I brace myself for disappointment. I remind myself that I don’t need a tail to be a siren. That this doesn’t define me. A miracle of two worlds, my mother used to say, though I never understood why she would call me a miracle.
Still, my chest tightens when I look down and see my very human legs floating beneath the surface. I hold back tears, defeated by the reality I’m faced with. A quiet whimper escapes my mouth. I’m so tired of pitying myself. Of being let down by the sea time and time again.
“Risa.”
“Please, don’t—”
“No. Look.”
I frown, heart sinking. And then I see them.
Scales. Dozens of them, scattered along my hips, my thighs, my feet. They shimmer in soft, iridescent hues, almost disappearing against the blues and pinks and violets of the water.
“Where did they come from?” I whisper, soft tears spilling down my cheeks as I turn my legs slowly, unable to look away in case they disappear.
“I don’t know,” Sable says quietly beside me, his gaze fixed on my legs. “But they’re magnificent.”
“Careful, captain.” A smile tugs at my mouth as another tear slides down my cheek. “That almost sounds like you don’t despise everything I am.”
He slips an arm beneath my knees and lifts my legs gently from the water. “I don’t despise any part of you,” he says.
My heart flutters when I understand what he’s done. He didn’t touch me just for the sake of it, but to lift my legs enough for me to see the scales for myself. Still, I don’t pull away when his fingers trace along them, slow and careful, as if he’s touching something fragile rather than something that was created to withstand the currents.
Without speaking a word, he swims us to a nearby sandbank, a small piece of land in an otherwise endless sea that I haven’t noticed before. We both lie down in the soft, white sand and let the warmth of the sun seep into our bodies. I keep my eyes closed, and for a moment, I am scared it will all be wiped away when I open them again.
The silence ripples between us, but not in an uncomfortable way. Instead, it feels like we have both wordlessly decided that right now, right here, it is just the two of us. No curse. No shadows. Not a pirate and a siren, but just him and me.
A drip on my forehead makes me open my eyes.
Sable’s wet, dark hair hangs loose above me, casting a shadow over his grey eyes. There is a glow in them, an intensity that makes me hold my breath.
“The moon and the tide,” he murmurs softly and places a hand on my cheek, his thumb brushing just beneath my eye. We stare at one another, both knowing how fragile the moment is and that we might not get the chance to feel like this again. He leans in, slow enough that I could stop him. But I don’t. His mouth meets mine with a certainty that steals the air from my lungs, and I riseinto the kiss without thinking, answering him just as fiercely. The world narrows to the press of his lips, the heat of him, the way his body fits against mine.
I gasp against his mouth and reach for him, my fingers sliding into his hair. It’s damp and coarse beneath my hands, exactly as I imagined it would be, and I curl my fingers tighter, tugging just enough to draw a low sound from his throat. His strong hand finds my waist, and he pushes me deeper into the sand in response. The cool metal of his jewelry brushes against my collarbone, along my scales, and the sensation sends a subtle heat through my body.
A hungry kiss soon turns into something more. Desire burns as it rushes through my veins, feeding the coiling power behind my ribs. For a brief moment, I am scared I will lose control. My breath turns shallow, and Sable’s head snaps up in an instant, breaking the kiss, his brows drawn together as he searches my face for the answer.
“Are you okay?” he asks in a low voice.
I nod quickly. “Yes. I am okay. Can you do me a favor?”
“Anything,” he says, a teasing smile tugging at his lips.
“I want to see your tattoos.”
His eyes widen a little in quiet surprise, but he doesn’t hesitate. Sable sits up and pulls his wet linen shirt over his head before tossing it aside. The sight of his bare chest knocks the breath out of my lungs. Dark ink swirls from his arms, over his shoulders, across his broad, muscled chest, and down his stomach before finally disappearing under his breeches.
Sable follows my gaze, and when our eyes meet again, heat rushes into my cheeks.
“You like them?”
A smile tugs at my lips in response, and finally, I let my siren take over. I push him back into the soft sand, the dark hair on his head a stark contrast against the white beneath him. By thesix seas, he is beautiful. I take a moment longer to appreciate him before straddling him and pressing my lips to his again. My hands roam his chest in slow exploration, trying to commit the feel of his skin to memory.
Large, strong hands grip my hips as the air suddenly falls dead around us.
A scream erupts from inside the Noctis.
We both snap our heads toward the sound, a sharp gasp tearing from my throat. Because she does not lie there alone. Right behind her, another ship has appeared, smaller, but unmistakably real. Strange men board over a plank while someone else drags up the ladder clinging to the side of the ship, the very ladder Sable and I just descended. What makes panic flood my veins is the sound of metal striking metal coming from the orlop, dulled by the thick wood separating us from it.
