5. Enna
Chapter five
Enna
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” My voice reverberates down the long, rocky channel, awakening the glowmites.
Odissa smiles over her shoulder—her mouth too wide, her smile too forced. The glint in her eyes is too bright. “Something like that,” she says, as though it’s the simplest thing in the world. Like she’s not swimming deep into the heart of Vespyr’s rocky core, straight for the lair of the death goddess herself.
The water is thick and metallic, tinged with a subtle green glow of the glowmites. I inhale, taking in the strong metallic scent. In the bottom dredges of the channel, amidst curling and coiling poisonous plants, rests the skeletons of merfolk stupid enough to try and bargain with death. Tail bones jut out of a crevice, their wide fanning bones stripped clean of all flesh. Skulls sit in the porous holes of the channel, peering at us with black, gaping eyes. Their fangs eroded by years of soaking in saltwater. A thin film of bacteria coats the bones, giving them a clouded, fuzzy softness.
The temperature rises the further we swim, until the channel is unbearably hot. My gills flutter at my neck, laboring to draw in oxygen from the water.
The channel opens into a large cavern. Blood hangs in thick curtains, barely stirring in the lack of current. A few stray fish swim through, nibbling at the algae clinging to the walls. The chamber is empty, albeit well-lit. I scan the walls, the ceiling, the floor—anything for signs of life.
There’s nothing here, save a layer of bones so thick I could walk on it two-legged and not touch the ground beneath.
“I don’t think she’s here, Odissa,” I whisper. “Let’s get out of here before—”
Odissa whirls and snaps her teeth at me, silencing my protest. “Don’t you get it? Tephra is the client, Enna. We made a deal. She’s here.” She then glides into the chamber without hesitation, hefting the corpse.
I cough, spraying bubbles. It all makes sense: Odissa’s refusal to reveal the client, the high cost of the bountihead, the sudden change of plans in the Drink. Had the original client fallen through, forcing Odissa into a deal with the devil?
“Who backed out of your deal, Odissa? I’ll kill him with my bare hands. Tell me who. We’ll hunt him down, force him to pay, and forget all about this goddess shit.”
She centers herself in the room, untethering the corpse and arranging her neatly atop the pile of bones. The princess’s silver hair—now soaking in blood—fans out across the lifeless faces.
“There’s no time,” she says. “That soldier will reach Dredgemaw, and her king brother will be after us soon enough. You want a way out of the Drink? This is it, Enna. There’s no turning back.” Hope flutters in my stomach. She might take me with her at least, if she doesn’t plan to free me.
She cups the princess’s cheek, smoothing her thumb over the jaw. “Besides, you made an oath. Or don’t you remember?”
The first time I met her, Odissa held me at knife point. I vividly remember the cut of cold steel against my soft guppy throat, the tangle of her fingers in my hair as she held me against the wall in the dark corridors of my father’s house. She smelled of ash and iron. Her sharp teeth glinted with blood. She did not kill me then, which is as good as saving my life. And when someone saves your life in Vespyr, you owe them a lifetime of service.
I touch the pit of my palm, where we’d dragged our blades until the blood ran thick, muttering our promises to the goddess of death—keeper of all bargains, Eater of Souls. A promise Odissa has never let me forget: I will do everything in my power to help her succeed in every endeavor. Seemed harmless to a guppy. But now?
“I remember,” I mutter through gritted teeth. Would I have made it in this sea, had she not found me? Had she not cultivated me—me, a soft-bellied court shrimp—into a ruthless killer? I’ll never know. She’s the closest thing to family I have.
“Good,” Odissa snaps, then unsheathes a blade and slides it across her palm. She lifts her bleeding hand and begins to chant. “ Dark is the water, thick is the mud. Come to your daughter, great goddess of blood. ”
The water stirs, a slow, cyclone current lifting the blood. Fish fall into the swirling current, struggling with useless fins to escape. From the top of the cave, a deep chuckle vibrates—grating and rough as the pumice of Vespyr. Louder. Louder. The goddess’s voice trembles through my bones, and my gills grow still even as my heart thrums in my chest. I cling to the mouth of the channel, watching from a distance that no longer provides a sense of safety.
Then a shadowy figure descends, spinning with the current in a purple-suckered vortex. Eight thick tentacles fan out, each one as thick around as three of me. The metallic scent grows unbearably strong. The rumbling laughter intensifies until I can hear no other sound.
She lands on a writhing mass of tentacles, each limb slithering out with a mind of its own. Bones crack beneath her colossal weight. The goddess, Tephra, is huge; her smallest finger is the size of me. Like me, she wears the pale skin of an Abyssal siren, but her face is sharper, her teeth longer. Instead of rounded siren ears, hers fan out like fins, lazily paddling the water. Her lips are black as her tentacles, a sharp contrast to her almost translucent skin. Her dark eyes inspect the blood and the corpse Odissa offers, and that mouth curls into a wicked smile.
“Back so soon, little fish?” Tephra says, her voice as cold and deep as the Drink.
Odissa lifts her chin but does not meet the goddess’s gaze. “I have sacrificed greatly for you, mighty Dark One. Please accept this life in exchange for completing my bargain.”
The goddess bends at the waist, tentacles shifting, and she licks the blood from Odissa’s hand, catching the last remnants of juice. For a moment, the goddess’s gaze lands on me, assessing me with curiosity.
Then, with a twisting tentacle, Tephra caresses Odissa’s cheek. “Tell me, little fish, which siren’s body are you donating for the exchange? It seems you’ve brought two. And this one’s still alive. I do enjoy a live sacrifice.”
