Don’t come here. Don’t jump.
He couldn’t help me anyway. He couldn’t pull me out.
The black pearls tightened around my torso, pulling me under. I held my breath, then realized I could still breathe underwater thanks to Jearda’s magic pearl choker around my neck. The god wouldn’t kill me. Not until he got what he truly wanted—the siren king.
“Maren!” Kye’s anguished scream thundered above me.
Something splashed into the water next to me. It wasn’t another monstrous limb this time, but a long cord of large, blush-pink pearls. Kye’s family heirloom.
“Hold on!” he shouted.
Fighting my restraints, I kicked my feet wildly and flailed my arms in a frantic attempt to reach the pearls. The moment they were within my grasp, I clasped the smooth, warm orbs in my fingers, holding on for dear life.
“Don’t let go.” He yanked the cord with so much strength, my body propelled forward, raising high waves on each side in my wake.
“Don’t let go, Maren,” he repeated, pulling me out of the water.
Then he ran up the tower stairs, tugging me along by the cord of pink pearls.
The loops of black pearls tightened around my body, chilling my skin. My feet slid backward, making me trip again.
“He wants me back in the water,” I rasped, fighting the inescapable pull of the vengeful god’s magic.
“He’snotgetting you,” Kye gritted through his teeth.
Planting his heels into the floor, he leaned back and pulled on the cord. My fingers ached, trying to hold on to the smooth, slippery pearls on the other end of the cord.
“I...I can’t,” I tried to warn him that I wouldn’t be able to hold on for long.
The black pearls yanked my body backward. I dropped to my knees, the pink cord slipping from my fingers. Kye lunged to me, then looped the cord around my shoulders and under my arms.
“You. Are. Mine,” he growled low, pulling by both ends of the cord now.
Determination rolled off him in swells. It radiated from his mother’s pearls. The royal siren magic warmed my skin, finally melting the chill out of my bones.
Gently but firmly, Kye pulled and pulled, dragging me away from the great hall. I gripped the cord under my arms. The moment I felt a slack of the black pearls around my body, I climbed to my feet.
“To the tower. Now!” Not letting go of the cord, Kye guided me after him.
The farther away from the water we got, the weaker the god’s hold on me grew. We ran up the stairs with Kye half-hauling me up by the cord of pearls. Only the ones in the middle still remained pearls. Those on both ends had turned to plain glass beads by his hands.
We made it all the way to the room upstairs. My bed with one crumpled blanket was still here, but I couldn’t even think about sleep. My muscles trembled from exhaustion, but my mind reeled with adrenaline that was steadily pumped through my system by horror and fear.
“Sunrise will be here soon,” Kye assured me, glancing at the sky through the glass.
“Will all these creatures be gone for sure then?” I asked, afraid to hope that this night would ever be over. The monsters had always left in the morning before. But no night before had been like this.
Kye spun around to face me. His gaze lingered on me. What a sight I must be, panting for breath, my cheeks flushed, my hair wild, my naked body smeared in slime and wrapped in coils and coils of pearls.
A loud thud reverberated through the glass palace. The tower shook. I stumbled, grabbing onto a wall to keep my balance.
“Maren? Are you alright?” Kye reached for me, then stopped himself, moving his hands away.
I got no chance to reply. A crashing noise deafened me.
“What’s happening?” I muttered, afraid to hear the answer.
Splaying his hands on the glass, Kye peered down into the palace through the walls and the roof.
