Hunt on Dark Waters (Crimson Sails, #1)(78)

She’s still threatening instead of killing. I’m right. At least, I hope I’m right. “How long do you think you can avoid the C?n Annwn in the search of yours? The fact that you managed to do it this long is a small miracle.”

She curses and shoves me down. I land on my ass hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs. I’m slightly gratified when Lizzie drops down next to me. She throws her blood blade to the ground, and it shifts back to liquid almost instantly. “There’s nothing to keep me from killing my way through the lot of them. It might be fun.”

I snort. This is the Lizzie I know. I’m still not entirely certain the threat has passed, but if she’s willing to talk, I’ll do my best not to incite her further. Probably. “You would take a lot of them down before they finally cut you to pieces, but it’s a game of numbers, and you don’t have the advantage. Not to mention, this whole damn realm is water. Your chance of stealing a ship and remaining undetected is almost nonexistent.” I watch her out of the corner of my eye. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

“Just tell me where, Evelyn.”

At this point, there’s no advantage in keeping the information from her. “You know, if you’d ask questions instead of coming through the portal ready to blow our heads off, we could have saved a lot of time and energy. I didn’t even mean to steal them. I was just so angry at you, and you know how comforting I find stealing when I’m upset.”

She lifts a brow, the imperious expression on her face all the more horrifying because she’s covered in blood. “It’s a terrible coping skill.”

“I’m not arguing that.” I very carefully don’t look over my shoulder to where Bowen has gone quiet. Thank the gods he has the wherewithal to realize we’re poised on the knife’s edge. One wrong move starts the fight again. “Your jewels are on the Crimson Hag. They tossed me off the crew after I interfered with them killing a dragon. I didn’t have a chance to collect my things in the process.”

She exhales a soft curse. “That’s convenient. How do I know you’re not lying?”

“Easy.” I almost slump against her shoulder before I remember we aren’t not-girlfriends anymore, and she’s been definitely trying to kill me for the last couple weeks. “You know how much shit I took. Do you really think I have it hidden on my body?”

“It would be simpler if you did.” She pinches the bridge of her nose. “I guess it’s time to steal a ship, then.”

I blink. “That is a huge leap of logic. How the fuck are you going to get anywhere? And did you forget about the entire realm of hostile motherfuckers who don’t take kindly to trespassers?” A tug on my magic makes me turn my head to find Bowen leaning with one arm braced over his head against the shield. His expression is thunderous, and it’s aimed directly at me. Fuck.

“If I let him out, do you think you can resist the urge to attempt to murder him?”

“Evelyn, I am still fighting the urge to murder you. I make no promises.”

Not the most optimistic statement, but I don’t think it’s going to get better. I take in a slow breath and concentrate on breaking the circle. In seconds, Bowen is at my side. His hands clench as if he wants to grab me and drag me away from Lizzie, to put as much distance between us as possible.

Instead, he drops down next to me. “If you ever do that again, I’m going to put you over my knee and paddle your ass until it’s purple.”

Lizzie lets out a musical laugh. “Oh, you’re obviously new to this. Adorable.” Her tone says that she finds him anything but.

If I don’t rein this in, we’re going to end up in a bloodbath. Again. “You can’t just go around stealing ships, Lizzie. Someone will report it to the C?n Annwn, and then this only ends with your death.”

“Perhaps.” She shrugs a single shoulder. “But if the ship I steal is one of the C?n Annwn ships with those distinctive crimson sails …”

“Hard to sell it as one of ours—theirs—without a crew,” Bowen rumbles.

“Don’t need much of a crew. With the amount of magic seeped into those boards, I’d wager those fucking ships practically sail themselves—at least long enough to get me where I need to go.” She pushes to her feet, and my pride doesn’t hate the fact that she stumbles a little. “There’s one of the crimson-sailed motherfuckers just off the coast right now. The gossip says they had a rough go of it fighting some mermaids. I just need to kill enough of the crew for the rest of them to agree to work with me. Simple.”

She pauses and looks at us. “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Are you coming or what?”





CHAPTER 32




Bowen


I DON’T KNOW IF MY HEARTBEAT IS EVER GOING TO RETURN to normal. Watching Evelyn attempt to fight this monster of a vampire, knowing she’s willing to sacrifice her life to save me? I’ve never experienced fear like that. I still don’t quite understand how the fight turned from verbal to physical to verbal again, but it’s increasingly clear that these two have an incredibly complicated relationship. There’s a part of me that wonders if Evelyn will want to take things up with her ex now that they’re no longer literally at each other’s throats, but she slumps against me and leaves her head on my shoulder as we watch the vampire pace.