Page 146 of Heart of Thieves

“We should take Jade home,” I say softly. “To the sea.”

Jade may not be seaspawned by zenithic definition, but to me, the sea is where she belongs. A place full of mystery, yes, but also full of beauty and color and life. Just like her.

“And your father?”

I turn to meet Nic’s eyes. “Can we take him south? I know a grove of orange trees I’d like to visit.”

“Of course.” He presses his lips to my brow. “Whatever you need.”

We only wait long enough to get word that Arden and Soren will be all right before maneuvering Jade’s body onto the deck of a boat. Ships are difficult to come by in Aethera—people still believe that the sea is dangerous—but it seems the Liar still has some strings he can pull.

Enzo gathers Septavia from the ocean, and then we set sail with the sun dipping beyond the horizon and dyeing the waves a deep purple-red. Jade’s body is encased in a gorgeous coffin (that Enzo claims he paid for “all legal and noble-like” but then winked, so who really knows). We weigh it down with as much of the treasure from the Brig as we can fit, and when the stars unfurl above us and we are so far beyond shore that Aethera’s lights have gone out, we set Jade off on her final con over the edge of the boat.

Tears streak down my cheeks as the coffin fades into the dark. I toss a handful of poppers after her. They detonate when they hit the water’s surface, sending up flurries of water spangled in multicolor light like fireworks.

Nic’s arm slides around me, pulling me close. Enzo comes up on my other side, settling his hand over mine on the railing, and we watch the night devour our comrade together.

Maybe we are dysfunctional, the three of us. Maybe we are evil, as Laurel claimed. Maybe my father’s death and the loss of a half dozen of his men will spell a chaos that will unmake us in the coming weeks.

But somehow, standing here flanked by the two people I love more than anyone else, I take the first whole breath since the night Salazar’s goons came to kidnap me from my bed four years ago.

Because I am finally free.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

LOLA

We take my father’s remains back to my childhood home and bury him under his favorite orange tree. I visit the dance studio I used to practice in, draw my fingers along a bed-spread I once dreamed on, and fall asleep on the roof under the stars with both Sinclair brothers at my side until my grief recedes enough to breathe.

When we return to Aethera, the Brig feels like a tomb that shouldn’t exist anymore because the girl I was the last time I stepped inside certainly doesn’t.

Enzo leaves me in my room while he stows the new moonshard in the treasury, where it’ll stay safe for the foreseeable future, while Nic returns with Isla to the shore to see to Estelle, Soren, and Arden.

I should rest, but questions swirl like a raging torrent through my thoughts.

Where do I go, now that I can go anywhere? What do I do, now that I can choose? Who do I become, now that the world is wide open?

Or do I simply stay here? Be a Tentacle forever?

It’s what I wanted for so long I can barely remember what else I might have once hoped for. But now . . . I’m not sure anymore. All I know is that those dreams feel too small, this place too quiet, that future too safe.

A knock sounds on my door, and Enzo steps inside carrying a folder stuffed with papers and notebooks.

“Hey there,” he says, sliding the door closed behind him.

“Hi.” I try to smile.

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” Enzo says, and it isn’t a question, nor is it bitter or angry. He smiles at me, lip rings glinting, and in that moment, I know he’s right.

“I can’t stay, at least not here at the Brig.”

He nods, and I close my eyes, remembering how it felt to have him there in my chest, his emotions beating alongside my own. A calm would spread through me now if we were still bound—one that says, I understand.

“What will you do?” he asks.

I shake my head. “I’m not sure yet.”

He nods, then perches on the bed next to me, grabbing one of my hands between both of his. “I have something for you.” He meets my eye. “Now that I’ve got that new moonshard you so kindly made for me, I’ve got the ability to give soullight the way I used to take it—though, now I can do it without cost, so . . .” He pulls something out of his pocket and presses it into my palm.