She went quiet for a moment, opening her mouth as if to defend herself, but she stopped. “What do you plan to do?”
“For starters, go to Dornwich. We have a friend there and if they really are getting cozy with sirens, I’d like to get her out. Perhaps gauge where we can no longer anchor and narrow down the places we can.”
“Your wanted posters are there.”
“Hmf, they’ll be everywhere by now.”
“Nazario told you—”
“He told me enough to pique my curiosity. Unlike your captain, my crew sails toward the monsters.” I paused, searching for any hint that I was getting to her. “Aeris, your curiosity is writhing inside you, too. And if you truly don’t want to leave the sea behind and run, then talk to your captain. Make him understand there’s still a fight to be had. If all men flee the water then those who wronged your people will prevail.”
She took a deep breath, lifting her chin as if to solidify her resolve, and then pulled her hood back over her head.
“Even with Nazario and his crew, what you face cannot be fought by men and their ships,” she said. “I pity you, Vidar. If you truly care for her, then it seems you're destined to die protecting her from something that has never failed to get what it wants.”
“And what is that?”
“Madness. Kroans are prone to it and she may kill you one day because you could not see her for what she truly is. Whatever this quest is, it’s to save her above all else. I can see it in your eyes. I can hear it in the tone of your voice. But you cannot save someone from madness. You cannot defeat something that exists in someone else’s head.”
“And what of the thing in the trenches you only just mentioned?”
“Intangible. Something no one can see. A ghost Kroans believe to understand.”
“Well, I think are all prone to madness,” I said with a shrug and a smirk. “And I can prove that I can, indeed, save Dahlia from it.”
She stood a moment longer, her eyes roaming over me once as if to memorize what I looked like. Then she turned and walked briskly down the alley and into the shadows.
I couldn’t lie to myself and say her words didn’t make me think. Even Dahlia seemed to wonder if she might harm me. Madness was reaching for her, clawing at her skin, and trying everything it could to pull her down where I could not reach her.
It only drove me to hang on tighter. Perhaps one day my inability to yield would tear her in two.
I told her, on the shores of that northernmost place full of ice, that she was mine. The whole world would know it.
The world hadn’t even begun to realize it yet.
Balling my hands into fists, I headed back into the inn and up the stairs to our shared room. The moment I opened the door, Dahlia was standing by the window. She was leaning up against the frame, her arms crossed over her chest, wearing nothing but her shirt. It hung loosely on her, barely covering her ass. She calmly turned her head toward me as I walked into the room, unsurprised.
“I tried not to wake you,” I said.
“I was already awake,” she admitted. “The absence of your warmth gave me no reason to pretend otherwise once you’d gone.”
“You should still be sleeping.”
“She does not care about you. Indifference is all she’d have to offer if you died. So, what could she possibly gain by warning you from me?”
She spoke with a flat, unbothered tone.
“I don’t know. Perhaps her feelings toward your people are enough to try and turn me against you. It doesn’t matter. We’re leaving as soon as the sails are ready.”
She made a sound with her tongue as if irritated and turned back to the window.
“What a coward,” she said under her breath. “To call herself a siren and turn so easily from the sea.”
“You said it yourself. She is not a fighter like your kind. War and conflict come naturally to you. Aeris is delicate in comparison.”
“More delicate than a rigid thing like me, I imagine. More beautiful.”
I stepped closer to her, turning her to face me. “Your sharp edges and violent stares are the things I love most.”
