"A duel?" Kas raised an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest. "Well, consider me intrigued. What exactly are your terms?"

It had worked. Elodie huffed a brief sigh of relief, before she returned to the task at hand—negotiation.

"Swords only, no pistols, no magic." She paused, considering it all carefully. "We fight to disarmament. I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Do we now?" He tilted his head, regarding her, and something familiar sparked in his hazel eyes. "Very well, I can agree to those constraints. But we should talk collateral—and prizes. I presume your terms are that we leave without the crystal, and let the Albatross fly away unharmed?"

"Not quite." Elodie looked to the former first mate behind him, eyes burning bright in hatred, his knuckles white as he strained against Kas's spell—but couldn't. "You release the crew of this ship, and come back with us."

Kas let out a low whistle. "You want an expensive prize, Elodie. It's going to cost you."

Elodie narrowed her eyes. "State your terms."

He stepped towards her, closing the gap between them. "I want the crystal—all of them, not just the one we retrieved just now. I want a safe exit from here, no pursuit, same as you."

His eyes then flicked over her appraisingly and a cold shiver ran down her spine as she realized what exactly he wanted. "And I take a prisoner. You."

Captain Jennings placed a hand on Elodie's shoulder. "You can't—I forbid it."

She did not look to the captain, and instead shrugged her shoulder free as she closed the gap between herself and Kas. She didn't break eye contact as she stuck out her hand.

"I agree to your terms. Do you agree to mine?"

His eyes did not stray from hers as he accepted her hand, and shook it—much more gently than she might have thought. "Aye. I agree."

"Elodie!" Captain Jennings's shout was an agonized chastisement. But even she knew it was too late.

Still, Elodie turned to face the crew of the Albatross. "Lend me a sword, will you?"

"No, absolutely not." Captain Jennings shook her head and drew her own sword. "If anyone will be fighting, it will be me. I did not agree to watch over you for your mother, just so you could bargain yourself away."

"We don't have a choice," Elodie argued. She then looked to Ventus. "Do you trust me?"

His teal-gray eyes were stoic, indecipherable. But then something in them glinted, like the sun on the sea in the beginning dark hours of the sunrise. He drew his sword, and placed its hilt in her hands.

"I do. Always. I'm forever your man, Elodie Fleetwood."

"Thank you," Elodie breathed, as her hands closed around the hilt. She then looked to Captain Jennings. "Please, just trust me. I wouldn't agree to this if I didn't think I could win."

Captain Jennings still looked unsure, even as she lowered her sword.

"I am my mother's daughter, after all."

It finally and visibly dawned on Captain Jennings, exactly what Elodie meant.

"I see."

"You're not really going to let her do it, Mum, are you?" Jade looked up at her mother, her delicate features betraying her fear. "She can't!"

"That's the thing about Fleetwood women, Jade." Captain Jennings smiled fondly as she sheathed her sword, tears glinting in the corner of her eyes. "You can't stop them from doing what they want. Even if you don't agree."

"Elodie!" Jade rushed at her, and Elodie threw her arms to the sides so that Jade could embrace her without being impaled by Ventus's loaned sword.

"I have to do this," Elodie whispered into Jade's wild black hair. "It's the only way to get him back."

Jade stiffened, and the two parted. She swiped at her eyes furiously. "Give him hell, Elodie. And bring him home."

Elodie nodded. "I will."

She whirled around raised her blade. "I'm ready. Are you?"

Kas shrugged and smirked as he drew his cutlass. "I suppose I am."

The crews of the Morgenstern and the Albatross backed away to give the duelists room, there on the temple floor. Kas and Elodie began to circle each other, an opportunity to size the other one up. Kas was spinning his sword and smirking—he hadn't yet realized the true gravity of his opponent.

Elodie could use that to her advantage.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Still, she hesitated to make an opening move. A part of her wanted to make her slash, to show what she was truly capable of, everything her mother had taught her, what was perhaps her one true talent.

But she didn't want to hurt him either.

Even with everything he had done, how he'd left her and the rest of the Albatross behind, there were some things she could not forget. That night in Yorkhaven, her first night on the high seas and low skies, the way he made her feel seen in his bold attempts to try and charm her, the secrets they had shared.

She still wanted to see in his eyes the boy that she recognized, the boy that she loved in spite of all the warning signs.

But for how he wore his face, as long as he held that accursed tome, his eyes would remain too dark, the golden wheel within their depths too bright.

This was the way that things had to be.

"Ey! Are you going to take a swing at me or what, darling?"

Her traitorous heart soared at being called 'darling' again. But she could not afford to lose her head. Not here, not now.

Elodie said nothing and gripped the hilt more tightly. She took her first spin at it, testing the weight, nothing like the flashy turns that Kas was doing. He was trying to show off, to intimidate. But he was also growing impatient, and that was where the weaknesses would come.

"First one to strike is at disadvantage, in a proper duel." Her mother's words lingered, along with her signature laugh. "Not so much in a real raid, though."

But that was the advantage here, this wasn't a raid, a skirmish for survival like on the high seas. And Elodie had trained for both.

