I walk slowly into the silent room, seeing the massive fireplace that takes up the entire left wall and the open balcony that takes up the other side, where I can see the night sky. But my mind only takes the room in slightly as I see Hunter and Ryland sitting opposite each other on the huge dining table in the middle of the room, watching me. The table is lined with food, the smell making my stomach grumble after not having any food for so long, but I can’t look away from my pirates. More so the mark in the middle of Ryland’s forehead, which is not covered up. What is going on? Laura is sitting at the end of the table and she knocks the seat next to her with her stick.

“Sit, changed one,” she tells me, just as the doors are slammed shut behind me. I turn to see Tyrion standing by the door, Jacob and two other guards next to him. I can’t look away from Jacob as he gives me a small wink, making me want to run towards him instead of walking away like I have to. I walk across the room, trying to catch Hunter’s or Ryland’s eyes, but neither of them look at me as they whisper between each other. I want to scream at them to give me something, some hope, some love, but I know why they can’t. It just doesn’t make it any easier.

“Try not to be your stubborn self. Try to be polite,” Laura whispers when I sit down, and I meet her eyes, nodding once. “Tell me, how have you been?” Laura asks me loud enough for everyone at the table to hear.

“Fine. The living standards of the dungeons need improving, though,” I say, making her laugh loudly. The doors open once more and I look up, watching them slide across the floor and feeling the evil walking into the room before I lock eyes with him. I watch quietly as the king walks in with an older, very beautiful woman’s arm hooked in his. The woman has long black hair plaited into a bun, with a small tiara sitting on top of her head. She has on a long green dress that matches the dark green shirt her husband wears. She doesn’t look at anyone other than him as they walk in and he lets go of her arm to hold a chair out for her. She sits down in a fluid motion, and the king takes the seat at the top of the table, folding his hands and watching me. My eyes draw up to the crown he is wearing, the green of the metal and the crystal in the middle.

“My twin crowns,” is whispered in my mind, the Sea God’s voice nearly making me jump and leaving a stinging feeling behind my eyes. He never whispers to me in the day, only at night in my dreams. I lower my eyes, meeting the king’s once more, and he smiles like he knows something. Something I do not.

“Everyone should eat,” the king says, watching me as I sit there staring at him. I won’t touch the food he has put in front of me. I won’t accept anything from him and he knows it as he stares my way, his dark eyes challenging me and getting more frustrated by the second that I won’t move.

“No,” I tell him. He laughs loudly and Laura sighs.

“You can’t behave, even for a minute?” she teases, but I don’t take my eyes off the king.

“You hunt my kind, you killed Miss Drone, you killed my father, and blood pours from your hands. I will never accept anything from you, so why don’t we get straight to the point of this stupid meal?” I say, picking my drink up and pouring it onto the plate of food in front of me.

“Straight to the point?” he asks me tensely, and I stand up, pushing my chair away from the table.

“I won’t stay here any longer, playing your games, and feeding your sick desire for fear. If you want to kill me, do it!” I shout. He stands up, clapping his hands together. I don’t look towards Ryland or Hunter, keeping my eyes on the king as he gets up from the table and walks over to me. I see Ryland and Hunter get out of their seats from the corner of my eye, but I know I can’t take my focus off the king.

“What part of you thinks you stand a chance against me?” the king asks, as he starts walking around me.

“Because I have something you will never know, something that surpasses death,” I tell him, but he keeps walking.

“What is that, pretty changed one with the eyes that burn with hate?” he asks me, almost gently.

“Love,” I reply.

“You believe my sons and their friends love you like you love them?” he asks, and I stay quiet, wondering how he knows that. I know I’m missing something when he smiles, and dread fills me.

“You missed a person out on your list of deaths I have caused. Your friend, Livvy…,” he says, and my hand goes to my mouth in shock. He killed her.

“No,” I shake my head as I step back, tears falling from my eyes at the idea of sweet Livvy being dead. She was too sweet for this world, too kind for a world that destroys everything in its path.

“Yes, and she told me many things about you before she met her death. She was never truly your friend, so how can you trust anyone?” he asks me, and anger rises inside me. She betrayed me, the girl I saved, and she ended up dead anyway.

“I -,” I go to reply.

“- I will tell you one thing, changed one. You are nothing!” he says and grabs my arms, “No more than another changed one I will kill and make sure is never remembered.”

“Stop!” Ryland shouts, running over, but it’s too late as fire burns up my arms once more. I scream out in pain as I fall to my knees.

“Nothing, nothing, nothing,” he repeats over and over again as I close my eyes. Anger stronger than ever before builds up inside me, and even though pain controls my thoughts, there’s so much anger. Anger for everyone he has killed, anger for my kind he has hunted, anger for everything he has done to the world I live in. I look up, feeling power build in me, and he looks down at me, pausing his words. I see a blue glow in front of my eyes and his mark glowing red, clashing against the blue from mine. The same power I felt when I bonded with Dante fills me, a power from all my pirates. My chosen. And I will not die while they need me.

