part0032

The remaining Shadows halted. They looked to each other, uncertainty crossing their faces. Clearly they were unsure what to do or how to behave now that the Queen was gone.

Drew tensed, waiting for them to attack. When they did not, he straightened. Without warning, they pushed past him, fleeing. Drew did not bother to go after them. He did not think they would be a threat any longer.

Why risk their lives for a Queen who was dead?

Ash surrounded them like rain after a drought. He started to laugh. He whirled around on the ball of his foot as the chuckles continued to come out of his mouth.

Until his eyes rested on Kelia.

“Don’t call me that.” Kelia’s eyes were closed, and she winced as she moved.

He could not tell if it was pain from what had to happen between he and the Queen, or if it was because her body could not endure any more harm.

“You know I did not mean—”

“I know.” She tried to nod and flinched her head. “I do. And I’ll probably… I’ll probably be okay with it later. But now… It’s too soon.”

Drew dropped to his knees and brought his wrist to his mouth. Quickly, his fangs ripped the skin off his wrist and placed it just in front of Kelia’s mouth. She opened one eye as though she could smell the blood.

“Drink, dar—Kelia.” He smiled. He loved her name. He loved the way it sounded on his mouth. He loved everything about her. “It will speed up your body’s healing process. Even Shadows cannot heal quickly otherwise when injured by the Queen.”

Kelia nodded and closed her eyes once again. She leaned forward and placed her lips on his wrist and started to consume his blood. He had to bite back a moan. Somehow, even in the most treacherous of places, she brought out something raw and passionate in him.

When she finished, she released his hand and he let it fall back to his side. He could see the change in her almost immediately. After another few minutes, she was able to push herself into a sitting position.

Drew knelt down and wrapped his arm around her body, helping her stand. “Are you all right?”

She shrugged. “I’ve been better.”

He grinned. “I’m glad to see you haven’t lost your charming personality.”

Drew assisted Kelia toward the door. Together, they would go back into the battle.

As they exited the building, he saw lots of ash and lots of blood in the ocean. Sirens were transforming before his very eyes into the humans they used to be while the remaining Shadows looked around, as though a spell had been broken from their minds.

He looked across the sea at his ship and saw Wendy, holding what seemed like nothing but actually appeared to be a shield to protect the Sirens.

Drew and Kelia walked to the shore. No Shadow attacked. They looked at Drew and Kelia in awe.

“It can’t be…”

“Tell me it’s not true.”

“Sorry,” Drew said, though he did not stop walking. “The Queen is dead. You are all free.”

He made his way to a rowboat and helped Kelia inside before pushing the boat onto the water and rowing to the Wraith .

It was only a moment before they were both back on deck. Drew was just about to pull Kelia into a long kiss when Bethany appeared, seemingly from nowhere.

Drew cleared his throat. “Let me be the one to tell her.”

“Tell me what?” Kelia asked.

His gaze snapped to Kelia. Her eyes were still closed, but there was a wrinkle over her nose that indicated she could feel the pain in her body. She was healing, but her body was slow, still in its Infancy. She might be stuck with the pain for a few days at least.

“I’m afraid I won’t get to give you that happily ever after after all,” he said slowly.

“What are you talking about?” Her voice was tight, controlled. He knew she was trying to keep the pain from her voice so he wouldn’t have to worry. Why she continued to think about him even while she endured such pain was not something he understood. Perhaps that was the very definition of love.

There were so many unsolved mysteries about this woman. He’d hoped over many lifetimes to uncover more of them. But it wasn’t meant to be.

“I must leave you,” he told her. “I must go.”

Her eyebrows pushed together, and she tried to sit up. She grunted as she did so, moving slower than his ship against the wind.

“Kelia,” he said in a low voice. “Do not push yourself.”

“I went through Hell and back, a few times actually, just to see you kill the Queen so we could be together,” Kelia pointed out. She finally opened her eyes so they locked with Drew’s. He wanted to look away, but he could not. She captivated him. “And now you tell me that cannot be?”

Drew chuckled, but there was no heart in it. He simply reacted.

“Yes, I’m afraid so,” he said.

“I didn’t lie,” he maintained. “I withheld.”

“It’s starting to feel like the same thing,” she said. “You could have just told me. I would have supported you. I would have done anything for you, Drew—I did do everything for you. And you’re walking away?”

“I don’t have a choice.”

“You always have a choice,” she snapped. She winced, as though the powerful thrust of her words were enough to sting like weapons. “Stop lying to me, and stop lying to yourself.”

“The only reason the Sirens even agreed to help was because Bethany made them,” he said. “She wanted me punished because, in a way, I am at fault for what happened to the Sirens. I left the Queen, and the consequences of that action affected everyone from Emma to Wendy to Daniella to you. Your father. The Sirens. How can I blame them for their hatred of me and my kind—for their desire of retribution—when, if I had just stayed put, they would not have been created, or have suffered, in the first place?”

Kelia placed her hand on his cheek. He could read her eyes clearly. She was always so open with her emotions. He wanted to remind her that her emotions would not serve her, but he held back. Now was not the time to say such things.

