It was well past midnight when we finally pulled in to a small port town that was a sharp contrast to Juniper. The town was set back from the beach and reachable only by walking down a massive wooden dock that led to the front gates.

The walls were lit with burning torches and, even from our spot at the docks, I could hear the sounds of the town’s nightlife from the deck. I was leaning on the railing, peering out across the water and sand at the walls, when one of the men joined me.

I looked up to see Mathias, dressed in his usual blue cloak and dark linens. I flushed guiltily because, only moments before, I’d been peering out into the dark and endless sea, searching for any sign of my sister’s ships.

Oblivious to my internal struggle, he smiled at me briefly before turning his gaze back to the town.

“Little Kingdom,” he said, pointing his chin towards the walls, flickering from the amber glow of the torches.

“That’s what it’s called?” I asked.

Mathias nodded. “Yes. And it seems to suit.”

The walls would have been more impressive if they were another fifty feet high or so. The infrastructure of Ironhaven proper was far more robust, but this place seemed well-guarded for such a small town. “Are they worried about pirates or raiders?” I asked.

Mathias shrugged. “I’ve never set foot inside the walls, I’ve only seen this place in passing a few times. I’ve been told they have the best wine this side of the sea.”

Based on the sounds drifting towards us across the water, I didn’t doubt it.

“Are we going in for supplies?” I asked.

Mathias rested his elbows across the railing and peered down at the dark waters below. “Yes. We’ll stay on the ship tonight, as the shops are surely all closed by now, and go first thing in the morning. Our last stop before...”

My stomach twisted and I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Time is passing quickly,” I said, my throat feeling thick.

Mathias looked over at me. “You’re a brave woman, Iris. I’m impressed by your tenacity and resolve every single day.”

I didn’t know what to say, because fat lot of good those attributes had done me, so I just smiled weakly and looked back out at Little Kingdom. His hand closed over mine on the railing and we stood together for a time, listening to the sounds of the town and the ocean.

“Mathias,” Titus’s deep voice called from behind us, “how long do you need?”

We both turned to look at him. He was standing in front of the Captain’s cabin with his big arms crossed over his massive chest. His expression was taut, but he managed a tight smile at me before looking back to Mathias. “The rest of us are waiting.”

Mathias was still holding my hand. “Can I walk you to your room, Iris?”

“Of course,” I said.

“I’ll be right in,” Mathias said as he urged me along behind him towards the lower cabins. “Don’t drink all the wine without me.”

Titus nodded a goodnight to me and slipped back into the cabin where he and the others were apparently waiting.

“What’s going on?” I asked as we descended to the lower decks. “Is everything all right?”

“They want to have a meeting,” Mathias said. “We have them frequently, Iris, it’s nothing to worry about. Titus will have drawn up a list of supplies we will need to pick up tomorrow. Eryk has our budget. Dimitri will have been watching the wind and tides so we know when we must depart tomorrow to catch the best wind. It’s tricky business, running a ship with just four men.”

“It never occurred to me,” I said as we arrived at my room.

“It’s nothing a princess need concern herself with,” Mathias said with a wry half-grin. His hand fell from mine as he opened the door for me. “Sleep well, Iris. We will likely be going into town at dawn. Shall one of us come fetch you?”

“Yes, please,” I said, slipping through the door.

He nodded and went to leave, but then stopped short.

Mathias caught my wrist and tugged me against him. I fell into him and gazed up at his golden eyes. While we’d shared the least intimacy thus far, there was a comfortable familiarity there; he was the only lion shifter of the group, like me, and that familiar scent wrapped around me as he leaned closer, no more than a breath hanging between us.

His kiss was gentler than I had expected. His lips were softer than silk, and he tasted like wine. One hand still held my wrist while the other rested at the base of my neck. When I pulled away a short moment later, his eyes were heavy with lust.

“I should go,” he said, stepping back and releasing me. “But I’ll see you soon.”

I nodded, speechless, and watched him leave. As he went, I touched a finger to my lips. His embrace had called forward all my emotions and feelings from earlier that day, in the water with Eryk and Dimitri. As mind-blowing as my time together with them had been, it only served to make things harder, now that our time was ending.