“I. AM. NOT. NOTHING!” I scream, as water explodes from every part of my body. My power shoots wave after wave of water from me, sending the king flying across the room and knocking everyone else down as I hold my hands in the air in front of me and my feet leave the ground. Cold water drips from every part of my body as I lift my hand and pick the king up with my power, wrapping him in water as his screams are swallowed by the water and he tries to use his fire to escape.

“Laura!” I hear shouting, but I can’t look away from the king as I tighten the water around him, seeing him choking and struggling to breathe. The power leaves me quickly and suddenly, my body falling into the water on the ground and my head smacking against the floor, leaving me dazed for a second. The king’s body falls, but I don’t have time to see if he is alive as a loud roar fills the room. I wipe my wet hair out of my eyes and look around the room. Ryland is running over to me with Laura in his arms. The queen is passed out near the fireplace and I feel hands slide around me, picking me up. I recognise the smell of Hunter straight away and bury my head in his neck.

“That was unexpected, little bird,” he says, making me laugh a little, but the pain in my arms comes shooting back. He turns my arms over, seeing the burnt skin that looks so much worse now. “We need to escape. This can’t be for nothing,” he says, kissing my forehead and letting me stand up.

“Riah. You must either get my daughter or leave me,” Laura murmurs in Ryland’s arms.

“We can’t take her, you know this.”

“Then kill her. Put her out of her suffering, Cassandra,” Laura tells me as she turns to stare at me, “He can never die if she is alive and her sons can’t be the ones to kill her.”

“Enough, we don’t have time for this,” Hunter says firmly, and Laura passes out again before I can reply a word to her. I could never kill the queen; the twins, my pirates, would never forgive me. But as I look back at the king on the floor, knowing that he will never die because of her, will I have a choice?

“Fira, my father’s fire dragon won’t let us leave the island. We might need to distract her,” Hunter tells me, as Ryland gets to my side.

“Is your ship here?” I ask them as Jacob runs over to us. Jacob lifts my arm, frowning at my flinch of pain and kisses my cheek as Ryland speaks.

“Yes, at the port, and Roger has it ready to go at all times,” Ryland replies.

“Take Laura to the ship with Jacob. Hunter and I will go to get the others,” I tell them, and they all nod, still watching me.

“Let’s go,” Hunter says, walking off through the water. I grab Ryland’s arm as he tries to walk away and lean over Laura to his cheek.

“Be safe,” I say gently.

“And you,” he tells me, and gives me a look that suggests he wants to say more but can’t right now.

“And you,” I tell Jacob, who moves next to Ryland and pulls his sword out.

“Always. Now go and let’s get us all out of here,” he says. I run next to him and Ryland to the door, seeing all the guards knocked out on the floor near it. The table is smashed in the corner of the room and food is floating in the water around us. I spot Tyrion face down in the water to the left of the door and quickly run over, pushing him onto his back, but he doesn’t wake up.

“Who is he? We have to go,” Hunter asks me.

“A friend,” I say and lift my hand, slapping Tyrion hard across the face. Thankfully, he wakes up with a start, watching me with wide, fearful eyes as he coughs up some water.

“We are escaping. Time to fight and keep your word,” I tell him and offer him a hand to get up. He takes my hand after only a short pause, letting go once he is standing, and slides his sword out of his holder.

“Here, you’re a better fighter with a sword than me, and I have these,” he offers Hunter the sword, and Hunter accepts. We both watch as Tyrion gets a collection of sharp throwing stars out of his jacket.

“Time to leave, little bird,” Hunter says, and Ryland stops by the door with Jacob in front of him with a sword. I watch as Hunter leans up, grabbing the small crown and throwing it in the water as his hair drips with water. He looks more like one of my pirates than he has in weeks.

“Come on,” I say, running to the door where Ryland is watching. Hunter pulls the door open slowly and, seeing no guards around, we all get out of the dining room. Ryland nods at me once before running down the opposite corridor with Jacob. I watch them until they are out of sight, then turn to the guys and nod. Hunter and Tyrion lead the way, running ahead of me down the long hallways and then they suddenly stop. I watch as Tyrion lifts his hand quickly, throwing a star in the air, and there’s a loud grunt. I walk around the corridor when they start running to me, seeing the dead guard on the floor, a star in the middle of his neck and his blood pouring all over the floor. I know it’s necessary to escape, but these guards don’t have a choice. They are forced to work here, and they can’t escape any more than we can. Tyrion pauses us, his arm shooting out and stopping Hunter when we get to the next corridor. He lifts his hand once more, throwing two stars in what seems like one second. He moves so quickly that I don’t even see the stars leave his hands. We hear two more grunts and then he lets us walk around the corner and over the dead bodies of the guards.

