Chapter 16 #2
Odette steps forward in her cell, signing as she says, “You’re a seer. You’ll know if Inez has passed through a certain place, or maybe where she’s being taken to.” Her gaze swings to me. “I second Elayne.”
I straighten my shoulders. “Everyone else?”
I watch as each member of my crew raises a hand, their lips pressed into harsh lines, eyes even harder. Something billows in my chest. Pride, admiration. This is the crew I remember.
My gaze lands on Elayne. “And you? Do you agree to coming with me?”
She swallows, but that same determination flickers behind her eyes. “It would be an honor,” she signs.
I give her a nod—one that she returns.
“And the other?” I say, turning my attention to Thea.
Her fingernails are gnarled, worn down to the quick, and her gaze flicks to Celia. “How am I meant to choose?”
“Take anyone else,” Celia says, her voice thick. “Collin can heal wounds. Katrina can manipulate anyone’s emotions. Or Ivy can persuade Inez’s captor to let her go. Fates, take me.” Her voice catches. “Please, just not Thea. I can’t lose her again.”
She wraps her fingers around the rung of her cell, only a handful of inches away from me. I can’t meet her eyes. I spent a decade getting Thea back to her, and now I’m going to rip her away again.
“We don’t have time for this,” Kressa says, stepping in front of me. “Who seconds Thea?”
I lurch forward. “This isn’t your place.”
Celia curls her lip at Kressa, but just as she opens her mouth to rebuke, Astrid says, “I second. Everyone else?”
Hands begin to lift into the air, and a stone settles in my stomach. I’d rather have my entire crew hate me than hate each other.
“No,” I say, quiet, but commanding nonetheless. “It’s unanimous, or it doesn’t happen.”
Celia blinks, and her mouth parts as she stares at me. She’s too proud to say thank you, but her eyes soften.
Kressa shoots me a glare over her shoulder. “This is what happens when you don’t have a plan.”
I narrow my eyes as a lump forms in my throat. “We’re taking three.”
“That’s not what we agreed on.” She comes within an inch of my face—her eyes flaring. “I’m about to go back on my word and bring none of them.”
“We bring three or I start screaming.” I tilt my head and raise a brow. “How interesting it would be, if I told the guards that they’d find Gemma in your quarters, glamoured as me. How well do you think that would go for you?”
Her hands curl into fists. “I don’t have three extra pairs of rhodium gloves. Only two.”
“Perfect.” The corner of my lip tilts. “Celia doesn’t have power.”
Kressa sighs. “Unlock their cells. They’re to remain in their cuffs for now.” Her eyes shift to Celia. “Even her.”
Julian nods and sets the lantern on the ground, shoving a key into Elayne’s door.
Kressa gives me a final, seething glare and strides toward the dungeon exit. “I’ll be waiting at the doorway. If you aren’t out soon, I’m leaving without you.”
A ‘thank you’ teeters on the edge of my tongue, but I swallow it down. She deserves no thanks for putting us in this position in the first place. Elayne joins my side, and Julian makes quick work of Thea’s cell door.
“What’s going to happen to us?” Collin says, her auburn hair pulled back from her face.
It was no surprise when her power manifested as a healer. She’s the most generous, kind-hearted person I know.
I study the remainder of my crew, gnawing at my lip. When Isolde meets up with us in the open sea, I’ll be able to return by tomorrow morning with her by my side, ready to free the rest of my crew. But I don’t dare breathe a word of it.
“You’ll say the same cloaked figure came in and beat them, then broke them out.”
Celia is the last to come out, and she studies the cell doors, swinging wide open. “We need to make it believable. How soundproof are these walls?”
Julian swallows. “Very.”
“Right, so you can’t hear our screams.” Her eyes darken, and she tilts her chin at Julian. “Go on then. Make yourself useful and hold the door steady.”
He obliges, and she takes a step back, steadying herself. The cuffs throw her off balance, but she manages to lift a booted foot and slam it into the bottom half of the metal door. The echo rings through the dungeon, and she grunts, kicking it again.
Breathing heavy, she shrugs. “Good enough.”
The metal is bent—warped, as if someone had pried at it with a crowbar.
“Two more to go,” she says, wiping her brow.
As she and Julian make their way to Elayne’s cell door, Thea sidles up beside me.
She waits until Celia’s boot meet the door, and whispers, “You have a plan, right?”
“Find Inez.” In my periphery, I scan my other crew mates, but none of them are listening to our conversation—too busy watching Celia. “And free everyone, with Isolde’s help.”
Thea’s attention swings to me, her eyes wide. “Have you lost it?”
“We’re running out of options.” I keep my gaze trained ahead. “Do you trust me?”
“With my life.” She tilts her chin toward the others. “But right now, they’re a different story.”
Celia makes quick work of Thea’s cell door, Julian wincing as the upper half digs into his shoulder at the impact.
“We’ll be back soon,” I tell the remaining women. A promise. “With Inez.”
They watch me warily, and I’ve known them long enough to read the expression on their faces. Unease. Distrust. They know I’m keeping something from them. Again.
And they aren’t wrong.
“It’s time to go,” Kressa says from the entrance.
Celia joins Thea’s side, and Elayne follows up the rear as Julian leads us out of the dungeon. A hollow ache spreads through my chest, eating at the meat around my bones. It isn’t right—splitting up the crew like this.
But there’s no other way.