Everlost (26 page)

“I’m here,” he grunted. “Tatiana.”

“Jacob?” Tatiana set the teacup down with a clatter and rushed to him. Her gentle fingers met his hand and squeezed. She kneeled beside the couch and pushed aside his hair. “What happened to you?”

Jacob looked up at her, taking her in, studying every inch. He reached up with his free hand and caressed her face. She leaned sweetly into his palm. “When you didn’t come, I didn’t know what to think. Oh, Jacob.”

“You should see the other guy,” he said quietly.

Her eyes creased in concern, and she scrutinized the mound of gauze on his chest. But he didn’t care about his injuries. He had to know what had changed, why she’d finally decided to run.

“Tatiana.” He turned her face toward his, searching for answers.

She fell to his chest, sobbing. “I should have trusted you from the beginning. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

“No.” He clutched her to his chest and sighed, squeezing her. “Don’t think that.”

“But it is.”

Jacob closed his eyes and held Tatiana tight. Though he tried to tune out the disruptive noises from the others, he couldn’t help hearing the shuffle of fabric, the metal clang of weapons. With one eye open, he watched Badger and Grommet head for the porthole.

Grommet leaned in, but his sad smile didn’t touch his eyes. He simply mouthed, “We’ll be back.”

“I’m going to get the rest of the stored herbs,” Sandy whispered. She rested her hand on Tatiana’s shoulder. “Once we get the bracelet off of you, Princess, we’ll leave for the Scotland gate.”

Tatiana breathed a sigh of relief, and Jacob couldn’t stop his heart from pounding. Things were coming together, finally.

Then all at once, the house emptied. Jacob’s heart thumped harder at the silence. He squeezed her shoulder.

“They’re gone,” he whispered, kissing her hair.

She looked upon him with her radiant blue eyes, rimmed in red from crying, and his heart practically galloped out of his chest for the want of her lips.

31

: : :

Proposition

Tatiana studied Jacob’s face and rubbed her hand over the stubble on his cheek down to the multiple new scars on his neck and chest. He’d been there for her all along—honest and forthright—in spite of her vicious attacks and promise-induced mood swings.

“What is this hell that we’re in?”

“Don’t worry about that. You’re with me now. You’re safe.” He touched her cheek, catching a tear on his finger.

“I should have never fought you to begin with.” She reached for his arm, grazing her fingers over the faded bite scar. Goose bumps rose along his skin from her touch. “I’m sorry I did this to you.”

“I’m not,” he said with a coy smile.

She blushed, not sure how to take his comment. He pulled her into his shoulder and she crawled onto the couch next to him, nestling into his side. Their heat pulsed into one another—strong and hot. He gently touched the bandage on her arm.

“What were you thinking?” he whispered into her wet hair. “I asked you to wait for me.”

Her heart stuttered at the memory, the rush of emotions, the confusion, the hate, the betrayal.

“Azor found me at my parents’ house, because he was there looking for Xirene.” She stopped, a lump forming in her throat. She couldn’t admit the worst—that he was behind the ambush, that he’d betrayed her this entire time.

Jacob groaned, tightening his arms around her as she hiccupped in sobs. “Oh, Tatiana, I’m so sorry.”

“He never wanted me…”—she paused, her body shaking—“and I’ve been such a fool not to see it, not to leave with you sooner.”

“Hey.” He wove his hand down around her chin, tugging her face to look at him. She fought him, embarrassed. “I’m serious, look at me.”

Reluctantly, she sat up, flicking off her tears with her fingertips. His hand remained, blood pulsing, fast, matching her own.

“You did the best you could, and now that you know, you can break free from him. Locked inside you is a strong and independent woman, the one I heard about from your dad. You can be that again. You just have to want your freedom from the bond.”

Fire lit Jacob’s blue-grey eyes. Hot. Smoldering. They darted to her lips and back again. A few short hours ago she’d mentally begged for this moment, for his lips on hers. But after seeing Azor with Xirene, knowing the power the kiss brought two souls, she wasn’t sure she wanted to jump into another promise so soon. She licked her lips, unsure what she felt anymore. Why would anyone want to bind themselves to someone when they could turn around and hurt you like this?

Jacob’s forehead creased, new concern touching his face. “And kissing me might ease that pain, but I don’t want to be his replacement. You have to break the bond on your own first, to know for sure.”

