“I can’t remember,” she said at last and Gabe sighed in disappointment.
“Very well,” he replied. “Then I have no choice but to drop you off at the first island we find that has a missionary or church. They will be able to help you better than I can.”
He turned to leave. “No!” Ottilia cried, grabbing his arm.
Gabe stared at her. His brow was furrowed as though he were trying to work her out. “Florin, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.” He tucked a strand of shiny hair behind her ear, his hand lingering there a moment. “The storm has set us back a few days. We won’t make land for at least another five days and that will stretch our food supplies,” he said. He stepped back as though only then realising that he was touching her. “You have until then to give me a good reason not to leave you behind.”
Ottilia stared after him and wondered at the strange sensations coursing through her. She touched her ear where the Captain’s hand had hovered. Was it his touch that made her heart pound and her flesh warm? She had never felt such a sensation before.
She shook the feeling off She could not allow herself to indulge such fanciful thoughts. The Captain had given her only five days. That didn’t give her much time to woo the Prince away from Petra. She had to find a way to make the Captain change his mind.
Ottilia looked out across the calm, dark waters to where Makoa and his pod still frolicked. And an idea occurred to her.
Chapter Nine
The next morning when the breakfast bell rang, Ottilia was waiting. She listened for the sounds of footsteps thumping down to the galley and the quiet that would follow. Once she was sure there was no one around to see her, she slipped out of her cabin and hurried to the upper deck. Keeping low, so she wouldn’t be seen from the helm, she crept along the gangway to the forecastle at the ship’s bow. She took another quick look around then climbed over the rail and down the ladder. Breathing a sigh of relief that she had made it without being seen, she called to the dolphins who were waiting just off the stern.
Ottilia hushed her excited friends in case their enthusiastic clicks and squeals drew the attention of someone above. The battle-scarred male, Makoa, demanded to know what she thought she was doing on a human ship.
“I had to, Makoa!” she told him and the dolphin clicked and tutted, nodding his head furiously.
“Yes, I know I shouldn’t have trusted the sea-witch but it’s a bit late now!” Ottilia snapped. She didn’t need the dolphins chastising her; she already felt bad enough. “Do my parents know what’s happened?”
Makoa told her the King and Queen knew only that their youngest daughter was missing and were frantic with worry. Ottilia wanted to be pleased at the news but she wasn’t: she felt wretched. It crossed her mind to ask Makoa to fetch her father - but it would do no good. The witch had made that fresh-water clear: the contract was unbreakable. Instead, she asked what he knew of the storm. Makoa claimed not to know, although it was clear he thought the sea-witch was somehow behind it.
“But how?” Ottilia wondered aloud. “Hortense doesn’t have the power to control either the weather or the seas.” The dolphins seemed not to know either. Even so, Ottilia sensed there was something they were not saying.. “Well, never mind that for now,” she said and produced a pillowcase. She shrugged her shoulders sheepishly and muttered, “I don’t suppose you would mind getting me some fish?”
The dolphins looked at her and then started chattering and squawking and boobing their heads up and down.
“It’s not funny!” she growled but the dolphins clearly disagreed. They tittered and jabbered among themselves, wildly amused that they were being asked to fetch fish for a mermaid. “Well, I can’t catch them with these useless legs and the storm wiped out the ship’s stocks!” Ottilia argued so, eventually, the dolphins agreed, though not without a level of smugness that she found incredibly irritating. They made a big show of leaping high out of the water before diving. “Very impressive!” Ottilia muttered. It was galling to sit there and wait for the pod to fill her pillowcase with their catch but she wasn’t so proud that she didn’t appreciate what they were doing.
Her sack was almost full when she heard Gabe. “What the bloody hell are you doing down there, woman?” he roared.
Startled, Ottilia nearly dropped the precious fish. She tipped her head to look at him and grimaced. “I was - erm - just catching some fish!” she called.
“Don’t move. I’m coming down!” he bellowed. “Pip! Stay there!” he ordered the young lad who was standing next to him.
