Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Lyra jostled awake when her feet hit the wooden deck.
Her eyes bolted open, adrenaline coursing through her veins as it took her a second to come to terms with her surroundings.
Theo was next to her, a broad arm still around her shoulders, keeping her body close to his.
The dragon gently deposited them onto Wyn's ship and vanished back into the skies.
“Keira,” Lyra whispered, scanning the deck for Wyn and her sister. They were on the other side of the boat, Wyn gently helping his sister to her feet. She was shaky, not used to her legs after all this time underwater.
“Keira!” Lyra shouted it this time, practically leaping across the deck in only a few steps. Theo followed, slowly, allowing Wyn to pull him into a tight embrace as the sisters reunited.
Keira and Lyra had often been mistaken for twins growing up.
They had the same matching hair, constantly shifting between dark, bluish shades in the sunlight, and bright eyes.
The most notable difference between the two was that Keira’s eyes were grey, almost white, giving her an additional ethereal appearance.
Her face was waxen and pale, and her ribs more pronounced as Lyra crushed Keira against her.
“Lyra.” Keira was weeping, her feeble fingers trembling as they held onto her sister as hard as she could.
Lyra could feel how little strength was left in Keira, and if she weren't so exhausted, it would have engulfed her rage anew. After several minutes, Lyra was finally able to pull away ever so slightly, her hands cupping Keira's cheeks as she looked her over.
“Are you all right? Oh, gods, I'm sorry it took me so long. I'm so sorry—” Lyra started shaking her head, the immense weight of caretaking on her shoulders.
“No, please,” Keira pushed back, looking equally as distraught as she shook in her sister's embrace.
“It was my fault, you told me,” Keira reiterated, closing her eyes as if conjuring up a memory.
“You told me repeatedly that there was only trouble waiting for me if I was so insistent on human men…”
Lyra paused for a second as Keira trailed off, the sentence hitting her heart differently than it once had. She cast a glance over her shoulder and saw Wyn and Theo, their backs to the sisters, giving them a semblance of privacy during the emotional reunion.
“No.” Lyra shook her head.
Keira's eyes widened. “No?” She stared at her sister, almost questioning if this was the same person. Lyra had never given her an inch whenever they argued about men and lovers.
“It is Cliodhna's fault this happened and no one else's.” Lyra's voice was measured and surprisingly calm. “It's not fair to say this is on you. She wanted to get to me, and the only way to do that was to go through you. No matter what you were doing, it wouldn't have mattered.”
The words sat heavy in the air between the sisters. Lyra didn't want to admit she had been the cause of her sister's turmoil, but as much as she would have liked to, and it certainly was the fault of Keira's lover.
“The boy,” Lyra asked, her voice softened, “do you… you know?” She tripped over her words, and Keira gave her a small smirk, part of the spark returning in her eyes.
“Yes, go on,” Keira teased, enjoying taking the piss out of her older sister, in a manner almost exclusively reserved for siblings.
“Do you… like him?” Lyra struggled with the words.
Like many older siblings, it was jarring to come to terms with the fact her sister might have romantic feelings for someone.
She never wanted to think about her sister’s dating life if she could help it.
Until now, the only time they ever touched the topic was when Lyra warned Keira off boys entirely.
“Yes, I do.” Keira’s answer was instant, but her expression wasn’t as excited as Lyra thought it should be. Granted, she had just been rescued from captivity from an angry goddess, and it was an emotional whiplash that could be understood.
Lyra waited, saying nothing. She gave Keira space for a few minutes, pulling her back into her arms. It didn’t matter if they were talking, Lyra needed to touch her sister to remember she was real. This was real, and Cliodhna was far behind them now.
“I don’t know what Cliodhna did with them.” Keira whispered, her words sounding muffled against Lyra’s skin.
“What do you mean?” Lyra asked, her brow furrowing. She could tell from Wyn and Theo’s frigid postures they had overheard Keira. Keira pushed away from Lyra, taking a few paces back and releasing a long breath.
“There is something I haven’t been honest about.” Keira was looking down at her feet, unable to hold eye contact with Lyra.
Lyra’s stomach dropped. She didn’t think anything could be worse than Cliodhna, but the way Keira was acting, she had been plucked from the frying pan and was being held over the fire.
“Okay.” Lyra nodded.
There was a sinking feeling in her stomach.
Keira never held any secrets from her. This was potentially a naive take, Lyra realized—what younger sister didn’t keep secrets from her older sister—but she believed it to be true.
Keira took a deep breath. Lyra could hear Wyn and Theo turning around, their attempt at privacy forgone in the wake of Keira’s hesitation.
“Cliodhna didn’t capture him, right?” Lyra pushed, wondering if they had left an innocent mortal in the goddess’s grasp. They weren’t responsible for everyone, but Lyra didn’t like to think they’d escaped Cliodhna only to leave someone behind.
“No, no.” Keira was quick to shake her head. “At least, I don’t think so. I really don’t know.” She finally looked Lyra in the eye, the flush on her pale skin was so striking, it almost looked like blood.
“Cliodhna knows about her.” Keira hesitated and finished her sentence in a rush, all of the words coming out together at the same time. Lyra paused, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Both sisters stared at each other, waiting for the other one to react. Lyra finally shrugged, tilting her head in genuine confusion.
