TWENTY-EIGHT

MARELLA CLUTCHED HER CLOAK closed with one thin hand as she followed me up the steps, shivering at the blast of cold as we reached the deck.

“We’re under attack,” I said, leading her to a spot by the starboard rail. “On both sides. I need you to help me wield the Minax to control the enemy sailors. I’ll command one half of the creature against one ship while you take the other.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying,” she said, sounding both annoyed and terrified.

“The Minax can possess more than one person at a time, but I’m not sure I can control it over that large an area.” I waved a hand in frustration, willing her to understand my frantic stream of words. “I need you to connect with its mind and make sure it doesn’t get out of hand on one ship, while I focus on the other.”

“No!” she said, fists clenched. “I’m not strong enough! It will control me.”

“You’re stronger now!”

“I’m not!”

With darting glances, I took stock of our enemies’ positions. The two ships had slowed to a crawl in the ice, but they still moved toward us. Their Firebloods were melting the ice. They weren’t yet close enough for our forces to attack.

Our other two ships were under attack nearby. Fire and ice flashed through the air. Screams echoed eerily through the fog.

I spotted Lucina on deck. Her eyes were closed, her face pointed up at the sky, her lips moving in prayer.

When I called her name, she opened her eyes. I beckoned her over. She looked distressed and frustrated as she rushed toward us. “There’s no sunlight! I can do nothing without sun.”

“Never mind that now. Do you have any light left? Inside you?”

“Yes,” she replied, curious.

Quickly, I explained my idea. Lucina turned her assessing stare on Marella.

“Can you help her?” I asked.

She nodded and put her hands out, palms up. She met and held Marella’s eyes with her own. “You trust me by now, don’t you, my lady?”

Marella hesitated, then nodded. “You gave me hope when we were locked in that cell. You used sunlight to heal me.”

Lucina smiled. “That’s right. So you know this sensation already. Hold on to me. When you feel the Minax gaining power over you, take some light from me to fight it back. We can do this. Together.”

Marella looked frightened, but she nodded and took Lucina’s hands.

“Can you control the creature?” Lucina asked, searing me with an intense golden stare. “Don’t try this if you’re not sure.”

I was only too aware that I’d lost control the previous day. But we were fighting for our lives. There were people I cared about here, people I loved who would die if I didn’t do something. I desperately hoped that connection, that love, would give me control. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt someone again.

“I can do this,” I told her.

She nodded. “We are ready.” She conveyed so much with her expression and her tone. Confidence. Faith. Reassurance.

A scream rent the air as a plume of enemy fire hit one of our sailors in the rigging. She lost her grip and fell to the deck. Her cries echoed in the fog. Someone ran to help.

This meant the enemy ships were so close they were within range. And we were within their range, too.

More injured, more cries. Impossible to concentrate. The Minax had woken fully to feed on the pain and terror.

“Marella,” I said, “help me.”

She nodded and closed her eyes. She knew what to do.

“Return to me,” she whispered.

I imagined the Minax being separated into two parts. A stabbing pain filled my chest. I had the agonizing sensation of my heart being rent in two as the shadows divided.

One shadow left my skin and sank into Marella’s raised hand. When it disappeared, she took a deep, shuddering breath and grabbed Lucina’s hand again.

“That ship’s yours.” I pointed starboard. “I’ll take the other. Do whatever you need to do to stop it, or at least create chaos. Target their helmsman. Incapacitate their Firebloods if you can.”

I rushed to port, near Arcus. He panted with exertion as he added more ice to the water. Our enemies waited with eager eyes, holding hooks with net bridges attached. In seconds they’d be close enough to throw the nets and swarm over to our deck to slaughter us.

Clutching the cold rail with one hand, I turned the palm of my free hand toward their ship. The Minax shot out like an arrow from a longbow, the shadow disappearing into one of the sailors. He dropped his hold on the net. Then the creature leaped into the next sailor, making him do the same. Their captain screamed at them, furious and confused.

“Disperse,” I ordered it, showing it what I wanted with a mental image.

A miasma of shadow spread out, extending until it covered everyone on the main deck. Its strength was diluted, but it was exerting influence over all of them at once. I might not be able to focus enough to coordinate their actions, but I could confuse them.

“Fog their minds.”

