Shattered Souls (Guardians of the Maiden Book 3)

The sound of Von’s heartbeat was loud in his ears while the ship creaked quietly in the late hour. He stood frozen in the captain’s quarters, looking down at Tarn. He slept soundly at his chair, slumped over his desk. Wine glistening in his cup, smelling of the tainted Witch’s Brew.

It was an odd sight. To see him like this. Sleeping. Vulnerable…

When he wakes, his wrath will be a terror.

Kill him.

The thought urged him. Kill him and get rid of Tarn’s obliteration from the world. Yet Von couldn’t bring himself to reach for a knife. Maybe because they had once been friends. Family.

Out of love for his sister, Von couldn’t.

His hand shook as he slipped the Scroll of the Unending out from under Tarn and tucked it in his coat. Von picked up the Xián Jīng chest as he backed away slowly, keeping his eyes on the deadliest man alive. Tarn didn’t stir.

Von relaxed a little when he reached the door. He peeked out the window on it, straining to listen. The ship was dark and still in the night. A light fog drifted over the black sea and the deck, offering a veil. He spotted Geon where he waited quietly behind a cluster of barrels with Yavi.

Geon had traded his apron for a raider’s uniform to better blend in. He insisted on serving as the lookout for their escape. Only one Raider stood guard at the helm, and he was already asleep with a little help of some ale containing a few drops of Dreamshade oil.

Once Geon made sure it was clear, he signaled. Von nodded and crouched by the rail to keep watch as they silently ran across deck to the davit on the side of the boat. It already held a rowboat suspended next to the ship’s rail, ready to board.

Then Von ran to meet up with him.

“Are you all right?” Von whispered to Yavi.

She nodded. Her wide eyes glistened in the faint moonlight streaming through the clouds. He took her hand and gently squeezed it, willing her to feel reassured, but inside his pulse was racing.

“Thank you for this lad.”

“Aye, Commander. And here are the rations for your journey. Good for a week.” Geon shakily handed Von a sack. His face was pale and shining with sweat. Reflecting the apprehension Von felt.

“You tell him it was me,” Von said as he quietly their bags and the chest in the boat. “Blame me for all of it.”

Geon nodded and swallowed. They had asked him to come with them, but he didn’t want to leave Sorren behind.

“What will you do with it, Commander?” Geon whispered, glancing uneasily at the chest. They had told him what it contained. Golden inscriptions looked unsettling in the night.

Von pressed a hand over his heart where the scroll was tucked. “Burn it to the high Heavens.”

Because he was not going to allow Tarn to do such an abominable thing. They had done many awful things over the years, but resurrecting the dead? Not even the gods would pardon that.

“Live long and happy, Geon,” Yavi whispered to him and they embraced tightly.

“You do the same.” The lad said, blinking back tears. “Safe travels and I pray one day we meet again.”

Von took Yavi’s hand and he helped her climb into the rowboat. “Careful now. Sit and lay low.”

She gave him a watery smile. “Not until you kiss me.”

“It’s a terrible thing to be married to a stubborn woman.” Von sighed, leaning out to cup her face.

“You married me of your own volition. Now you must bear the consequences all your days.” Yavi rose on her toes and kissed him.

All of his days. He liked the sound of that.

“We’re going to lower you down first then I will climb down the hull to you,” he said.

Yavi nodded and crouched down between the seats. Her bangles caught the light before she hid them under her cloak. As soon as they were far away from the wards, they would use the slaver’s key.

Geon smiled at him sadly. “I will miss you, Commander.”

“I wish you would come with us, lad.”

“I can’t leave that grumpy minotaur behind. He needs me.” Geon shrugged. “Your place is with Yavi. My place is here. It won’t be the same without you both.”

“Geon…” Von swallowed. “I’m sorry for…”

Emotion crossed Geon’s face. “I know. You did what you could for him, and I can’t ask for more than that.”

He exhaled a shaky breath, hoping and praying that Dalton found peace.

They each took a handle to the radial davit and slowly spun them to lower the rowboat. Von cringed as it creaked faintly, each sound causing his heart to beat faster. They carefully lowered the rowboat to the cold black mirror below. Frothing water tumbled away from the boat’s stern. The night was quiet and still, as if it held its breath while it watched. He wasn’t able to relax until the boat made it safely down in the water. Geon rapidly tied a rope around a metal cleat on the railing and handed it to him.

“It has been a pleasure, Commander.” He saluted.

“Thank you Geon.” Von patted his arm. “I’m within your debt.”

“Let’s consider this even.”

