Water sprayed through the cave, and Bryce ducked again.

  People were shouting now, rushing from far inside the cave, guns pointed toward where the trucks burned, a wall of flame licking toward the cave’s distant ceiling.

  “Time to go,” Hunt said to Cormac, who was gaping at them. He hadn’t gone for his sword, which was a good sign, but—

  The prince whirled to the rebels, shouting across the chaos, “It was an accident!”

  There was no use in covering their asses, Bryce thought as Hunt grabbed her to him, wings spreading in anticipation of a mad dash through the cave and out into the open air. Like he wouldn’t wait for Cormac to teleport them.

  “We’re leaving,” Hunt ordered Ruhn, who fell into a defensive position behind him. Hunt said to Tharion, “You want Pippa, it’s now or never.”

  Tharion scanned the chaos beyond the trucks, the rebels advancing with their guns. No sign of Pippa. “I’m not running a foot closer to that shit,” Tharion murmured.

  Cormac had raised his hands as he approached his Ophion allies. The prince shouted to them, “The suit came to life, and launched its power—”

  A gunshot cracked. Cormac went down.

  Ruhn swore, and Hunt held Bryce tight to his side as Cormac struggled on the ground, a hand to his shoulder. No exit wound.

  “Fuck,” Cormac cursed as Pippa Spetsos emerged from the shadows. She likely wanted the Avallen Prince alive for questioning.

  And if Hunt flew into the air … he’d be an easy target. Especially while still inside the confines of the cave, no matter how massive. Tharion went for a knife at his side. Water wreathed his long fingers.

  “Don’t be dumb,” Hunt warned Tharion. He whirled on Cormac. “Teleport us out.”

  “Can’t,” Cormac panted. “Gorsian bullet.”

  “Fuck,” Bryce breathed, and Hunt prepared to take their chances in the sky, bullets be damned. He was a fast flier. He’d get her out. Then return to help the others. He just had to get her to safety—

  Pippa snarled from across the cavern, “You are all dead, Vanir filth.” Hunt’s back muscles tensed, wings readying for a mighty leap upward, then a sharp bank to the left.

  But at that moment, Bryce began glowing. A light that radiated from her star, then outward through her body. “Run on my mark,” she said quietly, sliding her hand into Hunt’s.

  “Bryce,” Ruhn started.

  Stars glinted in Bryce’s hair. “Close your eyes, boys.”

  Hunt did, not waiting to see if the others followed. Even with his eyes shut, he could see light sparking, blinding. Humans screamed. Bryce shouted, “Go!”

  Hunt opened his eyes to the fading brightness, clenched her still-glowing hand, and ran toward the wide cave entrance and open sea.

  “Grab that boat!” Tharion said, pointing toward a skiff moored a few yards inside the cave—presumably how so many rebels had arrived secretly.

  Hunt swept Bryce into his arms and jumped into the air, flapping for it, reaching the boat and untying it before the others could arrive, then gunning the engine. It was ready to go by the time they leapt in, and he made sure Bryce was securely seated before speeding off.

  “This boat won’t make it back to the coast,” Tharion said, taking over the steering. “We’ll need to stop at a fuel dock.”

  Cormac gazed toward the billowing smoke rippling from the broad cave mouth. Like some giant was exhaling a mouthful of mirthroot. “They’ll hunt us down and kill us.”

  “I’d like to see them try,” Bryce spat, wind whipping her hair. “Psychotic assholes.” She seethed at the prince, “You want to fight alongside those people? They’re no better than Philip fucking Briggs!”

  Cormac shot back, “Why do you think I was doing all I could to find Emile? I don’t want him in their hands! But this is a war. If you can’t handle the game, then stay the fuck out of it.”

  “Their methods mean that even if they do win,” Bryce shouted, “there will be nothing left of them that’s human at all!”

  “This was a bad day,” Cormac said. “This whole encounter—”

  “A bad day?” Bryce yelled, pointing to the smoldering cave. “All those people just got murdered! Is that how you treat your allies? Is that what you’ll do to us when we have no more value to you? We’ll be pawns for you to murder and then you’ll manipulate some other decent people into helping you? You’re Vanir, for fuck’s sake—don’t you realize they’ll do this to you as well?”

