Chapter Thirty
ADRIAN
Adrian scowled as he stormed into the warm night, pushing his tricorn hat on to his head against the rain that was beginning to pour. It had come out of nowhere; even his damned sails hadn’t predicted it.
Fucking Lorenzo D’Oro. Adrian didn’t know who the man thought he was to march on to his ship, threaten his crew, undermine him, and guard Elara like a wild godsdamned animal in heat.
He would still be stranded in Helios trying to fight off a mob for his soulmate if it wasn’t for Adrian.
But for some reason, when Adrian’s mind did snag upon Elara, his anger dampened.
In fact, a wave of peace washed over him, his rage slowly abating.
He took a deep breath of briny air, allowing his mood to evaporate.
‘Think, it’s only a few more days of travel, and you’ll be rid of them forever,’ he muttered to himself, pacing to the eastern side of the deck where they kept the rowing boats tied up.
He untied his favourite, dropping it into the ocean below, before making his way down the rope ladder to the base of the ship.
Davey often used them when fishing. Though they had the nets, his boatswain preferred the peace and quiet of being in a boat alone. And Adrian needed that solace tonight.
He sighed as he reached a foot into the boat, plonking himself down and admiring the stretch of dark ocean ahead and a sky of stars above.
The rain had already tapered into a faint drizzle that cooled his face, and he closed his eyes and let it wash the remnants of irritation away.
Hailing from one of the elemental kingdoms in Celestia, like any Neptunan the water—particularly the ocean—charged his powers.
Which meant it was about time for a midnight dip.
He removed his clothes, the warm night air comfortable on his skin, and dived into the water.
It enveloped him, hushing his thoughts and worries.
He felt his well of magick filling up again, near empty ever since the fighting dens.
He felt the dried-up, empty husks of his veins expand, the headache at his temples and the soreness at the back of his eyes dissipating.
He spent a moment revelling in the quiet beneath the waves. He’d needed it more and more, ever since the moon had risen, since the panic for Annabel had loomed larger and larger each day.
Just as he went to swim back to the surface, he felt a shift of…something. Something wrong, something in his bones.
‘Get out of the water.’
Adrian rushed to the surface, breaking it and breathing in deeply. He spun, looking for the source of the voice, to understand why he had just felt such uneasiness in his beloved ocean.
‘Are you deaf, pirate? Get out of the water.’
Adrian scrambled to wrap his hands around the boat and haul himself in, heart drumming.
‘Who’s there?’ he demanded, scanning the darkness.
The wrongness stayed within him, the panic—something he had never felt in the water before.
Heart pounding, he waited. There was no reply, no glimpse of anyone.
Oh gods, was this one of those ocean wraiths that Santi used to scare him with tales of?
He’d warned him, and Adrian had laughed.
Shitting skies, this would be his punishment, to have his soul sucked from his body by—
His eyes widened as he saw the flick of a tail. White and pearlescent. One that he would bet good money he’d seen the night before.
Adrian swore, scrambling for the blindfold and wax that a sailor always kept in any vessel, even one as small as a rowing boat. A singing began, a haunting melody.
‘Scorpius’s fucking balls!’ he shouted, dropping to his hands and knees, well aware he was stark naked as he tried to tune out the song. Finally, his hands clasped the supplies, and he frantically wrapped the blindfold around his eyes, tying the knot tightly as he mashed the wax in his hands.
‘You can put the wax down,’ came the beautiful voice, as clear as a stream. ‘I’m just teasing you. I’m not a siren.’ There was a faint trace of amusement in it.
‘Then what are you?’ he demanded, realizing just then how vulnerable he was, utterly naked, blind and weaponless. He quickly cupped his private parts with his hands.
‘Yes, pirate. Better hide that treasure.’ There was a tinkling laugh, so enticing that it slowed the blood in Adrian’s veins. ‘And treasure it is indeed.’
He forced a smirk on to his face. ‘Many a woman has said the same thing. But you’re not a woman, are you?’
‘What do you think I am?’
He thought of her lovely voice, her tail, the riddling way she spoke. If she wasn’t a siren, then…‘A mermaid.’ His stomach turned.
He knew the tales of the mythas of Neptuna.
Able to walk on land and slip back into the sea at will—which meant he wasn’t safe, even on his boat.
The lore was well known—never look at one directly with a human eye, or it could bring misfortune to the whole crew.
Some myths even swore that a mermaid’s gaze could turn one to salt, hence why ocean water differed from fresh water—made so by a mermaid’s victims. But he had thought the creatures, much like sirens, were just that—myths—until now.
‘It doesn’t matter what I am. What matters is that I know what you are, pirate. And that you should stay well away from the sea.’
‘And why would I do that?’ he retorted, perhaps a little too feistily for someone at the mercy of a mythas.
‘Because you don’t want the same curse that befell your sister to fall on you, do you?’ There was a bite in her tone now, the softness and enticement gone.
‘How in Cancia’s fucking waters do you know about my sister?’ he demanded.
‘That she fell ill? I am of the water. All us creatures know, have felt the shift. Pockets of darkness opening within the world. Trenches are beginning to form in the depths of the sea, one right near where you swam. More and more have begun to crop up this week. There’s an evil magick emanating from them. A poison.’
Was that what Annabel had swum too close to? ‘Was there one in Neptuna?’ he demanded, not caring who exactly he was speaking to, only that he received answers for his sister.
‘Yes, right off the coast of Poseidon’s Bay.’
Adrian swore.
‘It’s that Moon, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘That’s what’s caused this.’
‘No,’ the mermaid replied softly. ‘Something worse. Something much worse.’
‘What?’
‘Just…stay close to the King of Light. He’s the only one who can help us.’