Page 84 of Pirate Witch

All I can see is the witch’s face. The image won’t go away, like she’s determined to consume my last moments on this earth.

Fuck. She can have them.

Why the hell is Everett taking so long? My eyes struggle open again, but I must be hallucinating because there’s no way the lanky kid is standing above me parrying the blow that should’ve separated my head from my body.

I blink, trying to clear the image, but it only gets blurrier.

My head falls back for a final time, and everything goes black.

ChapterTwenty-Nine

CASIMIR

Diving into the icy water of Hardhearth Bay is a relief from the sticky, smoky air above. Nos keeps hold of my hand, trusting me to get us safely to a part of the water that’s deep enough for a shift before I release him. This time, there’s no disorientation. We know what’s coming and we both embrace it. When our heads emerge back into the fiery hell above water, we’re one body.

Most of the ships are on fire. My beast is content to let me stay in charge and determine friend from foe, but the second I see a royal frigate about to fire on theGolden Griffinhe springs to the forefront, wrapping our tail around the ship and crushing it in a coil of impenetrable scales. Cheers go up from Fitz’s exhausted crew, but we don’t wait around for their thanks.

“We need to get to theDeadwood.”Nos’s voice rings in my head.“Val’s going to need us and we have to be fast enough to save—”

I don’t give him a chance to finish, diving beneath the waves and propelling us out towards the open water. Luckily, Nos senses my intention and arrows his head alongside mine, saving himself from being dragged along for the ride. I would have stayed above water, but the smoke would’ve made searching slow, and we don’t have time for that. Fortunately, years of diving overboard means I have more experience finding our ship from beneath than I do from above. Something that works to our advantage now, as I quickly identify theDeadwood’shull sandwiched beside a much larger one.

“He’s been boarded,”I tell my twin, grimacing.“Shit, that’s a Man O' War.”

“This isn’t good.”

No shit, brother.But I keep that particular retort to myself as we surge up toward the surface with a deafening roar.

It takes no effort at all to force our twin heads through the gap between the ships, using our bulk to separate them. Nos takes control of our tail, wrapping it around the bigger warship and dragging the two even farther apart. While he’s busy with that, I scan the deck of our ship, searching for our captain.

There, at the wheel. Val is lying completely unconscious on his back, and above him…

Cooper Castleman is duelling his father. Quite skillfully, too, which I didn’t expect. I knew he was highborn, but he doesn’t seem like the type.

“Well, I guess our young mage friend is full of surprises.”

Our appearance jolts all of them, making the remaining mages on board stagger. All of them look up in utter terror at the two-headed beast, completely distracted.

All except for one. Everett Castleman regains his composure and swipes downward at the captain, just as his warship fires another volley into our coils, trying to free themselves. The jolt from the shot sends his swing wildly out of control.

He misses Val’s body by inches.

Cooper isn’t so lucky.

Everett’s gleaming silver blade is so sharp that for a second, the wound isn’t obvious. For that moment, I let myself hope that it isn’t fatal.

Then Cooper’s abdomen opens up, and his guts come falling out in a waterfall of gore. It’s deep and bloody. Bloody enough that it’s obvious his father has managed to hit something vital.The kid drops his sword as he sees what’s happened, and he blinks up at his father with the oddest look of resignation and betrayal.

Like he always expected that his father would kill him, but deep down he hoped he’d never actually do it.

Too late, I snap my jaws down over Everett’s body. My fangs cut through bone, muscle and sinew, and when I draw back, only his legs are left standing on the deck. A second chomp—because apparently my beast has no self-respect, and he’shungry—and the rest of him is gone too. Once that’s done, I use my neck to sweep the deck free of the remaining mages, and scoop Cooper up in my mouth.

“Finish that ship. We’ve got to get the kid to Elsie, now!”Maybe it isn’t too late.

The Solar is fucking powerful.

Please, Goddess, let her be able to save him.

Nos listens, crushing the Man O' War with a roar before ripping the mast off and smashing it back into the deck for good measure.