Chapter 35
DRAYA
Fury laced with dread flooded my body at the sight of Emerson’s steamship entering the dark, gloomy cavern. The Naytes were supposed to stand guard until we’d safely escaped the tunnels, but something had clearly gone wrong. Or they’d abandoned us.
No matter what happened, I wasn’t about to let Emerson hurt Hazel or Prince Inaki again, and we needed to get the prince back to the capital as fast as possible.
He was in critical condition, and I wasn’t sure how long he would survive without immediate medical treatment.
I had full faith in the Talassi healers – if they could pull Hazel’s magic from the depths of her soul, they could do anything – but having to deal with her father once again was really fucking irritating.
I turned to Hazel, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her close. “Stay behind me, and don’t try to confront him,” I instructed. Wide eyed, she nodded, emotions I couldn’t decipher flashing across her face.
Within seconds, Emerson’s crew was descending from the ship like a horde of locusts, yelling as shots were fired and the clanging of metal weapons filled the room.
Fighting hand-to-hand against humans was never a fair match, as Talassi strength was derived from an otherworldly power that exceeded anything humans could ever come up with in their sorry, fragile lifetimes.
But they had copious weapons and firearms, and they were still fueled by the pieces of my Prince they’d stolen. We couldn’t afford to get cocky, and we needed a strategy before this ended in unnecessary bloodshed.
“I’ll stay with Inaki,” Adri called from the water, adjusting the prince’s body to stay still, his tail in the water and his torso propped up on a rock.
He remained unconscious, which was a bit of an inconvenience considering what we were about to face.
“Maki, meet them on the offensive. Draya, protect Hazel and try not to let them through to Inaki and me. And above all, remember they deserve no mercy.”
We nodded and took our positions, our last words soon lost to the sounds of the brawl.
I released the spikes along my shoulders and back, using the force of my body to shove these pitiful sailors off the docks and into the water.
Releasing my claws, I sliced through the few left standing until they were gasping their last breaths.
Hazel’s startled noises from behind me threatened to break my resolve, but I pushed the feeling away.
I hoped she wouldn’t hold it against me later.
These men wanted to hurt her, and I was not a merciful being.
I thought of all the ways her father hurt her, keeping her locked up in his estate from the day she was born till the day he sent her away.
He’d placed her on that ship in hopes that she’d die, absolving him of having to deal with her existence ever again.
It was no surprise, really. He’d made it abundantly clear to the Talassi that he cared about no one but himself.
I’d learned that lesson early in my childhood, when my own father came home beaten and scarred after fending off one of his ships from a Talassi outpost.
This man deserved a fate crueler than even I could come up with. I wanted to drag him into that room of horrors and tie him up in the same tank he’d held the prince in for years, then watch him slowly drown in a vat of dirty water and his own bodily fluids.
Instead, I lost myself in the fight. I sliced through the remaining humans, bending and wrenching their firearms in every which way, laughing maniacally as a few bullets grazed my skin.
After what felt like hours in the haze of my bloodlust, though I knew it had likely only been a few minutes, I realized I no longer heard Hazel’s breathing or whimpering behind me.
My heart felt as if it dropped out of my chest, and I kicked the man in front of me into the water. Whirling around, I scanned the room until my eyes locked on the back of the cave, my throat constricting as I saw her pale hair illuminated against the dark stone.
The silhouette of a woman hollowed by burning fury, she stood toe-to-toe with Lord Emerson, her small frame completely dwarfed by his towering presence.