‘There’s no sign of her,’ said Maxwell.
‘Search again. She has to be found.’
‘Mr Ballard – I saw her jump back onto the ship – I don’t know how anyone could have survived—’
‘She can’t be dead,’ said her father. Violet was taking a step forward, opening her mouth to say I’m right here, when her father said, ‘I need that stupid mongrel back alive.’
Violet stopped, the words like a slap. She felt everything go very still and soundless, as if every particle of air had been sucked away.
‘Tom may be of Lion blood,’ her father said, ‘but he can’t come into his true power without killing another like him. I haven’t kept that bastard girl in my house, humiliating my wife and jeopardising my social standing, only to have her die before time.’
Violet felt her back hit the cork before she realised she had moved. Her fist shoved hard into her mouth to hold back the sound that tried to get out. She was staring at her father.
‘We’ll keep looking,’ Captain Maxwell was saying. ‘If she’s out there, we’ll find her.’
‘Then do it. And for God’s sake, don’t alarm her. Tell her that her brother has been asking for her. He’s sorry he had harsh words for her, he misses her. She’ll do anything for Tom’s approval.’
She was stumbling back blindly. Barely aware of her surroundings, she wasn’t thinking about being caught. She was just trying to get away, her limbs clumsy with horror.
She pushed through the stacks of cork and didn’t hear the voices approaching, footsteps coming right for her – when a hand grabbed her and pulled her to safety behind some crates.
Scant seconds later, her father and Captain Maxwell rounded the corner, passing right by the spot where she had been standing.
In the dim space between crates, she was staring at Will’s shocked face.
‘Let go! Let go of me, you don’t have any right—！’
‘I heard,’ said Will. ‘I heard what they said.’ She felt hot, then cold. He had heard. He had heard the words that made her shivery sick. The feeling of exposure was horrible. ‘You can’t go back to them.’
He was holding her by the shoulders, pressing her back into the crate. She could push him off, shove him away easily, if she could just stop shaking. She was strong enough. If she could just—
‘Why are you here?’ she said thickly. ‘If they find you—’
‘They’re not going to find me.’
‘You don’t know that.’
‘If they do,’ said Will, ‘we’ll go together.’
‘Why would you—’
‘You saved my life,’ said Will.
He said it simply. She remembered that Simon had spent years tracking him down, then had chained him to a post on a ship filled with unnatural cargo. Yet he had followed her here.
‘Everyone who has ever helped me is dead,’ said Will. ‘I didn’t want that to happen to you.’
She stared back at him. He had come all the way back into Simon’s stronghold. And he’d heard. He’d heard the words that had turned her life into a lie. Tom can’t come into his true power without killing another like him. Her father wanted to kill her. And Tom – did Tom know? Did he know what their father planned to do?
‘Come with me,’ said Will.
‘He’s my father,’ she said. If she could just stop shaking – ‘And Tom. Tom’s my brother. The Lion.’
As children, she and Tom had done everything together. Their father had always encouraged their closeness, as he’d encouraged her presence in the house. She’s the same blood as Tom, he’d say. She felt sick.
She remembered how normal the day had seemed, before her ordinary world had been shattered, Stewards and Lions and a sword that spewed black fire.
No, not normal. Tom getting Simon’s brand burned into his flesh. The smell of it like cooked meat, and a boy beaten and chained in the hold.
‘What Justice said—’ She made herself ask it, through chattering teeth. ‘Do you think it’s true?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Will. ‘But whatever’s happening, we’re both part of it.’
‘Is that why you want me to come with you?’
‘I want answers, like you. And I tried running. The things that are happening … I couldn’t get away from them. I couldn’t run from what was part of me. Neither can you.’