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The gold handle stuck from his chest, but he was half fae; he could survive if it didn’t puncture his heart.

“Rotty!” I scrambled up to him, water splashing over, crashing down on us. “It probably just hit a lung. You’ll be okay. Just hold on and let me get it out. You’re going to be okay.” My hand wrapped around the handle, ready to yank it out.

“No.” His hand stopped mine. “It’s too late.”

“No, it’s not. Come on, I can get you to the dinghy.”

“I’m sorry.” Something in his voice ran a chill down my spine.

“Don’t be sorry. Get your ass up. The blade didn’t hit your heart.”

“Doesn’t matter. This is the end for me.”

“This is not the time to get all dramatic.” I struggled to get him to sit up.

“I’m already dead.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The blade…” He hacked, his hand squeezing mine around the blade. “I had dipped it in goblin extract.”

“What?” My brain didn’t want to understand what this meant. “No.” I shook my head in denial.

“I am so sorry.” His body jerked, the poison sinking deeper into his bloodstream. “For everything…” Grief lined his forehead, as if he was asking me for clemency.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” I felt helpless and scared. “Don’t give up.”

“Promise me you will keep Katrina safe.”

“No need. You can do it yourself. I will get you off this ship. Just hold on, okay? Do it for Katrina.”

“She is the reason for it all…”

It was his tone, his eyes, that coiled dread in my stomach. The storm howled around us, but it felt distant.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m so sorry, Croygen. I never meant this to happen.” Hacking, a spittle of blood slipped over his lip, pain flinching his brow. “She is my whole world. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Lowe…”

Dread dropped on me.

“A few months ago… at port.” Rotty’s spine jolted, and even being poured down with seawater, I saw sweat beading on his forehead. “He told me he had her. Showed me letters she had been writing me. Told me if I said anything to anyone, he would kill her.” I knew Rotty hadn’t received anything in the last year from Katrina. He wanted to go find her, but business kept us far from that area.

“And you believed him?”

“I couldn’t chance not to.”

Swearing under my breath, I knew what was coming. Lowe had always been jealous of me, wanting the success I had. And if he couldn’t have it, he wanted to make sure I didn’t either.

“Katrina for my ship.” My jaw tightened, realizing nothing today was happenstance. It had been planned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“He said he’d do more than just kill her if I said anything. He’d force me to watch him with her… if I told you.” He struggled to speak.

I wanted Lowe to burn in a fiery pit of hell.