Chapter 10
My spine stiffened. This strange creature before me, the harbinger of Nymphaea’s wrath, thought my father was taking his people.
If he thought the sailors were complicit in those crimes, enough to imprison and interrogate them, what would he do to the daughter of his enemy?
Hylos continued, “We believe the sailors may possess some knowledge of the fate of our people.”
“Maybe you know something about that, considering you’re of nobility,” Calypstra said from Hylos’s side.
I didn’t miss the eyes of the others trained on her with what looked like fear washed with disdain.
“I am not nobility,” I lied.
“Hair that red is known to be common of Blackthorns, plus those stones on your wrist are worth a fortune. Not to mention invoked. You’re either some Duke’s wife or a bastard.”
“I am no bastard.” The words flamed from my lips. Then I realized my error.
“A legitimate daughter of someone important. Noted.” She smiled, pleased with herself.
Hylos’s arm vanished from her side as she sat up and sauntered to the seat beside him.
“You may tell us who you are in good time. But for now, is there a name we may call you?” He asked like he hadn’t even heard the accusation from the woman whose ass he was just palming.
“Elowyn,” I answered. My name was common enough. It wouldn’t raise an eyebrow, yet the black-haired woman’s sharp eyes marked me all the same.
I stared back. She wouldn’t discompose me. Not again.
“Well Elowyn, you are a guest here in Naiadon,” Hylos answered with a tip of his chin and a sip of his drink.
“But I would suggest no more late-night dips. You’re fathoms below the sea, and if you go out there,” he waved a hand to the large round window melded into the stone, which opened to infinite sea, “you will never reach the surface. That bracelet may help you survive the elements of open ocean, but there are monsters in these waters that would devour you in one bite. Or worse.”
My stomach soured and I pushed away the plate before me, no longer hungry.
“I’m a prisoner then.” I met his ocean-blue eyes, which seemed kind. But I wasn’t a fool. He thought he could placate me with civility. I would dance the dance for now, as long as I received answers.
“You are a guest,” he said with another polite smile. Niceties were always the easiest mask to don. “Also, Nixie and Morvyn will be your escorts around Naiadon.”
Morvyn choked on his wine. “What, why do I have to play nursemaid?”
Hylos ignored him, keeping his gaze fixed on me.
“You are, of course, free to walk my domain as you wish.” He raised a blue brow.
“But I strongly recommend an escort for the time being. Few sirens here have encountered a human not behind bars or lulled in quite a while, and there’s no telling how they might behave. ”
“You’ll be staying across from me,” Nixie said as we walked the halls together, the latticed glass windows holding back the sea, the ocean landscape just outside. “Elowyn, I want to say … I promise that …” She fumbled with her words but finally settled. “You are safe here.”
“What of the men on the ship? Are they safe? What of the holy woman?” I said sharply.
“We didn’t know women were aboard that ship,” she said, watching me sidelong as we walked.
But how did they know who was and wasn’t on a ship in the night?
Nixie continued, “We avoid vessels with women aboard, to honor the Holy Mother. But also, it’s cruel. We cannot lull women as we do men. So they can only watch as—”
“As every person they dined with that evening jumps into the sea to their death? Yeah, it was fucking terrifying.”
I balled my hands into fists. Anger warmed my cheeks. Mad because of the agony I went through. Furious for the drucia rocking in prayer to soothe herself. Where did her body rest now?
Nixie winced. “I’m sorry, Elowyn, for what you witnessed.”
Sorry wouldn’t bring the dead back to life.
Sorry wouldn’t erase the image of the captain plunging into the sea.
But maybe sorry would make her feel guilty enough to offer answers.
Nixie turned into the niche where her room was and opened the tall glass doors across the way.
“This is where you will stay,” Nixie said.
The room was large but far less pink than hers. Light refracted from the sea outside and danced on the walls in rainbows. It was lovely, even if it was a prison.
“Hylos said the men were being questioned. Are you torturing them?” I asked.
“We do not need to torture them,” she said, shaking her head.
“They tell you freely what they know?” Impossible. Those prideful men would rather die at the sirens’ hands than share any knowledge pertaining to king and country.
“When we lull them, we can step into their minds,” she said.
My disgust must have been blatant, because Nixie winced at my expression but continued, “We can see what they see, hear what they hear. Essentially take over their mind’s eye.
We don’t know their thoughts or wants, but we can parse those out through their actions and words. That is enough to know certain things.”
Like charters, mapped routes, or siren capture.
“What if they know nothing? Have seen nothing? What if they’re innocent?” I saw the thought worm its way through her mind as silence sat between us. She knew more, thought more. But Nixie wasn’t the person who held the men captive. Nor who held me captive. She was simply following orders.
“Then I am sure Hylos will let them go. He is a just ruler, as his father was before him. He will not let any harm befall prisoners of—” Of war. “I should go. Let you settle,” she said, unwilling to share further, then turned and left, shutting the door behind her.
I let out a shrill, muted yell. Then sank into the comfort of the large, circular bed at the center of the room in defeat. Billowing lengths of white fabric swept down from the high ceiling, cascading in delicate, gossamer bolts. I let out a breath. From one enclosure to the next.
My eyes drifted to a book on the bedside table. Its cover was stained like it was once waterlogged, and I flipped through it. Words like “passion” and “love” leaped off the pages.
I rolled my eyes. Nixie had likely left it for me. She was trying so desperately to make me feel welcome. But why? And then cold sank into my belly. If she knew who I truly was, of my origin, would all kindness stop?
I needed to get out of this place. To do so, I’d need to venture out of the damned room they’d quietly tucked me away in.
Hylos claimed I wasn’t a prisoner but a guest in his domain. It clearly wasn’t true, but I could at least test the bounds of what I was permitted to do without escorts. If I could explore the castle, at the very least get a feel for its layout, maybe I could figure out where the sailors were.
I watched bubble trails race upward past the window, unable to even see the surface of the water from here. You’re fathoms below sea. The siren king’s words needled through my mind.
One thing at a time. Learn the castle. Find the men. Then figure out the actual getting out alive part.
Clutching the book in hand, I rose from the comfortable bed. There had to be a library here if there were books. That, at least, would be my excuse if anyone were to question me. I swept out of the room, noting that Nixie's door across from mine was still closed.
Stepping out into the hallway, I turned a corner and collided head-on with a wall of blinding white.
“Going somewhere, terra?” Morvyn said, that vexing smile playing on his lips, still indecent with no top part of his clothing in sight.
I held up the book like a shield. “I’m looking for a library. I assume you have one, unless everyone around here is as uncouth as you?”
He let out a chuckle and leaned against the wall, deliberately blocking my path. “Hylos owes me two gold, you know.”
Despite being so strange-looking in coloring, he was classically beautiful, with high cheekbones and a chiseled nose, like a marble bust from forgotten times.
“He thought you wouldn’t leave this room for the rest of the day. But I knew.” He let the words linger as his gaze swept over me. “You’re far too curious for your own good.”
I stilled my features. How much danger was I in, standing in the presence of this creature? This siren. And why wasn’t I more afraid?
“Do you stalk every guest around here?” I said.
“Just the pretty ones,” he answered, then turned his alabaster back to me. “Come on then, I’ll show you around.”