Uh oh! She was in trouble again! Ottilia clambered to her feet. The dolphins judiciously swam away and left her to deal with the angry Captain on her own. “Fine friends you are!” she muttered and started towards the ladder
“What part of don’t move do you not understand!”
“I’m fine!” she snapped. “I could have got back up by myself!”
Gabe stepped off the ladder and held out his hand. “Give me the fish and go up ahead of me.” Muttering and moaning the whole way, Ottilia edged around him.
“Stop complaining and get up the ladder!” Gabe commanded and climbed up behind her.
Arik was waiting at the top and pulled her up and over the side.
“Looks like you’ve got yourself quite the catch there, Miss Florin!” he said, sounding impressed.
“Don’t encourage her, Arik!” Gabe growled and handed Ottilia the sack of fish. “Go and give these to Colbert,” he said and before adding, “and do not let me catch you down there again!”
The Siren pulled a face behind the Captain’s back and Arik barked out a loud laugh. Ottilia didn’t wait for the glare she was sure was coming but hurried away down to the galley. She got a few interested looks from the men leaving the mess as she made her way past them - but that might have been because she was beginning to stink of fish.
“Um … Mr Colbert,” she said and the curmudgeonly cook looked up from wiping down the counter top. “I caught some fish,” she murmured and handed the startled cook her sack.
“What did you catch those with?” he asked.
“A pillow sack,” she replied and his brows shot up into his hair line.
“Well that’s - er - quite the useful skill you have there, Miss.”
Ottilia practically skipped out of the galley and back to her cabin to change her shirt. She had a feeling she might just have won over her first crew member!
Ottilia joined the crew up top. She was tired of hiding herself away. It was a glorious day and the deck was noisy with the sounds of the crew busily repairing the ship. Jeb was calling orders to the men hoisting the mast.
“Niles! Tucker! Pull!” he shouted and then, “On its way, Captain!”
Gabe was sitting high up astride the jib. He was wearing his shirt sleeves rolled up and the playful wind was ruffling his hair. Even from her spot far below, Ottilia was mesmerised by the sight of his muscles bunching and pulling as he manoeuvred the huge mast into place.
“I hear you did us proud with your catch this morning, Miss Florin!” Stitches said with a wink and Ottilia dragged her fascinated gaze away from Captain.
“Oh, it was just a few fish,” she said, a little embarrassed to be taking the credit for the catch when Makoa and the pod had done all the work.
“Get away with you! I heard there was enough fish there to feed the crew for days!”
Ottilia laughed. Stitches sounded like a proud Papa boasting of his child’s accomplishment. It made her feel strangely warm and happy inside.
“Over here, Miss Florin!”
She followed the voice and saw Prince Sebastian waving to her from his spot on the poop deck. He was tipped back on his chair, his bare feet up on the rail that ran around it. His handsome face looked pale and wan under the sun’s harsh glare and his cheeks were hollowed out as though he were starved. Compared to his cousin, he looked weak and sickly.
Unfair! Ottilia
chastised herself. The Prince had been sick because of her. She would do well to remember that - and concentrate on why she was here at all!
“Go on,” Stitches said and nodded towards the Prince. “He’s been waiting for you.”
Ottilia left the older man mending the sails and climbed to the poopdeck to see what it was that was keeping her Prince so busy when, all around him, men were working on the ship.
“I have made some preliminary sketches of the dolphins,” he said, handing them to her. “See?” Ottilia looked at them and agreed that - yes - they did, indeed, look like dolphins.
“Later, I will paint them,” he said, taking back the drawings and admiring them. “I think I’ll use water colours.”
“Won’t you have work to do, mending the Manatee?” Ottilia asked him. Sebastian looked out across the ship as though only then realising that everyone was busily at work.
“Oh no! I’m just a Prince, I’m afraid,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I would only get in the way.”
His words surprised her. At home, everyone had a job to do, no matter what their rank. For Ottilia, that meant patrolling their territorial waters, singing her Siren song and even helping with salvage operations. “Don’t you have Princely duties?” she asked.
