Chapter 18
Frozen in the aftershock of Kye”s mouth on the back of my hand, I watched as he cast off. His eyes remained on mine as he rowed away, though he never waved or tried to shout. His little boat drifted to the south, shrinking until it vanished under the curve of the blue horizon.
Two pairs of eyes appeared at the water’s edge, sending a shiver down my spine.
My toes curled, seeking the reminder of sanctuary in the dry sand where they couldn”t reach me. The Naiads rose out of the water only to their chins. Across the shallows, they stared at me.
My arms crossed, fingers dug into my own skin. I bared my teeth, waiting for them to speak, but they seemed inclined to wait as well.
“You tried to kill me,” I finally said when I could no longer stand it.
“We did not,” Nori answered, her voice as calm as evening dusk.
I lowered my chin. “You killed the sailors, Nori.”
She gazed at me unflinchingly, and though she took her time to answer, there was no qualm in her words. “We did.”
My mouth opened and closed.
I’d been sure they’d deny it—had desperately hoped they’d deny it. The pit in my stomach grew again, as hard and rotten as it had been the morning I’d woken to find my father waiting for me with a cup of tea.
My chest heaved; my knees wobbled. My hand slid across my middle, and I was sure I’d lose the bile of my empty stomach. From the corner of my eye, the Naiads pulled in, creeping onto shore on their elbows and tails.
I sprang away, sending sand airborne as my feet twisted and tripped into the nearby tufts of pili grass.
“Why?” I asked, my voice breaking. “Why kill innocent sailors? Why lie to me?”
Nori watched me with smooth patience. “We have never lied to you.”
“And no man is innocent,” Olinne added.
“Irah was. The cabin boy. He was,” I gestured toward Kye in the distance with a wave of my arm. “And you’relying now.”
Nori raised her chin. “There is little for you here, in the land of men. Your father sired you, but it was we who begot you. It was we who reared you. And it was we whom you looked to for strength and keeping. The man will betray you, your people will banish you, your father will abandon you. It will be us who give you a home. It is us to whom you belong. As you always have.”
“Go.”
“Why are you here, on our island, creature?” Olinne asked in her melodious voice, tilting her head. Her white-blonde curls spilled across her chest. “Why did you spend the night here?”
Unwilling to answer, I clenched my jaw.
Nori gazed at the horizon and the ship in the distance. It had already disappeared, tucked into the Leihani harbor. “The man would deceive you, little creature. He would trick you and mislead you. Men are traitors, all of them.”
“Go,” I demanded again, more forcefully this time.
“He would leave you in worse accord with your island people than he found you. He would forsake you, and after he does, we will be here. We will teach you to walk the world of sirens. To glide through water, to slip through memory like shadow and mist, to speak the language of tide and moon—”
“Go,” I finally growled with all the venom I could muster.
They stared at me. Two pairs of eyes—copper and blue. I stole a glance toward Leihani and thought I saw the admiral’s ship leaving the boundaries of the island.
There he went.
“Theia’s moon is almost full, creature.”
I snapped my head in Nori’s direction. “You’re mad if you think I’m willing to enter the water with you after what you did.”
Olinne threw Nori a dark look. Nori pursed her lips at the blue-eyed Naiad. A silent exchange flowed between them, until Nori rested a hand on Olinne’s shoulder.
Olinne shook her off. She shot me a look of tortured pain before flinging herself into the drop-off, vanishing below the waves. Nori watched her figure quickly fade, then turned her attention on me again.
“You are owed an explanation.”
I was. Mihauna knew I was, but there was no way I’d let her give me one. I’d had enough of her moon-forsaken lies. Three days wasn’t enough time to forget the weight of their tails wrapped around me. The view of the shrinking moon as I sank through the water. The sheer and consuming terror as I fought to not drown. Whatever they’d done had left me without the use of my legs, had stolen my vision and my consciousness for an entire night—enough that the village doctor had thought me at death’s door.
She glanced over her shoulder at the ship growing in size over the water, and I followed her gaze, realizing it was headed this way.
“Don”t leave with the man.”
The words were said in Nori’s voice, but it didn’t sound like Nori. It wasn’t a demand—it was a plea, thick with desperation. She climbed higher on the beach, eyes wide with fear, her luminescent skin suddenly pale.
“Don’t let him take you.”
I wouldn’t. He’d already asked, and I’d already turned him away, though I didn’t tell her that.
“Promise me, creature.” She glanced back at the ship again. Now that it had entered the open water of the channel, it was picking up speed, sails billowing at the breath of wind lashing over the sea.
He was coming back.
My mouth parted as I stared in wonder. Nervous excitement flickered through my muscles, even as I stood pondering why Kye would return. I’d already rejected his offer. But there was no denying the warship was aimed this way, its bowsprit pointed at me like a spear aimed across the water.
“Men are traitors, Maren. It was the first lesson I taught you—”
“The first lesson you taught me was to create and preserve life,” I finally said, squaring my shoulders as I turned my head toward her. “How many sailors have you killed, allowing the island to believe it was me? How many sailors did you kill while my mother was alive?” An odd thought rattled in my mind, and I tilted my head at her, though my voice remained cold. “Did you claim to be friends with my mother, too?”
The Naiads had never mentioned knowing my mother, but I knew the answer in the way Nori’s throat constricted. The way she reeled back, struck by my words. She glared into the sand, fists tight.
A horn blew loud enough to vibrate the inner walls of my chest.
Almost to the reef, I watched as the ship’s sails were freed, wind spilling from the canvas as they were set loose.
“Drop anchor!” came a distant shout.
My eyes shifted back to Nori, poised on the edge of the water.
“He will betray you,” she choked.
And then she dove into the water.