Chapter 11 #2
"She let me hold her." Riven's rough voice had gone soft, wondering.
His massive hands were pressed to his chest now, covering the pink ribbon, and his golden eyes were distant with memory.
"She leaned back against me and rested her head on my shoulder and just..
. relaxed. Like I wasn't a monster. Like I wasn't covered in scars and built for violence.
" His voice cracked slightly. "No one's ever done that before.
No one's ever looked at me and seen something they could rest against."
"She sees all of us." Kaelan's voice was quiet but certain.
He had drifted closer, and I realized we'd all drawn together without thinking about it, our usual formation, tight and protective, but this time focused inward instead of outward.
"Not what we are. Not what we've done. She sees us.
" His dark eyes moved from face to face, holding each of our gazes in turn. "She isn't afraid."
"She should be." The words slipped out of Vale before he could stop them, and we all turned to look at him.
His sharp smile had faded entirely, replaced by something raw and vulnerable.
His blue-green eyes were dark with old memories, old guilt.
"We've drowned sailors, Kaelan. Lured ships onto rocks.
Killed humans for sport, for food, for the simple pleasure of hearing them scream.
" His voice dropped lower, rougher. "The witch used my voice to do it again, just days ago.
A merchant vessel in the northern straits.
Sailors walking into the water, unable to resist the song.
" He pressed his hand to his throat, where his voice had been taken and returned.
"We're monsters. We've always been monsters. She should be terrified of us."
Silence. Heavy and uncomfortable and true.
We were monsters. There was no denying it, no softening it, no pretending otherwise.
We had centuries of blood on our hands, centuries of death and drowning and darkness.
The sea was full of bones because of us.
Ships had been lost, families destroyed, entire crews dragged down to feed the trenches.
"She doesn't see monsters," I said quietly, but with absolute certainty.
Because I'd been there. I'd watched her face, felt her hand in mine, seen the way she looked at us.
"When she looks at us, she sees something else.
Something worth trusting. Something worth wanting.
" I touched the ribbon at my throat, drawing strength from its presence.
"Maybe we've been monsters. Maybe we still are, to everyone else.
But to her—" I swallowed hard. "To her, we could be something different. Something better."
"We could be hers." Riven's voice was rough with longing. "If she'll have us. If she'll keep us."
"She will." Kaelan's voice was certain, absolute, ringing with the authority of a pack leader who has seen the future and knows it to be true. "She already is. She just doesn't know it yet."
"The potion." Vale's voice cut through the moment, practical and sharp. "We only have four more doses. Enough for four more visits, maybe five if we're careful with the timing. After that—"
"After that, we go back to the witch." Kaelan's jaw tightened, his dark eyes going hard. "We get more. Whatever price she asks."
"If she asks for something we can't give?
" Vale's voice was careful, cautious. We all remembered the last visit, the witch's first demand, the one Kaelan had refused, the one that had led to Vale offering his voice instead.
"She was... interested in Lily. In the situation. I could see it in her eyes."
A growl built in Riven's chest, low and dangerous. "She doesn't get to be interested in our omega. She doesn't get to even think about—"
"She's a sea witch," Vale cut him off, not unkindly.
"She thinks about everything. Plans for everything.
Uses everything." His blue-green eyes met Kaelan's, serious and concerned.
"We need to be careful. The more we go to her, the more leverage she has.
The more she learns about what Lily means to us. "
"She already knows," Kaelan's voice was grim.
"She knew the moment we walked into her trench.
Witches can smell desperation, and we reeked of it.
" He shook his head slowly. "It doesn't matter.
Whatever price she asks, whatever games she plays, we'll pay it.
We'll play along. Because the alternative is Lily trapped on that ship, breathing air, separated from us by a barrier we can't cross. "
"Unless..." I started, then stopped, not sure if I should say it. They all turned to look at me, waiting.
"Unless we take her," I said, feeling the words settle into the water between us.
"Not the potion. Her. We take her off the ship, bring her down to live with us permanently.
She wouldn't need to breathe underwater if she had a tail.