Kas might have too, once, when starting his education. But he had spent so much time aboard the pirate ships, in such skirmishes, that he might have forgotten.

Elodie could only hope so.

Just as she had expected, Kas lunged forward, an easily telegraphed strike. It was all too easy to parry. Her blade met his, and she pushed him back. He tried again, striking low this time—but the movement of his shoulders and his footing betrayed him once again. Elodie swung low, and sparks flew from where their blades kissed. They strained. Elodie grit her teeth, and then pushed.

Kas stumbled back this time, shock flashing over his features. He regained his footing, and they began to circle each other again. His eyes narrowed appraisingly—she'd already put up more of a fight than he'd expected.

It almost made her laugh—what had he expected?

Then again, it wasn't like he was himself anymore. Not quite, not since he'd stolen the book. No doubt the power of magic had made him think so much higher of his other abilities.

He went on the offense again, moving as fast as lightning, with a smaller, more powerful series of strikes. It came as easy to Elodie as the footsteps of a dance as she moved back, parrying and keeping steady footing. It reminded her of when they had danced the minuet together, swirling in step and perfect harmony with one another.

Then he went for the bigger swing, and it was all she could do to duck beneath the blade. She felt the cool air over her neck, and raised her blade just in time to block the neck strike. She thrust upwards, and Kas went stumbling back yet again.

She rose to her full height—just in time to see he had pulled the tome from his jacket.

"I thought we had a deal, Kas!" Elodie snarled.

Already, his fingertips glowed a sickly green with the arcane power.

"Sorry, darling, but you should know that a pirate's honor is more of a guideline." Then he released the spell with a snap of his fingers.

Elodie darted out of the way, and her vision turned red as blood, red as her hair as she regarded Kas again.

Of course he had to cheat. Once his stupid luck wasn't enough to beat her, once she wasn't the easy fight he'd wrongly sized her up to be, he had to go and cheat because he had to win.

Because that was who he was, book or no.

Someone who'd had to survive terrible, terrible things at any cost.

Someone who was utterly alone in the world.

That rejection from his blood-father—that had been what had caused him to take the book. None of them had understood then what he'd truly meant when he'd told them that Kas couldn't, shouldn't learn magic.

That was when something sparked in Elodie's head.

She started towards him and slashed, with powerful strikes that he struggled to parry, quicker than he expected, as sparks began to fly once more. It broke his concentration—enough for her to make her ploy.

She sent his blade spinning out of his hands, and pointed her blade at his throat.

"It's over, Kas. Duel's won."

"It's not over until I say it is." Still, his smirk faltered.

He then made a grab for his blade—but Elodie didn't stop him from that. Rather, she lunged for the book with the end of her sword.

He dropped it right before its end could go through his hand—and he forgot all about his fallen sword.

"You shouldn't have done that." He curled his hands into fists. He then lunged, grabbing onto the hilt of her sword.

They strained against each other, pulling until Eodie jerked it. The book went flying, as Elodie turned the blade over her shoulder and slammed the end of the hilt into Kas's chest.

He wheezed as he fell back onto the stone floor. His hand started to reach lower, toward the pistol holster on his side.

"No!" Elodie cried, and she dove on top of him, the sword tossed carelessly aside. Her fingers found the pistol just as his did.

Her strength prevailed, and she pulled the gun from him, and clicked the barrel into place, put the barrel to his head.

That was when they both froze.

His eyes were wide in terror, face flushed as she looked down at him, the cold metal in her hands thrumming with her own heartbeat back at her.

"What are we doing?" She whispered, in horror at her own brutality, at how quickly they had descended to madness. "Kas—Kas, this has gone too far. Please, don't make me do this."

His throat bobbed as he swallowed thickly.

Then he nodded, a shallow thing. "Aye. I surrender."

It wasn't a triumphant thing, as he closed his eyes, as Elodie rose to her feet.

The first mate of the Morgenstern glared at her when she stood. "You're taking him, then?"

"Yes, you're free now—right?" She glanced at the spellbook, and was tempted to fire the loaded gun into it a few times, just to be assured of its destruction.

"Aye." The first mate glared down at Kas. "I don't feel his control, anymore."

He looked back to Elodie. "If we see him again, it's on-sight. Do we understand each other?"

"We do." Her voice shook, in spite of itself.

He nodded, and she thought she saw a look of respect. He then turned to the rest of the crew of the Morgenstern. "Let's pack it up, crew!"

And with that, they shuffled to the Morgenstern, no longer Kas's ship, nor that of Captain Madigan. It was now just a ship like any other.

Elodie looked back to Kas, and bent down to offer him her hand.

He took it, avoiding her eyes as he did so. She silently pressed the handle of his pistol in his hand, which he placed into its holster.

Captain Jennings approached, Jade close behind. "Kaspar."

He looked up at her and blanched. "Captain Jennings?"

Captain Jennings clapped a hand over his shoulder gave a small smile. "It's good to have you back, kid."

She then turned away, just as Jade embraced him.

Elodie couldn't help but smile, in spite of everything. And he couldn't either, as he hugged Jade back.