I know my crime was simply to refuse the wrong lady. If I’d have known what would happen, I would have cut her snake throat and committed a crime worth punishing. Like Canto, I have blue-green eyes, though mine are much bluer than his, according to Reed. My hair is also a mix of reds–light, dark, copper, rust. Reed cuts my hair short around my face.
We are the same. We look the same. Right now, I hate it. I hate them for forcing me to do this. For not caring enough to fight against it.
I look the most innocent, but I’m as jaded as the rest of them. Usually. I’ve heard the pool fools who get trapped in the oceans whisper it about me. They think I’m weak and easy. But I’m not. I am as dangerous as Ronit, as vicious as Reed, my song is as powerful as Brio’s, and my training is all Canto. I am the weapon the Fae put into the Black Death Oceans to protect the worlds, like dogs placed outside to run a property line.
Canto approaches, crouches in silence, and grips her jaw. Nothing gives away what he is thinking. “She is a very strange creature. Like a mismatch of several beasts. I wonder where she came from?”
“It doesn’t matter where she came from; she can’t go back,” Reed snarls and taps his foot irritably. He might be the quickest to anger, but he falls the fastest and feels the hurt the longest.
We’re all naked, but it doesn’t bother us anymore. I haven’t seen clothes in so long I’ve forgotten what it feels like to wear them. They are useless to us under the waves and upon this island, there is no one to cover up for. Just the thick green jungle, the path down to the singular beach, and the cliffs thatlead the unwary into a choice to die by Siren or a hundred foot fall to a rocky end.
It might look and smell like paradise, but it, too, is a trap for the unwary.
“Mmm, I want to know more about her before we get rid of her,” Canto murmurs, and a flicker of hope ignites inside me.
We’ll listen to him. Canto was given this life sentence because he rose too quickly through the warrior caste. He got too good with his weapons, too brilliant at killing. The lazy Fae sitting in their houses suddenly started to fear him. Not because he had done something but because he might. He also had a reputation for being incurably moral and just, though that has bent and possibly broken over the years. Canto’s hair is the same colour as Brio’s but cut short like Reed’s. His face is open and expressive. He’s got a beautiful smile and a boyish charm. It is the biggest deception.
Sometimes I wonder if Canto has a heart. If he loves or feels the same as we do. The only time he appears happy is when he’s killing things.
“May I?”
I reluctantly open my arms, and Canto lifts her up and holds her out from him like she’s an infant as he inspects her.
“What did you drug her with?”
I blow out my cheeks, frustrated that he picked up on what I did without me saying anything.
“Just the sleeping pear fruit. She should wake up soon. I didn’t give her a big dose.”
She does, in fact, rouse in his arms, but instead of panic, she inhales deeply and lets out a tiny whine. My reaction is immediate and sickening. I roll to my feet, hoping none of them discover just how arousing I found that small sound.Okay, that was weird. It’s unsettling, and I almost want to run away from her, but if I do that, theywillkill her.
“What is your name, creature?” Canto sings, demanding an answer.
“Mei,” she whispers with a sleepy yawn.
“Mei,” Canto says her name slowly, like he’s savouring it. “Where are you from?”
Her face screws up, the muzzle wrinkling. It’s almost cute. What happened to her?
“From…home?” she whispers hopefully.
If she had a tail, I think she might be wagging it. Like she desperately wants to please us. Like the dogs at home. The kind of dogs that packs like us rip apart.
I press the heels of my hands to my eyes, trying to block out my morbid thoughts.
Ronit growls, and she shrinks into Canto’s arms with a whimper that has me almost stepping forward, protectively putting myself between them. As it is, I vibrate where I stand, getting a sharp look from Brio.
“Get rid of it,” Ronit says with a finality that crushes me.
My protest dies in my mouth, unvoiced.
“Okay. Lirin and I will handle it,” Canto says to me. He knows something, he can tell that I’m struggling.
The other three don’t linger. With bronzed muscles rippling, they return to the water and our dark home.
Canto sets her down and crouches in front of her. “Tell me, Mei, who sent you here?”
Her smile is gone, and she’s starting to get more alert and more alarmed. She struggles, but he captures her chin.