" The silence that followed was different from before.
Charged. Electric. Full of possibility and danger and want.
"The witch mentioned that." Vale's voice was barely above a whisper. "When we bargained for the potion. She said we'd maybe be back. Said something about... giving Lily a tail to replace her feet."
"She knew." Riven's golden eyes were blazing. "She knew we'd want that eventually. Knew we'd come back for it."
"Of course she knew." Kaelan's voice was bitter, resigned. "She's had centuries to learn how creatures like us think. She knew we fell for Lily the moment we scented her. Knew we'd do anything to keep her. She's probably already planning what she'll demand in exchange for a transformation."
"Would Lily want that?" I asked, and the words fell into the charged silence like stones into still water.
"To give up her legs? To become one of us?
To leave the surface behind forever?" No one answered.
None of us knew. We hadn't asked her….and we'd been so caught up in showing her our world, in touching her, in having her close, that we hadn't thought about what she might want in return.
"We need to ask her." I pressed, even though part of me was afraid of the answer. "We need to know what she wants. Not what we want for her. What she wants for herself."
"She wants us." Riven's voice was fierce, certain. "You saw her tonight. Felt her. She wants us."
"Yes," I agreed. "But wanting us and wanting to become one of us are different things.
We can't just... decide for her. We can't take that choice away.
" The words hung in the water, heavy with meaning.
Because that was what we did, wasn't it?
What we'd always done? Sirens didn't ask permission.
Sirens took what they wanted, lured what they desired, drowned anything that got in their way.
Lily wasn't a sailor to be drowned or a ship to be lured. She was... she was Lily. Our Lily. The thought of taking her choice away, of forcing her into something she didn't want—it made my stomach turn.
"Thane's right." Kaelan's voice was quiet, reluctant, but certain.
"We ask her. We show her what's possible, what we want, what we're offering.
We let her choose." His dark eyes were fierce, burning with something that looked almost like pain.
"Even if it kills us. Even if she says no. We let her choose."
Riven made a sound of protest, low and frustrated, but he didn't argue. None of us did. Because we all knew, deep down, that it was the right thing to do. The only thing to do, if we wanted to be worthy of her.
"In the meantime." Vale's voice cut through the heavy moment, practical and sharp again.
"We keep visiting her. Keep showing her our world.
Keep giving her reasons to want to stay.
" His sharp smile returned, though it was softer than usual, warmer.
"We court her properly. The way omegas deserve to be courted.
We make her feel so treasured, so wanted, so loved that when we finally ask her to stay forever—"
"She says yes." Riven finished, his golden eyes blazing with determination. "She says yes, and she means it, and she stays with us until the seas run dry."
"Until the seas run dry." I echoed, and the words felt like a vow.
Kaelan nodded once, sharp and decisive. "Tomorrow.
We'll be there when she comes to the railing.
We'll have the potion ready. We'll take her somewhere new, show her something beautiful, make her understand what she means to us.
" His dark eyes swept over us, his pack, his brothers, the three creatures he'd swum beside for centuries.
"We'll start figuring out what she's running from.
Because whatever it is—whoever it is—they don't get to keep her afraid.
They don't get to keep her trapped. They don't get to have her at all. "
"Ours," Riven growled, the word a promise and a threat all at once.
"Ours," Vale agreed, his voice silk over steel.
"Ours," I whispered, pressing my hand to the ribbon at my throat.
"Ours," Kaelan confirmed, and his voice rang through the dark water like a declaration of war.
Somewhere above us, on a ship that didn't deserve her, Lily was sleeping.
Maybe dreaming about coral reefs and glowing caves and the feeling of hands that wanted to hold her instead of hurt her.
We would give her a thousand more dreams like that.
A million. We would show her every wonder the ocean held, every secret the depths had kept for centuries, every beautiful terrible magnificent thing we'd discovered in our long, monstrous lives.
When she was ready, when she trusted us completely, when she understood exactly what she meant to us, we would ask her to stay.
Forever.
The word sang through my veins like a promise.
Forever.