Orders were misunderstood or ignored. The wheel turned sharply. Their stern slid starboard, offering us the full broadside of the ship. Our Fireblood masters wasted no time taking advantage of this easier target. As their ship turned, their sails flapped, no longer catching the wind at the best angle. The sailors in the rigging hesitated, struggling to remember what to do.

The captain of the other ship stared at me with burning eyes. Somehow, he’d figured out that I was the cause of this.

“Target the girl with black hair,” he commanded, pointing at me.

One of his Firebloods managed to obey. Flames roared toward me. My other hand came up and met that flame with my own, redirecting the inferno up and back toward the other ship.

Flames engulfed their deck. Terrible screams.

The Minax fed on the glut of fear and pain all around us. My fire burned brighter than ever before. Pure, hot exhilaration, feeding me power.

As the shadow and I moved in harmony—command, obey—something shifted. The separation between myself and the Minax dissolved. I became both commander and servant, moving in the minds of the sailors without the intervening step.

I could even feel the other half of the Minax, heard Marella commanding it, felt it obeying her. I floated into the consciousness of all our victims. Mortal toys, ours to play with.

Moving in their minds like gossamer silk, I told them to jump ship. Watched as they stepped to the edge, crawled over the rail, and flung themselves off.

Falling. Screaming.

The bliss of it.

Irresistible, heady triumph.

Invincible.

No one could ever hurt me again.

I lifted my arms and tilted my head back, letting all that glorious power surge through me. I was incandescent. Unstoppable.

Almost… divine.

So now you understand.

I blinked, shaking my head. It wasn’t the voice of the Minax I’d heard—

Eurus’s voice came softly again. Clearer. Finally, you understand.

The Minax’s attention sharpened, listening. My whole body tensed.

“Where are you?” I asked, searching the ships, looking from deck to deck, from water to sky, all over. “Where are you?”

The east wind blew fiercely, filling sails, rocking the ships like cradles. Everywhere.

“I’m killing your followers.” I made three more of them jump over the side. Trancelike, eyes unblinking, I stared as they fell. Their arms pinwheeling in the air made me smile.

Eurus laughed joyfully. “I hope you’re enjoying yourself.”

That drew me up short. “You want me to do this?”

“Power over these mortal creatures is your birthright. Your inheritance. I gave this to you as a gift.”

A stillness came into my mind. An image. Two paths, just like in my dream of the tunnels. I could choose the one I’d intended to follow, or I could choose a brave new path, uncharted.

“Take the night throne,” Eurus invited silkily. “Take your due.”

An onyx throne rose up in my imagination, all sharp corners and polished surfaces.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Eurus asked. “See how it shines.”

A figure appeared on the throne, with long black hair and amber eyes.

“Me?” I asked. “How?”

“You are not quite ready. Not yet.”

“How do I become ready?”

“Are you brave enough to do what needs to be done?” he asked.

“How?” I demanded.

“Kill them all!”

Throwing my arms out, I sent streams of fire at the Servants’ ships, setting the hulls ablaze. I forced more of their people to jump.

Screams filled the twilight.

“Ruby!” Arcus’s voice in my ear, his arm around my waist, drawing me back. “Enough!”

I shuddered in reaction to his touch, loving and hating the contact. Too much light! Familiar, welcome. Repugnant! Safe.

Snapping back to myself, shaking my head to clear it, I sent one more command to the Minax. “Return to me.”

The shadows arrowed back into my heart. I gasped at the sharp burn of its presence. Leaning against the rail, I watched the flames rising from the Servants’ ships. The crews were dead or dying.

Horror threatened to crash over me, a storm wave I couldn’t survive.

I shook my head in denial. I couldn’t think about anything, not yet. I pulled out of Arcus’s arms and ran to Marella. When I put out my hand, she took it immediately.

“Return to me,” I repeated, and the rest of the Minax moved without hesitation into my fingers. Pain bit into my chest as the two halves rejoined.

I bent over and rubbed the aching spot over my heart. When the pain eased, I straightened, allowing myself to bask a little in relief and satisfaction. We had controlled the creature. We had done it!

Marella’s eyes held a gleam of feverish excitement, and she wore a small smile of triumph. I had a feeling my expression looked very much like hers.

“She needs rest,” Lucina said, her tone brusque and disapproving, which wasn’t fair considering that we had just won. She put a hand under Marella’s elbow and hustled her toward the companionway as if eager to get away from me. Or was I imagining that? Was the Minax making me see things that weren’t there?