She startled and pulled away from him. What did he mean her strength and independence was still locked inside her? Couldn’t he see she had broken the bond? Or had her crying shone she was still weak and dependant. Swiveling her legs off the couch, she sat up and wiped away her tears. She didn’t need him, or anyone to save her. She was fine on her own.

“Don’t worry. I don’t need your help. I’ve already broken it,” she stated plainly. “He kissed Xirene first, so I was never really bonded to him to begin with.”

He sucked in a breath, then squeezed her thigh. “Tatiana, I didn’t mean it like that—”

At the splash in the porthole, Tatiana pulled away from Jacob, embarrassed. And she most definitely didn’t want to look like she’d moved onto Jacob when in fact she hadn’t. She wanted to be single for a while and they’d remain strictly friends, until they parted ways in Florida. And there she could move onto a new path in life—maybe even become human so she could forget how humiliating all of this had been.

“Finally,” she said to the three green hooded heads that had emerged at the porthole. “Nice getup.”

All at once, they launched out of the porthole, phasing in mid-air. One landed before Tatiana, trapping her arms at her waist, while the other two apprehended Jacob.

“Glad you approve,” the Dradux before her said with a sly smile. “You should see what’s underneath waiting for you.”

Tatiana screamed. But the siren, trapped inside her human form, only came out as a shriek from her lips.

“Get your hands off her!” Jacob yelled while struggling against his captors.

“I’ll do the talking,” a fourth Dradux lisped from the porthole. Like the others, he flew up into the air and phased before touching down on the floor.

Tatiana’s captor slid his hand over her mouth. “No biting,” he whispered in her ear. She kicked and grunted, but her assailant only held her tighter.

“Chauncey,” Jacob growled, “I should have known.”

“And I should have killed you earlier, traitor.” Chauncey flipped off his hood to reveal his scarred face. “What are you doing alone with the Princess anyway?”

“My job,” he seethed.

Chauncey’s acerbic laughter echoed off the walls. “As if you could guard Princess Tatiana in your condition. I’ll take over from here.”

“Don’t do this, Chauncey.”

“Or what? You’ll throw your bloody gauze at me? Sic your rebel friends on me? On the new master of the Dradux?” He waggled his new parasitic tongue. “Guess again.”

“Let her go!”

Chauncey snapped his fingers, and the Dradux pulled Jacob to a sitting position. He groaned, favoring his left side. Tatiana tried to lunge for Jacob, moaning in desperation.

“As of this moment, you’re relieved of your job, Jacob.” Chauncey gestured and the two yanked Jacob to his feet. “And I’m formally arresting you for being improper with the Princess.”

“Improper?”

A coy smile met Chauncey’s lips. “Like we don’t know what you two were doing.”

“You’ll regret this, Chauncey. I promise you. I will hunt you down and make you pay.” Jacob’s captors forced him toward the porthole; one grasped his hair and the other prodded his back with his scythe.

“Not after what Azor has in store for you, rebel.” Chauncey clicked his tongue. The disgusting noise he’d made against the soft body of the parasite echoed in the room.

Tatiana groaned, struggling in her captor’s arms. She couldn’t allow them to take Jacob. She had to stall. Badger and Grommet were returning.

Jacob shot her a look of despair and mouthed, “I’ll come for you.”

“Keep moving,” one of the Dradux said and the other pushed Jacob forward into the porthole. Together, they pulled him under the waves.

“No!” Tatiana’s cry was muffled through the Dradux’s smelly hand.

Chauncey moved to her and traced his finger over her cheek and down her neck between her breasts. A smile crooked on the corner of his lips. He rested his finger on the edge of her skirt waistband. “I’ve heard you’re still pure.”

She leaned in with angry eyes and stomped on his foot with her heel. He yelped and moved away, cursing. He took his scythe and aimed it at her legs. She winced, expecting him to slice into her thigh. Instead, he took the sharp blade and lifted the corner of her skirt. She splayed her hands over the fabric to stop him.

The two men laughed at her feeble attempts.

“I’ll find out what’s under there soon enough.”

“Like hell you will.” With a swift donkey kick to the Dradux’s knee, a sickening crack filled the room. The Dradux doubled over and Tatiana’s arms were free. She pulled the battle ax from the trunk and wielded the heavy object around in front of her. “Stand back, you sea sacks!”

