Chapter 40
S O R E N
I t’s been three days since I spoke with Liam, and I loathe this waiting. It’s like dragging jagged knives across my chest, over and over. We’ve been arranging every last detail, obsessing over the possibilities, and scourging the maps of Ashfire that Liam possesses.
As soon as the sun had risen on the second day aboard, we landed on a part of the coast of the Fire Isles, far enough south the fire worshippers won’t be here. Quite a few ships are anchored out in the ocean, the port filled with many people. The terrain is flatter, a permanent mist hovering over us like we’ve been slowly enveloped within another realm.
Misthaven harbor.
My mask is in my hand, and I stare at the small divot where I chipped off Anya’s piece. The sensation of her, even if faint, completely disappeared a few days ago as if it had been ripped out.
And then Jane .
It took my breath away when all I sensed was a heart that I’ve ravaged more times than I can count. And there was fear . It struck me in the night while the others slept, and I put my mask on to try and understand what happened to her.
Jane had wept for the rest of that night.
How did those two come across an opportunity to implant that into Jane? What was going on in Ashfire? Why was Jane so frenzied like the day Blackwell burned Maryanne?
Jane…
Her heart is so faint across that ocean, but it’s there. And it hasn’t suffered anything new like it did all those days ago. In a selfish twist of my heart, I’m grateful I get to feel my desert rose over Anya, but that greed is quickly overshadowed when I know it can’t be for a good reason. Jane was weeping like someone was lost…
What did you do, Anya?
I’m getting really fucking tired of waiting on this damn shoreline as Liam prepares his ship, ferrying goods to and from it, securing the rigging, and patching any holes.Ritter is supposed to be securing the most essential part of our plan, but it’s starting to take too long.I need to know what happened in that castle.
To know if Anya is still alive.
“So,” Bones says, sitting there as he hardly blinks. “You still can’t feel Anya anymore?”
Anya going missing has disturbed the chaos within him.
We sit in one of the shanties on a deck, looking out at the misty ocean, the sound of the waves making me think of Jane’s heartbeat, and how many times it’s cycled a rhythm while she has no idea where we are, or if we’re even coming for her.She is burdened with loneliness. I haven’t forgotten you, love.
“I’m certain that Anya put the mask in Jane.”
“Were they imprisoned together, maybe?”
“Anya always felt alone. It was clear when she wasn’t. It’s as if they found a way together, and then that happened.”
If Jane acquiring the mask had been its own incident, I wouldn’t be so worried. It’s the grief that has me teetering on an edge, like I know I have to crash down the side and face the truth, but I don’t want to. Not yet.
Ritter’s energy precedes him, like a dangerous beast who grows more restless by the hour. There’s no victory within that man, just an empty sort of weariness and exhaustion. What the fuck? Are we about to go another day without any progress?
When he approaches my deck, he shakes his head, his lips fidgeting with rage. “Something is wrong. I can’t get the siren’s attention.”
I lean forward in my seat. “ Come again ?”
That was the cornerstone of our plan. Ritter would secure the sirens, as we need them to make this work.
Ritter’s face is a mask of frustration and fatigue, his jaw tightening. “It’s unlike Melona not to come when called. The stupid white eye can’t even spot their energies in the water. Usually, I can at least see traces of them.”
I don’t even fucking know why the siren would come to him in the first place. “Do you want to give me half-truths or tell me what the fuck is going on? Why would she owe you anything? How severe is it that she hasn’t shown up? What are the circumstances? You do realize I still cannot feel Anya anymore?” I connect my gaze with Ritter, as he knows this, although he seems to find more relief now that I can feel Jane. “Just because I’m connection to Jane doesn’t mean the undertones of Anya’s energy going missing aren’t overlooked. It means the two faced desperation. We’re losing our window of opportunity.”
His eyes flash with barely restrained rage. This is a man who is unraveling, more than I think he realizes. He runs a hand through his hair, the gesture more desperate than deliberate, his gaze not focusing on anything. “Melona has my mask. My Zenith mask. Just like you trying to take pieces off of yours, and being surprised it worked, I was surprised I was able to depart without it returning to me.” He pauses to shake his head, tutting. “I gave it to her so she could always find me. So she could feel me. She has the gift of sight , and that mask helped connect her to me. It was always my last resort with Jane—get her in the ocean and let the sirens take her somewhere remote.” He looks off, fear and defeat weighing down his heart. “It’s not right that she’s not showing.”
I listen very carefully, the words true. I listen further to feel out the impact of his words on the world around us, to see if I get a positive or negative feeling in that statement; I don’t know what to fucking do because I don’t feel a thing. “And what’s stopping this siren from just deciding not to help you?”
