Winds of Fate [Books I-III]

Chapter 139: The World in Chaos (Part One)

I raised you better.

His words snake in her veins, biting frost wounding her soul with the venom and pride inside it. Eleanore gapes, gaze falling on the floor, scouring the walls as her world turns again. Her fingers lose all their strength as her soul understands what the Devil meant.

But her mind refuses.

Yet, her hesitance is enough for Jones to smile, cracking the corners of the possessed captain's lips. A slap of wind howls within the Hall, and under that black hat, Fernandez' ebony tresses fly catch the moonlight falling from all the windows... revealing streaks of blue marking his mane, his stubble, along the cracks around his eyes.

"No." Eleanore swallows and holds out a palm by instinct, and her heart drops as she remembers her magic is no longer. "That's not true! You did nothing but kill everyone I ever loved!" She winces, hating how her voice shakes. "Everyone!" The raper wavers in her hand. "Even those I have yet to be with!"

"For you."

She scowls. "What?!"

"You are a wildcard..." He rolls his eyes. "Simply put, you are someone... who shouldn't be here." Jones shrugs. "No, because you are not just a priestess..." He frowns. "Never only just one. Did you not notice that? These... contradictions of your very life."

She staggers. In-between. Eleanore gapes, but she hears a different voice at the back of her mind. Because you bridge two worlds, bohique, Papa Legba had said, smiling reverently, like I... like many of us.

"And the goddess... is you."

When she raises her rapier higher, he lets out a booming laugh that fills the Hall and drums within her chest. She swallows hard, eyeing the map. If only she could get close, perhaps entertain him by letting him talk...

Crrrrunch!

Jones curls Fernandez' fingers into a fist; tendrils of blue magic danced in his hands—

And grasps the blade of her rapier.

Barely gasping, Eleanore watches in horror as the blue smoke devours the steel, melting it like a tallow candle. No. She shivers, as the steel drips gray liquid onto the marble floor. Mikey... She grips the golden handle tight, nearly clutching it to her chest.

But the Sea-Devil stops at the last moment, burning the golden hilt and leaving it in her hands

A sob gets strangled in her throat. I must not fold. She assures herself. No. No!

"You know that toy will not do anything. You fear for his life don't you? You promised you'll save Capitán Fernandez."

"Let him go!"

"Oh, child, I am giving you a way out," Davy Jones sighs, clicking his tongue, "Your blade is no longer; you are free. You do not have to fight for every day, in wars you never wanted, if you simply listen to me..." He nods, blue flames flickering within his eyes. "And then, we can both guide that immense power resting inside you."

No. Her fingers weaken, and her throat dries up. This temptation, so cruelly enticing... if she is indeed a goddess—

Then, she can save everybody.