"She will." Vale's voice was certain, calm in a way that made the rest of us pause. He was swimming in slow circles, his silver hair trailing behind him like a banner, his blue-green eyes thoughtful. "She gave us her name tonight. She jumped into our arms without hesitation. She let us touch her, hold her, show her our world." His sharp smile curved his lips, but there wassomething tender beneath it. "She's learning to trust us. And when she trusts us enough, she'll tell us everything."
"What if it's something we can't fix?" The question slipped out before I could stop it, and I felt the others turn to look at me. I pressed my hand to the cream ribbon at my throat, drawing comfort from its familiar softness. "What if she's running from something too big, too dangerous, too?—"
"Then we'll destroy it." Riven's voice was a snarl, rough and savage and absolutely certain. His claws were fully extended now, glinting in the faint light, and his golden eyes burned with a ferocity that would have terrified anyone else. "Whatever it is. Whoever it is. We'll tear it apart. We'll drown it. We'll make it so it can never hurt her again."
"Agreed." Kaelan's voice was quiet, but it carried the weight of absolute conviction. His pale hand had drifted to the pouch at his hip, fingers curling around the pearl inside. "There is nothing on that ship, nothing in the human world, nothing anywhere that we won't destroy to keep her safe."
I nodded, feeling the same fierce protectiveness rising in my own chest. Sweet, gentle Lily, with her uncertain smiles, her lonely songs and her eyes full of wonder. The thought of anyone hurting her, scaring her, making her run, it made something dark and dangerous stir in the depths of my soul. Something I usually kept carefully buried.
"Did you see how she looked at the reef?" I asked, letting the memory wash over me, letting it soften the hard edges of my anger. "The way her face lit up. The way she said it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen."
"She cried in the glowing cave." Vale's voice was soft, almost reverent. "Tears, underwater. I didn't know humans could do that. But when she looked at the bioluminescence, tears streamed from her eyes and she said she didn't have words." His sharp smile trembled slightly. "I've never wanted to givesomeone words before. Never wanted to find the perfect poem, the perfect song, just to put language to what they were feeling. But for her—" He broke off, shaking his head. "For her, I'd compose a thousand verses. A million. However many it took."
"She held my hand the whole time." My voice came out thick, choked with emotion I couldn't quite contain. I looked down at my own hand, remembering the feel of her small fingers interlaced with mine, the way she'd squeezed when something amazed her, the way she hadn't let go even when she could have. "Like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like she'd been doing it forever."
"She let me hold her." Riven's rough voice had gone soft, wondering. His massive hands were pressed to his chest now, covering the pink ribbon, and his golden eyes were distant with memory. "She leaned back against me and rested her head on my shoulder and just... relaxed. Like I wasn't a monster. Like I wasn't covered in scars and built for violence." His voice cracked slightly. "No one's ever done that before. No one's ever looked at me and seen something they could rest against."
"She sees all of us." Kaelan's voice was quiet but certain. He had drifted closer, and I realized we'd all drawn together without thinking about it, our usual formation, tight and protective, but this time focused inward instead of outward. "Not what we are. Not what we've done. She sees us." His dark eyes moved from face to face, holding each of our gazes in turn. "She isn't afraid."
"She should be." The words slipped out of Vale before he could stop them, and we all turned to look at him. His sharp smile had faded entirely, replaced by something raw and vulnerable. His blue-green eyes were dark with old memories, old guilt. "We've drowned sailors, Kaelan. Lured ships onto rocks. Killed humans for sport, for food, for the simple pleasure of hearing them scream." His voice dropped lower, rougher. "The witch used my voice to do it again, just days ago. Amerchant vessel in the northern straits. Sailors walking into the water, unable to resist the song." He pressed his hand to his throat, where his voice had been taken and returned. "We're monsters. We've always been monsters. She should be terrified of us."
