“What exactly has happened here?” Meridan asked.
“Beastly men on two legs coming from the water. Sacrifices. Screaming. God, the screaming. I knew… IknewI should have left when they started selling you bitches to the rich folk around here.Now look.” She raised her hands out on either side of her, indicating the mess. “They found a way to turn on us. One foolish fuck did something stupid and they all rallied, tearing us to bits. It’s like they been waiting and enduring. Like it’s all been a trap. And did the military show? No.”
“Why?”
“How am I supposed to know? Look around. Do you think I’ve left this place since the massacre? I pop my head out, I’m liable to end up on the docks where these bitches killed dozens of us in the early days and dumped us in the water for those monsters.”
“How have you gone unnoticed?”
“That’s none of your business.”
My eyes studied the room. It didn’t take long to find a trap door that was wide open in the floor, likely leading into a cellar. Addison stepped in front of me, scowling.
“I’m not here to tell anyone where you’ve been hiding.”
“For the most part, if you’re quiet, they leave you be,” Addison surrendered. “But that won’t last long, believe you me.”
“So they really are feeding the sons,” Meridan said softly.
I nodded.
“Oh, they eat plenty of us all on their own. In fact, some of these fine townsmen walk around with one less limb like they’ve given themselves to the demons freely. They take an arm. A leg. And they say they’ll spare you, but it’s a lie. I know it is. You monsters can make us do anything.”
“I’m not trying to make you do anything, but I told your brother I’d get you to him no matter what and I will.”
“How am I supposed to believe a word you say?”
I held up my hand. It took her a moment to see the ring on my thumb, but when she did, it was like I’d knocked the air out of her.
“God, you’ve eaten my brother,” she said.
I sighed sharply, tugging the ring off and forcefully putting it in her hand. “I haven’t eaten him. He’s waiting on the beach.”
“Why isn’t he with you?”
“Do you want him to be when the town is like this?”
She examined the ring and then slid it on her own thumb, biting her lip.
“God damn,” she muttered. “Call me a crazy cunt—my parents did—but if you have Lady Mary and my brother’s ring and you say you’re working with them, I want to believe you. I do. But you’re one of them.” She glanced at Meridan again, waving her finger at her. “And I don’t know what the fuck you are, but I don’t want no part of this.”
She looked around her workshop as if in search of another weapon.
“Try to kill us and you’ll die faster than you can blink,” Meridan said.
I let out an exasperated breath, shaking my head. “Try to kill us and I’ll knock you silly. And then I’ll haul your body to Vidar’s ship. But it would be easier if you came willingly.”
“Why?” she demanded. “Why does Vidar fucking Woelfson want me? Last I checked, he was too obsessed with killing your kind to give a shit about anyone.”
“He needs weapons. The bronze kind.”
“For what?”
“What else?”
“Don’t tell me you’re helping him. That really would mean I’m dead and in hell. Ain’t no way a siren is helping a hunter kill other sirens. And there’s even less chance that Vidar would spare you.”
“We have larger prey in mind, but it’s not a lie. A long story, yes, but not a lie.”