  Cormac only stared at her.

  Bryce hissed at Cormac, “You can fuck off. You and Pippa and the rebels. Let the Hind tear you to shreds. I want nothing to do with this. We’re done.” She said to Tharion, “And I’m done with helping you and your queen, too. I’m done with all of this.”

  Hunt tried not to sag with relief. Maybe they could now wipe their hands clean of any damning association.

  Tharion said nothing to her, to any of them, his face grave.

  Bryce turned on Ruhn. “I’m not going to tell you what to do with your life, but I’d think twice about associating with Agent Daybright. She’ll stab you right in the back, if the way these people treat their allies is any indication.”

  “Yeah,” Ruhn said, but he didn’t sound convinced.

  For a moment, it seemed like she might fight him on it, but she kept quiet. Thinking it through, no doubt. Along with whatever other secrets she’d been keeping.

  Hunt turned to monitor the island’s shoreline. No boats came after them, and nothing lay ahead except open water. But—

  He went still at the sight of the sleek black dog running along one of the dry, white cliffs of the island. Its coat was a strange, matte black.

  He knew that dog. That particular shade of black. Like the wings it bore in its other form. The hound ran along the cliffs, barking.

  “Fuck,” Hunt said softly.

  He lifted an arm to signal to the dog that he’d seen it. Seen him. The dog pointed with a massive paw westward, the direction they were headed. He barked once. As if in warning.

  “Is that—” Ruhn asked, seeing the dog as well.

  “Baxian.” Hunt scanned the western horizon. “Head northward, Tharion.”

  “If Baxian’s on those cliffs …” Bryce looped an arm through Hunt’s and pressed tight.

  Hunt could think of only one enemy Baxian might be summoned to work alongside. “The Hind can’t be far away.”

  44

  “You have to teleport us out,” Bryce ordered Cormac, who pressed a hand to his bloody shoulder. “Let me get that gorsian bullet out of you and—”

  “You can’t. They’re designed to split apart into shrapnel on impact to make sure that the magic is suppressed for as long as possible. I’ll need surgery to get every last shard out of me.”

  “How did the Hind find us?” Bryce demanded, breathing hard.

  Cormac pointed to the smoke. “Someone must have tipped her off that there was something going down here today. And Athalar just let her know our precise location.”

  Hunt bristled, lightning flaring around his head like a bright twin of the halo. Bryce grabbed his shoulder in warning, but said to Cormac, “I’ll try, then. Teleporting.”

  “You’ll wind up in the sea,” Cormac hissed.

  “I’ll try,” she repeated, and clenched Hunt’s hand harder. Only a little guilt stabbed her that it was his and not Ruhn’s that she grabbed, but if it came down to it … she’d get Hunt out first.

  Tharion cut in, “I could protect us in the water, but we’d need to jump in first.”

  Bryce shut out his voice as the others began arguing, and then—

  “Fuck,” Hunt snarled, and she knew even before she opened her eyes that the Hind had appeared on the horizon. Guns cracked from a distance at a steady beat, but Bryce kept her eyes closed, willing herself to concentrate. Hunt said, “They want to keep me from flying.”

  Ruhn asked, “Do they know who we are?”

  “No,” Cormac said, “but the Hind always has snipers do this. You get airborne,” he said to Hunt as Bryce gritted her teeth, ordering her power to move them away, “and you’ll be vulnerable.”

  “Can we make it to the next island before they reach us?” Ruhn asked Tharion.

  Tharion rifled through the compartment beside the steering wheel. “No. They’re on a faster boat. They’ll be on us when we hit open water.” He pulled out a pair of binoculars. “A good two miles from shore.”

  “Shit,” Ruhn said. “Keep going. We’ll run until there’s no other option.”

  Bryce tried to calm her frantic breathing. Hunt squeezed her hand in encouragement, lightning zapping into her fingers, but Cormac said to her quietly, “You can’t do it.”

  “I can.” But she opened her eyes, blinking at the brightness. This was such a beautiful place to die, with the turquoise sea and white islands behind them.

  “Pollux and the Harpy are with the Hind,” Tharion announced, lowering the binoculars.

