Chapter 19
Chapter nineteen
Sofie
“This isn’t worth it,” I said as the hull of the rowboat connected with a sand bar, a single tear mixing with the salt water splashed on my face. Anger loudened my next words. “No treasure could be worth this!”
“It’s too late for that,” Jax said, grunting as he lifted me out of the rowboat. He set me onto the Hidden Isle’s white sand beach. “Far too late.”
Pausing only to check the compass again, Jax tucked it into his vest and began plodding across the white sand. I managed only a pair of steps before my slipper filled with sand, and then I was hopping as I yanked them off.
“Wait!”
“And risk the curse taking you? Keep up, Sofie,” he barked at me over his shoulder. “We need to reach the cavern well before nightfall.”
I leapt forward, seizing his arm, forcing him to turn and face me. “You don’t have to go on like this, Jax. There’s another way.”
“There is no other way. It ends the same way every time. I won’t let you die.”
“You need to trust me, Jax.” I placed both palms on his chest, willing him to calm and take a breath. There was a wildness in his eyes still. I feared he would not listen to reason. “I know curses the way you know the sea. There’s always another way.”
For a moment, as he looked down at me, his eyes and voice softened. “How? What have I missed? If it was enough just to choose you, Sofie, I’d…” There was pain in them, too.
I met those dark eyes, searching them for the answer I wanted, for the soul that hid behind his hardened exterior.
Slowly, his hand wound around my waist, another lifting to cup my cheek. He was searching my eyes, too, seeking something. Was it hope?
“Renounce the treasure,” I said. “Renounce it for my sake, to protect me.”
Jax’s eyes widened…and shifted toward the horizon, as if he could not meet my gaze.
“Look at me, Jax,” I urged him, a note of pleading entering my voice. My skin prickled, every part of me rebelling against this vulnerability—this weakness he’d brought out in me. I needed him to do the right thing. I needed him to do right by me, for the journey we’d shared to mean something.
I needed him to be mine, like I was his.
“Look at me,” I begged.
“There is no other way,” he repeated. “I won’t risk it.”
His hands retreated, leaving me cold.
I watched his boots grind into the sand as he turned back towards the mountains where the treasure was hidden, watched him tromp off, wishing there would be even the slightest hitch in his step, wishing there was any sign of hesitation.
I’d lost him. Had I ever had him? The weeks we’d shared together were over in an instant.
They suddenly felt like an instant, just a blink of the eye. Just something I had imagined.
I closed my eyes, wishing this was all a dream. Then sense took hold, and I opened them and hurried after Jax.
The Bride’s vengeful ghost was going to find me harder to kill than the others. But I wasn’t about to give her that chance. Hands curling into fists, I ran after Jax, then passed him.
It was a waste of energy, trying to outpace him. Not only were his legs longer, but he was better at walking on sand. My shins were already burning.
I resigned myself to following after him, mentally cataloguing all the spells I could use to defend myself if the Bride made a final appearance.
By the time the mouth of the cave appeared, cleverly hidden by trees and moss so it would be easy to miss without the now-functioning compass, my slippers were back on and I was exhausted. Constant vigilance had that effect. Besides that, the walk to the cave took over an hour.
I glanced at the sun’s low position. “How far inside the cave will it be?”
“If it’s the same as last time? It’ll be close.”
I didn’t miss the way Jax avoided turning towards me when he answered—or how his eyes were locked on the path forward. I was surprised he’d even heard me.
The mouth of the cave was more like a crevice.
Turning sideways to follow Jax, who barely fit, didn’t make it feel any less claustrophobic.
The air itself was too close, heat and humidity hanging like a curtain, one that entangled me and made me panic.
My heart raced, my breaths coming short and fast.
Jax never noticed a thing. He didn’t turn back to offer his hand, or even to be certain I still followed
When the passageway finally flared into a wide cavern, softly lit by fissures in the ceiling and back wall, I didn’t feel any better. The air was stagnant, like the pool of water collected on the sloping stone floor.
Beyond it sat the treasure chest.
It was too easy. Something felt wrong inside this cave. It wasn’t just a curse, but pure chaos magic hidden in that small chest pushed against the back wall.
And it was small. Hardly worth the bother—hardly worth my life, or so many women’s lives before, or those of Carabosse‘s crew.
I closed my eyes, wishing I could blot out the truth.
This little treasure chest meant more to Jax than I did.
And that was my last thought before icy claws sank into my shoulder and neck.