Silence. Heavy and uncomfortable and true. We were monsters. There was no denying it, no softening it, no pretending otherwise. We had centuries of blood on our hands, centuries of death and drowning and darkness. The sea was full of bones because of us. Ships had been lost, families destroyed, entire crews dragged down to feed the trenches.
"She doesn't see monsters," I said quietly, but with absolute certainty. Because I'd been there. I'd watched her face, felt her hand in mine, seen the way she looked at us. "When she looks at us, she sees something else. Something worth trusting. Something worth wanting." I touched the ribbon at my throat, drawing strength from its presence. "Maybe we've been monsters. Maybe we still are, to everyone else. But to her—" I swallowed hard. "To her, we could be something different. Something better."
"We could be hers." Riven's voice was rough with longing. "If she'll have us. If she'll keep us."
"She will." Kaelan's voice was certain, absolute, ringing with the authority of a pack leader who has seen the future and knows it to be true. "She already is. She just doesn't know it yet."
"The potion." Vale's voice cut through the moment, practical and sharp. "We only have four more doses. Enough for four more visits, maybe five if we're careful with the timing. After that?—"
"After that, we go back to the witch." Kaelan's jaw tightened, his dark eyes going hard. "We get more. Whatever price she asks."
"If she asks for something we can't give?" Vale's voice was careful, cautious. We all remembered the last visit, the witch's first demand, the one Kaelan had refused, the one that had led to Vale offering his voice instead. "She was... interested in Lily. In the situation. I could see it in her eyes."
A growl built in Riven's chest, low and dangerous. "She doesn't get to be interested in our omega. She doesn't get to even think about?—"
"She's a sea witch," Vale cut him off, not unkindly. "She thinks about everything. Plans for everything. Uses everything." His blue-green eyes met Kaelan's, serious and concerned. "We need to be careful. The more we go to her, the more leverage she has. The more she learns about what Lily means to us."
"She already knows," Kaelan's voice was grim. "She knew the moment we walked into her trench. Witches can smell desperation, and we reeked of it." He shook his head slowly. "It doesn't matter. Whatever price she asks, whatever games she plays, we'll pay it. We'll play along. Because the alternative is Lily trapped on that ship, breathing air, separated from us by a barrier we can't cross."
"Unless..." I started, then stopped, not sure if I should say it. They all turned to look at me, waiting.
"Unless we take her," I said, feeling the words settle into the water between us. "Not the potion. Her. We take her off the ship, bring her down to live with us permanently. She wouldn't need to breathe underwater if she had a tail." The silence that followed was different from before. Charged. Electric. Full of possibility and danger and want.
"The witch mentioned that." Vale's voice was barely above a whisper. "When we bargained for the potion. She said we'd maybe be back. Said something about... giving Lily a tail to replace her feet."
"She knew." Riven's golden eyes were blazing. "She knew we'd want that eventually. Knew we'd come back for it."
"Of course she knew." Kaelan's voice was bitter, resigned. "She's had centuries to learn how creatures like us think. She knew we fell for Lily the moment we scented her. Knew we'd do anything to keep her. She's probably already planning what she'll demand in exchange for a transformation."
"Would Lily want that?" I asked, and the words fell into the charged silence like stones into still water. "To give up her legs? To become one of us? To leave the surface behind forever?" No one answered. None of us knew. We hadn't asked her….and we'd been so caught up in showing her our world, in touching her, in having her close, that we hadn't thought about what she might want in return.
"We need to ask her." I pressed, even though part of me was afraid of the answer. "We need to know what she wants. Not what we want for her. What she wants for herself."
"She wants us." Riven's voice was fierce, certain. "You saw her tonight. Felt her. She wants us."
"Yes," I agreed. "But wanting us and wanting to become one of us are different things. We can't just... decide for her. We can't take that choice away." The words hung in the water, heavy with meaning. Because that was what we did, wasn't it? What we'd always done? Sirens didn't ask permission. Sirens took what they wanted, lured what they desired, drowned anything that got in their way.
