earrings from Cypress in there.
Great. So that bitch knows where we’re at.
Cypress can see people easier through the fog of her visions if they wear her jewels. This leads me to wonder why the Scorpion would give these very jewels to his wife…
Unless Cypress was lying about the entire story.
Jane will have a lot to answer for when she wakes. As tempting as it is to chuck these earrings into the ocean, breaking or destroying her precious things will only make my life more miserable.
I can’t have that while I’m still contemplating what Cypress told me.
Tying the coin back at my hip, I grunt at the idea of trying to coax the truth out of Jane. She’s willing to die for her secrets. It’s a pain, really. It’s so much easier when someone responds to torture.
Sitting down next to her as she lightly breathes, I don’t know what to do. In truth, she wasn’t wrong at all—without my skillset, she would have gotten away. If she had gotten on that ship, it would have created enough of a gap that might have delayed me by an entire month.
Stopping to see Cypress might have cost her everything.
The decisions before me are vast and complex, like a butterfly wing about to flap and unravel fate. What if her father is the key to all of this? Do I go looking for him now? And when do I share that her father is alive? I’m assuming I’ll know in the way I know everything else—it will eat away at my instincts until I act upon it.
She’ll probably try to skin me if she finds out I know of her father and didn’t tell her.
I smirk at the idea.
Looking ahead, one thing is for certain— everything has changed. Charles Ritter is a variable in this chaos I never anticipated. At the same time, Jane has to prove that if I loosen her chain, she won’t run again.
She won’t like it, but I will be keeping her very close. Bound, even. I may hate Cypress, but that’s for personal reasons.
My gut screams at me to listen to the witch’s words, which means Jane has to live.
I glance back down at her. There’s something peaceful about her pretty face when she doesn’t have the weight of the world wearing down her expression. “You’re like trying to tame a fucking ship’s cat,” I mumble, running a hand over my head. “And I’m the idiot that keeps trying to feed it to hear it purr.”
It doesn’t take long for Phantom’s black frame to appear in the distance as he makes his way to us.
I don’t give a shit what the Council thinks anymore, not if the Scorpion is the way to my sister. I only joined their ranks because of their vast network and influence. Serena is the first person I’ve ever completely lost, following her trail across the Black Seas and into lands that I swore I felt her in… but lost her.
If Cypress hadn’t stripped me bare the one time she fed me dreamer’s root , I wouldn’t believe her powers were as effective as they truly are. She had dug so deep that she saw my Serena, over those oceans, alive… and my intuition had never screamed louder that she was telling the truth, as if whatever magic flows through us connected in a maelstrom of insight.
Either way, I still have to take Jane to Skull’s Row. Disappearing feels entirely wrong, something drawing me back to that dangerous whirlpool of villains.
For whatever reason, she has to go back.
And then we can leave.
Once Phantom is close enough, his thick black mane blowing in the salty breeze, I pick Jane up and place her on the horse before sitting behind her, getting her settled between my legs. I scan the scene, wondering if Charles Ritter is watching from somewhere.
Nothing would shock me anymore.
I kick Phantom forward, Jane securely in my grip. If I’m going to help her, we will need to establish some very concrete rules of engagement.
And since she responds so well to my touch, I might just have to fuck her into submission, so I can reap whatever fate has sewn.