Novels by Talia .E.

Clara’s POV“Hold her shoulders down, Clara, she is going to bite through her tongue!” Nikolai shouted, his boots sliding against the slick, damp concrete floor as he lunged forward.“I am trying!” I yelled back, my palms slipping against my mother’s cold, sweat-slicked skin. “Mama, look at me! You need to breathe. Just breathe!”Her teeth clicked together in violent, rhythmic clicks, her entire body shaking under the thin, stolen gray wool blankets we managed to scavenge from a dumpster behind a rail yard. The clinic in the upper district had kept her pumped full of heavy, medical-grade sedatives for months to keep her compliant. Now, going cold turkey in this pitch-black hole was throwing her nervous system into a catastrophic spiral.“We need real heat,” Nikolai growled, his knuckles white as he pressed his weight against her knees to stop the violent muscle spasms. “She is freezing from the inside out.”“Look around us, Nikolai. There is no heat here,” I said, a wave of bitter re

Clara’s POV“Keep your head up, Clara, we are almost to the rocks!” Nikolai shouted, his voice hoarse as a massive wave crashed over our heads, burying us in a swirl of freezing white foam.“I cannot feel my legs anymore, Nikolai!” I screamed back, my teeth rattling so violently that the words barely made sense. My fingers were completely stiff, frozen solid around the rough plastic edge of the single orange life ring that had kept us afloat for hours. The biting cold of the open sea had long since numbed my limbs, leaving me with nothing but raw survival instinct to cling to the only thing keeping me above water.“I have the ground beneath my feet,” he called out, his powerful arms suddenly locking under my shoulders with a desperate, heavy grip. “I have you. Just let go of the ring.”With one final, desperate surge of energy, he dragged my freezing body out of the crashing surf and onto the sharp, jagged rocks of a completely deserted shoreline. I collapsed onto the wet stones, gasp

Clara’s POV“Did you get the override codes?” I shouted over the deafening mechanical horn that suddenly started screaming from the lower decks.The heavy metal door burst open, and Nikolai came running back up to the main deck. My chest tightened in instant horror when I saw he wasn't alone. He was dragging Victor by the collar of his ruined jacket. Victor’s face was completely white from blood loss, his hand clutching a fresh, bleeding bullet wound in his right shoulder. Blood dripped heavily onto the polished teak wood floorboards, leaving a gruesome trail behind them.“There are no codes, Clara!” Nikolai yelled back, his chest heaving violently as he hauled his father toward the stern of the luxury yacht. “The entire core tracking system is locked from the main grid. We have to move right now!”“You think you can outrun them in a plastic dinghy, boy?” Victor sneered, coughing up a spray of dark crimson as Nikolai threw him roughly against the side rail. Even with a bullet in his s

Nikolai’s POV“We have less than twenty minutes before they breach this perimeter and execute us both,” I said, my voice cutting through the sharp, rhythmic tracking blips of the radar console.Clara grabbed my arm, her fingers digging through the coarse fabric of my shirt. “You cannot go back down there, Nikolai. He wants you to come to him.”“If I do not get the master control sequence from him right now, that cutter vessel will blow us out of the water anyway,” I told her, gently but firmly removing her hands from my wrist. “Stay in the wheelhouse. Lock the cabin door behind me and do not open it unless you hear my voice.”I didn't wait for her argument. I turned on my heel and moved down the narrow companionway stairs, the heavy automatic pistol steady in my right hand. The constant, low thrumming of the twin diesel engines vibrated violently through the steel soles of my boots. The air down in the lower corridor felt incredibly thick, reeking of fuel, salt water, and cold iron.I

Clara’s POV“Don't touch that lever, Nikolai, please!” I cried out, my hands trembling as I grabbed his massive arm to pull him back from the glowing navigation console.“He is running us straight out into the deep sea, Clara,” Nikolai growled, his knuckles turning entirely white as he stared down at the cluster of exposed wires beneath the metal casing. “If I do not disconnect the primary autopilot relay right now, we cross the international border line in less than half an hour.”“But you heard what he said through the ventilation system,” I reminded him, my voice shaking as I stepped closer to him in the cramped bridge cabin. “The entire console grid is rigged. If you try to force a manual turn back to the city harbor, the whole engine room block detonates instantly. He wants you to pull that lever. It is a trap.”Nikolai let out a sharp, frustrated breath, his shoulders dropping slightly as he pulled his hand away from the open panel. He looked down at the complex wiring, then out

Nikolai’s POV“You really think a piece of iron can hold me forever, boy?” Victor’s voice buzzed through the small ventilation grille, sounding completely calm and hollow.I didn't answer him. I just stood there in the narrow, dimly lit corridor outside the locked engine room door, my bruised fingers gripping the handle of my automatic pistol. Every single muscle in my body felt like it was on fire. My ribs were severely bruised from the fight with Silas, and the deep cut across my forehead had finally stopped bleeding, leaving a sticky, cold crust down the side of my face.Through the thick glass of the porthole window at the end of the hall, the first pale rays of dawn were finally breaking over the endless gray water. The dark warehouse docks were completely gone, replaced by an open, empty horizon. The twin diesel engines beneath my feet kept up a low, rhythmic vibration that made the metal floorboards shake constantly.“I know you can hear me, Nikolai,” Victor continued, his voi