“A few. You know, the usual social engagements and lending my name and patronage to some thing or other,” he said, “Now, I have another sketch to finish and then I want to show you my paintings. There’s a whole series which I have named My Adventures In Paradise. Would you like that, Miss Florin?”
Ottilia smiled politely. “Of course.”
“Excellent!” he said. taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. “I shall lay them all out this evening in my cabin and we can peruse them together.”
The invitation should have delighted Ottilia. Instead, she felt only a sense of resignation. She looked out across the deck and her gaze fell on Captain. He had climbed down for a drink of the water which Pip was handing out to the hot and sweaty workers. Gabe brought his cup up to his mouth and Ottilia traced the liquid as it slid down his throat and wondered why the sight so fascinated her.
He handed the cup back to Pip, ruffling the child’s hair as he did so. Ottilia smiled.
Though Captain was commanding and prone to bossiness, she could not deny that he was also thoughtful and considerate. In the time Ottilia had known him, he had twice saved her life and that of his cousin too. He had also cared for her when she was sick and then determinedly fed her when she was better. And, in the face of his crews hostility, he had defended her - despite her refusal to tell him anything about herself. As Gabe scaled the mast again, Ottilia caught herself watching him longingly.
Captain Gabe was a good man: a worthy man.
“I have compiled them into one volume entitled Poems To Commemorate My Ocean Paradise,” the Prince was saying but Ottilia was watching the boy, Pip. Having emptied his bucket of water, the boy had given a furtive look around the deck and was now climbing up to the forecastle. What was the child up to, she wondered and climbed down from the poopdeck, leaving the Prince to talk to himself.
As she hurried across the deck towards the far end of the ship, Ottilia was seized by a sense of foreboding. The boy was already out of sight.
“Pip!” she called, gripped by a sudden panic. There was no answer. With her heart lodged in her throat, she crossed to the rail, looked over and saw the boy balanced on the tip of the stern. “Pip! No!” she cried but he was already tumbling head first into the bottomless ocean.
“Man overboard!” she cried - and leapt into the water after him.
Gabe heard a shout and looked up to see Paddy and Tucker grabbing ropes and Jeb pointing to the ocean.
“Captain!” the old man bellowed, fear stamped across his face: “It’s Pip and Miss Florin! They’ve gone!”
Gabe grabbed the rope and rappelled down to the deck, swinging out over the ship’s rail and planting his feet firmly on the freeboard. He scanned the ocean below and saw the dolphins circling - but no sign of Florin or the boy.
The water was freezing. They wouldn’t survive long. Pip couldn’t swim and, for all Gabe knew, neither could Florin. “Damn!” he cursed and then, for the second time in less than a sennight, the Captain defied rescue protocol and dived into the sea.
As the bubbles cleared, Ottilia saw the top of the boy’s head sink beneath the water. She reached for him but he had already sunk too deep and she needed to reach the surface for air before she could try again. She kicked her legs but the shirt and breeches she wore pulled her under. Panicking, she fought against the vast folds of material that imprisoned her arms and used up the last of her precious air.
Makoa’s mate, Palola, snatched at her breeches and dragged the Siren to the surface. Ottilia gasped for air. She prepared to dive again but Makoa broke the surface with the boy securely fastened in his mouth and delivered him safely into her arms. She squeezed Pip to her, forcing the water from his lungs, and the child began to cough and then to cry.
“Hush, you’re safe,” she soothed and knew that to be true when she saw Gabe swimming towards them.
“I just wanted to talk to the dolphins like you did,” the boy sobbed against her neck, “but now I’m gonna be in big trouble!”
Ottilia had no idea he had seen her. “Well, I won’t tell if you don’t,” she said and Pip nodded his agreement. She hoped he couldn’t feel the dolphins which were still swimming beneath them and keeping them afloat: that might raise some troublesome questions too.
