Hymn of Breath and Bone (The Whispering Sea Duet #2)

Chapter 1

“No mate of mine will be unable to defend herself,” Caspian said, shouting the word ‘mate’ rather more loudly than necessary as he pushed the dagger into my hand.

I had only been in the Siren Cliffs for a few days, most of them spent unconscious as I recovered from evicting Morar’s spirit from Rannoch’s lake. I already missed the grumpy kelpie, but I was preoccupied with several other, more pressing issues.

Like the fact that I was betraying my people and parents by staying with Caspian.

Like the fact that he was my mate.

“So you’re going to teach me?” I asked, trying to sound skeptical rather than rife with excitement and nerves.

“Of course,” he said with a grin.

I had begged both my father and my former betrothed to teach me self-defense, and both had refused on the principle that it wasn’t necessary or proper.

And here was Caspian, Siren King and mortal enemy to my people, handing me a dagger.

If I wasn’t in love with him already, this would have pushed me over the edge.

The realization that we were mates was still new. It had only been this morning—although it seemed like days ago now—when Caspian presented me to his people. We planned to fake a mating bond until I decided if I would stay. But the moment he presented me as his mate, something clicked into place.

From there we’d gone to a meeting with his advisors that went disastrously, to a meal in one of the common dining areas, to training, and I hadn’t had a chance to figure out exactly how I was going to tell him.

But seas below, I had to tell him. Before he kept his promise to thoroughly bed me, I had to tell him. I didn’t know what importance the sirens placed on the act, but I knew it was something. Caspian had said as much when he refused to give me everything on our little deserted island.

I was aching for him. And based on how he was looking at me, and the feeling that our hearts beat in tandem, I thought he might be aching for me too.

“Unless you’d prefer Astraios?” Caspian added with a raised eyebrow.

Caspian’s handsome third-in-command blew me a kiss, earning a smack on the back of the head from Zephyr, Caspian’s first mate.

Both had come ostensibly to watch us spar, but I knew they had actually been tasked with guarding me. Caspian wasn’t sure yet that none of the sirens would try to murder me to send a message to my father, and I couldn’t really blame them if they tried.

Especially considering how the meeting with his advisors had gone.

“Will Astraios do other things you won’t?” I teased, looking up at him and closing the distance between us a bit more as I tried to push the memory of that meeting from my mind. His scent washed over me, wind and sea and mint, and I could feel the heat of his bare chest radiating against my skin. “Keep promises, for example?”

Caspian’s eyes flashed with heat, and he bit his lower lip. Seas, I wanted to be that lip.

“I told you that I’d be keeping my promises to you, Urchin,” he said, his voice a sensual growl. “But by all means, invite him along. The more the merrier.”

“Seas,” I breathed, taking a step back and shaking my head. “You are a scoundrel.”

“Pirate, remember?” he said, grinning wickedly. “Now keep your dagger arm up.”

“If I’m well enough to spar, am I not well enough for those other things?” I asked, raising the dagger and giving him a pointed look.

“The things I have in mind will require you to improve your stamina,” he replied, his lips twitching with suggestive amusement. “Hold the dagger like this.” He corrected my grip, his touch a brand on my skin.

“I feel like such activities would help build my stamina,” I argued, angling the blade like he showed me.

“Are they talking about what I think they’re talking about?” Astraios asked loudly. “Because this doesn’t sound like self-defense. It sounds like forep—”

“You watch your tongue,” Caspian said, pointing his blade at his best friend. “Or I’ll teach Marina how to cut it out.”

“She would never,” Astraios drawled confidently, waggling his eyebrows at me. “She loves my tongue.”

Zephyr hit the irreverent male as Caspian took a step toward Astraios, his fists clenched.

“Cas?” I asked, dagger arm faltering.

“He’s joking,” Zephyr said loudly, giving Caspian a meaningful look. “Get a grip, Cas.”

Caspian shook himself, turning to me with a scowl. “Dagger arm up, I said.”

I frowned back, lifting my arm. It was already shaking with the effort of keeping it raised, and I cursed my weak muscles and lack of training.

“Good,” Caspian drawled, examining every angle of my stance as I struggled. “Your arms are weak.”

“I’m aware,” I gritted out, already feeling my breaths grow thin. “Is this all you’re planning on teaching me today?”