  “Get down,” Hunt warned, ducking low. They all went with him, the water from the floor of the boat soaking into the knees of Bryce’s leggings. “If we can see them, they can see us.”

  “You say that as if there’s a chance of us somehow getting away unseen,” Bryce muttered. She said to Tharion, “You can swim. Get the Hel out of here.”

  “No way.” The wind tossed the mer’s red hair as they bounded over the swells, the boat steered on a current of his power. “We’re in this until the bitter end, Legs.” But then the mer stiffened and roared, “Into the water!”

  Bryce didn’t second-guess him. She flung herself over the boat’s side, Hunt splashing in with her, wings spraying water wide. The others followed. Tharion used his water magic to propel them a safe distance away, a wave of power that had Bryce sputtering as she emerged, salt stinging her eyes.

  Right as something massive and glowing shot beneath her legs.

  The torpedo struck the boat.

  The tremor in the water rippled through her, and Tharion propelled them farther out as the boat exploded into smithereens, a plume of spray shooting sky-high.

  Then it subsided, a field of debris and lashing waves left in its wake.

  Exposed and adrift in the water, Bryce scanned for anywhere to go. Hunt was doing the same.

  But Ruhn said, “Oh gods.”

  She looked to where her brother was treading water. Beheld the three massive black shapes aiming for them.

  Omega-boats.

  Ruhn had never once in his life felt as useless as he did treading water, flotsam drifting past, Ydra distant behind them and the next island not even a smudge on the horizon.

  Even if Athalar could manage to get airborne with waterlogged wings, snipers were waiting to down him—and Bryce. Cormac couldn’t teleport, and Tharion might be able to move them a little with his water, but against three Omega-boats …

  He met Hunt’s stare over the bobbing swells, the angel’s soaking face grim with determination. Hunt asked, “Shadows?”

  “Sun’s too bright.” And the waves shifted them too much.

  Two of the Omega-boats peeled off for Ydra, presumably to prevent any Ophion boats from escaping. But that still left one massive submersible against them. And the Hind, the Harpy, and the Hammer on that approaching speedboat.

  Once their faces became clear, it’d be over. Sandriel’s old triarii would know who they were, and they’d be dead fucking meat. The Helhound, apparently, had tried to help them, but the rest of those assholes …

  “Get out of here,” Bryce scolded Tharion again.

  Tharion shook his head, water spraying. “If Athalar can down their boats—”

  “I can’t,” Hunt cut in, and Ruhn raised his brows. Hunt explained, “Even if it wouldn’t give away my identity, you’re in the water with me. If I unleash my lightning …”

  Ruhn finished, “We’re deep-fried.”

  Hunt said to Bryce, “You can’t blind them, either. They’ll know it’s you.”

  “That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” she countered, treading water. “Lightning, they’d know it’s you. But a bright burst of light … there are more ways to excuse it. I can blind them, and when they’re down, we seize their boat.”

  Hunt nodded grimly, but Ruhn countered, “That doesn’t handle the Omega-boat. It doesn’t have windows.”

  “We’ll take our chances,” Hunt said.

  “Right.” Bryce focused on the approaching death squad. “How close do we let them get?”

  Hunt eyed their enemies. “Close enough that we can leap on board when they’re blinded.”

  Ruhn muttered, “So really damn close.”

  Bryce blew out a breath. “All right. All right.” Light began flickering from her chest, building, casting the water around her into palest blue. “Just tell me when,” she said to Hunt.

  “Someone’s coming,” Tharion said, pointing with a clawed hand to the fleet. A wave skimmer broke away from the speedboat. A familiar golden head appeared atop it, bouncing across the waves.

  “The Hind,” Cormac said, blanching.

  “At least she’s alone.”

  “There goes our plan,” Bryce hissed.

  “No,” Hunt said, though lightning began to glow in his gaze. Burning Solas. “We hold to it. She’s coming to talk.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Hunt growled, “The others are holding back.”

  Ruhn asked, hating that he didn’t know, “Why would the Hind do that?”

  “To torment us,” Cormac guessed. “She toys with enemies before slaughtering them.”

