Prologue: Chaos and Blood
It happened on one of the cold nights, we were young, reckless, and foolish enough to think we had the rest of our lives before us.
We didn't.
The waves crashed violently against the yacht, the wind a chaotic, disorienting force. The sky darkened, as if it couldn't bear to witness the horror unfolding below.
We were losing the moonlight fast.
And yet, the first thought I had when Amario hit the deck with a sickening thud and went limp was:
His parents are going to kill us.
Cruel, I know.
But it was the truth.
And whether we realized it then or not, Drelan had just doomed us all.
He stood frozen above Amario, the moon casting a cold, eerie glow on his pale face.
Then came the blood; thick and dark, oozing from the gash on Amario's head.
Drelan stumbled back.
The horror of what he'd done finally caught up to him, and he looked like he was trying to convince himself it wasn't real.
But it was.
It was very real.
Something heavy sank inside me as I stepped toward Amario's still body.
He couldn't be dead.
"Amario?" My voice came out hoarse, barely a whisper. It sounded so unlike me that I had to clear my throat and try again. "Amario."
Nothing.
I dropped to my knees, hands trembling as I gathered him into my arms, unsure how to stop the bleeding.
His grey eyes stared back at me, eyes that once sparkled with mischief and life, now growing dull and glassy by the second.
I watched the light drain from them.
"Get away from him Remi," Drelan snapped.
I looked up startled, His voice trembled shaken with fear, but his fury overrode it. Before I could react, he yanked me back by the arm and shoved me aside.
I hit the floor hard, Delphine and Cassian rushing to my side.
"Drelan?" Cassian called out voice unsure, as we watched Drelan match towards Amario still body, his grip tightening on the metal rod still clutched in his hand.
"He had it coming," Drelan said. His voice was eerily calm now, a complete turn from how shaken it was before. He tore his gaze from Amario's body and looked at us with a slow, deliberate turn. "This is on him. He just... wouldn't let it go."
I wasn't sure if he was trying to convince us, or himself.
"Remi, Delphine...you have to believe me. He came onto me. I—I had to defend myself."
Silence.
The wind could testify to that—it was the only thing that dared speak.
But my eyes never left Amario.
I stared at the way blood soaked into his ginger curls, the same hair I'd lazily run my fingers through on Sunday mornings.
I remembered the way his face flushed red whenever I caught him staring.
The goofy little smile he wore when he was trying too hard not to care.
Yes, he had demons.
We all did.
But I saw the exact moment he stopped breathing.
And the way his fingers went still beside him... still haunts me.
I couldn't move. Not out of fear that Drelan would strike again, but fear of confirming what I already knew.
"Is he... dead?" Cassian asked quietly.
Drelan, who had been frozen all this time stepped forward and stared down at the body.
He didn't look remorseful.
If anything, he looked... relieved.
I should have known then.
"I think so," Delphine whispered, her voice cracking. "What have you done?"
That simple question shattered the silence.
It tore open the horror we'd all been trying to suppress.
"Let's not jump to conclusions," Cassian said, already turning toward the captain's quarters. "We'll head back to shore. Maybe there's still time—"
But before Cassian could take another step, Drelan raised the metal bar again—
And brought it down on Amario's head.
Again.
And again.
The sound: the sick, wet crack of it—still plays in my nightmares.
Delphine screamed.
I think I did too.
Cassian tackled him, wrestling him to the deck and pinned him down.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Cassian shouted. "Jesus Christ!"
But Drelan only laughed.
He fucking laughed.
"What?" he grinned, shrugging the metal rod off to the side. "We had to make sure he was dead."
Cassian's knuckles connected with his jaw, so hard that it sent his head snapped to the side.
"That was uncalled for, you psycho!"
Drelan hit the floor with a thud but didn't even flinch. He just lay there, arms outstretched, smiling up at the stormy sky.
"It was necessary," he said. "He was going to die anyway. And none of us are telling his parents what happened. We'd be signing our own death warrants."
"But we didn't kill him, you did," Delphine said, voice breaking. "You killed Amario." She repeated almost like she couldn't believe what was happening.
"And you'll be dead either way," Drelan muttered, standing to his feet.
He didn't even look at the body.
Not once.
"He's not wrong," Delphine whispered brokenly, wrapping her arms around herself. "Our only option now... is to get rid of the body."
"No." I stood up, voice sharp. Snapping out of my trance like state and shocked at how fast she agreed with Drelan. "We're not doing that to Amario."
"Oh, get off your high horse Remi," she snapped. "You think being his little plaything makes you untouchable?"
Plaything.
What did that even mean, I was no body's plaything and certainly not Amario.
"Besides it's not like we could do anything now."
She was already speaking like he was gone.
But he wasn't.
We were going back. We were going to get help. He'd be fine.
He had to be fine.
"I say we dump the body into the sea," Drelan said casually.
"I second that," Delphine added, immediately stepping forward. "We're far enough from shore... and with this storm... Let's just hope no one ever finds him."
My ears rang.
My chest tightened to the point it became difficult to breathe.
I could barely hear them anymore.
I never looked away, not when they rolled him over, not even when Drelan knelt by his side and whispered something into his ear.
I like to think I imagined it; the flicker of his eyes finding mine.
The way his lips moved.
The way they seemed to shape my name just before they pushed him over the edge.