“Patience, Urchin,” Caspian teased, putting his hands on my hips and shifting me slightly. My heart thumped at the contact, and he grinned down at me as if he felt it. “I’m assessing the best way to teach you. We may need to start with basic self-defense and build up to daggers.”

He tapped my arm, allowing me to lower it. It shook a bit from the effort of holding the dagger aloft. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly, biting my lip as he raised a brow at me. “I wasn’t allowed to train back home.”

Caspian’s raised brow became a glower. “Never apologize for the near-sightedness of others,” he said quietly, placing a comforting hand on my lower back. “I intend to arm you if you’re to fight in this war at my side.”

“I thought the point was to avoid a war,” I said as he squared himself before me. I waved the dagger. “To not need these.”

“That is the point,” he agreed, a grin curving his lips. “But better to be safe than sorry. Let’s start with where to hit an attacker.”

Caspian led me through several moves he deemed simple enough for me to master. He pointed out the sensitive areas of a male attacker, Zephyr chiming in with her own thoughts about female attackers. We had to stop after thirty minutes, my lungs becoming too tight to continue.

“The medicine takes time to bring control to your lungs,” Caspian said, flying me back to his room as the sun began to set. “But in a few weeks, you’ll be able to go longer. Do more.”

I didn’t reply, watching the glimmering sea below us, trying not to get my hopes up.

“There’s another meeting tomorrow I want you to attend,” he said as we arrived at his rooms. He pushed the heavy curtain that blocked light, cold, and wind aside so I could pass. “Then I’ll show you around the cliffs.”

“Will the meeting tomorrow go as well as the one today?” I asked, arching a brow.

The meeting today had been with Caspian’s council, most of whom regarded me with suspicion, if not outright hostility.

Caspian had explained that the council was composed of only four sirens, each representing one direction of the compass winds.

Arctos, a bent-over male siren who appeared to be five thousand years old, was Lord of the North Winds. Eos, a female siren with dark skin and hair as white as her wings, was Lady of the East Winds. Mesembria, the only member of the council who looked upon me with something close to a grandmotherly smile, was Lady of the South Winds, and Hesperus, the youngest of the council at only three hundred years old—not young at all, really—was Lord of the West Winds.

“It simply cannot be done,” Arctos had croaked out, his wings puffing out behind him in a plume of gray feathers. “Sirens do not mate selkies. Not since the Exile.”

“Marina saved my life.” Caspian squeezed my hand in a silent command to stay quiet. “The gods choose our mates, and they have chosen Marina for me.”

“He can’t marry anyone else,” Mesembria pointed out with an apologetic wince. “The people know now. The king must marry his mate.”

“The selkies will use this to their advantage,” said Eos, regarding me with steely distrust. “It would be better for us all if you remain unmated, My King.”

“That is not an option,” Caspian said firmly, still holding my hand tightly. My heart thumped wildly as he added, “I am in love with my mate and I intend to marry her. You all know why separation isn’t an option.”

The council had cast each other dark looks at this, but Caspian hadn’t explained further, even when I had given him a pointed tug on the arm.

The debate went on for almost an hour with no agreement reached. Hesperus had been the only council member to reserve judgment, and I hoped I could turn him into an ally somehow. Caspian eventually called the meeting to an end and stormed from the room, pulling me along with him.

Despite the failure of my first council meeting, Caspian’s words had stuck with me all day: “I am in love with my mate.”

Ran told me Caspian was in love with me, but I hadn’t believed him. Now though…We were mates, a bond that went deeper than love or marriage or handfasting. We were united in our souls, even if he couldn’t feel it yet. How much of his declaration was true, and how much was an act?

“Probably,” Caspian sighed, bringing me back to the present as he flopped onto a sofa in the part of the cave-dwelling that served as a common room. “But this one is about ship movements and ocean routes. Astraios and Zephyr will be present, as well as the council, and I want you there to listen and advise.”

“Advise?” I asked.

“As much as you can,” Caspian said with a casual shrug.

“You mean for me to spill my people’s secrets,” I said warily, sitting next to him. He draped an arm over my shoulder, pulling me in close to him. It was familiar, and it made my heart ache a little. If we could convince our peoples to accept us, accept this, it could always be this way.