“I feel useless here,” Hunter growls out at Tyrion, who smirks at him.

“We have bigger problems than your egos,” I snap at them both.

“I’ll watch the door,” Hunter says as Tyrion opens it with the keys from his belt. We run in and Tyrion goes to Everly’s cage first.

“Cass?” she asks, getting up off the floor and I run over to the cage Chaz is in. He gets up, coming to the door and pulling me to him.

“What’s happening?” he asks, and I look to the side to see Zack and Dante listening.

“We are escaping. I don’t have time to explain,” I say, seeing Tyrion running over with the keys. I step back from the cage as Everly gets to me and squeezes me tight in her thin arms. I hold her close and then pull away.

“We are really getting out of here?” she asks, the question simple, but full of hope.

“All of us,” I tell her, and she smiles, the first real smile I’ve seen since we got here. Chaz walks out of the cage and goes to the door after kissing my cheek. I see him talking quietly to Hunter outside as Tyrion lets Dante and Zack out of their cage. Once they get out, we don’t waste any time running to the door and throwing it open. I see Hunter pat Dante’s shoulder out of the corner of my eye as we keep running down the long corridor.

“This way, there’s a secret cave path that leads to the port from the cliffs,” Hunter shouts, and we all turn in the direction he shows us. We get to another corridor and Hunter opens the right door quickly, rushing in, but there is no one around the simple room. It has a desk, an old painting, and shiny jugs littered around, but not much else. We all get in the room and the door is shut behind us before he runs over to the balcony, pushing the fabric away, and we all run through an archway. Outside is a big balcony and on the left is the cliff connected to it.

“Go!” Dante pulls on my arm when I spend too much time staring, and we run across the cliff. A large roar shakes the ground, just as a dragon appears over the cliff, almost knocking us over with the power of its wings. We all duck as it flies above our heads, its roar so painful to my ears that I have to hold them.

“There!” Hunter points to a gap in the rocks, a small hole that a person could climb through.

“RUN!” I scream when I look up to the see the dragon flying at us again, fire bursting from its mouth. The dragon shoots streams of fire straight at us, and we all scramble to run away from it. When the dragon takes to the sky again, I know something is wrong and I look to the cliff right behind me. I turn around to see I’m separated from the guys and Everly. A wall of fire is between us and they are on the other side. Dante is on fire, but I can see Chaz putting him out. I exhale a sigh of relief when he stands up.

“Cassandra!” Hunter shouts, walking towards me like he would walk through the fire and not care.

“Don’t! You won’t survive that, and even if you do, I’m not worth it,” I shout, and he stops, his dark eyes watching me.

“I won’t leave you here, and you are,” he shouts, just as Dante, Chaz, and Zack get to his side.

“None of us will leave you,” Dante tells me.

“Don’t worry…I will look after her,” I hear next to me, and I turn my eyes in horror to see the king walking through the flames as they move for him. He lifts his hand, throwing a ball of fire at me before I can even lift my hands and it sends me flying into the air. I land on my side, right on the edge of the cliff. I feel the clothes on my stomach burning and the pain brings tears to my eyes.

“NO!” Hunter screams, and the king lifts his hand, making the wall of flames so high and thick that I can’t see anyone on the other side anymore. I lift myself to my feet, holding my arm around my stomach and look up as the king stops a few steps in front of me.

“Jump, come to me,” I hear whispered into my mind, the Sea God’s words kind and soft, not like he is suggesting jumping off a cliff into the Storm Sea. I look down at the sea, the massive waves that crash against rocks and the howls of the wind filling me with a choking fear that jumping may be my only option.

“So strong, even when I’m seconds from killing you,” the king says, making me look back at him as he tilts his head to the side.

“Jump, there is no choice,” the god shouts into my mind, making me put my hands on the side of my head.

“Is the Sea God whispering to you even now?” the king asks, and I look over at him. “He still loves you, still protects you, and that is why you must die.”

“You will not get to kill me,” I say, straightening my back and glaring over at him, “Only the sea gets to make that choice.”

His eyes widen as he realises what I’m going to do; I take a step back and fall off the cliff. The cold air and weightless feeling of falling are all I can focus on as I fall, and it surprises me how long I fall for. I see flashes of each one of my pirates in my mind as the air whistles past my ears. When my body hits the cold water, it’s so shocking that I can’t move. I sink quickly into the water. Any fight in me left the moment I stepped off the cliff. The water harshly throws my body around and the water chokes me with every breath I try to hold in.

“Welcome to my world, to the sea,” I hear whispered by the Sea God. I open my eyes to see him swimming towards me. A gold light highlights his body, his gold hair floating in the water and his glowing gold eyes calling to me.

“Sleep and rest. You are safe in my arms,” I hear him whisper just before I close my eyes.