I roll my shoulders back, testing the pain and movement of my wings. They respond with a sharp tug. Still attached, but furious now. The mermaid raises her trident as if to strike again, to impale me through the chest this time, but my left wing shoots out first. A collision that reverberates through the waters as the bone smacksinto her weapon. She clings to it, even though the rough impact sends her tumbling tail over head.
Not allowing her a single moment to steady herself, I force another burst of lethal magic from the palm of my hand. Concentrated lightning erupts through the water. It crackles electricity up the handle of her trident. The silver-haired mermaid releases her weapon with a hiss. It’s worth it. Worth the blackened veins whorling down my thigh now.
“Zephyra.” I wrap a hand around the cord and pull her back to me, not daring to tear my gaze from the silver-haired demon. “Are you okay?”
She manages to rise beside me with the trident in hand, her tail flicking desperately, her pink hair rippling behind us, around us, as if made of coils upon coils of vengeful snakes. “Can you expend any more magic? My chest…” She doesn’t need to finish the thought. My gaze slides to her matching wound. It continues to spill blood as her face pales.
I stitch her wound shut with my magic, and mine closes as well.
The cost instantly seizes my lungs. Rips nails through my gills. Breathing is almost impossible now, but at least we won’t bleed out while I figure out what the fuck is going on.
“Friend of yours?” I ask, recalling the words Zephyra spoke when we faced the cult. The cult—far scarier than one merrow. If this mermaid is Zephyra’s big, bad enemy of the sea, we should be fine.
“No,” Zephyra murmurs. “No, she’s not.”
But something in her voice is unusual. There’s a jagged edge to it, reminiscent of a lie.
Before I can ask anything else, Gavriall swims toward us, his sword lost and his chest stained with blood.Useless.I place a protective hand on Zephyra’s back and take the trident. I can’t risk using more magic. Not right now. It could kill me. Kill us.
The silver-haired mermaid glowers at the three of us. Upright again, her hands curl into fists, and her tail whips furiously in the sea. “Good to see you’ve taken a lover while the rest of us have been dying for your crimes.”
Zephyra stiffens, and undiluted sorrow passes through our bond. “It’s not like that—”
“Shut up,” the mermaid hisses. “Go on. Sic your hound on me.” Her navy gaze flicks to me, and she beckons me forward with two fingers. “Do your worst, warlock. I dare you.”
“Vesper.”Zephyra wraps a hand around my bicep. It’s not affectionate, however; it’s to buy this mermaid—Vesper—time to escape. For some reason, Zephyra is holding me back. “Don’t—don’t make us fight you.”
“She tried to kill you,” I growl. There is no one else around. No other explanation for Zephyra’s injury and the shallow cut along Gavriall’s throat. “What the fuck is going on?”
Zephyra ignores me entirely. “Listen to me, Vesper. Go far away. He can’t reach you on land. Hide. In a few years, he’ll forget about you, and—”
“And what?” Vesper snaps. “No, Zephyra. This is it. This is all I have left.”
They’re stalling. Neither moves, each watching the other, bracing for the first sign of action. But they’re wasting time, and I could have skewered this mermaid by now.
“You don’t even have a weapon,” Zephyra pleads with her.
The silver mermaid rolls her eyes at that. “I don’t need one.”
Zephyra’s eyes widen. Cursing, she darts in front of me, just as Vesper opens her mouth to sing. “Cover your ears! Don’t listen to her! Don’t let the sound in—”
It’s too late.
Her words fall away as Vesper’s crooning melody silences the very sea around us. The waters still as if listening. For a split second, I realize what’s about to happen—Vesper must be a siren, just like the merrow I slaughtered in the king’s garden. I silenced them easily enough then, with my magic, but now—
Vesper’s form blurs. She quakes, an aura like radiating moonlight fracturing her silhouette into three, four, five, as she continues to sing. It’s beautiful. The sweetest sound on earth. I’ve… never heard anything like it. My bones snap to attention, even as my wingstry to tug and pull me away from the brilliant noise. It’s piercing. Eerie. Stunningly haunting—a canvas of brutal memories painted in shades of gold. I think of my father—of broken skulls and blood.
And I’m lost.
“Arion,” Zephyra whispers, tugging on my arm, but I can’t hear her. I can’t feel her. There is only the silver-haired mermaid and her celestial song. Zephyra pulls at the water, and the waves respond in kind; they lash at my cheeks, my arms, trying to drag my body toward hers. “Look at me, warlock. Listen to my voice, not hers. Vesper’s enchanting you. It’s not real. None of this is real.”
Vesper.Her name sends a shiver up my spine, and her song melts the blood in my veins.Vesper.
She swims closer, a smile beaming wide on her trembling frame. She sings and sings, and she’s gorgeous. The sight of her fills my chest with warmth, with deep and unending satisfaction, until she is all that exists. I would do anything for her. I want to please her.
I want to make her happy forever.
Snarling, Zephyra thrusts her hands outward, and the ocean harpoons toward Vesper, colliding with her chin and snapping her face backward. “Stop, Vesper.” When she continues to sing, her face luminous—incandescent—Zephyra whips the water around her wrists, shackling her outstretched arms. Debilitating her. “This isn’t a fight you want. It’s not even a fight I want, but you’re giving me no choice. I willnevergo back.”
