Page 7 of By the Flames of Her Fury

Farther down the beach, Starke was on his knees, panting hard with an unconscious body at his side. “Is that all of them?” he shouted.

“What, like you wanted more?” I responded, spitting blood onto the ground. I nodded to our little dinghy bobbing on the shoreline. “Come on, let’s get back to the ship while it’s still standing.”

We rowed as quickly as we could to the White Moonstone. Salty seafoam splashed against the hull. The patrol ship was several yards away, casting an imposing shadow across our sails. Over the sound of the sea, I heard our crew running around the deck, shouting orders.

“Let the ropes down for ‘em!” someone called. Starke and I grasped the rope ladder as they let it down, then scrambled up the side of the ship, boots slipping on the slick surface.

“Damage?” Starke asked once his feet were firmly planted on the quarterdeck. He yanked a spyglass from the inside of his jacket and put it to his eye.

“Starboard bow took a hit,” his first mate, Karye, responded, adjusting her tricorn as wind rippled through the deck. “But nothing vital. We can patch it up when we get back to Saltmourne.”

From the wheel, the helmsman, Lenny, cried out, “Cap’n, they’re loadin’ the cannons again!”

I followed his gaze and squinted, blocking the sun with my hand. Bright light and mist showered the nearby patrol ship in a hazy glow, but I could make out their crew crowding around the nearest cannon.

“Lenny!” Starke barked. “Turn hard to starboard!”

At the helm, Lenny muttered something under his breath but obeyed, jerking the wheel so hard the entire ship tilted. Three crewmembers slid across the deck and slammed into the rail.

Boom. The patrol ship fired. The cannonball careened right past the Moonstone’s bow and slammed into the sea a few yards ahead, exploding upward in a column of seawater. The spray soaked the sails, the deck, and my face. The ship lurched on the waves, bobbing up and down before suddenly⁠—

The water went still. Unnaturally still.

I glanced around at our crew members’ faces, all of which were just as bewildered as I was. The men on the Twin Tides ship had also stopped moving. I saw their captain take out his own spyglass and aim it into the Imarian Sea, so I copied him and stared at the eerily calm waters.

There was a ripple, far in the distance—almost at the horizon. Like someone had tossed a rock, sending small waves out in a circle toward us.

“Retreat!” their captain called.

Confusion swarmed me. There was nothing to retreat from. No oncoming ship, no storm clouds, no threat. But within seconds, the black ship was already maneuvering away from us and back toward the island.

“What in the Fates was that?” Starke snapped, marching up behind me to peer off the bow.

A sliver of unease crept down my spine, even as our foe sped farther and farther away. It made the hair on the back of my neck prickle, like a ghost of my Shifter half trying to break the surface to warn me.

“I don’t know,” I said. My eyes stayed trained on the still waters. “But I’m not sure we should be thanking it yet.”

3

Vera

SEVEN YEARS AGO

“Can we take her yet?” a harsh voice whispered. “I think her brother’s gone.”

“Then let’s move.”

My eyes popped open. Two unfamiliar bearded men hovered above my bed. Before I could scream, a hand clamped over my mouth, smothering my cry against a callused palm.

I bucked and kicked wildly, sheets twisting around my legs, but the second man quickly tied my ankles together with rope. My eyes bulged as I screamed into the hand again. “Nox!” I tried to call for my older brother, but it came out muffled. “Mama!”

I summoned phoenix fire to my hands, and the well of magic deep in my chest flared to life. I gripped my attacker’s wrist and shoved heat into his skin. He dropped me with a hiss. I sucked in a breath and shrieked, “Ma⁠—”

This time, an oily cloth slammed over my nose and mouth. When I inhaled, acidic fumes went straight to my head. Stars burst in my vision. My flames sputtered out, and the other assailant wrenched my arms behind my back, securing them with more rope.

One of them threw me over his shoulder as if I weighed nothing. I probably did to these Drakorum brutes. A fifteen-year-old, underfed girl was barely a feather compared to what their Shifter strength could carry. I thrashed in his grip, head hanging down his back and feet at his midsection, trying to land any hit I could. But whatever oil was on the cloth made my limbs sluggish, and my head spun as my body bounced up and down.

“Mama!” I yelled again, but my voice was practically a whimper. “Nox!” Where were they? Why weren’t they in our chambers? What was going on?