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Mors pulled Una against his chest, letting his shirt soak up her tears as the last drop of colour drained from Aron’s body. My hands moved blindly to Sebastien’s cold face, seeing even the shadows drain from his eyes until they were flat and hard as granite.

‘Don’t go,’ I pleaded. ‘Please, stay. I need you here. I need you . . .’ I needed them all.

My hands trembled as they stroked his hardened cheeks, knowing it was my last chance, my only chance to restore all the things that had been broken. One last chance to tell him—

‘I love you,’ I breathed, exhaling the words as easily as air. Not because it needed to be said but because it was the truth. Because I couldn’t let him die without knowing. ‘Gods, I love you.’

His hands pulled my face to his, cold lips tugging at mine, one last time. His words came out broken as he was, right down to the marrow. ‘Then don’t watch,’ he choked.

A different kind of fear rattled through me. A bone-shaking, cold terror that rammed my heart like a pike.

‘I love you,’ I repeated helplessly. My final hope escaped me in a whisper, turning to mist, to salt and sea air, spiralling across the water and into the empty shell of his ear. I held my breath, waiting for the world to right itself. For the seas to lapse and for my king to return.

But despite that, despite my every heartbeat that begged for him, I felt his end in every part of me. His shoulders rose, taking in a breath that would never reach the skies.

The stone claimed him, immortalising that last ripple of movement forever.

No.

I hadn’t been entirely sure – hadn’t known what it really meant – until that exact moment. I loved him. More than I’d ever loved the sea. But still I’d lost him to it. Lost him, lost Aron, lost Golde. I’d lost.

‘Told you,’ Bane murmured. ‘You were wasted here from the start.’

I looked up at him, trying to blink the tears from my eyes, to see anything but the broken pieces of my heart slipping away like the blood between my palms.

‘No,’ I whispered. It can’t end like this.

The waves must’ve been listening – must’ve heard the broken echo of my heartbeat – because as my tears fell, they rose.

‘Take her,’ Bane ordered.

But as his crew swelled forth, so, too, did the sea.

31

Bane’s crew charged forward, their blades drawn, attempting to pry me from the circle of statues that Sebastien, Aron and Golde had become. I thrashed against them alongside Mors and Una, their swords doing more than my elbows and dagger could. Beyond my furious cries, there echoed a great rumbling from the deep.

Water erupted around the Blood Rose, flooding over the sides of the ship as something colossal spiralled into the air. The swell descended, cascading across the planks and chasing Bane’s crew back. Their shouts were drowned out by the waves that swept over the deck, lapsing around us and seeping into my skirts. It was no monster this time. When the deluge subsided, something far more beautiful, far more dangerous, emerged.

Nerida purled forth from her raging tides, aqueous limbs wavering as she strode into being. Rippling blue shifted to flesh. The dark sands of her skin glowed bronze beneath the setting sun, her eyes like tide pools as they came to rest upon me.

My hand fell instinctively to Sebastien’s shoulder, seeking the reassurance of his warmth, but I was met with stone. I watched the sea with wary eyes, unsure whether she’d come to save or condemn us, whether I ought to bow or beg.

The goddess’s wavering figure absorbed the sunlight, casting a blue glow over the planks around her.

‘Gods,’ Bane whispered, gaping at her. ‘It’s all true.’

The sea spoke, her voice dancing like thunder across the waves. ‘This does not concern you, mortal.’

‘I am here to claim the Heartless King’s fleet,’ Bane retorted, trying to sound imperious though his words faltered, warped by incredulity. ‘They belong to me now.’

‘You own nothing.’ The dismissal was clear in her tone as she flowed past him. ‘Leave, human. I don’t want your traitor’s blood tainting my waters.’

Bane took a step back, cutlass still clutched before him, eyes gleaming, hackles raised. I could tell he wasn’t going anywhere.

Nerida didn’t seem to care, turning her cerulean eyes on me. The orange rust of sunset sparked against her sloping cheekbones, making her glow from within. My breath caught at her inhuman beauty.

‘So.’ Her voice sent a chill through me that the water never had. ‘You are the girl.’