“I’ve been in the Mortal Kingdom.”
Jahlee’s words choke off, my own voice lost as I tilt my head to the side. Silence once more descends upon the room until Bahira breaks it. “You are a shifter, yes?”
Siyala nods.
I take in her travel-worn clothes, her too big boots and cloak, and the large satchel she has crossed over her torso. “You snuck out of the kingdom and onto a boat,” I guess.
“Yes, and I promise, we will catch up on where I’ve been and everything that goes with that, but there is something more important that we need to discuss.”
“More important than where you’ve been for the past four years?” Jahlee shouts, her arms splaying out at her sides.
“Yes,” Siyala answers, and though her eyes burn with the details of that story, she blinks it away as she focuses her attention on me. “I need you to contact the Mage Kingdom.”
“Why?” Bahira asks as she studies my cousin.
Rubbing my fingers over my jaw, I gesture for Siyala to continue.
She plays with the hem of her cloak, her eyes watering as she heaves out a weighted sigh. “There is a woman there named Rhea. I believe her to be in danger, and I’d like to warn her.”
My gaze hones in on Bahira, her brown skin paling as she stares at Siyala. She sucks in a quick inhale before she says, “Tell us everything you know.”
Chapter Seventy-Nine: Aria
The ocean is calm,the rippling over the surface caused by our propulsion of the small boat the only sound for miles. Under the light of the silver moon and the shimmering blanket of stars, an uneasy feeling squeezes my gut.
With our mother leading the way, my sisters and I gather around the vessel, each with a hand on it. Allegra and Sade take one side, Dyanna and Lyre on the other, and I push at the back, my gaze stuck on the woman lying unconscious within. Her blonde hair is fanned out all around her, some of it tainted withwhat smells like blood. We’re already a few miles off of the shore, my mother insisting we hurry though no one seems poised to chase after us.
My talons scrape along the old wood of the boat, drawing Lyre’s curious gaze from my right. She gives me a quick shake of her head. I don’t know if she’s relaying that I shouldn’t say anything or if it’s more that she doesn’t know what our mother’s plan is, but it doesn’t stop the way that I can practically taste my discomfort. We’ve stolen something—someone—her body passed carelessly to Allegra and Sade just outside of the Spell by a man and woman. Only my mother seems to know who she is, her dark eyes glowing with untampered glee under the moon’s light.
“Who is she?” Sade asks into the silence, making me jolt in surprise.
“Youdarequestion our mother?” Allegra retorts, flashing her teeth.
Sade rolls her orange eyes, then pins them on our oldest sister. “I believe I’m questioningwhothe knocked-out woman we are transporting over the water is.”
Allegra growls but is interrupted by our mother. “If what the king has told me about her magic is true, then she will prove to be quite useful to our cause.”
“The king?” I ask at the same time Sade says, “Then why are we giving her to him?” At both of our questions, the queen turns around, swimming backwards without breaking her pace to glare at us.
“Yes,the kingof the Mortal Realm,” she answers, making Lyre’s eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets. Dyanna looks on with vague interest. “He has made a bargain for our help. He now owes metwodifferent debts.”
“And if he tries to betray us as his ancestors once did?” Allegra asks, disbelief flashing for a second on her stern face before she hides it beneath a sneer.
Our mother chuckles, turning back around with fluid elegance. In the distance, an orange light glows against the black of the night sky.
“He knows not what he has. What sheis,” my mother mocks.“I’ve given him an inkling, enough of the truth that he’ll want more answers, andthatwill inevitably lead him back to me. However, even if he tries to betray me, I’ve learned from our past mistakes. This woman will only ever be a siren’s call away.”
She says nothing more as we swim closer to the light. The creaking of a ship at anchor, the waves gently rocking it, sends a shiver down my spine. It reminds me of the noises the fallen fae ship had made before the carnage that had taken Mashaka’s life.
We slow our pace, the small boat jostling the motionless woman.What have they done to her?Magic builds at the base of my throat, the urge to use it confusing me. There is no threat, yet as I stare at her, something makes my instincts go on alert.
Male voices sound, and the orange light morphs into a flickering flame attached to a torch, the person holding it going to the side of the ship as we approach. Ropes are thrown down over a roaring lion that is engraved on the side of the vessel. Allegra and Sade tie them to metal loops attached to the small boat we push, my mother heaving herself up onto its edge as she transforms into her mortal form. Her purple braids release into a cascade of curls, the longest ones dripping down past her hips. Her iridescent scales become flush against her dark skin though still shimmer under the moonlight. She holds a hand out to Allegra, who reaches into the satchel she is carrying and drops something into my mother’s waiting hand—the sound of familiar metal clinking making my chest squeeze tightly.
“Wait here,” she commands, shooting a deadly glare at Allegra when she attempts to speak up in protest.
My sister bows her head, swimming back from the ship to where the rest of us wait. With a shout from above, my mother and the woman are hoisted up, slowly rising along the body of the ship until they are brought over and onto the deck.
“I don’t like this,” Allegra seethes as she shakes her head. “We can’t trustanyof them.”
