Page 24

Siobhan

Acid rain. On an entire fucking city. I stare into the sky through Evelyn’s shield and wonder where it all went so wrong. My sister isn’t a fool; she wouldn’t have successfully joined the Council if she was. This kind of attack would never be sanctioned. How can you pretend you’re hunting monsters and protecting people when you send out a damn storm that will kill anyone caught in it?

“We have to stop her.” Even as I say the words, the realization of what Morrigan is attempting to accomplish with this reckless move rolls over me. Of course we have to stop her. Of course she’s using extreme violence to draw me out. She’s tired of chasing me and wants me to come to her. “That bitch,” I breathe.

Bowen is on his knees, all color bleached from his face. The fact that he’s still conscious after that display of power boggles the mind. I knew he was powerful, but I had no idea the depth of it. “It’s still raining,” he rasps.

“Yes, but not as hard.” Evelyn doesn’t look too good, either. Her hands shake where they dig into the earth at our feet. Her spells truly are something to be coveted. It’s a good thing the Council isn’t aware of her, or they would have sent someone to haul her to Lyari to work directly for them.

Bastian squints at the sky. “I think it’s stopping.”

“It is.” Dia has her head tilted back and is fully relaxed, trusting us to ensure she makes it out of this. Or at least trusting Bowen. “If you send some of that wind now, Nox, it will disperse the remainder of it. He’s not feeding energy into the storm any longer.” She huffs out a breath that’s almost a laugh. “No stamina, that boy.”

I haven’t spent much time among the elderly. Life on the streets of Lyari is hard, and the privilege of growing old isn’t given to many. Even after leaving Lyari, my experience has been limited. The sea isn’t the kindest mistress. If sailors and fishermen live long enough to reach old age, they shift to a life spent with their feet planted firmly on the ground, rather than at the whim of the waves.

Even so, surely Dia is…different…from other people her age—and not simply because she’s still sailing.

Bowen staggers to his feet. “I can—”

“I’ve got it.” Nox sounds more tired than I’ve ever heard them. I want to tell them not to do this, not to drain any more magic from their depleted reserves, but I already know they won’t listen. And the people of Kanghri don’t deserve to suffer because my sister wants me dead.

I exchange an agonized look with Bastian, understanding blooming between us. It will always be like this. If not Nox, then it will be one of us, putting ourselves in danger in service of the greater good. “Be quick,” I finally say.

I go and stand behind them, bracing them with my body and my strength as they send their magic out in the form of air streams. Within moments, the clouds overhead break apart as if a giant reached up and swiped them away. The acid rain eases and then stops altogether.

Nox slumps back against me. “I’m tapped.” Their words slur a little. “Well isn’t as deep as it used to be.”

Fear slashes me, but I work to keep it out of my voice. We don’t have time for me to have an emotional reaction. “I know.”

“They did so much damage,” they murmur. “Any crops they managed to drag from the earth here will be destroyed. Fishing might be a problem, too.”

“Not to mention they have a brand-new acid lake.” Bastian scrubs a hand over his face. “How many people will die there before they realize what it is? How many kids will die after, ignoring the warnings of their elders about the danger?”

Evelyn frowns. “With a few earth-users, maybe they could cover it up and bury it away.”

“And have it resurface later, even worse than before?” Nox shakes their head. “I’ll send word—”

“How?” I guide them down to sit on the ground. “Your communication with the Council has been destroyed.”

They set their jaw. “There are other ways.”

“Those ways are going to have to wait.” Bowen stumbles a little as he makes his way to us. “I think we’re about to have company.”

I look over his shoulder and, sure enough, a small group of people are following the same path we took out of Kanghri. The distance is too great to pick out their features, even for me, but their movement is intent enough that I have no doubt they’re tracking us. “We need to move.”

Which is a damned problem because most of our party is dead on their feet. Nox can barely stand up on their own. Bowen is leaning heavily on Evelyn, Bastian has deep circles beneath his eyes, and Dia, while spry enough, is as old as dirt. With how fast the other group is moving, they’ll be on us well before we reach the beach, let alone manage to row out to the ship.

“We’ll never make it.” Bowen rolls his shoulders. “Better prepare for a fight when we can choose the location.”

