It’ll be enough. It has to be. It’s the last thing I can ever do for them.
“Victoria.” He takes my other hand, but doesn’t pull. He doesn’t demand I leave. Ilryth just holds it. Though his touch feels distant. Even the carvings of my name underneath my fingers are barely perceptible.
I’m fading away. My body really has become more magic than physical. Now that this is done, I will use what’s left of my existence to do right by the Eversea, Natural World, old gods, even my family…and Ilryth. I’m briefly left stunned by how much he is factored into my steeled resolve.
“All right, I’m ready.”
He presents me his back and I grab on.
We swim away from the lights of Dennow, down into the shadow and gloom of the lower levels of the sea, racing away from the echoes of lighthouse bells that chase us. We swim past the graveyard of forgotten and discarded trinkets. Down, past the sludge and grime that clouds the waters above the deep currents.
“Thank you again,” I say with all the sincerity I have in me.
“Think nothing of it.”
“But I do.” I squeeze his shoulders lightly. “When we get back, let’s begin the next stage of the anointing. I want to make sure I’m ready for Lord Krokan. There will not be another sacrifice after me.”
He glances over his shoulder, pace slowing. “You’re truly committed, aren’t you?”
I nod.
“Aren’t you afraid?” The question is almost timid, uncertain. It’s clear he has wondered about this more than once, no doubt many times following his mother’s death.
“A little, perhaps.” I shrug. My cavalier tone is not just a bold front. I’ve found some amount of peace with my lot. “I think I’ve finally realized—finally accepted—that it’s the place I’m meant to be. I died in the water the night we met and have been dodging the reaper since. It’s time to pay my dues. And whether I owe it to others or not, I can make my life truly mean something by my own measure, independent of anyone else.”
Ilryth is silent. Then, softly, “For what it’s worth, I think you will quell Lord Krokan’s rage.”
“Thank you for the vote of confidence.” Something else has occurred to me. “Is that why Lord Krokan’s emissaries finally attacked my ship? Was he drawn to me for cheating death for so long?”
“It’s impossible to know. Nothing Lord Krokan has done for years has made any sense. Even demanding sacrifices is an aberration.”
“I’m going to find out the cause,” I declare. “I’ll make him tell me the meaning behind his rage so that I can fix it.”
He chuckles, but there’s a slightly sad tone at the end that I can’t fully decipher the meaning behind. “If you manage that, you would truly be the greatest sacrifice we could’ve hoped for.” We’ve arrived at the traveler’s pools. “Hold on.”
I shift my grip and press my body closer against his as we near the pool. We’ve found a rhythm with our hips, his tail, and my legs. No longer are we bumping awkwardly against each other, but gliding, flowing, moving together. It’s becoming easier to be around him. To be pressed against him…
But purely as a friend. I will admit to nothing more. Anything more would be ruinous for us both.
He plunges into the pool and I continue clinging to him. The same darkness and starlight envelop us before we reemerge on the other side. There’s the usual slight spin in my skull as our orientation changes abruptly.
Ilryth halts, holding out his arms to slow us in an instant. The muscles in his shoulders bulge, expanding the markings down his arms. His whole body is rigid.
I follow his gaze to another man, seated at the top of one of the archways that encompass the traveler’s pools. His aquamarine tail contrasts against his fair skin and is marbled with inked lines similar to the ones on my body. He wears necklaces of pearl, accented by shells of different shapes and sizes.
The man looks up at us through long lashes the same color as his brown hair. He has a youthful air about him, perhaps even younger than Ilryth. A slight smile curls the edges of his lips, but the expression only makes me clutch Ilryth tighter. I am glad for the sturdy man to be placed between me and this stranger.
Whoever this other siren is, he looks at me with a hungry gaze. He regards Ilryth with flashes of contempt in his emerald eyes that he doesn’t even bother to hide. Even the water around him seems to collect the umbra of the sea at night, gathering power, and danger, and secrets.
“Duke Ilryth, isn’t this just a tidy collection of crimes? You should know better,” the man scolds lightly and pushes off from the archway. He glides toward us. Ilryth remains suspended in place, his muscles so tight I’m surprised he doesn’t snap in two. “One: touching the offering and in so doing deepening her ties to this world. Two: taking her out of the Eversea. Three: using a traveler’s pool without chorus approval. Which high crime should we address first?”
I look between the two men.High crimes?Ilryth spoke of the dangers of doing these things, but nothing about it actually being acrime… Even though I have the shell around my neck, I focus on keeping my thoughts to myself. I don’t want anything escaping without it being my choice.
Ilryth says nothing but continues to simmer. I’m surprised the water around him isn’t boiling.
“What would’ve happened if she faded? Do you want us to suffer a repeat of your mother?”
I fight a wince on Ilryth’s behalf—it’s a low blow.
