Page 86 of The Song of the Void

Vaetrik already had his pistol in hand as he dashed into the chamber, and I drew my rapier but could do nothing at this distance. The moment he saw me, his eyes darkened. He raised his weapon to fire.

A crack of sound split the air, and I braced for pain, for a bullet to tear through my flesh, but Vaetrik's pistol clattered to the rocky ground. He gripped his own hand to stem the slight flow of blood from where Ash had shot him.

I flung myself forward, kicking his pistol into the pool behind me. I stood right before him with the tip of my rapier at his neck before he could recover to draw his own sword.

He glared and grimaced at the wound in his hand, though it looked like Ash had merely nicked the side of his palm. A trickle of blood slipped down his wrist. “Oh, come now. What are you going to do, pet, kill me? You don't have it in you.”

“Say the word, Zephra,” Ash said from behind me, keeping his gun trained on Vaetrik.

Unlike him, my hands trembled as I tightened my grip on the hilt of my sword, trying to imagine impaling the pirate who ruined my life in the neck. I flinched when he took a step closer, as if he didn't care about the sharp point of my blade pressing against his throat. His smile widened.

Ash said my name again, more urgently. It dawned on me that Vaetrik might have moved this close to ensure Ash wouldn't have a clear shot on him.

I forced myself to swallow my fear. “I already told you, I'm not your damn pet. Vaetrik Tynedall, you were cruel to me, for no reason other than I was the first person you could treat as less than. And I hate you, more than I've ever hated anyone in my life. Not because you’re a Human…because of the things you did to me.”

Even so, there was room in my heart to forgive him.

“I cared for you, Vaetrik. I truly believe we could have been wonderful friends if things had gone differently. But as things are now, you need to understand that I won’t tolerate any more of your cruelty.”

An inclination to show him mercy echoed inside me no matter how I tried to shove it off, yet it was fragile, like a string that frayed second by second.

It stayed my hand for too long.

“I did what I had to do to make a name for myself, you know that,” Vaetrik said. “And I think now I'll be even more renowned as the Eventide Brigade captain who killed a Mourner prince and the Timebreaker himself. I want you to watch me do it before I kill you too, pet.”

Ashkade fired, but it went wide and zinged into the rocks—a warning, since Vaetrik was still too close to me for him to have a clear shot.

“I almost feel bad for you,” Vaetrik hissed, eyes alight with malice. “Your prince is bleeding out as we speak, back there in that tunnel. I ran into some strange creatures that looked like the two of you, and he found me standing over the bodies.”

I searched for the lie in his expression, but he was skilled at hiding things, just like I was. All I could see was venom. But no, there couldn't possibly be any truth to it. Reiven was perfectly fine, and he'd join us soon.

“I left him alive, you know.”

“Where?” Ash demanded, taking a few steps closer.

“He’s lying!” I snapped.

Kill him. Kill him!

That feral chant resounded in my head. Vaetrik needed to die now. My bones and blood knew it.

But Ash wasn't primed to distrust him in the same way I was. “B-but what if he's not? What if Rei is hurt and we could save him? We have to at least try!”

“Lower your weapon, Timebreaker,” Vaetrik said with a coaxing smile, “and I'll take you to him.”

I screamed at Ash not to listen, bared my fangs, and wrenched my sword arm back to deal the killing blow. The sound of Ash taking his finger off the trigger of his pistol made me freeze, especially as Vaetrik sneered.

“Zephra, don’t,” Ash said in a small voice. “It'll be…fine.”

Vaetrik moved as quickly as a darting eel, seizing my wrist to render my rapier useless. He still had his cutlass, I remembered with a start, as he hurled me backwards so I crashed into my young friend. Somehow, Ash managed to catch me under my arms, though he had to drop his crutch with a clatter on the rocks to do so.

Maybe in that moment, the god of time intervened. I was painfully aware of every second that ticked by, and my body dragged like a corpse being pulled through muck. I was off balance, but I was still between Ash and Vaetrik as he charged, cutlass drawn and madness in his ice-blue eyes. All I had to do was steady my boots on the stone, brace for impact, and block.

That was what I was supposed to do. That was what should have happened.

But instead, Ash shoved me to the ground behind him, and I slammed into the gravel on my back. The impact made my ears ring and my vision blur, but not enough to blind me to what happened next.

Ash had hardly raised his pistol before a quiet, frightened gasp escaped his lips as Vaetrik thrust his cutlass through his chest with a snarl of rage and effort.