I take in the ocean behind us. My Kenettran warships wait for our command.
Magiano gives me his perfect, sidelong smile. “Shall we, White Wolf?”
I turn back to the vast bay and the Tamouran ships, raise my hands, and draw on my energy. The whispers in my head awaken, thrilled with their freedom—and the energy all around me shimmers in a web of threads. I am darkness within, and my darkness reaches out, seeking the fear in the hearts of our enemy soldiers, the anxiety in the hearts of those in my own fleet. It grows in my chest until I can’t hold it in anymore.
So I let it out—and weave.
The clouds over our fleet glow a faint blue. Then, a phantom creature bursts from the water, a figure of black smoke that morphs into the ghost of a white wolf, each of its fangs as large as one of our ships, its eyes glowing red against the storm. It hovers over our fleet with its glare trained on the Tamouran ships. It lets out a roar right as another clap of thunder shatters the sky.
The Tamouran fleet fires a full volley of cannons at us—but I grin, because I can feel the sudden spike of terror in the hearts of their soldiers. To them, they are staring into the face of a demon.
I glance at Magiano. “Ready?” I ask.
He winks. Rain soaks us both now, coming down in sheets, and water drips from his high knot of braids. “Always ready for you, my love.”
I blush a little, in spite of myself, and turn quickly away before he can see it. Then I shift my concentration away from my illusion. Magiano reaches out with his energy this time—he takes over the illusion of the white wolf, and as he holds it in place, I weave an enormous blanket of invisibility over all of our ships, morphing them into the image of black ocean and stormy skies. We vanish from sight in the churning waves.
The Tamouran ships continue firing, but now I can tell that they are aiming blindly, trained only in the direction of their last attack. We are close enough now to the bay’s entrance that I can see the Tamouran soldiers running back and forth on the decks of the ships, their head wraps soaked in the rain. My heartbeat quickens in excitement at the sight of them. I am coming for you all.
I am coming for my sister.
Down below, Sergio’s voice rings out, “Fire!”
Our cannons erupt in unison. They rip into the sides of the Tamouran ships, and distant smoke and screams fill the air. They fire back, but they still cannot see us. Our ship reaches the bay’s mouth, still shielded behind invisibility, and Sergio guides us in, narrowly avoiding the jagged rocks on either side.
Magiano suddenly seizes my wrist and yanks me down lower in the crow’s nest. I duck instinctively with him. An instant later, I see what has caught his attention—baliras, dressed in silver armor, flying in our direction. It takes me a moment to recognize one of their riders. And the recognition only comes because of the flames that shoot out toward us.
Enzo.
The Daggers are here.
Our pennant catches fire for an instant, before the huge spray of waves crashes over us again and puts it out. But the glimpse of flames temporarily exposed where our ship is, and the Tamourans’ cannons point in our direction. They explode, hurling cannonballs toward us.
I’m thrown against Magiano as one of their cannons rips into the side of our vessel. My concentration flickers, and my illusion wavers long enough to reveal our ships again, ghosts moving against the storm, before I quickly cover them up. Overhead, Enzo rains down another burst of fire. This time, it hits one of the ships behind us, and its forward sails erupt in flames.
Other enemy baliras start firing arrows at us. I grit my teeth and huddle against Magiano for warmth in the crow’s nest, listening to the sound as they slice through the air. Our ship, as well as two others, has managed to make it inside the bay, but we are not moving fast enough to repel the Tamouran fleet waiting for us. Enzo’s bond tugs hard at my heart, and I can feel him reaching out for me as I call to him instinctively. He knows exactly where I am. Even now, I can see him circling back around, a rider separated from the others, hunting me down.
Bastard prince.
“I need to fly,” I mutter to Magiano as I stagger to my feet. “We need to be airborne.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, a blast of wind hits us. His answer is lost as he grabs my waist and presses us both against the crow’s nest, shielding our faces from the impact. It is such a strong gale that it threatens to lift us off our feet. Only Magiano’s clinging to the crow’s nest keeps us from being blown straight into the ocean. At the same time, a wave smashes against the ship behind us with a force far greater than the storm’s waves.
“I see the Windwalker!” Magiano calls out to me. When I lift my head to look, he points at a balira that rushes past, coming close enough for me to see the coppery-blond curls streaming behind its rider. Lucent has someone else with her, and her posture is hunched, as if she is exhausted. But it doesn’t stop her from glancing in our direction, and as she does, another blast of wind strikes us.
The impact hurls me off my feet. I collapse as another wave pummels the side of our ship, then stagger upright, blinking water from my vision. Magiano grabs my arm again and the world clears a little. Lucent’s stunt has scattered all my concentration, and now my cloak of invisibility has vanished entirely, leaving my ships fully exposed. I force back my frustration, reach out again, and weave.
Gradually, the ships disappear again into the storm. Off in the distance, Tamouran riders head in the direction of our second fleet as they close in on the capital’s western border. My invisibility has thrown off the Tamouran line of ships defending the main bay, and as we look on, several of ours make it around the line, firing their cannons into the vulnerable sides of the closest enemy vessels.