  Athalar said to Bryce, the general incarnate, “Blind her when I give the signal.” He ordered Tharion, “Use one of those knives as soon as she’s down.” The mer drew a blade. Bryce’s light fluttered in the water, reaching down in the depths.

  The Omega slowed behind the Hind, but continued to creep closer.

  “Say nothing,” Cormac warned them as the wave skimmer slowed, engine quieting.

  And then the Hind was there, in her impeccable imperial uniform, black boots shining with water. Not one hair on her golden head lay out of place, and her face was the portrait of cruel calm as she said, “What a surprise.”

  None of them said a word.

  The Hind slung one of her lean legs over the wave skimmer so she sat sidesaddle, and braced her elbows on her knees. Put her delicate chin in her hands. “This is the fun part of my job, you know. Finding the rats who nibble away at the safety of our empire.”

  Such a dead, hateful face. Like she was a statue, flawless and carved, brought to life.

  The Hind nodded to Bryce, though. Her red lips curved upward. “Is that little light for me?”

  “Come closer and find out,” Bryce said, earning a warning look from Hunt. What was he waiting for?

  But the Hind surveyed Tharion. “Your presence is … troublesome.”

  The water around him thrashed, roiled by his magic, but the mer kept silent. For some reason, he hadn’t yet shifted. Was it some attempt to remain unrecognized for what he was? Or maybe a predator’s instinct to hide one of his biggest assets until he could strike?

  But the Hind sized up Tharion again. “I’m glad to see the River Queen’s Captain of Intelligence is indeed smart enough to know that if he used his power to do something stupid like overturn this wave skimmer, my companions would unleash Hel upon all of you.”

  Tharion’s teeth flashed. But he didn’t attack.

  Then the Hind met Ruhn’s stare, and all that he was diluted to pure, lethal rage.

  He’d kill her, and do it gladly. If he could get on that wave skimmer before Tharion, he’d rip out her throat with his teeth.

  “Two Fae Princes,” the Hind purred. “Crown Princes, no less. The future of the royal bloodlines.” She clicked her tongue. “Not to mention that one of them is a Starborn heir. What a scandal this shall be for the Fae. What shame this will bring.”

  “What do you want?” Hunt challenged, lightning skittering over his shoulders. Bryce twisted toward him with alarm, and Ruhn tensed.

  Athalar’s power glowed along the tops of his wings, twining in his hair. Each breath seemed to summon more of it, keeping it well above the waves’ reach. Readying for the strike.

  “I already have what I want,” the Hind said coolly. “Proof of your treachery.”

  Bryce’s light shimmered and built, rippling into the depths below. And Hunt … If he unleashed his power, he’d electrocute all of them.

  Ruhn said to his sister, mind-to-mind, Get on that wave skimmer and run.

  Fuck that. Bryce slammed her mind shut to him.

  The Hind reached into her pocket, and the lightning above Athalar flared, a whip readying to strike whatever gun the deer shifter possessed. Still he didn’t give the signal.

  But the Hind pulled out a small white stone. Held it up.

  She smiled slightly at Cormac. “I showed one of these to Sofie Renast before she died, you know. Made this same demonstration.”

  Died. The word seemed to clang across the water. The Hind had truly killed her, then.

  Cormac spat, “I’m going to rip you to pieces.”

  The Hind laughed softly. “From where I’m sitting, I don’t see much chance of that.” She extended her arm over the water. Her slim, manicured fingers splayed, and the stone plunged. It left barely a ripple on the waves as it fluttered down, down, down, shimmering white in Bryce’s light, and then vanishing into the deep.

  “Long way to the bottom,” the Hind observed dryly. “I wonder if you’ll drown before you reach it.” The Omega-boat surged closer.

  “Choose wisely,” the Hind crooned. “Come with me,” she said to Hunt, to Bryce, “or see what the seafloor has to offer you.”

  “Get fucked,” Hunt seethed.

  “Oh, I plan to, once this is done,” she said, smiling wickedly.

  Hunt’s lightning flickered again. Glowed in his eyes. Shit—Athalar was walking a fine line of control.

  Bryce murmured Hunt’s name in warning. Hunt ignored her, but Tharion cursed softly.

  What is it? Ruhn asked the male, who didn’t look his way as Tharion replied, Something big. Gunning for us.