My legs shook as I carried myself to my bed and lay down, the beginnings of a new grief enveloping me.

It was only a mere handful of hours that stood between me and my last chance at freedom. If I succeeded, I would never again lay eyes on the men I’d grown to care for so deeply. If I failed, I’d be a prisoner for life at best, and a dead woman at worst. As good as the men’s intentions might be, there would be no way to make a deal once I’d been delivered into the enemy’s hands.

One way or another, it would soon be goodbye.

I closed my stinging eyes and tried to think of Ironhaven. Of practicing on the training fields and laughing with Cook and Hattie. Of laughing at supper with Anaya and her mates.

But when my thoughts finally drifted to dreams, they were filled with dolphins and mouths and hands and hearts…

 

 

My cabin was still dark when a gentle shake woke me from a dead slumber. I groaned and rolled over, pulling the blankets with me. I felt like I had only been sleeping for an hour or two and my dreams were so full of joy and contentment. The last thing I wanted to do was to chase them away.

“Iris,” a low voice whispered, “come. Wake up, we must go.”

“Go without me,” I said, waving my hand at whoever was perched on the edge of my bed as I tried in vain to cling to the dolphins that were zipping off into oblivion. “I’m too tired.”

“Iris,” the voice said, more demanding this time. The grip on my shoulder tightened.

“Ouch,” I muttered, sitting up. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and blinked them open. Mathias was there, watching me in the darkness. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were glittering with a fierce light.

“Come on,” he said, “gather what you need. I’m getting you out of here.”

“What?” I hissed, my brain still too sluggish from sleep to comprehend what was happening.

“You heard me,” he said, “let’s go.” He stood and went to the door as if to guard it, leaning to peer through the crack down the hall. He looked back at me and motioned for me to get out of the bed. “Move your ass now, woman, or lose your chance at getting back to your sister with your head.”

I flung the covers off and rushed to get dressed as my heart hammered wildly. “What about your father?” I found myself asking.

He looked at me sharply.

“What will happen to him once Malikai learns you’ve betrayed him?”

Mathias shook his head. “I’ll deal with that later. One problem at a time.”

Once I had my cloak and boots on, I joined him at the door. We hurried down the hall and up onto the deck. It was empty, and silent, but for the rocking and creaking of the ship on the waves. Mathias took me to the railing where he lowered the same rowboat Eryk, Dimitri and I had taken to the cove, into the water. He was careful and methodical, setting it into the water without so much as a splash.

Next, he took a bag that he had stashed on the deck, and tossed it overboard to the boat below. He slipped the rope ladder over the edge of the ship and turned to me. “Go first. I’ll be right behind you,” he said.       

I nodded, sparing a glance at the Captain’s quarters where the others slept.

“What will happen to them? To their families…” I asked, feeling suddenly nauseous.

“Malikai will know it was my treachery, not the others. My father has been ill for years, and lived a good, long life. It’s cold, but it’s a fact. I have the least to lose out of the lot of us.”

I hesitated, brain churning. He was still risking his father’s life for me. And what if he was wrong about the others? What if they were all punished for letting me escape?

“Don’t fear, Iris. I plan to do everything in my power to make sure any threat will be neutralized. For now, we need to focus, though. Come, over the railing. Eryk is a light sleeper. We cannot risk being discovered.”

I pursed my lips, shooting another longing glance toward the cabins, still torn.

Mathias let out a low string of curses before spearing a hand through his golden hair.

“Look, I don’t want to hurt you, Iris, but you need to know the truth. They had the chance to help you. I tried to convince them tonight at the meeting, and they refused.”

The words hit me like a one-two punch and I bent forward, trying to absorb the pain.

Mathias’s low voice continued as he took my arm again, gently. “They like you…and they’re not bad men, but the fact is, they each got what they wanted. A roll in the hay with a princess, a bag full of gold, and their families’ promised safety. They made their choice. Now, it’s time to make yours. It’s now or never.”

It’s now or never, indeed.

Lurching into action, I climbed over the railing and paused to look back once more. Then, I swallowed the lump of regret wedged in my throat as I began descending.

