she’s not welcome here, that she may have walked into a trap.
Regardless, she knows the goal—we want her dead.
“I’m here to make a deal,” Taysa consults, still wafting around the bottle. I don’t know what keeps pulling me to it, but it definitely means something. “Your freedom for Davina.”
Atarah’s body grows stiffer alongside mine, but she stays quiet.
“You have a night to think about it.”
“We’ll end this now,” Atarah retorts back. “Today.”
Taysa cocks her head to the side. “Don’t be foolish, Atarah. You’re the eldest, six sisters outweighs the one.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because you’ll all die, my darling, and I actually do like you girls.” Her dark eyes land on me. “But your sister stole something from me. My offspring died at her hands.”
A mirthless laugh escapes my sister. “Then you might want to reevaluate your affection because I condoned it. Hell, I almost killed your youngest myself.”
A hard twitch of her jaw and Taysa transforms back into herself, calm and collected.
“Mine would’ve been much worse though,” Atarah continues, squeezing my arm against her ribs in a silent apology. “Davina was at least gracious.”
The sound of my name triggers something within her head because her attention falls back on me, and it’s filled with hatred and disdain.
“I kept those boys safe their whole lives,” she snaps. “Tobias saved you.”
“Don’t speak,” Atarah voices. “She’s trying to spark your temper.”
“You ungrateful little bitch,” Taysa barks. “You murdered my sons.”
Atarah raises her chin. “And they gladly gave their lives to save us.”
“I’m going to get sick,” I utter to my sister, feeling the monotonous screw of my gut.
Just hearing Taysa say it out loud is sending me backward into the dark mindset of solitude. Where I’ll never hear Tobias’s jokes or lay in Dagen’s arms again. The cruel reality sinking in again that I watched and did nothing when they both took their last breaths.
Because you needed to safeguard your sisters.
I hear my subconscious say it, over and over again, but it does nothing to soothe away the disgust I feel toward myself. It doesn’t lift anything off my chest or take the weight that’s constantly pressing into my rib cage.
“Hold on,” Atarah mutters in my head. “They’ll be here soon.”
She means our sisters, the ones I sacrificed everything for—my happiness, my love, my whole entire life.
Lined up together, side by side, my five sisters and I face Taysa on the darkened beach. The sea is deathly calm, looking black from the inky-colored clouds overhead. Nesrine is still gone, on her way to retrieve our father, but I’m glad she isn’t here.
One less to become injured or die, one less thing to have to worry about because right now I’m terrified.
I’ve given up more than I ever thought I’d have to in my lifetime. Made choices with my sisters full of curiosity and stories. Included a woman who was more than what I would’ve ever imagined with her mother-like tendencies and love that she casted toward us. Only for it all to be made up of lies and deceit, alluding me to do the unimaginable.
“If you hand over the cuff,” Taysa states. “I’ll show mercy on all of you.”
“And what happens with Davina?” Atarah counters.
Those dark eyes shift to me and back to my sister. “The cuff will save her too.”
“Don’t believe you,” Brylee sneers. “You’re a lying old hag who’s done enough to our family. The death of your sons lay at your hands.”
“I was never going to harm them,” she snaps. “You stupid little chits ruined everything.” A crack of lightning follows her rant, making me jump in between Atarah and Kali.
“Stay calm,” Atarah conveys. “We’re going to be okay.”
Oh, the naivety of her words does nothing to soothe me. We’re in a load of trouble, and no amount of calmness is going to erase anything that is going to happen to us today.
The feel of metal and wood rub against my spine as Dagen’s blade and Tobias’s gun are slid under my skirt. Meant to at least hurt the sea witch for what she’s done, but I don’t think I can manage anything right now with my murky brain.
“We found that dark-haired woman Tobias brought in her room,” Brylee states to all of us. “With her throat slit.”
“Self-inflicted,” Rohana adds in then glances at Taysa. “Or self-made.”
“The cuff goes nowhere,” Atarah orders. “Where is it, Davina?”
“I hid it in the forest, she’ll never find it.”
“We need to make a move,” Brylee utters to all of us. “Before she