“I can’t today, bella.” He cupped my chin, guiding me away from his sensitive spot, his eyes searching mine.
“Why not?” My expression shifted into a teasing sulk.
“Damon and I must go to Italy and raise the Thálassian army.” Alexandros rose from the bed and glided to the table at the room’s center. He grabbed a seaweed tie, looping his indigo hair into a topknot, the muscles in his shoulders flexing with the motion.
I wrapped my arms about myself, chewing on my lower lip. “Will you be gone long?”
“I suspect a few days.”
“Oh.” My lip quivered. With him gone, I’d be left alone with my thoughts each night.
“Don’t cry, bella.” The merman drifted over, running his thumb across my chin and tilting my head back so my eyes met his.
“I’m sorry.” I wiped a tear from my eye with my fingers... mywebbedfingers. I would have nothing to distract me from this new body, these unfamiliar hands, and the things they’d done. “It’s just, you’ve been a good diversion. I find myself not wanting to be alone.”
“Hey,” he murmured, threading his fingersthrough my hair before letting them drift to my shoulders. “You’re a powerful Siren of Agápe. Don’t ever forget that. I think training with my mother will be beneficial for you. As fun as it is”—he gave me a wicked grin—“you can’t keep hiding behind pleasure and wine.”
I sniffed back my tears and nodded, dragging my gaze to my new priestess’s cloak, hanging from a hook beside the door.
“When I get back, we’ll celebrate.” Alexandros pressed a quick kiss to my lips, then glided to the door, throwing me a wink before slipping out and closing it behind him.
Fastening my new translucent cloak around my shoulders, I made my way to the temple of Agápe, where I was to meet Queen Peisinoe for my lesson in dream weaving.
Mer priestesses moved about the space, their hooded cloaks hooked about their shoulders. They billowed in the water as the mermaids went about their business, ensuring that bioluminescent offerings were placed in all the right spots.
I padded warily past the statues of stone-eyed gods to the four basins in the temple’s center, where a mosaic stretched across the platform—a beautiful Siren woman, presumably Agápe, rendered in many shades of blue.
Queen Peisinoe emerged from a cluster of priestesses, tossing back the hood of her purple cloak, which was identical to mine. Her dark hair floated behind her as she drifted to join me by the pool.
“Take a seat, my child.” She gestured toward the stone steps leading to the pools, then sat herself, stretching out her long pearlescent-scaled legs, which glittered in the light.
“This place is so beautiful,” I whispered, dragging my eyes over the stone pillars of the temple.
Peisinoe’s expression held the trace of a smile. “Agápe valued beauty.”
I gasped as another group of priestesses glided into the temple, carrying the lifeless body of a mermaid between them, a soft chant echoing from their lips.
“Do not be afraid,” Peisinoe said, following my gaze. “Sirens are escorts between this world and the next. They brought this mermaid to me so I could help guide her onward. So few of us remain that a blessing into the afterlife has become a luxury.”
Swallowing a gulp, I watched the priestesses place the body on an altar at the far end of the temple and begin to arrange glowing flowers around her.
“Come, I will show you.” Peisinoe threaded her fingers through mine, leading me to where the dead mermaid lay.
The mermaid’s hair was dark, her eyes haunted by purple, and her skin ashen in death. All around her, Mer priestesses were anointing her body with balms. An ache thickened in my throat. They’d hidden the black veins that laced every inch of her torso. This mermaid had died from the Shadow, and they were concealing the marks before sending her to rest.
One of the priestesses stepped forward, meeting Peisinoe’s eyes. She nodded before moving silently away with the rest of her sisters.
Peisinoe let go of my hand, allowing her magic to radiate. “We ask Agápe to give our sister a peaceful passage to the afterlife.” There was a sadness behind the Siren queen’s eyes as she lowered her hands, still emanating power.
I caught my breath as the body before us disintegrated into the water with what sounded like a long exhale. Peisinoe kept her head bowed for amoment longer before retaking my hand and leading me back to the dais and the pools.
“What was that?” I asked, my throat still burning.
“She will be at peace now.” Peisinoe stared at me thoughtfully before reaching over to lift my chin and better study my face. “Oh, the dream magic is strong in you.”
“What will it allow me to do?”
“It allows you to grant dreams to others, as we did for Aigéan and Morgana, but it also lets you see their memories once you’ve been put to sleep.”