Regret for letting myself believe they cared for me more than they did? Or because I still wasn’t convinced that they wouldn’t suffer for Mathias’s perfidy? Whatever the case, I couldn’t find the fuel to be angry. Not anymore. I just felt heart-sick and afraid for all of us.

Mathias swiftly climbed down after me and dropped into the boat. He wasted little time in taking his seat and setting to rowing. I was surprised to find that he didn’t row us to shore. Instead, we made for open waters.

“We don’t need to go inland?” I asked.

Mathias shook his head. “It’s the first place the others will look for you. They won’t suspect that we took to the sea, and will spend the better part of the morning searching the town, which will give us the hours between now and dawn, and plenty more, to find another place to dock. Somewhere where they won’t be able to pick up our trail so easily. Titus is a skilled tracker, and the last thing we need is him on our asses. We head back toward Ironhaven and then find a port to commission a larger ship and get word to your sister.”

I chewed the flesh on the inside of my cheek and watched him row. His knuckles were white, his bare forearms flexing in the moonlight with each movement.

“I want you to know how much I appreciate this. I know what you’re risking. My sister will help once I tell her what happened,” I said. “She won’t let your father suffer after what you’ve done for me. She will help all of them. I will make sure of it.”

“And you say you would not make a good Queen,” he said with a small smile.

“Nope. Not the job for me. I don’t want to be the one who has to make the hard decisions,” I said grimly, “like the one you’re making right now.”

Mathias continued to row but didn’t look at me. I let the silence settle around us and tried to process everything that was happening.

I couldn’t deny that, despite Mathias’s selfless act and his assurance that they would be fine, my heart was breaking into a hundred tiny pieces as I left the others behind. They would all wake in the morning to find me gone. What would they think? How would they feel? Would they be as broken as I was? Angry that I hadn’t trusted them to fix things once I’d been delivered to Malikai.

I swallowed back tears as the ship grew smaller and smaller, and eventually we rounded a bend of jutted rocky land, and the ship disappeared from view entirely. Mathias was quiet as he continued to tirelessly row all through the night.

Eventually, I fell into an exhausted sleep on the floor of the tiny boat, with my head between his feet. I used a bag of extra clothes he had packed as a pillow, focusing on the sound of the paddles cutting through the water and the grinding of the wood against wood, until sleep took hold.

When I woke, the sun had risen but was tucked beneath a blanket of gray clouds. I drew my cloak tighter around my shoulders, shivering as cold ocean spray spattered my cheeks.

I sat up and peered around, groaning at the stiffness in my shoulders. We were in open water, like Mathias said we would be, and I could just make out the silhouette of a long finger of land in the distance. The choppy waves jostled the boat, but it held steady under Mathias’s masterful guidance.

“How much longer until we reach it?” I asked.

“Late today,” Mathias replied.

“Do you want me to row for a while?”

He shot me a smirk. “No.”

I inched away to sit on the seat across from him. It became apparent that that was a terrible idea when the wind struck me, and I sank back down to the floor of the boat, teeth chattering the whole time.

“At least we’re heading toward warmer weather,” I said, trying to strike up conversation again.

Mathias shrugged one shoulder and stared dead ahead.

Something was definitely wrong. His demeanor was as chilly as the winds, and I couldn’t figure out why. Was he feeling the gnaw of guilt and regret as well?

I bit my bottom lip and took in the coldness of his gray gaze. The hardness of his jaw. The tightness of his shoulders. He was on a mission, that much was certain, but something felt amiss and I couldn’t deny an icy dread settling over me that had nothing to do with the wind.

I glanced up at the sky and frowned. “Are we going in the same direction as before?” I asked. The worry bloomed inside me, until it felt like it was clawing at my insides, as my question was met with stony silence.

“Mathias,” I said more firmly, “are we not heading back toward Ironhaven?”

His golden gaze finally locked with mine. The chilling smile on his lips set my teeth on edge.

“You think you’re so unbelievably captivating…it’s that arrogance that made it all so easy, Iris of Ironhaven. A few kind words from me and I had you eating out of the palm of my hand like a stupid rabbit about to become dinner.”