Her injured arm ached under the strain of the weapon, but determined, she held the ax outright.

“Or you’ll cleave me?” Chauncey pushed up one brow. “So brave.”

You bet your vent, I am.

Tatiana jumped into the porthole and submerged, searching for Jacob’s scent. She had time to stop the two bastards from taking Jacob to Azor’s compound. They could still escape Natatoria together.

She whipped her head around at the musk of rotting oysters and freshness of essence, and froze. A sea of Dradux guards were all that she could see. And just beyond the neighboring house were an entire group of mers, chained with sacks over their heads.

She picked out Badger before they tied a sack over his head. Their eyes met briefly—angered and frustrated. She wouldn’t let the mass of enemies stop her. With her siren scream, she swung the ax around with all the courage she could muster, aiming to knock the Dradux down like bowling pins. Someone behind her plucked the weapon from her hands and another restrained her around her waist. The sack plunged her into darkness as something secured uncomfortably across her gills, making breathing difficult. She choked, her siren silenced.

“Take her to the captain,” she heard a merman say from behind her.

“No!” she yelled, thrashing.

Then fire burned up her tail, the all too familiar stab from a merman’s tail barb. She cried out, heart pounding, but fell limp in the current as the merman dragged her away.

: : :

With a sudden rush, she was yanked into an air-filled room and dropped. Her knees clattered onto the hard stones. She winced, kneeling prone, gasping and choking, fighting to suck in gasps of oxygen through the wet bag over her head. “Do you mean to suffocate me?”

At the silence, she straightened, trying to gain leverage with her wrists bound behind her. “I know you’re here, Azor. I can smell you.”

Someone lifted her arms, tugging her to her feet. Then they shoved her forward. Her leg burned at the wound site where the Dradux had nicked her tail, making her foot numb. She slipped on the cold uneven tiles, unlike the palace marble. Where was she?

After walking a few steps, she was turned and roughly shoved into a chair.

“Remove the sack.”

Azor.

Tatiana grimaced at the recognition of his voice. With a quick tug of the rope around her throat, light burst around her eyes. She sucked in a breath and focused on a poster of Vincent van Gogh’s
The Starry Night
hanging on the wall in her room in her parents’ house.

“Azor,” Tatiana said in disgust, watching his lips smirk in victory. She couldn’t believe how with each interaction, the broken promise peeled back new layers of loathing hate for him. “Really? You’re going to tie me up and treat me like a prisoner now?”

“I don’t seem to have much choice, considering you run every time I try to talk to you.”

Tatiana snorted. “Maybe that’s because you cheated on me , then threatened to kill me.”

“Careful, Princess.” His nostrils flared, and he gestured to the Dradux handler next to her, dismissing him. He waited a beat then walked closer to her. “As far as I see it, in order to get what we both want, we have to work together.”

“What I want?” Tatiana laughed. “Since when do you care?”

Azor raised his brow, amusement playing on his face. “Oh, I care…”—he twirled a golden key on a string—“I think you should at least listen to my proposition, especially since you’ve involved Jacob in all of this.”

“Jacob?” she parroted, nonchalant. “He was a horrible guard.”

“Oh, don’t be so coy. I know you two were caught kissing.”

“What—?” She blew out a noisy breath and laughed. “That’s ridiculous.”

Azor frowned. “So it doesn’t concern you I’m charging him with treason, and he’s to be escorted to Bone Island tomorrow?”

Her body jolted. “Treason for what?”

“His secret loyalty to the rebellion and his inappropriate advances toward the future queen.”

Her chest heaved as she focused to remain calm. “And what about you?”

“Me?” He snorted.

She leaned forward in her chair. “Do I have to state the obvious?”

He pressed her with hard eyes. “I make the rules, Tatiana, but frankly, I’m not angry at him for kissing you. I’m relieved.”

Relieved?
Her face crinkled at his statement.

“Yes,” he smiled as if to read her mind. “It solves your clinginess problem, though, I’d forgotten how mouthy you can be otherwise.”

She gritted her teeth.
You haven’t heard anything yet.
“You’re one to talk.”

“Yes, well…” He walked over to her dresser and uncovered a blob of something—a jellyfish?—missing its tentacles and bloated. “Time to brush up on your acting skills.”