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“Flames in the water!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. “Turn!”

Myrrah didn’t ask questions. She cranked on the wheel. “The anchor!”

Gerarda leaped over the upper deck of the bow and landed on the lever along the anchor wheel. The heavy piece of carved stone dropped into the sea with a resounding splash. The Shades fell to the deck as the ship lurched, narrowly missing being consumed by a wall of Damien’s inextinguishable flames.

We were boxed in on two sides. This was Damien’s plan. His soldiers might not be a match for our magic, but they would swarm us once our powers were exhausted.

“Mind the surface of the water,” I shouted over the deck and into the orb hovering by my lips. “The flames with look like oil on the sea. You’ll only notice the reflection in the right light.”

“There!” Nikolai pointed to another line beside us. If the soldiers lit the flames, the ship would be fully boxed in.

My back tensed as I spotted more lines of dormant flame in the sea. “Feron, keep your ship close. They’re trying to separate us.”

He ordered his ship to sail for us and I held my breath. There was nothing I could do if Damien’s flames consumed his ship like it had ours.

“Archers aim for the captains!” Myrrah locked her wheelchair and pointed at the three black sails drawing closer. She met my gaze and her face crumpled with confusion. “What are you still doing here?”

I pointed to the wall of flame. “I can’t go anywhere!”

Myrrah’s frown only deepened. “I did not kick you into that lake as a child for nothing!” She pushed her chair to the edge of the quarterdeck. “And there’s nothing stopping me from doing the same now.” She pointed at the rippling water. “Go!”

“I can’t abandon you now!” My head shook. “We didn’t plan for this.”

Myrrah nocked an arrow and fired. “A plan only ever goes so far. We’ve out-trained them.”

Gerarda dropped her quiver and ran over to me. She pointed to the small canoe that Syrra had already launched into the sea with a team of Shades. They levied their arrows at one of the catapults along the deck of a ship and it released into the sea. “They have this, Keera.”

“Someone needs to go with you.” Killian stepped forward, pulling off his wet boots.

Gerarda crossed her arms. “That will be me,princeling.”

Killian’s jade eyes turned hard and for a moment I thought he was going to strike her. His jaw pulsed as he picked at the skin along his thumb. “Keera can decide.”

I glanced between the two of them before pointing to Gerarda. Her lips twitched upward in a snarky grin. “She’s the more seasoned warrior,” I said to ease Killian’s disappointment.

“And if you exhaust yourself?” Killian eyed Gerarda from boot to brow. “Can she even lift you?”

Gerarda dipped into a spin and kicked Killian along the knees. Before he had completely hit the deck, she hoisted him into the air and marched out four steady paces.

“You made your point,” Killian grumbled, still laying across Gerarda’s shoulder. She dropped him onto a pile of rigging.

There was no way around by canoe now. The towering walls of flame blocked our passage, but Gerarda had already resolved herself for a swim. She secured her bow and quiver on her back and tied her cloak around her waist so it wouldn’t drag.

She grabbed my hand and pulled me to the edge of the deck. “Feet first!” She shouted before dropping into the sea. I glanced over my shoulder at Killian, his jade eyes glinted in the violet flames but he nodded, trusting the choice I’d made.

“We’ll defend the ship,” he promised as I plunged into the icy sea.

Lash’s voice sounded over the small bubble that now clung to my ear like a droplet of water. “Be safe, Keera.”

“Burn them to the ground,” I answered.

He chuckled and set another ship’s sails alight.

Gerarda and I swam as close as we could to the wall of magic flame. She dove under the surface to surveil how deep the flames sunk beneath the water.

“Thirty feet deep,” she gasped, surfacing after a minute. “We can’t waste energy attempting that more than once. We’ll have to swim under on the way back too.”

I dunked my head into the water and saw the flickering line where the violet flames started along the channel. “Do you trust me?” I spat salty water from my lips.