Page 63 of Blood on the Tide
“They come in handy in a pinch.” Siobhan braids her hair back in quick, efficient movements. With her suit hugging every inch of her, I reluctantly admire how powerfully she’s built. Even more so than I initially realized. She looks like she could bench-press a car—not just because she’s a shifter—and has inherently more strength packed into that strong frame than even a human of her same size and shape would.
“Lizzie, I need you to watch Maeve’s back. I’m going to climb up into the ship through the hole as soon as we break it and retrieve Bastian. The two of you will be in the water alone for a short time.”
She wants me to watch Maeve’s back. I look out over the dark water. Rationally, I knew what I was agreeing to, but somehow I’ve been able to avoid thinking about the specifics. That’s not an option any longer.
I’m more than capable of protecting Maeve on land, but in the water? With all that space in every direction, the darkness shielding anything that may be approaching? My throat spasms and I have to fight to breathe normally, to not gasp. I don’t know if I can do this. I have to do this. Maeve is hardly helpless in the water, but she’s a seal. Anyone with the smallest drop of offensive magic will have her outgunned.
Maeve tenses beside me. “What about Lizzie’s family heirlooms? If she’s protecting me and you’re getting Bastian, then who is retrieving the jewels?”
Siobhan flashes a smile, too sharp. “Those jewels will go down with the ship. They’ll be easy to retrieve once the dust has settled.”
As plans go, it’s not the worst I’ve heard. I open my mouth to say as much, but Maeve gets there first.
She frowns. “There’s no guarantee they’ll still be in the ship within a couple hours of it sinking, let alone a couple days. The bay is closed off from the greater open sea, but if it’s anything like Viedna, the currents move strangely the deeper you go. It’s entirely possible they’ll rip the ship to shreds and scatter it. It could be months, or longer, before we’re able to find all of the cargo.”
Siobhan doesn’t look happy with the persistent questions. She turns to me. “Well? Does the selkie speak for you?”
“The selkie has a name,” I snap. It doesn’t matter that I refused to say her name initially upon meeting her. We are putting our necks out for Siobhan and the godsdamn rebellion. The least she can do is show Maeve a little respect. “Is there a reason you don’t want to answer her?”
Siobhan drags in a breath and seems to fight for control of herself. “I understand your priorities may not be my priorities, but I hope you can understand why I don’t really give a shit about some jewels. They have Bastian, and if we don’t retrieve him—”
“We’ve heard it before. Doom, gloom, the end of Threshold as we know it.” I wave that away. “Give us a moment.” I take Maeve’s arm and tug her deeper into the cave. The space isn’t large enough to have true privacy, not when a shifter’s senses are superior even to my own, but it gives the illusion and that’s good enough. “It’s fine, Maeve. I’m more worried about you than I am about the jewels.”
“It’s not fine.” Maeve jerks her arm from my grasp. “This whole time, you’ve had one aim, one task. I understand that we need to save Bastian, but surely we can do both. If you go into the breach behind Siobhan, then you can retrieve the jewels while she retrieves Bastian.”
Which would leave Maeve unprotected in the water. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Lizzie.” She’s so serious it makes my heart ache. “Don’t you think you’ve sacrificed enough for other people? Ever since you’ve come to Threshold—and even before that, honestly—you’ve been on a mission to retrieve what was stolen from you. We’re closer than we’ve ever been, and I’m not comfortable with you compromising yet again in the name of a cause that you don’t believe in.”
I almost laugh out loud at how she’s misunderstanding things. She’s right that I don’t give a shit about the rebellion. I’m never going to give a shit about the rebellion. But she does. She cares about it, so by virtue of loving her, I care about it, too. But even then, I’d let both Siobhan and Bastian burn if it meant Maeve would be safe. She’s not going to be content to sit on the sidelines.
So we’re going into the water and sinking the damn ship.
“We talked about this. I’m staying in Threshold. I don’t need the jewels.” I take her shoulders, holding her steady when she snarls at me. I love that she snarls at me. “I’m not leaving you in the water alone.”
“What do you think you’re going to do?” She tries to pull back and swats at my hands. “I saved you from the kelpie. I can take care of myself. I need you to trust me to do that, because I’m not going to be an oath breaker because you don’t believe I’m capable enough.”
Oh for gods’ sake, she almost sounds like Bowen right now. I strive for patience and mostly fail. “We took no oaths.”
“You’re being intentionally difficult and I don’t appreciate it.” She blows a hard exhale through her nose. “I know what we said, but it changes nothing. Deciding to stay is a big decision, and it’s also reversible. If we lose your family heirlooms to the depths? That isn’t reversible. I want you to have the option, Lizzie. If you stay, I want you to do it because you choose to, not because you failed and can’t go home.”
Fuck, I love this woman. I drop my hands. “If you want me to trust you in the water, then you need to trust me to know my own mind when it comes to those damned jewels.”
Maeve makes another of those cute little growls. “If you’re that worried about me, then use that vampire speed to quickly retrieve your heirlooms.” She holds up a hand before I have a chance to keep arguing. “I understand your concern for me, and I respect it. Which is why, after the breach in the hull is big enough, I’ll put some distance between me and the ship until you and Siobhan and Bastian are ready to escape.” And then she’ll drag us to safety.
“I’m not leaving you. Tonight or ever.” The words have weight beyond this conversation, this coming conflict. I understand what she says about having a choice, but I already made mine. I’m not going back. I’m staying in Threshold. I’m staying with Maeve.
She sets her shoulders in a way I’m becoming increasingly familiar with. “Then it won’t matter one way or another if you have the jewels, so there’s no reason not to get them. Promise me, Lizzie.”
I fucking hate this plan, but Siobhan isn’t going to give us time to come up with a better one. And Maeve clearly won’t listen to reason even if I offer her an alternative. “Damn you.”
“Promise me.”
I’m helpless in the face of her intensity. I would give this woman the world on a platter if she asked it of me. Instead, the thing she wants is for me to allow her to be in danger, to trust her to handle herself in the coming conflict. When did she become such a stubborn little thing? Maybe she always has been, but we’ve been aligned in the same direction up until this point.
I finally give a jerky nod. “Stay alive. That’s an order.”
She catches the back of my neck and pulls me down into a quick and desperate kiss. “The same goes for you.”