I blinked at him in numb shock.

“You should be Queen,” he sing-songed in a nasally voice, mimicking his own words from the night before. “I admire you. You’re so brave. Please,” he scoffed, “you’re a pawn, Iris. A pawn in a very big game--a game I intend to be on the winning side of.”

“I don’t understand? The others were going to bring me to Malikai anyway. Why…”

But then it all came together with blinding clarity. It hadn’t been Mathias who’d wanted to free me. The others had changed their minds. Hence the secret, not-at-all-typical, meeting the night before.

“They came up with a plan, didn’t they? For today, once we reached port?” I demanded. “It was you who still wanted to turn me in, not them.”

He didn’t reply, but by then, I didn’t need him to. The others had asked for my trust…hinted that they were trying to come up with a way to save me. Instead of believing in that…believing in them and the bond we’d built, I’d jumped into the fire with Mathias.

Mathias, who clearly didn’t care about me, or the others and their families, one bit.

I slipped my hand to the pocket of my cloak in search of the dagger that I was sure would be there, but Mathias shook his head slowly.

“Don’t bother.” He held up the pretty little knife with a smirk and something inside me cracked.

Fury rose up inside me, and with it came the familiar whisper of my inner lioness, who was clawing to get out. I gave myself over to her, willing her to emerge with the intent of ripping Mathias’s throat out. I’d figure out how to find my way to shore once I’d disemboweled this traitor.

The shift slipped over me, my muscles stretching, my bones adjusting, and then suddenly, everything stopped. I tried to suck in a breath of air, to no avail. A blinding pain erupted behind my eyes and around my throat. I collapsed and clutched at my neck, only to find the thin iron collar had been fastened around my neck again.

My lioness shrank back with a muffled growl and I was left curled up on the floor of the boat, gasping for breath, with Mathias laughing above me. “Get used to it. You will never know the power of your lioness again, Iris.”

“Fuck you,” I spat when I could breathe again. I pushed myself up on my hands and knees. “You won’t get away with this. No matter what happens to me, my sister will have your head for this. She’s too smart. Too powerful. You are a fool to believe otherwise.”

I hadn’t noticed the chain draped loosely over Mathias’s knee that was attached to my collar. He gave it a rough yank and I toppled forward, landing hard on my elbows. I winced as pain wove up my arms and into my shoulders.

“The others will come for me,” I said through gritted teeth. “They’ll know what you’ve done and they’ll come.”

Mathias threw his head back and laughed. “The others? They’re a joke, Iris. Weak like you. A bunch of lovesick puppy dogs distracted by the wiles of a pretty woman. Pathetic.” Mathias shook his head and clicked his tongue in mock sympathy as he pocketed my knife. “Just think of all of their families. Poor, sad Eryk. His niece and nephew will serve the rest of their days in the King’s servant court, his eight-fingered sister killed dead. And Titus, with his--”

“Why?” I demanded. “They’re not soldiers. They don’t have anything to do with this.”

“It’s about showing strength and resolve, Iris,” Mathias growled, leaning forward to stare into my eyes. “It’s about setting examples and following through. That’s the part your sister Anaya never understood about ruling. Sometimes it’s not a pretty business. The only way to ensure respect is through fear.”

Just hearing Anaya’s name in his mouth made me ill. “Is that what this is about? My sister on the throne? If so, the war is over, Mathias. She is Queen and whatever this little rebellion is meant to accomplish, it will fail,” I muttered, stomach churning.

“No,” Mathias said, shaking his head with a hard laugh. “It won’t. Because this is no little rebellion. This is the new Revolution. I suppose I should introduce myself, now.” He bowed at the waist before straightening. “Mathias Du Monde, middle son to our murdered king and right hand to the new. My brother, Preston Du Monde, true heir to the crown of Ironhaven. And you, Iris Eldrich, are the key to obliterating the Resistance, tearing that slut sister of yours from the throne, and returning the Du Monde family back where we belong. As rulers of Ironhaven.”

His words were still ringing in my head as he leveled a blow at my temple so hard that stars exploded behind my eyes. Then, there was nothing but black.