“The Queen is finally dead,” she murmured. “And still we cannot be together.”

Drew opened his mouth, ready to respond, when someone cleared their throat behind them. Kelia tilted her head to look. When Drew saw Kelia frown, he moved so he was facing her, positioning Kelia behind him.

“It is time,” Bethany said. “We must leave now.”

“Bethany,” Kelia said, her voice quivering as she said her name. In all the time that Drew knew Kelia, he had never heard her beg before. She had too much pride. Even as he watched her with the Queen, not once did she beg for her life. “Bethany, please. Your sisters have reclaimed their lives. Look at them.” She gestured out at Sangre, where the remaining Sirens still alive stood on shaking legs and tried to cover up their bodies with whatever they could find. “You have your freedom. Why would you force Drew to give his up? Without him, you—”

“Without him, my sister and I never would have become Sirens in the first place,” she said. “Without Drew Knight, we would have been married off, probably with grown children by now. Without him, my sister would still be alive.”

“I will go to Port George,” Drew said, “but I still have people on my ship who wish to disembark on the way. You may accompany us if you like, if you do not trust that I will turn myself in. But I would appreciate the opportunity to get my sister and the redhead to Adelaide.”

“The redhead?” Bethany asked, her lips quirking up into a small amused grin.

“You know very well what her name is,” Kelia told him, her tone droll.

“Is that all right with you?” Drew asked.

“I suppose…” she said. “I do not think I will go with you. I’m just going to trust your word. It is imperative you do not betray that, Shadow. My time as a Siren has taught me magic I would not hesitate to use against you, or the people you love, if I need to.”

“What’s your problem?” Kelia snapped, stepping from behind Drew. “We’ve all lost people in this war. I’ve lost a father, a close companion. I’ve been harmed in more ways than you can imagine. And I’ve died. Died . I don’t get to turn into a human at the end of this like you did. I am still a Shadow. I am still dead, condemned to the sea until darkness. What more do you want?”

Bethany didn’t flinch. Her eyes stayed on Drew, and there was a silent communication that seemed to pass between them, something Kelia did not quite grasp.

“I promise you, I will go to Port George. I will turn myself over to the East India Company.”

Bethany nodded before shifting her eyes over so they rested on Kelia. “Perhaps we will meet again one day, Shadow.”

“You better pray we do not,” Kelia said through gritted teeth.

Bethany grinned and looked back at Drew. “I see why you fancy her,” she said. “I will disembark now. I’m trusting you at your word, Captain Knight. If I find out you lied to me—”

“Save your breath, darling,” Drew said. “I am aware of your threats and your ability to carry them out. You have my word. What more do you need?”

There was still a pause, as though she was hesitating to trust him, but finally she nodded. Without another word, she got off of Drew’s ship and headed to one of the boats she commandeered from the inn at the Island of the Damned.

“Ready to set sail then?” Drew asked.

Kelia didn’t answer. She just turned and walked away, as though he was already gone from her life.

Kelia had to put some distance between herself and Drew. Even after learning he had betrayed her—that he had agreed to turn himself in to the East India Company—she still couldn’t stand near him without hot chills running through her body. Despite the fact she had known him for a while now, he still had this effect on her. He still caused her stomach to tumble and her heart to quicken and her breath to shudder.

Soon, she would never feel that rush ever again.

Dropping Wendy and Daniella off with Adelaide was a lot quicker than Kelia had expected it to be. Of course, Adelaide was not one for sentimentalities or idle chatter. Drew barely said two words to her before she all but slammed the door in his face. She was back at her old home, having already rebuilt it in a matter of days. When Adelaide found out about Emma, it was the first time Kelia had seen her emote anything other than annoyance, frustration, and arrogance.

“She would have wanted me to take you, unfortunately,” Adelaide had said to Wendy. “I better do it. The last thing I want is for her to haunt me in death. She was already a bitch of a woman in life; I can only imagine how she’d be as a spirit.”

Drew and Kelia headed back from the island to the ship. The Island of the Damned was under construction. There was not as many people there, and there were no threats waiting for Drew and Kelia at every turn, as there had been before.

Either that meant Drew and Kelia had eradicated the threats when they were here last or, now that the Queen was finally dead, there was no reason to go after Drew and Kelia.

As much as she wanted to be angry with him and distance herself from him, the closer they came to him turning himself in, the more she wanted to experience every last moment with him that she had left.

“Now where do we go?” Kelia asked, once they were safely on board.

“You know where, darling,” Drew said.

Drew pulled Kelia toward him so she rested her cheek against his chest, and he placed his chin on top of her head, his arms wrapping around her body and keeping her close to him.

“We go to Port George,” he murmured.

Kelia felt tears accumulate in her eyes, but she blinked them back from falling. Drew needed her to be strong, and all she wanted to do was break down.

“We go to the Society and see if it’s still standing,” he continued. “I’m sure the East India Company will want to hear about what has happened to their Queen.”