Every cell in my body unravels. My gills splutter against my neck as I draw shattered pulls. But I stay frozen to the skeleton floor, my blood oath clamping my free will in its icy grasp. Help her succeed in everything she does.
Even if it means making a deal with the devil. But if Odissa aims to feed me to the soul-eater, all oaths are off. I will not go down that easily.
Odissa smiles. “That one is not part of the exchange. Just the princess.”
The goddess flicks her gaze to me once more. I meet her gaze squarely and lift my chin.
Tephra’s smile only widens, wickedly so. “A blood bargainer, I see.” A chill races through my body as her gaze travels from my scalp to the tip of my tail. “You sure you want to be here, pet? We could make a deal of our own.”
My pulse flutters, missing a beat. The dark magic of my oath curls around my neck, my arms, tightening its grip. What is the goddess offering me? A way out? I narrow my eyes. That’s not possible.
When I don’t answer, Tephra blinks. “Very well,” she says, returning her gaze to Odissa, and only then do I allow myself to relax.
Tephra’s tentacle curls around the princess’s limp tail, lifting it. Silver hair hangs like fine strands of kelp from Aris’s scalp. “Ah, yes. The cost is great indeed, worthy of a great wish.” She spins the body, inspecting every inch. “These scars will not come out, you know. Wicked suture, that.” The forming scar tissue on the corpse’s chest where I stabbed her in the Drink is jagged and rough.
Odissa shoots me a look. “I know.”
Tephra cocks her head, studying Odissa carefully. Odissa holds her posture under the goddess’s scrutinizing gaze, and I wait for her to crack. But where many bargainers may have quivered and fled, Odissa stays erect. Focused.
The goddess finally blinks, breaking the tension. “You’re after the Coral Prince, you said?”
“Yes, the princess is due to meet him for an arranged marriage. I expect to take her place and win his throne myself.”
The goddess throws back her head, and that dark laughter ripples once more through the water. “Oh, this will be delightful. Truly. I love a good courtship scheme, and it’s been far too long since those sun-drenchers got what’s coming to them, don’t you think?”
Odissa smiles. “Yes, that sounds quite—”
Tephra snaps her fingers, and Odissa falls silent. “I’m inclined to make a few tweaks to your initial request. That Coral Prince is a slippery fish to catch. I’m a woman of business, and for bargains like this, I require proof . Say, a wedding? You have until the end of the moon to secure your royal marriage. He must vow in my name to love you till the day he dissolves.”
“You said all I needed to do was win his heart.” Odissa’s tentacles quiver, betraying her nerves. “Win it. As in, I get him to fall in love with me.”
“Yes, well. Plans change. And what is love if nothing but a game? I need something a little more… substantial.”
“But—”
Tephra raises a tentacle. “Pray you remember your place, little fish. I’m in a good mood.”
Odissa’s expression hardens, and she bows her head. “Thank you, you are most generous.”
“Do we have a bargain?” The goddess leers, fixing Odissa with her perfectly off smile.
This deal weighs heavily in the goddess’s favor. How Odissa expects to impersonate a royal, I have no idea. Not to mention, pulling off the ruse in another kingdom, and a surface kingdom at that. Princess Aris, trained from hatching to be a royal, would likely have struggled with the match. Odissa is a death-dealer from Vespyr with no Voice training. She will not survive this bargain. And when Odissa fails, I’ll be left to clean up her mess.
What the fuck is she thinking?
This is unlike any of Odissa’s previous schemes—it’s rash, dangerous, and by the sound of it, half-improvised. And there’s no kill at the end. Does she expect me to help her with this deadly love game? I’m notoriously bad at feelings. Sex, I can do. But the heart-pumping, gut-twisting romantic shit? I’d much rather knife a prince.
Odissa extends her hand. “It’s a deal. And I never disappoint.”
Tephra laughs, snatching her wrist between two fingers. With her fingernail, she cuts the flesh of Odissa’s palm, flooding the water with her blood. Tephra presses her finger into the wound.
Odissa groans, her face contorting in pain. She gasps and clutches her wrist. The goddess lifts her finger to her mouth, sucking in a wispy trail of Odissa’s blood, then licks her lips.
“Excellent,” the goddess says, her voice taking on a musical quality. Tephra’s song begins low—a deep, solemn note. Her hands glow white, channeling her spell. She releases Odissa’s arm, and the death-dealer spins, sinking against the skeleton floor with a crackle of bone.
Tephra stirs the water into a circular current, sucking Odissa and the dead princess into a spinning vortex. The tendrils of Tephra’s magic weave into the current, carrying the sound of her dark Voice. Odissa floats higher, her hands splayed out, her pink tentacles twisting out in a jumble. Shadows encircle her body, writhing over her and the corpse until only blackness remains. Odissa screams.
Tephra’s song morphs, dissonant. Her mouth opens in a wry smile. She closes her eyes, tilts her head, and then, after what feels like an eternity, the goddess cuts her spell. Finally, Odissa’s body drops to the floor, a lifeless carcass. The princess, dead moments prior, twitches with new life. The fluttering silver tail moves, slowing her descent to the floor. The arms raise. The eyes open—bright and blue—and the head turns to glare at the goddess with Odissa’s signature scowl.
Tephra snatches Odissa’s old body, dangling it before her mouth.
“Wait!” Odissa calls out in a light, melodic voice. Nothing at all like her graveling sneer. She lifts a dainty hand.
Tephra smiles, eyes alight with mischief. “That body is yours to keep for the remainder of its lifetime,” she says. “If you succeed.”
Odissa’s new fins quiver. She presses her hand to her scarred chest, tracing the line of my suture. “And if I fail?”
Tephra’s gaze flicks from Odissa to me and back again. “Then you’ll be my dessert.”