Epilogue
KAI
S he looks beautiful when she’s murderous. I’ve seen her like this before. Several times, actually. Destroying ships. Ripping the hearts from the men as they fling themselves into the ocean, convinced the love of their life is in the darkened sea, waiting to greet them.
They’re half right. Someone is waiting to greet them, but what they don’t realize is that it’s the love of my life waiting for them. And she’s not waiting to say hello.
Ripping through the flesh of another crewmate, she pulls out his heart and winds her arm back, throwing the unbeating organ as far as she can. It plops into the water several feet away.
She hasn’t realized that she isn’t alone out here, or maybe she can sense me and I’m not giving her enough credit. Nevertheless, we haven’t spoken since our last encounter on the ship and I’m desperate to touch her—to taste her, and the devastation and salt water that’s on her skin.
The Trident is on fire in two places, and if my assumptions are correct, it’s taking in water on the portside. She did a number on the ship but, for some reason I’ve yet to discover, she hasn’t completely obliterated it.
Screams of chaos sound as distant callings from where I float in the sea, and after watching Hali destroy six more men, I can’t wait any longer.
Silently, I swim through the water to her, only stopping once my arms are around her middle and my head breaches the surface as I kiss my way up her spine.
“You’re alive,” she breathes, relief instantly relaxing her into my arms.
“Of course I am. Did you have such little faith in me?”
Using her fin to spin around, her arms wind around my neck. She kisses me fiercely—our tongues colliding and rhythmically dancing together. We stay fused for several seconds, and when we finally part, her lips are swollen.
I lean forward and suck her bottom lip into my mouth, my hand cupping her naked breast, and I groan.
“The chains looked heavy, and had the shift not happened when it did, you could have drowned,” she argues, but I can see the turmoil reflected in her darkened eyes. It scared her.
“You never have to worry about me, Hali.”
“I just love you so much.”
“And I love you.” I kiss her again. “Hali, you did it. You took down Erickson. It’s over. The Erickson bloodline is finished, a huge victory the sirens will thank you for. It’s our chance at peace knowing he’s gone.”
“ We did it,” she tells me, but there’s a sadness in her voice that I don’t understand.
Did something happen between her and the captain?
My eyes search hers, but aside from that hint of sadness, she seems like herself.
“Hals?”
Her head drops to my shoulder, and I feel her take a deep, shuddering breath.
“Hali, what’s wrong?”
“The bloodline didn’t end with the Captain,” she tells me. When she looks up at me, I can see the defeat written all over her features. “He has a son, Kai. The Captain has a young son named James.”
I feel my face fall. My eyes move from Hali to the ship behind her as my mind works to fit the pieces together.
“Then let’s go back to the ship. We will kill him, too.”
“We can’t , Kai. He’s so young. I can’t harm a child, no matter who he is the son of.”
The hurt etched into her features sends a pang through my heart, and I’m reminded why I love this woman so much. Her heart calls to me as strongly as the ocean does. She is my mate. My soul. The siren sent from the goddesses for me, and me alone.
If she wants to let the boy live, then I won’t argue.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers after a moment. “I’ve failed you. I’ve failed Clara.”
Returning my attention to her, I cup her face, brushing my thumb along her cheekbone. “No,” I say sternly. “You have not failed, Hali. You destroyed the human who hung your sister's tail like it was a prize to be displayed. You brought an end to the Ericksons?—”
“But I haven’t , Kai.”
“You have. One day, many shifts from now, another siren will allow him to meet his end. You allowing the boy to live does not mean you have failed. It means you have a heart. And your heart is the thing I love most about you, Hali.”
Leaning forward, I press my lips against her once more, and hug her tight to me.
The water ripples around us, stilling as it does when the destruction of a siren's magic has settled.
Hali is no longer channeling the storm.
“Can we go home now? I miss my family. Our people. I want to be among the others through the shift.”
The light of the moon reflects in her eyes as I look at her. She looks radiant, the magic still vibrating through her body, the glow of her siren form emanating over the dark waters.
Happiness overtakes the surprise of learning Erickson had a child, and though I have a nagging feeling inside telling me we should kill him too, I relent, for Hali’s sake. Regardless of if the boy lives or dies, we fulfilled our objective.
Jack Erickson is dead.
The monsters that are the Ericksons are almost completely gone, and for the next few years at least, our kind can be at peace again.
Smiling, my hand skims down her bare back as we both stare at the orange embers burning from the deck of the ship.
“We can go wherever you want. The ocean is ours, Hali.”