Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
“Yeah, that’s not going to work for me.” I bend over to pull off my boots. After some consideration, I don’t bother to take off the rest of my clothes. If it gets me into the water, then I’m fighting a losing battle and my clothing making it challenging to swim will be the least of my problems. “The order still stands. Clear the decks.”
“Lizzie,” Maeve says. “Don’t. We’ll find another way.”
I catch the back of Maeve’s neck and pull her into a rough kiss. “Go into the captain’s quarters. I need to be focused for this fight. I won’t be if I’m worrying about you.”
“But—”
“Please, Maeve.”
She seems shocked that I said please, and even with everything going on, it strikes me that I’ve never said that word to her before. Maeve looks back into our wake, where the water horse is closer than ever. There’s something in her expression that I don’t like, but surely she knows she can’t fight that thing. I’m the best chance of taking it down. We’re already running on a tight crew, and we can’t afford to lose any more people. Not without slowing us down.
Finally, she says, “I’ll go into the crow’s nest. That’s my only compromise.” Before I can tell her that that’s a ridiculous plan and I want her safely shut away, she rushes to the netting. She drapes her pelt over her shoulder and scales up to the crow’s nest, moving faster than she has a right to. As if she can outrun my words.
“Captain.”
It’s only been a couple days, and that title sits ill at ease on my shoulders. I take a deep breath and turn to the back of the ship. “Keep our course.”
“Yes, Captain.” Rin and Alix huddle back behind the helm. There’s little protection on either side, so I resist the urge to head toward the back of the boat to meet the water horse. It won’t attack from that direction, anyways. Not if it’s as clever as Rin and Alix seem to think. If I was hunting a ship like this, I would come over the side.
Even as the thought crosses my mind, the horse dives beneath the water. I find myself holding my breath, waiting for it to surface again, but it doesn’t. Seconds tick by, tension coiling tighter and tighter. I drag my nail along my inner arm and will the blood to cover my hands, forming claws. The sharp pain clears the rapidly circling thoughts in my head. We might be in the middle of the ocean on a ship with a predator circling, but I know this feeling. The moment before a fight for my life. Only one of us will see the sunset, and it’s damn well going to be me. I take a breath and dig my nail deeper into my forearm, forcing more blood out and lengthening the blood claws as much as I can without making them brittle. It’s a fine balance, and one I’ve spent years perfecting.
I’m a fucking killer as much as this water horse is. More, because I bet I’ve lived longer.
It still takes effort to steady my breathing, to strive for a slice of calm before the attack. Usually, I’m fighting for my life, for my family’s honor, out of sheer boredom. That’s not the case today. If I fail, over a dozen people die. If I fail, Maeve might die.
Unacceptable.
“Jugular is likely my best bet,” I murmur to myself. “Those hooves are too dangerous to fuck with.” I’ll need to find a way to flank it or come over its back. It’s been damn near fifty years since I’ve been on the back of a horse, and that one didn’t have claws and fangs. I don’t look forward to this experience.
“Lizzie! Starboard side!”
Maeve’s voice has me snapping around, and not a moment too soon. The water rises unnaturally there, up and up and up, cresting as the water horse bursts free of the surface. Water splashes over the railing in a wave that nearly takes me off my feet. I stagger and curse as it lands among us, the weight of it rattling the boards beneath my feet. I knew that it was huge, but its size is even more gargantuan than it appeared at a distance. It’s damn near twice as tall as I am, its body deceptively muscular and its claws twice the size of the blood-coated ones on my fingers.
How the fuck am I going to kill this thing?
Come on, Lizzie. You kill it the same way you kill everything else. Rip it open until it stops moving.
On instinct, I whip out my magic, intending to bring it to its knees so I have easier access to its neck. But instead of feeling the familiar sensation of taking hold of another being’s blood . . . my magic finds nothing to latch onto. What the fuck?