A fight where all of our magic users are tapped. Best case, they remove the threat and go under from magical burnout. Worst case, we all die.

No. Not today. Sure as fuck not here .

“I’m going to shift.” I speak the words numbly. It was one thing to shift with only myself and Bastian as witness, but doing it in front of other people—especially when one of them is a person I care about deeply—feels vulnerable in a way I’d normally do anything to avoid. “I’ll carry you.”

“You’re a shifter.” Evelyn blinks. “Right. That explains a few things. What is your other form?”

“A hound.”

Nox plants their hands on their thighs and seems to focus on breathing. “Even though shifters are larger than normal animals, at best you can carry one other person.”

Bastian shakes his head. “You’re talking about normal shifters. Siobhan isn’t a normal shifter.”

“I can carry all of you.”

Nox is already shaking their head. “Not if you want to actually make it. Take Dia. Figure out the horn business. We’ll hold them off.”

Of all the—I can’t decide if I want to declare aloud that I love them or if I want to knock them over the head so they’ll stop being so damned dramatic. “No one is dying today.” The longer we stand here arguing, the more time we give our enemies to reach us. So I do the only thing I can think of to get us moving. I start pulling off my clothes. “Bastian, get ready with the glamour.”

Bowen spins around so fast, he almost topples over. “A little warning would be nice.”

“You’re so cute.” Evelyn gives him an indulgent look that’s only partially dampened by her clear exhaustion. “It’s just a little nudity. Shifters don’t tend to put emphasis on it the same way some cultures do.”

“All the same. The only person I’m interested in seeing nude is you .”

I do my best to ignore them and kick off my boots. I pass the bag I carried my clothes in to Bastian. “Hang on to this, please.”

Nox stares at him, the bag, and then at my half-naked body. “You certainly know how to make a statement, don’t you?”

Bastian laughs a little. “Siobhan is a true showwoman.”

I flush hot and then curse myself for reacting at all when there’s so much at stake. “There’s no more time for arguing.” I skim off my pants and shove them into Bastian’s hands. The cool air kisses my bare skin. Evelyn is right that shifters don’t worry overmuch about nudity the way some folks do, but I’m not a normal shifter. I don’t have a community like the solitary shifters do. Even before my parents died, they drilled into my head that no one must ever know our secret. In the rare times when we shifted, it was always alone and never as a pack; the better to avoid drawing attention to ourselves.

I allow the magic to unclench inside me. Between one heartbeat and the next, I shift into my other form. My eyesight becomes even better, my sense of smell incomparably superior to a human’s. My body stretches, and I land on four paws before the others.

A second later, the faint feeling of Bastian’s magic settles against my skin. He exhales shakily. “We’d better get moving. I can hold it for some time still, but the more people who are covered, the greater the strain.”

Evelyn’s eyes go wide as she takes me in. “That’s…I was under the impression that the laws of matter apply even to shifters. Usually they’re larger than their mundane counterparts, because humans are larger than most animals, but even if they grow a bit in half form, they don’t, like”—she motions at me—“quadruple in size.”

“Silly girl.” Dia says it fondly as she approaches me. “The C?n Annwn aren’t shifters. They’re gods. Your human rules don’t apply.” She bows a little to me, which makes me shift my feet restlessly. “If you’ll lower yourself a little, I’ll climb onto your back. Thank you for the privilege.”

I have no words to tell her that I’m not a god, merely the distant descendant of one, so I lower myself to my belly. My shoulder still reaches the top of Dia’s head, but Bowen finally manages to shake himself out of his shock and moves to lift the old woman up onto my back. I barely register her weight.

Bastian shoves my clothing and boots into the bag and nudges Evelyn. “You next.”

Bowen hoists Evelyn onto my back, and then Nox, ignoring their muttered curse. He pauses as if he might argue I can’t hold his weight as well, but then gives a curse of his own and climbs up.

Bastian pats my shoulder as he settles near my neck. “No one else will see, Siobhan. I promise.”

I do register the weight of five adults, but it’s nowhere near enough to keep me from rising easily to my feet, giving them a moment to adjust, and then taking off toward the north shore. Through it all, Bastian keeps us hidden with his magic, giving me the freedom to run. Even so, I’m slightly slower than normal; it takes a little over an hour to reach the shore.