“Rope!” Arik called from above and the heavy line thudded against the side of the ship just as Gabe reached them. The dolphins slipped away unseen, leaving Ottilia to grab hold of Captain. He took the weeping boy from her arms. “Hold tight!” he told her and stretched for the rope as Arik abseiled down a second line.
“Here! Give the lad to me!”
Ottilia could hear Jeb shouting orders and then there was a jerk. Gabe wrapped his arms around her and, his muscles bulging with the effort, took the strain of their combined weight as they were hoisted aloft. Arik and Pip reached the top first and were pulled aboard and then Ottilia was plucked from Gabe’s arms and delivered safely to the deck. Gabe followed, exhausted and soaked through.
“Thank ye both.” Jeb said, his voice choking with emotion as he held his sobbing grandson tightly in his arms. Gabe nodded, acknowledging the man’s gratitude. “Take him down and get him into some dry clothes, Jeb,” he told the elderly seaman.
“Well spotted, Miss Florin!” Arik said and, to Ottilia’s surprise, there was a cheer from the crew. She grinned with delight, even as her face flamed with embarrassment. Then she glanced over at Gabe and her smile vanished. He looked furious!
“Come!” he said, already walking away, “I will find you something to dry to put on.” Arik patted her on the shoulder.
“Don’t look so worried: he’ll not bite!” he reassured her. Ottilia wasn’t so sure.
“I’m sorry,” she said as they entered the cabin. Gabe said nothing. He handed her a sheet to dry herself on and then rummaged in his chest for clean shirts. “Here,” was all he said as he handed one to Ottilia.
“You’re angry with me?”
“No, I’m not angry,” Gabe said, turning to leave.
“Then why won’t you even look at me?” He spun round to face her.
“Because I thought I’d lost you!” he yelled. “And do you want to know something else, Florin?” He laughed angrily. “It scared the crap out of me!”
Slowly, Ottilia held her hand out to him. For a moment, Gabe hesitated and then he grabbed hold of her, pulled her towards him and, wrapping her in his arms, pinned her to his chest as though afraid to let her go.
Ottilia rubbed her cheek along his, giving him a Mer kiss. Gabe captured her face in his hands. He stared into her eyes as his thumb skimmed her bottom lip. Ottilia groaned in pleasure and Gabe swooped down on her and plundered her mouth with h
is own. Sensations she had never felt before roared through her. She felt hot and yet shivered in his arms and her legs felt weak, unable to support her weight. Desperately, Ottilia clung to Gabe’s solid body. His tongue found hers for a second time and Ottilia gasped. Panting, she curled her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. He muttered half heard words of encouragement against her mouth and she surrendered to him, needing something more from him, though what it was she did not understand.
A knock at the door forced them apart. “What is it?” Gabe asked, his voice ragged.
“We thought Miss Florin might like a warm bath,” a voice - undoubtedly belonging to Colbert - called out. Reluctantly, Gabe opened the door and two swabbies, Dale and Mosley, marched in carrying a huge tin bath between them.
“Thank you,” Ottilia said, though she wasn’t quite sure what she was supposed to do with it. The two young men turned red, gave her a respectful bow and hurried away.
“You’ve won the men over,” Gabe told her, sounding now as though nothing had happened. He pulled something out of his trunk. “Here,” he said, handing it to her. “Soap. I’ll leave you to your bath.”
Alone, Ottilia stared at the door and wondered what had happened between her and Gabe. Surely something that felt so … magnificent … must mean something. But what? Her situation hand’t changed. It was still the case that only Prince Sebastian had the power to save her.
She laughed miserably at the thought.
What foolish notion had led her to believe that what she felt for the Prince was love? She had never believed her heart would break if she couldn’t be with him. Her soul had not soared at the sight of him and her body had never reacted to his nearness. She had never craved his touch nor the feel of his cheek upon hers.
When Ottilia had declared her love for the Prince to the sea-witch, it had been but words. She had not known what it truly meant to be in love. Not until she had met Gabe.
The Siren Page 6