A deafening BOOM rang across the water from the ship’s port side cannons. Then another. Then another. Zander lost his grip on the rigging, the impact of the cannon fire reverberating through his body as it tore a hole in the side of The Valerian. Zander hit the deck as a second shot hit the edge of the mast and ricocheted, leaving a sizable dent. His eyes followed the trajectory of the iron sphere to see its destination, directly in the center of Daniel’s chest. He lay lifeless at the foot of a swivel gun.

Zander dragged himself to his feet, stepping over Daniel to take over the gun as Amir threw himself over Daniel’s body, screaming. Another cannon ball hit the side of the sloop as he planted his feet and took aim, rocking the small vessel. They were almost past the ship now, but slowing down, either from the shock of the cannons or the holes they tore in the hull, he didn’t know. The ship loomed across the water, intimidating in its size and splendor, and far too close. He could hear the men below deck, struggling to load the cannons fast enough, to continue rowing, but the ship had more guns, more men, more everything, and god damnit, they were far better prepared for this attack than they’d anticipated.

His heart sank as he noticed longboats emerging from behind the behemoth vessel, six in total. He leveled shots in the rowers’ direction, watching as one, two, three men tumbled into the water. But dozens remained alive, ready to approach The Valerian from every side.

Zander looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see Ace running toward him, abandoning the mast. She took his hand and led him away from the swivel gun, pulling him down into a crouch. Theo quickly replaced him at the gun, and shots rang out across the water from either side, filling the air with deafening noise.

Ace’s hand was slick with sweat, her face a mask of desperation.

“Zander,” she said, her breathing heavy. “I need you to help me. We need to disable the sails.”

“What? Why?” Dread rose from Zander’s stomach to his chest, threatening to rise in his throat like bile and choke him. Would they no longer try to outrun the ship?

“Look around, Zander,” Ace said, her hands gripping his tightly.

He did.

More bodies lay on the deck—sailors ripped to shreds alongside pieces of the hull, the mast, the rigging. Men were pouring from below deck, swords and cutlasses at the ready, abandoning the oars. Yarrow and Theo stood beside each other at the two swivel guns, their shoulders shaking with effort as they attempted to halt the progress of the longboats.

The ship across the water loomed like a sea monster, nearly unscathed. The instinct Zander had about the vessel riled in him again, now more desperate than disgusted as the longboats neared.

He looked at Ace again. Her eyes were filled with a sadness that took his breath away.

This is how it ends, he thought. This is how it all ends.

Of course, it never all ends. But Zander didn’t know this.

He squeezed Ace’s hands, memorizing the curve of her jaw, the glow of her golden eyes. He was grateful he would die with her instead of alone, in a shack, on an island that was never his home.

“We can’t let him have The Valerian,” Ace said, cutting into his thoughts. Her words made no sense to him, but the desperation in her voice triggered something intensely protective inside him. “We can’t let him take it. We have to disable the sails, make it look like it’s not worth his while. Please, Zander.”

A tear fell down her cheek. Zander reached to wipe it away, but another cannon shot rang out, zipping above their heads, and he pulled her into his arms instead, cradling her protectively.

“Zander!”

He forced himself to pull away, swallowing his questions. The crew were shooting their pistols toward the water, throwing things overboard, trying to hit the longboats that pulled up alongside The Valerian.

Zander nodded at Ace, ready to do as she asked.

“I’ll cover you,” Ace said, yelling to be heard over the noise. Just… make them look useless. Make it look worse than it is. Do you understand?”

Zander nodded. Ace took the ivory blade from her hip and held it aloft. Grappling hooks sunk their teeth into the railings.

“Stay with me,” Zander said. “Stay right by me, okay?” He couldn’t bear the thought of dying without her nearby.

Ace nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “I’ll stay with you,” she said, her voice breaking.

The first man boarded the ship, his leg swinging over the railing just as his companion was thrown roughly back into the sea by two pirates. His scream echoed through the air as Zander rushed to the first sail and began to climb the rigging, the grip of one of his daggers held firmly between his teeth. When he reached a high enough point, he began cutting at the rope.

When he looked down at Ace, she was daring a sailor in a blue petticoat to approach her. When he did, she disarmed him in three quick moves, then slashed at his face. When he leaned back to avoid the tip of her blade, she ran him through.

Men in blue petticoats were boarding The Valerian from every side, climbing up the sides of the sloop like ants. To say they outnumbered the pirates would be a ridiculous understatement. Whoever orchestrated this attack came prepared for more than a skirmish on the high seas—they came prepared for war.

Adrenaline pumped through Zander’s body, pushing him to move quickly and cut deftly, all with one eye on deck. He was careful to ensure ropes or canvas didn’t fall on the crew, careful that he didn’t destroy the rigging altogether, but kept Ace’s insistence in mind that it look unusable.

He glanced down again as he worked the dagger. Ace was fighting off another sailor, but a second man rushed to her side. Zander yelled, and without looking, Ace pushed the man she was fighting into the waiting arms of Yarrow, who slashed his throat. Ace then turned her attention to the second man.

Theo stood beside Yarrow, his arm locked around the throat of a struggling sailor. He used him as a human shield while he unloaded one pistol, then another, and another, at the endless stream of men pulling themselves on board, expertly hitting his mark each time. When he ran out of loaded guns, he used the last pistol to hit the man he held in the temple. Then he pushed his unconscious body into a nearby invader and crouched behind Yarrow to reload his stash of weapons.