“Let us down here,” Nox calls. “I can— Damn it, Siobhan. ”

I ignore them and plunge into the water. If recent experience has taught me anything, it’s that Nox will drive themself straight into magical burnout if I give them half a chance. Bowen could probably levitate the boat, but he’s tapped, too. So are Evelyn and Bastian, for that matter. I’m only marginally winded, and a short rest will be all it takes to get me back to full stamina and health. I can make the swim easier than they can.

“Hang on!” Bowen roars as the first wave hits.

My powerful strokes bring us through the wave break in seconds. There are still the currents to contend with, of course, but I’ve been swimming since I could walk; I know how to navigate tricky currents.

I take an angle almost parallel to the shore until the pressure against my body guides us in the direction I actually want to go. My fur is soaked, my legs churning, and I am finally starting to register the drag of my passengers, but I haven’t come this far to stop now. The Audacity bobs gently in the distance, less than a mile out. I can do this. I must do this.

Between one stroke and the next, the currents suddenly shift again, this time to propel me forward. Magic tickles my nose, and if I had a mouth made for words, I would curse Nox for using their magic when they’re already so drained. Since I don’t, I put all my remaining strength into paddling as quickly as possible.

With Nox’s water magic propelling me, we make it to the ship faster than I could have dreamed. Bastian clings to my neck. “Do you want me to drop the glamour now, or wait until you shift back?” His voice is ragged with strain.

Nox rolls off my back and treads water a short distance away. “Take the glamour off me.”

Bastian hesitates, but I can tell the exact moment he obeys, because a surprised shout goes up from the deck overhead. “It’s the captain!”

Someone unrolls a ladder, and Nox waves. “Thank you, darling! I’ll be up shortly.” They twist to face us, their eyes narrowed. “I can’t see any of you, but get moving. We didn’t come this far to drown now.”

I swim closer to the ladder, treading water as Dia, Evelyn, and Bowen scramble up the side of the ship. Then it’s only me, Bastian, and Nox.

Bastian eases off me, but doesn’t move far. “Change back so you can climb.”

Of course. I must be more tired than I realized, because that’s the obvious next step. I draw my magic into myself, tucking it down deep as my body shifts back into its human form. I go under for a brief moment while I rework how to swim with human arms and legs instead of a hound’s. When I surface again, Nox is directly in front of me, their gray eyes wide.

“Worried about me?” I rasp.

“Every damn day.” They finally manage a smile, though it’s strained around the edges. They glance at Bastian. “We have another flight before us.”

“I know.” We expected Morrigan to be far enough behind us that we could recharge the crew with a slower pace. That’s obviously not happening now. Even if the group following us turned back, it won’t take long for the Bone Heart to sail around Three Sisters to our position.

Bastian goes under and surfaces near the ladder. He grabs the closest rung. “We have to get moving.”

“Go.”

For a moment, it looks like he wants to argue, but someone among the three of us has to go first, so he sighs and hauls himself up the ladder. “Don’t linger.”

“Nox is right behind you.”

Nox shakes their head. “You first, darling.”

Despite everything, I find the capacity to grin. “So you can stare at all my unmentionables while climbing up behind me? I think not.”

Nox rolls their eyes. “I’ve been staring at your unmentionables since you came aboard my ship. You’re just giving me fodder for fantasies. It’s charity work, honestly.”

I should be focusing on the imminent danger we’re in, but flirting with Nox is so fun that my exhausted brain doesn’t want to do anything to break this moment. “It doesn’t have to be fantasy.”

Nox opens their mouth, pauses, and starts for the ladder. “Very well. You can stare at my unmentionables while we both climb.”

They’re running. Again. I make an effort to shrug off my disappointment and follow them. The wet fabric of their pants clings to their backside, showing every flex of muscle as they climb. I want to sink my teeth into them in a way that would truly worry me if I could dredge up the energy for it. Each foot I climb drains away the joy I found in the flirting, driving home the dire situation we’re currently in.

No guarantees that the horn will do anything. The only way to find out is to test it, and breaking into the Council’s seat of power is a good way to end up dead. There are no good choices.

Guess it’s time to make a bad one.