Von chuckled and climbed over the rail. “Farewell. Promise me you will leave one day and see everything you dreamed of. Find your way, Geon. Don’t wait as long as I did.”

He nodded. “I promise.”

Von scaled the side of the ship while looking up at the lad’s bright smile. He waved goodbye to them cheerfully, watching him go. Von wished he could have taken him, too. Geon had much more to live for than being a slave cook. He was going to miss him.

Geon flinched, his eyes going wide. A breath shot out of him, leaving a cloud in the chilly night air, then his body went limp, and he fell over the railing. It was a slow descent in Von’s sight. He watched the boy fall the distance and splash into the dark sea. Yavi’s scream pierced the silence. Von gaped down at the lad’s body floating face down in the water. Motionless. Red slowly seeped through his shirt from his neck.

“Geon!” Yavi cried.

She yanked on his clothes, trying to pull him onto the rowboat. Impaled in the back of Geon’s head was a glinting metal star. Ice sunk in Von’s chest. He looked up at the ship to find Tarn looking down at him. His mind went blank at the pure ice frosting in those pale blue orbs.

Von couldn’t move.

He couldn’t breathe.

His heart hammered in his tight chest.

Lieutenant Olsson and the rest of the Raiders appeared at the railing. Arms lunged for Von then yanked him back over and tossed him onto the deck. Sai-chuen leaped off the shroud he had been perched on and walked over to them. He tossed another metal star and cut the rope tied to the dowel.

Von looked at Tarn and began to rise. “Tarn—”

He was cut off by a swift kick to his face. He hit the deck, his ears ringing sharply from the blow. The Raiders worked fast to reverse the radial davit and bring the rowboat back up. Yavi sobbed over Geon’s body; her dress stained with his blood. She screamed when the men tore her away from his corpse and they forced her to kneel on the deck a few feet away from Von.

“You have taken me for a fool,” Tarn said coolly, “If you assumed I never knew about her.”

Von tried to protest, but Tarn tossed something at him. It clattered on the deck, whirling gold in the moonlight before settling. It was Yavi’s wedding ring.

She gasped at the sight of it and touched her chest, realizing too late it was missing. Sai-chuen grabbed her arm and she fought him wildly.

“Release her!” Von shouted.

Yavi scratched Sai-chuen across his eye. Enraged he smacked her, knocking her down. Von lunged for him but Olsson tackled him to the deck.

Sai-chuen dragged her kicking and screaming to Tarn’s feet. He unsheathed his short sword and his black eyes gleamed like oil under the lanterns.

“No!” Von cried out. He fought against Olsson, but his hold was unbreakable. “Tarn, Please!”

Sai-chuen cut open Yavi’s dress, revealing her bare back to them. Above her right shoulder blade was the slave seal that had been burned on her two years ago. A pale scar was slashed across it, the sign of a free slave. Yavi held her dress to her chest, crying softly.

Tarn’s jaw clenched as he fixed his icy gaze on Von again. “Not only did you have the nerve to attempt to poison me, you stole from me.”

Olsson whispered an apology before reaching into Von’s coat and pulling out the scroll. He handed it to Tarn.

He checked it briefly then tucked it away. “Though I suspected you were not the same when you returned from Beryl Coast.” His piercing wintry eyes held his. “Primarily when you no longer called me Master.”

His dread climbed as a Raider handed the Xián Jīng chest to Tarn. He flipped the lid open and showed Von that it was empty…

The teapot was gone.

Somehow, he’d known.

Why didn’t the Dreamshade work? Von shook where he knelt, his body having gone cold as his mind reeled with all his mistakes. Tarn had not been asleep in the first place. Because he didn’t consume anything Von didn’t taste first.

“You cannot hide anything from me, Von. Not your scheming. Not your weak heart. Not your secret marriage. And not your unborn child.”

Ice. That was all he felt forming inside of him. Fear and horror crystalizing over his soul.

A murmur passed through the gathered Raiders.

“You know the punishment for this is death,” Tarn told him.

Von crawled to him on his hands and knees and bowed at his feet. “Master, I beg your forgiveness.” His vision blurred with tears. “I was wrong to have defied you. I’ll bear any punishment you see fit. But please, I beg you for her life.”

“You misjudge me. I’m not quite the monster to kill a woman with child.”

Von looked up to him.

Tarn reached into his coat and pulled out a long knife. “That is something only you do.”

Von gaped at him. “What?”

“You want to be free? This is your debt repaid.” Tarn held the knife out to him and the moonlight caught on the sharp edge.