The rest of the crew fought frantically, some engaged in swordplay, others attempting to push or cut the men who tried to climb over the sides of the vessel. Saila was slashing wildly with her sword, her body blocking access to the lower decks. Zander saw Aled fall backward as a bullet hit him in the eye. Bagu approached the shooter from behind and killed him with his new daggers, then hefted his body overboard toward one of the half-full longboats and joined Saila in her defense of the staircase.

Zander cut through the rope, allowing another sail to fall pathetically to the side. Quickly scanning his work, he decided it was good enough and began to descend. As he did, he caught sight of one of the invading sailors and was shocked to find them familiar.

So that’s where Declan went, Zander thought. Seeing Declan head toward Ace, her back turned to him as she fought off another sailor, he gripped his dagger firmly in his hand and jumped.

He landed on Declan’s back, knocking him to the ground. Zander rolled and jumped back up to face him, but Declan didn’t stand. The handle of his dagger jutted triumphantly from his back. Zander wasted no time in retrieving it, pulling hard to remove it from his traitorous body.

Ace turned, her eyes landing briefly on Declan’s dead body before scanning Zander head to toe. Satisfied he was whole, she took his hand and pulled him toward the bow as a dozen more men boarded The Valerian and began to overwhelm the small group of pirates. Quickly, Zander tucked away his dagger and unsheathed his sword.

He looked out at the scene before him, shocked at how quickly they’d been overrun.

Theo, cutlass in hand, had been pushed back onto the upper deck above the captain’s quarters. He parried blows with one hand, pulling his pistols one by one from their holsters with the other hand, and dropping them at his feet when each shot was taken. Yarrow fought ruthlessly at the bottom of the stairs nearby, their sword a blur of motion. Saila had been forced to her stomach, a sailor’s boot keeping her firmly on the ground and four more surrounding her, preventing the crew from rescuing her. George was slashing at a pair of men near the captain’s quarters, a sword in one hand and a heavy skillet in the other.

A handful of pirates were gathered in front of Ace and Zander—Bagu, Santiago, Sean, Echo—those who hadn’t fallen or sank to their knees in surrender choosing to stand their ground with their captain. Invading sailors lay dying on the ground alongside pirates, more of the former defeated than the latter, but they just kept coming. A final longboat pulled alongside The Valerian, likely carrying the ship’s captain.

Zander and Ace planted themselves in front of the forecastle, intermittently fighting and maintaining a broken conversation—the last words they would likely ever share in this life.

“Zander,” Ace said, slashing at an approaching sailor with her cutlass. “I’m so sorry you got caught up in this.” She slashed again, causing the man to dodge within Zander’s reach, earning a blade in his side. “I’m sorry anyone got caught up in this.”

Zander pulled his blade free from the man’s body, wiping sweat from his brow as he glanced at Ace. She looked how he thought he must have—exhausted, scared, heartbroken.

“These past few months were the best”—slash, slash, stab—“of my whole life,” Zander said. “Don’t apologize for them.” Slash, swipe, slash. He looked at Ace full on, his expression firm.

Ace smiled softly, her arms limp at her sides, the tip of her cutlass dragging on the ground as the man she’d just been fighting fell lifeless on the deck beside her.

“Okay,” she said. “Zander—”

Just then, a blood-curdling roar erupted from the main deck, making Zander turn. The roar came from Yarrow, who stood over a dead sailor, their blade still dripping red with the man’s blood. Theo was still on the upper deck, separated from Yarrow by a stream of bodies. Theo was surrounded on three sides by men, swinging his cutlass wildly to keep them at bay, his face like that of a cornered animal as he snarled at them. At his feet lay the empty guns he’d discarded one by one, the bodies of the sailors they’d killed scattered nearby.

Zander looked on in awe as Yarrow seemed to inflate to twice their size, their body vibrating with energy as they locked into hyper-focus on their struggling partner. With movements he could barely make out, Yarrow hoisted themselves onto the railing and leapt over the heads of two men, turning to disarm one and then swinging their sword around to cut the knees of one of the men closing in on Theo.

Standing, they pulled a dagger from their belt and threw it over their shoulder at a man approaching from behind; it embedded itself in the man’s eye. In the same breath, they ran their sword through the back of one of the men attacking Theo, then used the blade to propel his struggling body in an arc, swinging themselves into place by Theo’s side and kicking the man’s body away blade in one fell motion as Theo dispatched a third man.

As the sailor’s body fell to the deck, a pool of red blooming at his belly, Theo and Yarrow shared a brief but passionate kiss amidst the chaos before turning to fight once more. They stood shoulder to shoulder now, their backs to the sea, fighting the growing crowd filing onto the upper deck.

Zander watched the entire scene in the few moments it happened before launching back into action. He slashed at an invading sailor who’d climbed onto the forecastle, causing him to jump back in fear. He fell straight into the clutches of Bagu, who slammed him roughly to the ground.

Zander felt Ace’s hand in his and squeezed, looking over at her. She was looking hopelessly out at the crew, her eyes darting to the approaching longboat every few moments as she surveyed the tragic scene before her. Beyond their temporarily insulated place at the forecastle, her crew struggled to defend the Valerian against a horde of enemies. Half of The Valerian’s pirates had fallen or surrendered, and the other half would be out of strength soon. Theo and Yarrow still struggled on the upper deck, blood coating their skin as they continued to fight more than thrice their number.