Not until I told him, though.

“No,” Caspian said, frowning at me. “I promised you a month to decide, Marina. I won’t ask you to reveal anything until you’re ready.”

“I don’t know how useful that would be anyway,” I sighed, looking at my hands. The brown skin was a little paler after the ordeal with Morar, but a few days in the sun would bring back its rich, warm tone. “My father did not include me in important meetings.”

“Your father is a fool,” Caspian said, earning a scowl from me. “I won’t apologize for that,” he said, laughing a little. “He was a fool not to trust you. Not to teach and guide you. I will not make that same mistake.”

I didn’t say that it wouldn’t matter, since there was no guarantee I would stay with him, but I could see the thought flit across his eyes as they darkened to a burnished gold.

“Why can’t you be separated from your mate?” I asked.

“You can,” Caspian hedged, “but it can be painful for prolonged periods of time. It results in emotional strain. Weakens your magic. The council doesn’t want me weak at the moment.”

And he would be, if we finally took that last step and then something happened to me.

“Caspian…” I began, determined to tell him the truth but unable to find the words.

He lifted a hand to the back of my neck, squeezing gently as he brushed his fingers through my hair. “Are you hungry?” he asked when my pause continued unbroken. “I confess, I don’t feel like eating with everyone else tonight. Just you.”

I nodded, my heart lurching again. “I should bathe first.”

“Do you want assistance?” Caspian purred, his hand at my nape weaving into my hair again as he gave me a heated look.

Seas below, I did. But I also needed a few minutes alone to sort myself out.

Caspian seemed to sense my hesitation and leaned forward to kiss me on the cheek, a frustratingly chaste gesture. “You go bathe. I’ll get food.”

He squeezed my knee as he stood, moving into the bathing chamber. I heard water running and rose to see how it worked. This high up in the cliffs, I assumed water would be carried for baths. But a series of pipes similar to those in the selkie keep were bolted into the wall, water running clear and hot like rain from a fixture in the wall.

“There’s a natural hot spring in the lower levels,” Caspian explained. “If you want to have a proper bath, we’ll have to go down there, but you may prefer the shower for now.”

“And why is that?” I asked, raising my brow playfully.

Caspian grinned. “They’re communal.”

I tried so hard not to blanch, but Caspian’s eruption of laughter told me I had completely failed.

“Relax, Urchin,” he laughed. “If you want, I can arrange a time just for us.”

“A perk of being king?” I teased, trying not to show my continued mortification at the idea of bathing in front of his people. I wasn’t usually a prude, but apparently I had my limits.

Caspian shrugged, his lips still curved in a half-smile. “There are a few. The water is too sulfuric to drink. That’s the slight odor.” Indeed, there was a faint odor to the water. Not too unpleasant though. “It’s perfectly safe for bathing,” Caspian continued, testing the temperature with his hand, “but try not to drink it. It’s one of the many reasons my people are struggling.”

I nodded, eyeing the shower warily. “Where does your drinking water come from if not the hot springs?”

“Rain, mostly,” Caspian replied. “We have gutters that catch water and carry it to cisterns in different parts of the cliffs. The system works well in winter, but in summer…”

He trailed off, not needing to tell me what I could easily guess. In summer, there was never enough water. And in winter, not enough food.

Caspian showed me where I could find towels and soap, piling items into my arms as if I were about to take ten showers.

“It’s not really fit for a princess,” he said, looking a bit self-conscious. “But fine for a warrior king.”

“This is perfect,” I said, feeling the need to reassure him. “Thank you.”

He nodded, lifting a hand to cup my cheek. “Are you alright, Marina? You’ve been…distracted today.”

Now. I should tell him now.

But my mouth was dry, and the idea made me feel queasy, so I lied, clutching the towels to my chest as if they would hide the truth. “Just anticipating certain promises being fulfilled,” I said sweetly, rising on my toes to kiss his cheek. “Later.”

“Later,” he agreed, his voice almost a growl. “We should…talk first.”

I nodded, my heart skipping as I realized that maybe he was feeling the same conflict as me. The same longing. The mating bond.

“I’ll go find us some dinner,” he said, taking a step away from me, leaving me cold. “Enjoy your shower.”

I tried very hard not to watch him walk away from me.