“Okay? So? Is that all that you were worried about telling me?” Lyra questioned gently. She didn’t want to be insensitive, but every other siren she knew preferred the company of other women. It came with the territory when men were your mortal and immortal enemies.
“Oh god, no,” Keira snorted, a little bit of her humor and color returning to her face. Lyra sighed, relieved that her sister hadn’t been worried about telling her about a sapphic love interest.
“Then what is the problem?” Lyra asked. “Cliodhna threatened her to get you to obey. Of course she knows about her.”
The way Keira was dancing around the issue was causing her anxiety to ramp up, and she had very little energy left. Keira’s hands formed into fists, and she took another slow breath, before all the words started spilling out of her.
“Sometimes she prefers dressing like a man,” Keira explained, “which is why Cliodhna thinks she’s a mortal man. A human.”
“Okay, so then—wait.” Lyra stopped, her heart sinking. “She’s not human?”
“Christ,” Wyn muttered, dragging his hand over his face.
Lyra turned around and pinned him with a glare usually reserved for men who were about to die. Wyn, wisely, held up his hands in surrender as Lyra turned back towards Keira.
“No,” Keira answered quietly. “She isn’t a human.”
There was a long pause on the deck of the Barufakr where the only sounds were the wind and the crashing of the waves.
The boat cut gracefully through the water, with one goal in mind, getting the occupants back to Edinburgh as quickly as possible.
They had already crossed back into Scottish waters, but everyone was feeling physically and emotionally waterlogged.
“You’re going to have to explain to me why that is a problem.” Lyra raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. Keira was taking too long to explain things and if they were in some sort of danger, everyone needed to know. Now.
“Her name is Scáthach,” Keira muttered. Everyone reacted at the same time.
“Oh, for the love of...” Wyn started cursing, running his hands through his long hair and pacing.
Theo looked stunned, his jaw hanging open as he shook his head. Lyra thought her heart was going to give out.
“How?” Lyra whispered, turning her attention back to Keira.
Keira’s eyes were full of tears, and Lyra pulled her into another tight embrace.
“No one is upset with you,” Lyra whispered. “We’re surprised. That’s all.”
“I didn’t know,” Keira insisted, the tears coming freely now as she returned Lyra’s hug. “I didn’t learn until I was already in l-love with her.”
“She’s alive?” Wyn was still spiraling, his pacing growing more manic. He waved his hands comically back and forth, looking more like a frustrated anime character than an elvish prince.
“Apparently,” Theo let out a low whistle, clapping his hand on Wyn’s back. “Let’s give them some space.”
Theo’s suggestion was a little overdue at this point, which Lyra clocked by throwing him a sarcastic expression, too, but Theo nonetheless started herding Wyn below deck.
Once the men were gone, Lyra said nothing else as she allowed Keira the space to cry.
Whatever happened between Keira and Scáthach was clearly affecting her.
This was not the passing infatuation Lyra assumed it was.
When Keira quieted down, she pulled away from her sister, tugging Lyra over to some of the low benches surrounding the deck.
They sat facing each other, and Keira launched into her story from the beginning.
Scáthach was a demigod. An old one. She was a legendary Scottish warrior woman, who infamously trained some of Scotland’s most notorious and brightest heroes.
When Chiron took up Hercules’s training, there were rumors he’d originally consulted Scáthach.
She disappeared from the Isle of Sky almost a millennium ago and had long been presumed dead.
Keira had originally met and fallen in love with her very innocently. Only once her feelings solidified for the mysterious woman did she ever learn her true identity.
“I can’t believe she’s alive,” Lyra whispered under her breath. “Why has she been in hiding for so long?”
Keira shook her head, as though remembering an argument she’d had multiple times and was preparing to do it again.
“Scáthach is so good at training heroes.” Keira looked over her shoulder, the tightness of her posture betraying her paranoia. “The gods say anyone she trains can’t be defeated. That’s dangerous, if someone were to force Scáthach to train someone with ulterior motives.”
“Sure,” Lyra agreed, but her expression soured. “But that seems like a stretch.”
Keira shook her head. “That isn’t the concerning part.
Scáthach can defend herself. It’s almost impossible to force her to train anyone she doesn’t want to.
But her powers have been bound for a thousand years.
” Keira’s voice dropped to a whisper. Lyra’s eyebrows shot up.
“If that was common knowledge, she would be easier to kidnap. She wouldn’t have magical defenses.
Almost any magic user could use simple spells to force her to train a new warrior… ”
“And then they would be unstoppable.”
“Correct.” Keira sniffled, burying her head in her hands and forcing back tears again. “She’s basically a loaded weapon. She’s been in hiding because she doesn’t know how to unbind her powers.”
Lyra said nothing. She pulled her sister towards her, letting her cry again until the tears stopped. Lyra held her sister until she yawned, the exhaustion of the day catching up with her.
“Come on,” Lyra encouraged. “Let’s go find you a bed. Everything will look better in the morning.”
“Did you hear that whole story?” Keira looked at Lyra, almost outraged. “I’m sorry for dragging all of you into this, but I don’t know what else to do.”
Lyra shook her head, a calm, steadying expression on her face. She squeezed her sister’s hand.
“You listen to me. We will figure this out,” she promised. Besides,” she winked, steering Keira below deck, “Calum is going to owe me a favor now.”