“She made a blood oath with Cypress and me.”
I laugh, the sound even a little high-pitched, while Bones remains still as a statue. “That fucking bitch . She’s like a disease. I almost can’t hate her anymore. She’s infected all of us so perfectly; we might as well sit here until she appears to give us orders.”
I lean back in my seat, staring off in the direction that is Ashfire, my indignation rolling into dangerous waves of energy.
Ritter stares at the sands below his feet. “Melona has to come as a part of the deal. She made the blood oath because she was worried for the siren princess, and wanted to protect her. Like how I did with Jane. Cypress must have seen our paths crossing, and decided to formalize it. It’s why Melona was waiting for Jane when I took her to the coast, before I ran off to distract everyone from looking for my daughter… so I could… take care of Nora ,” he says, the pain even fresher in his soul.
It’s like we’re all damaged goods, and Cypress has offered to fill in the gaps in our hearts with her ruby crystals.If that bitch has used Anya, or Jane, and they die for it… I breathe steadier. Calmer.
No, I want real revenge. For that, I need to see clearly. I’ll sit still like the Scorpion for however long I need to, if it means taking down whoever is to blame for all of this.
Ritter looks back at me, a pleading bleeding from his heart that his eyes can’t express. “Melona can only give that mask back when the danger of her siren princess is gone, and I can only take it when Jane is no longer threatened by Misery. Which means…” He shakes his head. “Something happened to the sirens. It has to be.”
“We need those sirens to infiltrate without Tempest,” I warn, still staring off as far as the foggy veil will allow me. “Perhaps we get to deeper waters today, plunge a man in. Use it like a fishing lure.”
That might work. Sirens don’t frequent the coastlines, and if they do, it’s not typically to hunt . They steal the flesh of men when they’re out in open sea, devouring those that fall within a shipwreck, and taking all the worthy ones back to shore?—
Michael’s energy comes rushing to me, full of something I do not want to feel. Why is someone like him scared? Gutted? “My liege ,” he says before making his appearance, Bones slowly lowering his head to look at our brother in arms. Michael’s face is utterly crestfallen.
I don’t like this.
“You need to come. You need to see .”
Bones is on his feet before any of us, our footsteps sinking into the sands. Ritter yells out for Donna and Rorge as Bones and I hurry, walking out and to the shore, for what seems like an impossibly long time?—
My heart rate picks up when there’s a beached siren, waiting in the water, up on her hands as the waves wash over her tail, her long, nearly white hair wet and silky.
“Melona!” Ritter yells out from behind us, and the siren’s wide eyes find him, only to drift sadly toward me.
Once close enough, it’s clear she isn’t alone. At least, not in the flesh. In front of her is a lifeless, naked woman’s body, her flesh so pale and waxen it looks like polished stone, a deep stab wound in her gut marring the flesh, and then, as the wave pushes against the body, the head rolls to face us.
Bones shrieks, something more dangerous and deeper than anger flooding his body. I stop in my tracks, staring at Anya’s neck wound, someone having slashed it?—
Nothing surrounds Anya; her aura completely dissolved back into the ether.
The siren has a hand underneath Anya’s head. “I can’t move her further on land. But I know she belongs to you.”
Even Basilisk comes hurrying over, slowing on the sands, wearing only a thin tunic and pants, staring on in surprise.
I stand in a haze of slow moving time, staring at Anya’s body that is so devoid of anything human. All that history, all those years together, are completely gone. Not a single pulse of life is within her; her soul has been gone for some time.
Bones is the first one to kneel into the water, taking her body from Melona as Anya’s head unnaturally slumps back with the injury to her throat; Bones repositions to hold it safely.
Slowly, I step closer.
My eyes widen further in shock when I squat down to see her face better, her fire completely burned out.
Anya…
My heart is pulled into too many directions, the grief of what I see like an untouchable emotion, while I’m so very afraid for Jane. I touch her face, her eyelids partially open to reveal the most lifeless gaze up at the sky. Fuck . My emotions are slung around so violently, a deep wave of mourning chilling everything. My vision even blurs without thinking. “Her necklace is gone...”
She filled a void when I was lost, a sisterly presence, even if clearly not my Serena. She was so fucking committed to each task, so intelligent . Her heartbreak at Amy’s death broke something in her that day that not even she could mend.
That confirms that Jane’s mourning is because she knows what has happened, here.
No .
This can’t be.
