The Witch Born to Smoulder (Inferno Book 4)

heart contracting as our eyes met. Had he changed his mind? Had he chosen me? Decided on another way to help his mum and be with me? Had he chosen a future with me?
‘Please be careful,’ he said, his voice like frost.
Somewhere deep within me woke a monster. ‘Or what? You’ll come and help me?’
Ezra groaned. And with that I turned from the first man I had ever loved – the one who had weaselled his way back into my heart – the one who had offered me a future together before extinguishing it like a flame in the breeze. I stepped out onto the deck and stared across the charcoal waters – towards a future that felt as dark and icy as the night.
The wind dried my tears as Ezra’s dinghy raced across the open waters towards Jet. Ezra, my family, Violet and life as I knew it grew further away with each passing second. I glanced behind myself to where the small town of Melas sat snugly against the harbour, the glittering lights from the homes only adding to its romance. Shivers ran down my spine; the pretty picture could not hide the horrors that had infiltrated the small town and stabbed the heart of my family.
The strength I’d found to escape, to leave Ezra, evaporated into the low dark clouds that hid my escape. I turned back around. In front of me was only darkness as far as I could see and somewhere, coming out to meet me, was Jet.
The reality of what I’d lost, the danger my family and Violet were in, covered me, as did the arctic spray of water. I started to sob. Soon I could no longer see a thing. Orpheus would waste no time putting my family on trial, making sure they hung. I howled into the night, cursing Orpheus’s name.
I wiped my eyes, my heart leaping as I saw an object lit up in the phosphorescence under the water. I slowed the dinghy. There, swimming in the water beside the dinghy, was the form of a person.
For a few moments, I couldn’t move. And then another body swam to the other side of my boat. Before I could comprehend what I was seeing, more bodies surrounded the dinghy. I held onto my scream and throttled the engine harder, but the bodies simply swam faster and multiplied in number.
The dark forces of nature!
In my darkest hour they had come for me – the dead souls of what appeared to be sailors from a bygone era – seeking me as their Fire Queen.
I gazed ahead for signs of Jet, but he was nowhere to be seen. I was on my own. I throttled the boat as fast as it would go, but I couldn’t leave the dead behind. I took a closer look and saw their faces, with rotting skin and sockets where their eyes had once been; every face turned towards me.
I looked away, my skin crawling. Taking a settling breath, I told myself to stay calm. So long as they stayed in the water, I should be fine.
I heard it before I saw it – the engine of a larger boat, behind me. I glanced backwards and there, in the distance, heading in my direction, was the coastguard.
Bile rose in my throat. If I kept my engine on, the coastguard would hear me and find me. If I stopped, I knew the dead – another of the many faces of the dark spirits – would claim me.
For a long time I’d held my promise to my family not to use witchcraft. But the time for toeing the line, pretending to be someone I was not, it was over.
As the dark shape of the headland became more distinct, the sound of the approaching coastguard grew loud. Cursing, I turned my engine off. Soon my boat was rolling about in the waves, surrounded by the dead. I scuttled into rowing position and placed the oars into the water. The moment the oars hit the surface, a creature climbed onto one of them and scurried into the boat. I held onto my scream and watched in horror as the dead sailors climbed, one after another, into my dinghy.
In moments, I produced a ball of flames that I held in my hands, keeping the dead at arm’s length. But not for long. The first of the dead came for me, mouth open, red tongue flickering. As it reached me, I set the creature alight. It disappeared like a puff of smoke. One after the other, they came for me, and one at a time, I turned them to dust.
Soon my energy drained from me, but the dead simply continued to grow in number. Before me was a scene from hell. Another dark creature climbed into my boat. I tried to find my heat, my flames, but I had nothing left. I tried again and again, but my hands remained empty. My panic rose as the boat filled with the dead, who began inching closer, noisily sucking in air.
The first creature came for me. I pushed it away with an oar. Another tried immediately. I fought it off and shoved it into the water. Several of the dead threw themselves towards me, held me tight and scratched me as they pulled me towards the ocean that was full of waiting, rotting arms.
I held onto my scream and fought tooth and nail to stop myself from falling out of the boat. But more of the dead simply climbed onto me, scratched me until I could no longer fight back. I was on the brink of falling into the ocean where the dark spirits waited to claim me when the water underneath the boat filled with red light.
The dead in the water evaporated and I fought harder to shove a few more off me and into the sea, where they disappeared. There were two remaining in the boat. They launched themselves at me. I ducked and