Page 102 of Daughter of the Dark Sea

“I’m here!” She reached out to touch the helm but her hand met nothingness.Fuck, where was she?

“Kora!” Blake’s voice echoed.

“Kora!” It blended into Aryn’s.

“Kora!” Now it was neither male, nor Samuel, but somethingother.

“Blake? Sam?” She stumbled blindly, following her instincts of the ship. She took two steps forward, and a spoke rammed into her ribs.Thank gods.

“Sam! I’m at the wheel! Where are you? Theron?”

Silence.

Her breathing quickened as she focused her hearing. It was as quiet as the Silent Tundra, in fact more so. There were no blasts of wind here. Even the ocean waters had stopped raging. The ship was eerily still.

“Sam . . .” she wavered. “Theron . . .?”

Tentatively gripping the wheel of the helm, Kora’s fingers brushed over the familiar grooves in the ebony wood. She continued moving her hands until she reached the malachite stone embedded in the heart of the wheel. Using it to centre herself, she spun the wheel with a deep exhale.

“Let me out. . .”she willed the Mist, praying she could break through.

“. . .letmein,”the voice replied.

A shudder rocked through the ship, the wood groaning. It fought to escape the invisible grip of the Mist as it listed, turning to what she hoped was north east. The talisman shone beneath her longcoat, and she jolted as a brush of wind caressed her face, a shock shooting from her scar to her dozing water beast.

“Let me in. . .”The voice was male. It sounded so human, so real. “Now . . . you need. . .”

“What . . .whoare you?” her voice broke, tears threatening to surface, confusion clouding her as she strained against the grey cloak enveloping her ship. Even with the talisman’s glow, she couldn’t see further than a foot ahead.

“Let us out!” she begged.

“Do not. . .trust. . .him.”The voice faded, along with the gentle brush of wind.

Kora’s ears rang with the deafening silence surrounding her, and she swallowed as she raised both hands and summoned the ocean waters. Her veins thrummed, energy pulsating from her core and cascading along her limbs. Her water beast purred, delighting in the chaos as the ocean crested.

The strain to break free from the Mist’s hold crushed her, as though heavy, iron anchors weighed down on her arms, forcing her to sink through the deck and into the ocean. Her neck arched, her jaw clenched as her legs trembled, her arms shaking from the force of wielding the seas against magical Mist.

“I am Captain Kora Cadell,” she whispered. “I will not be conquered.”

The ship lurched forward at her command, and the symphony of the storm restored. As the Mist waned, the sounds of her crew simultaneously returned all at once, and her talisman’s glow winked out.

“Captain!”

“Kora!”

“I can’t see!”

“Help me! Where is everyone!”

“Cadell.”

Theron’s voice cut through the wave of noise. Within a blink,Hell’s Serpentraced through the final dregs of the Mist, and Peril Cove came into focus. The storm had worsened, the skies cracking open with a downpour of relentless rain.

“Please tell me you saw that!” She was rooted to the spot, her hands gripping the wheel so tight the wood splintered.

He nodded, his own face stricken. Samuel lumbered up the stairs to the quarterdeck with Aryn and Ivar in tow, both panting and pale.

“What . . . the fuck . . . wasthat?” Samuel sputtered.