Bones breathes heavily, wiping at his face. “Oh, you cunt, you can’t die on me,” he says through a shaky voice, pulling her body closer. “Who did this to you? What exact blade did this to you? I’ll find it, Anya. I’ll use it to carve whoever did this into pieces and make him eat his own flesh.“
“ Melona ,” Ritter commands. “Where is Jane? What is happening? Where have you been?”
“Jane is alive at Ashfire,” she quickly says, my gaze snapping up at her. “We were taken by Blackwell, and I left your mask in a safe place, just as I felt them take Moriganna. I knew I had to go with them. We were prisoners in there for weeks , slowly being starved and dried out. It was Jane that set us all free, she even got Anya out of her chains… who didn’t make it.”
A cold wave of shock too large to contain exits my body through a stupefied exhale— Jane ? My breathing grows deeper, more unsteady. I stare the siren down, my eyes burning from not blinking. “ Jane did that? Jane freed you?” I ask, my gritty voice steady. My blood pulses, my body breathing with purpose again; Jane needs us. She shouldn’t be fighting them alone. She’s trying. She’s fighting.
The siren nods, everyone watching her with bated breath, even Bones, who still holds Anya’s body. “Jane set us free, and then this woman here. We lulled the guard who carried her dead body with our songs and threatened him with our curse if he didn’t tell us what happened. They were going to torture Jane, right in the halls of their castle—” a rage so uncomfortably hot boils inside of me “—Jesper, in particular. Anya took the fall for Jane, claiming it was her that freed us—Morvock wants our blood. He was to use the princess’s in particular, like how he wants Jane. The two of them were supposed to make him untouchable in all of the Balar Coasts. Jane ruined everything . I heard the one named Jesper is suffering incredible punishment, and I think Jane will, too, if she ever reaches Boneglass.”
I glare up at the direction of Ashfire, every pulse of blood from my enraged heart slowly changing as pure hatred seeps in, filling in every crevice within me. The images enter my mind of Jane in the castle, before everyone, alone, just as I feel her?—
My teeth clamp so suddenly I nearly bite my tongue.I’m going to burn that entire fucking place down.
Ritter’s concern is the loudest on this beach, the dread of a father facing that his child might endure something terrible screaming through his aura.
My heart can’t seem to understand what to feel.
I’m in shock.
Not only with Anya, but that Jane is a fucking match for them. I’m not surprised she is… just surprised at how useless I feel standing here. She’s battling them, all on her own. Anya tried to help her; I know it. That’s what I had to have felt.
Glancing down, Anya’s expressionless face pushes me further into the jaws of revenge. She died for Jane. My desert rose single-handedly fucked with an entire empire; that’s right, love. You are incredible. You ruined them all, you beautiful woman.
“And to answer you ,” Melona says, nodding to Bones. “It was Jesper who stabbed her. And then Blackwell slit her throat.”
“Jesper is mine ,” Ritter growls, the Scorpion in his full glory with the death that emanates from him. “I’ll kill you for that. His order killed my wife and now, he has my fucking daughter. He. Is. Mine .”
Bones’s nose is red, but no tears are shed. “Fine, old man,” he glances up at him. “But I do want to cut off his cock. I get to maim a part of him.”
“Only his hands,” Melona says. “We like to keep the rest intact for what we use them for. And I have a feeling Charles might want to deliver Jesper to us.”
The Scorpion grunts in approval.
The energy of this beach is far too messy, too chaotic. There’s no order to the violence that is brimming from our bodies.
We need to channel our focus.
Melona looks at Bones, who is like a viper everyone is afraid will attack, but just lies there; there’s something more unnerving about the stillness. “She is at peace, Bones. I can feel it. Not a trace of her soul lingers, which means she was ready.”
“You can feel that,” Bones states, mockingly more than with hope.
She raises a brow. “Yes, we can.”
The smallest sound escapes Bones, his hands slightly shaking. But I know the mad man, and I know his heart; he’s like a hellhound who smells meat in the air and needs to rip at the flesh; he needs to destroy people for this.
He’s becoming inaccessible in there.
I squat down and reach for Anya’s hand, holding it up to see the bruises around her wrists. “A part of her has been dead for a long time, Dane.” Everything within Bones stills, and I swear even his fucking heartbeat. I don’t remember the last time I used his real name, but he needs to hear me. I need his savage chaos to pull this off, which means he can’t lose himself to unsuppressed rage. “I felt it leave her when Amy did. Anya has been waiting for the right time, the right death. That’s the only solace we can have, which means she’ll have died wanting us to rip them all apart for her. But we can’t lose ourselves, or her murder will be wasted. We owe her our steadiness.”
