Chapters (51)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- PROLOGUE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- EPILOGUE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Also by Adrienne Young
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
My voice was hoarse, hollow on a long breath. “Shit.”
FOUR
I watched him.
Koy leaned against the crates secured along the stern, his gaze set on the full sails overhead. The Luna was already drifting from the barrier islands and Jeval was growing smaller behind us. Wherever we were headed, Zola wasn’t wasting any time.
Koy didn’t look up, but I knew he could feel my eyes on him. And I wanted him to.
The last time I’d seen Koy, he was tearing down the docks in the dark, screaming my name. I could still see the way he’d looked beneath the surface of the water, blood trailing in twisting streams. I don’t know what had made me jump back in after him. I’d asked myself that question a hundred times, and I didn’t have an answer that made any kind of sense. If it were me, Koy wouldn’t have hesitated to leave me to drown.
But even if I’d hated him, there was something I had understood about Koy from the start. He was a man willing to do whatever he had to. No matter what, and at any cost. And he’d made me a promise that night I first stood on the deck of the Marigold. That if I ever came back to Jeval, he’d tie me to the reef and leave my bones to be picked clean by the creatures who lived in the deep.
My gaze dragged over his form, measuring the height and weight of him. He had the advantage over me in almost every way, but I wasn’t going to turn my back or give him a single chance to keep that promise.
I didn’t blink until Clove came up the stairs with heavy steps, running both hands through his curling hair to rake it back from his face. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to his elbows, and the familiar movement made the pain in my chest flicker back to life.
“Dredgers!” he called out.
The Jevalis lined up along the starboard side, where the dredgers from Zola’s crew, Ryland and Wick, stood waiting. The crates of tools were in their hands, and from the look on their faces, they didn’t like what was about to happen.
Koy slung his own belt over his shoulder, taking the place on the deck before Clove. That was just like Koy, finding the scariest bastard on the ship and making a point of showing them he wasn’t afraid. But when I looked up into Clove’s face, his attention was on me.
The steely glint in his eye was unwavering, making my insides feel like I was falling. “All of you,” he grunted.