As the euphoria wore off, exhaustion pulled at every muscle and bone, and I swayed.

But cold hands were there, ready to catch me, closing over my shoulders in a protective grip.

Afraid to look at Arcus, of what he might see in my face, I merely leaned into his strength.

I had become the Minax. Eurus had spoken, had told me what to do to prepare for his throne. I had followed his orders without resisting. Without question.

A shiver ran through me, and Arcus’s arms tightened.

But I was in control, I told myself desperately. I was in control.

The muffled strains of Lucina’s voice came through the door. “We cannot wait!”

I stood outside Brother Thistle’s cabin, my ear to his door. Brother Thistle and Lucina had disappeared inside while Kai supervised repairs to the ship. I wasn’t invited. Which made me all the more determined to know what they were saying.

“We dare not go to the Isle of Night before the Tempesian navy arrives,” Brother Thistle said. “For all we know, there are many more ships carrying hundreds of Servants in nearby waters and we cannot stop them all. And we need the Sudesian fleet as well. Both Frostbloods and Firebloods in strong numbers to make frostfire.”

“Frostfire is a stopgap,” Lucina argued, clearly annoyed. “It merely stuns the creatures.”

“Which may be necessary,” Brother Thistle said.

“Stunning the Minax won’t make a bit of difference if their cell door is open!” she replied. “The Gate must be repaired, and Ruby is the only one who can make sure it is never opened again. We must get to the Gate soon, before she is completely lost. Did you see her today?”

“I saw,” Brother Thistle said. He sounded… almost sad. Or disappointed? I wanted to burst through the door and scream at him. How dare you judge me? I saved us all!

I shook off the distracting impulses and struggled to hear. Lucina was saying something about Eurus. “He could be directing her actions even now. You have no idea how powerful he is!” She added something in a lower voice. I couldn’t make out the words.

“Far from it,” Brother Thistle said. “I know her, flaws and all. She would not turn as easily as you think.”

Lucina sounded sad but with an edge of steel as she replied, “He will do anything to turn her to his will. You underestimate him at your peril.”

Brother Thistle’s reply was too quiet to hear. I pressed my ear harder to the door, frustrated. Why couldn’t they speak up?

“She’s right, you know.”

I jerked upright and spun around. Marella leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “You’re not the only one who listens at keyholes.”

“She’s wrong to think I’m so weak,” I whispered adamantly. “I saved us. We did, you and I, together.”

“And I’m still feeling the effects, Ruby.” She swallowed, closing her eyes tight. “I know you’re too strong, though. I can’t take the Minax from you. And for that, I’m thankful.”

“You would try to steal the Minax if you could? Even after all this time?”

“Even now.”

I put my hand to the wall, turning away while I digested that. The Minax soaked up her longing, her despair. I felt it in my bones.

I straightened. “They’re wrong, though. I’m not losing myself to it. For the first time, I felt completely in control of it.”

“You felt that way,” she pointed out. “But were you wielding the Minax, or was it wielding you?”

Fear struck a direct blow, my pulse quickening. Was I playing into Eurus’s hands? He had wanted me to kill his own followers. To darken my blood even further? It didn’t make sense unless it was all part of his larger plan for me.

Maybe he’d even sent those ships for that express purpose, so I’d defend and kill, sinking deeper into the pit he’d dug for me. I shivered. Maybe going to the Isle of Night was the worst thing we could possibly do.

But if we didn’t, who else would repair the Gate? It was me or no one. We had to go.

In a secret part of my heart, I knew that nothing would keep me from the Isle of Night now. I was drawn there, filled with anticipation just like the Minax. Dread was nothing more than a vague flutter in the back of my mind. Caution was a distant memory.

Marella’s pansy eyes grew somber. “You’re lost, Ruby. So much further gone than I ever was. Do you even remember who you were before?”

She gestured to my wrists. I looked down, turning my hands up.

My blood ran black, as inky dark as soot in both wrists.

I searched my mind, struggling to recall the person I was, how I’d felt, how I’d thought before the Minax. I tried to think of Arcus, of my mother, of all the people like Anda and her daughter who I was trying to protect.

I couldn’t bring a clear memory forward.

Panic made my pulse trip, my eyes widen in realization. I looked at Marella, desperate for a moment before the Minax drew the feeling away.

She gave me a sad smile. “I didn’t think so.”