I bring her hand to my lips and kiss the frigid skin, sighing with disappointment. “I hope you reveled in your death, Anya. Fly high and free.” I lower it back to rest in the sand, some of the water rolling up to gently wash over the fingers. “I’m sorry.”
I will properly mourn her later.
I know her enough to be aware she’d come back from the dead, just to stab me if I don’t fucking figure this out by sunset.
And Jane needs me.
When I stand with a numbed heart, I face Melona. “How did Jane possibly free you?” I ask, refocusing myself. Anya’s death will not be in vain. “Jane has to be under lock and key.”
Melona wipes her arms in salt water, and then along her gills as if applying oils. “She risked a lot to get to us. They were very rough with her for it.”
They have no idea how fortunate they are I was not nearby to gut them all. I’d make their deaths hurt . Touching Jane as if I’m not fucking right behind her.
“We need your help to reach the castle,” I say, staring at the waves that separate me from her. This is the first time in a while I’ve been afraid . It will break me if it’s Jane next?—
I can’t even fucking think of it.
Not when I can feel her.
“What do you have planned?” Melona asks, her smooth voice starting to crack as if she’s parched. “You have our support. They branded us,” she hisses, rotating her shoulder to reveal a shark burn mark on her arm, the ocean water rolling in to wash over her tail.
Blackwell .
“We’re going to sail Storm’s Fury close to the coasts, stopping just as the tip of the volcano is within view. We then plan to jump into the waters and have the sirens swim us to shore. There’s one spot in particular that is the least guarded. Preferably reaching it in the middle of the night.”
Her eyes widen with understanding. “You want to use marrowkelp,” she says, her gaze roaming all over. “That will require a lot of it… but they won’t see you coming. I encountered Morvock, very briefly. He is so very weakened. He’s spent too much time away from his lands.” She looks at me with something predatory in her eyes. “He’s nervous, too. I can feel it when he’s near.”
“What is he afraid of?” Ritter asks, almost before she’s even done speaking.
“The ocean god,” she says with pride, her smile revealing sharpened teeth. “I think Morvock will be forced to leave the Fire Isles soon.”
“Why would he fear the ocean god?” I ask.
“He branded Moriganna. At least, Blackwell did on Morvock’s orders,” she replies, almost as if she’s eager to see devastation befall them all. “She’s our princess. She’s the daughter of the ocean god.”
Ritter frowns right away. “That’s Tempest’s daughter.”
Melona’s dark, doe eyes flash with ego. “Correct, Charles. Which means when Tempest finds out her daughter has been branded, Ta’Kan will no doubt rage the seas for Tempest. Misery will not make it home, and that’s what he fears.”
Purpose, drive, and rage are ablaze within me. “So then we flush him out,” I say. “ Now .”
Her smile stretches further, almost mischievous. “That’s why I like this plan. Force him to leave early . He cannot set foot on his own soil until the solar eclipse. Which means the sooner we get him to the ocean, the sooner we make him vulnerable.”
“Then let your sister sirens know,” I order, rising to the call of Jane. “We’ll send a hawk to Liam. He’s still on his ship. We can be in the deep sea by sundown.” I glance down at Anya, the act so out of habit, only to have everything in me halt.
Seeing her there is one of the most chilling sensations I’ve had in a very long time.
How the fuck did this happen?
Stop wasting time over me.
I nearly laugh at the memory of her, knowing that’s exactly what she would say, but my face remains emotionless.
It’s disturbing to see her dead.
“Melona,” I say, staring at Anya’s head. “Can you keep a body preserved?”
“Yes,” she answers, confidence filling her energy.
“Please keep her body safe,” I say. “She deserves a proper Death’s Wing burial. It’s her sacrifice that probably saved Jane.”
“What exactly did Jane do to free you?” Ritter asks.
“She escaped, somehow. Was covered in blood—I assume not her own, not at first—and was incredibly rushed. She found the right key and unlocked our chains before taking off, where I assume she went to free Anya.”
Tears burn my eyes, a sensation I’m not used to in the slightest. In all of this, I’m fucking proud of her. I love that about her, and she’s alone. All fucking alone, yet her spirit is far from dead.
She’s the fire no one can burn out.
I finally step away, knowing I can’t linger, as even seeing Anya in my peripheral threatens my sanity. She wouldn’t want me to, not right now. Her body is almost a call to action, as if she knew it would find its way home. I need to channel everything into action, and unleash my fury once in their castle walls.
It’s when blood is spilled that I can begin to mourn.
I affix the skull mask to my face, and decide I won’t take it off until Jane is safe.