“And yet you rely on her. To bring you here.”
“Life is full of compromises.” She sighed.
Lirik reached into the pool and speared a fish the size of a fist with her fingers. Its tail twitched faintly until she calmly dragged a long nail across its belly. In a single motion, she scooped out its guts, emptiedthem into the pool, and then bit it in half. The head she left for Yemi, reaching across to hand it to her.
Yemi blinked at the entire scene as Lirik chewed, mostly the murky cloud of viscera sinking into the pool for the departed’s compatriots to peck at.
“I’m sorry, did you prefer the tail?”
“Ugh,” Yemi groaned, a hand pressed to her growling stomach. She promised herself she would never again forgo one of her chef’s prepared feasts to live on apples and ennui instead.
“Or… do you prefer to hunt?”
Yemi’s stomach clenched desperately in its own version of an emphatic yes. “Not when I can avoid it,” she said instead, wincing.
Lirik laughed. “Then we will go back to the palace and have something prepared in the kitchen.”
“Is there any truth to the old stories? That if you eat Mer food, you’re bound to the sea?”
“Why in the world would we want that?”
Yemi laughed. “I don’t actually know. Men are prone to inventing their own terrors, I suppose.”
“Aren’t you one of them?” Lirik’s nose scrunched.
“If there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that I’m the last surviving member of my kind. Whatever that is.”
Yemi replaced the items she’d nosed through as if not wanting her grandmother’s ghost to know anything had been disturbed. She did take a small brown woven satchel and slung it across her body in case her trip home was doomed to more kelp and misery.
“What’s next for you?” Lirik asked as she led Yemi back out. The narrow passage was darkened now. The day had ended while they talked about their worlds. The palace itself was moonwashed and dimly lit inside, and was surrounded by blinking green lights, as if the underwater world had its own enchanted fireflies.
“Home, or as close as I can get to it. I need to reconfigure a pla—”
“What if I came with you?” Lirik stopped and turned to her with an eager expression.
Yemi stammered, “As—for—why?”
“It’s a dead end here. You see it. There’s no future for me. And you seem like you can use some fresh eyes, a wide-eyed unremarkable to remind you of the beauty of things you’re overlooking topside. Someone who understands you. I do.”
Yemi’s heart fell. Lirik was a lovely presence, and she’d been grateful for her friendship, but…
“Lirik. If I’ve given you the wrong… impression, I apologize,” she said with as much kindness as she could. “I have a partner. Ennova. She’s waiting—”
Lirik moved closer and became cloaked in shadow. She took Yemi firmly by her free hand. “I think you needme,” she whispered. “You could use a siren. Someone to bend the traitors to your will. Doesn’t have to be as a lover. As a friend.A sssister…”
Sistersnaked into Yemi’s head, and the words began to bleed together. The world fell away, and the only light remaining was reflected in Lirik’s eyes. Yemi’s eyelids grew heavy. She found herself considering the offer, keenly aware of the heat of Lirik’s grip on her arm, the visible softness and growing closeness of her lips.
No one else had called her brilliant, had they? And a siren as a lure would make the purging of the city much cleaner.
Much less bloodshed…
“No—” she heard herself say. The last syllable of Nova’s name choked in her throat. She didn’t recall thinking it, but it was on her lips just the same.
Lirik’s grip lingered and the words still slurred, but Yemi was now present enough to turn on her spear. The intensity of the light forced Lirik to back away. In an instant, the world returned, and Yemi found herself furious and in a striking position as Lirik drifted backward, stunned.
“Youserpent,” Yemi growled, still shaking the whispers from her ears.
“Please! I only meant to show you—” Lirik insisted.