Von stared at him in muted horror. “But why? You have the Scroll of the Unending and the ashes. It was for her, right?” Von asked him. “All of this, it was for her. You want to bring my sister back to life and now can. So you don’t have to do this.”

Tarn tilted his head and laughed airily. “Von…did you think even now it would be that simple? Or have you forgotten the legend of Jökull and Sunnëva? She went into the fire because for life to be given, life must be taken.”

A sacrifice.

“I had everything I needed, until you let her go.”

He stopped moving. Stopped shaking. Stop breathing.

You let her go.

Dyna.

She was the original sacrifice?

“So Yavi will take her place. I think this is much more fitting, don’t you?” Tarn’s eyes were chips of ice, glowing eerily in the night. “A wife for a wife.”

Von shuddered as at last his sins had come to confront him. He saw his pregnant sister’s torn body in the hall of her home. Tarn’s anguish at the loss, and the weight of every death he caused in Azurite. “Master, please. Don’t ask me to do that. Please. I beg you.”

“It’s not a request. It’s an order.” Tarn tossed the knife, and it stabbed the deck next to Von’s hand.

“Then take my life for Aisling’s as payment.”

“Don’t speak her name,” Tarn snarled.

“You still need Yavi to translate the last half of the scroll,” Von cried desperately, tears freely falling. “I’ll die in her stead. Please, Master. I will do anything. Kill me instead. Kill me. Kill me!”

The scent of Witches Brew was strong in the air as Tarn took his chin and raised his face. Von looked at the man that was once his friend searching for some shred of mercy. Either spelled and buried, there was no trace of who he once was.

“You will end her life—or he will,” Tarn said. Sai-chuen raised his sword in the air above her head. “Now pick up the knife.”

Von’s trembling hand reached down for it. He tugged the knife free of the wood and Sai-chuen backed away. Yavi slid her ring back on and Von took her hand to help her stand.

His wife smiled at him sadly through her tears. “Don’t be afraid.”

Von shook his head, biting back a sob. “Yavi…forgive me.”

“It’s all right, my love. There is nothing to forgive. I’ll wait for you in our next life.”

Her words ruined him. Von lowered his head to hide his heartbreak, and streaks of tears rolled down to his chin. He held her tight in his arms, crying in her hair. “I love you.”

She clutched him tightly, her body trembling. “How much?”

“This much.”

Ignoring those around them, the swaying ship, and the impending threat to their lives, Von swept Yavi against his chest and kissed her. She entwined her arms around his neck, holding him tightly to her. He crushed his mouth to hers, kissing her urgently, every part of him shaking.

He didn’t care that the others were watching. At that moment, it was only them. Yavi was so precious to him. From the moment he captured her, she had captured his heart and thawed the ice that had consumed his life. She was his bane, and she deserved far better than he could ever give her.

Von ended the kiss and looked at his wife for the last time. “You are free.”

He lifted Yavi and threw her onto the rowboat. She shrieked from the unexpected toss and landed on top of Geon’s body. Von’s knife cut the davit rope suspending the rowboat and she fell screaming with it to the sea. The boat landed with a loud splash. Her head hit the frame of the boat, stunning her.

“Yavi!” Von shouted at her fearfully. She blinked up at him hazily, struggling to sit up. “Go!”

She reached for the oars as the Raiders fell upon him. Von whipped out his knives. He cut them down as they came, leaving bodies sprawling over the deck. He buried the guilt of killing his men under the determination to save his family. Whoever stood in his way would fall until he did.

Large arms grabbed him from behind. “Commander, stop!” Olsson squeezed tight, causing Von to lose air and the hold of his knives.

Tarn walked to the rail and looked out at the rowboat floating away. Yavi had still not recovered from the blow to her head. She swayed, struggling to row.

“You could have ended her life quickly, Von.” Tarn met his gaze. “Remember that.”

He walked away and climbed the steps to the captain’s quarters without looking back. Von didn’t understand until he saw Sai-chuen take an oil lantern hanging on a mast—and pitch it over the ship.

Von’s cry echoed across the sea. The lantern sailed clear through the night and shattered in the rowboat by Yavi’s feet. Flames burst out and flared into the sky.

Then she began to scream.

Yavi’s name tore from Von’s throat. He fought madly against those holding him back, desperate to break free. The ship took him away from the bright orange flames growing in the middle of the black sea as Yavi’s agonizing screams tore through his ears. Von screamed with her, his soul ripping to shreds. Olsson pined him against the rail to keep him from throwing himself overboard.

A blow smashed against the back of Von’s head. He fell onto the cold deck, all strength leaving his limbs. The world faded away, taking the last of Yavi’s screams with it.