by Hazel Grace
Sullivan looks at me, knowing I’ll end up having the final say anyway. I’ve already upset half my sisters today by not wanting to make any rash decisions on getting rid of the Viking, so I let them hash it up amongst themselves.
I shrug at him, my sisters still arguing over my friend that keeps coming back to the island to either barter off things he brings with him or try to win over Atarah, who hates him with every fiber of her being.
When in actuality, it’s a front.
He’s just here to spend time with me, and he’s the exemption to our rule—well mine under severe feuding with most of my sisters. Rohana and Kali don’t mind him because he saved us that night from the Hunters. The rest of my relations are a mix of irritation, concern, and laid-back.
We don’t let pirates near Merindah, they don’t get that far before we kill them. Or as Nesrine likes to call it, “play with them.”
But Tobias Nathaniel is different—he’s fearless, stupid, and my best friend.
Which leads to an ongoing issue with Atarah and Brylee because he too can pass through the veil with no understanding of why. And the not knowing leaves us all a little restless.
He’s not a siren, Brylee practically drowned him one year to see if it’d spark any traits or tendencies within him. Other than him coughing up water for a few minutes and almost dying in the process, he failed the test.
And if the Viking isn’t a siren either, what other kinds of creatures could get past the veil?
It leaves so many posing questions amongst us, ones we need to ask Taysa because something is wrong with the spell.
“Let him in,” Nesrine bellows, chuckling at my sister’s scowls. “I know Davina wants to know what he brought.”
Sullivan bows his head before leaving while my sisters start in on my third eldest sister and her chancy bias of my friend.
“Ladies,” a male voice greets cheerily as Nesrine looks over her shoulder and gives me a wink. She steps aside, letting me take in Tobias as he enters with a small chest in his hands. “How are you today?”
“Inconvenienced,” Atarah pipes in, crossing her ivory arms along her chest. “I thought I told you to stop coming here or there would be consequences to your defiance.”
Tobias might like to mock the reality of what we could do to him, but I’d never let it get that far, no matter how many times Atarah threatens his life. She always seems to forget the simple, yet complicated fact that he released Rohana from the net she was held captive in and the reason why she’s not three sisters short.
I watch him smile, his boyish good looks could melt any normal woman’s demeanor down, if he was around any normal human women. My sisters are unaffected by his humor and charm but a quarter of us like him—myself, Rohana, and Nesrine.
Kali is torn between paranoid and gratefulness. Skeptical because her voice should have impaired his and the crew's ears that day, but he was unaffected. The moment my head broke over the waves, he was peering over the rail, looking down at us when he should’ve been dazed, confused, and possibly ready to step over the side.
As much as my impulse tells me I shouldn’t care about a human, let alone a boy that was on a Hunters’ ship of all things, but I’m glad he’s here—most of the time.
“Ah, yes,” Tobias falters. “But you forget that I’m used to living in the face of danger, my little snowflake.”
Atarah steps in his direction, her eyes turning the frosty white that they do when she is on the verge of losing her temper. “Don’t call me by your nicknames like it’s going to soothe my ongoing irritation with you, Tobias. You’re riding on my last nerve.”
Tobias gently places the chest on the floor and holds out his hands. “No disrespect, Your Majesty.” He looks over at me. “But your little sister seems to like what I bring, and, well, I have quite the collection today.”
“I’m assuming you didn’t bring any of your human friends on the island as well,” Nesrine exhorts.
Tobias glances at her. “No, they’re all too scared to venture past the mist. They think it’s haunted.”
“You’re a fool,” Atarah spouts, balling her hands into fists. “You bring your men close to our home to capture us and—” That’s when Tobias’s attention snaps back to her.
He hates when he’s accused of bringing people to hurt us. That he’d betray me in any way, shape, or form.
And I believe him.
He’s never steered me wrong. Never did he treat my sisters with disrespect, if anything he tried to force his charm on each one of them in hopes that they’d all welcome him with open arms.
Let’s just say he had his work cut out for him.
“Amongst other things, I’m a fool, yes,” he leers. “But a traitor, not in this lifetime, snow bunny.”
Atarah takes another step forward, but Nesrine moves in front of her. “And what do you want in return for these items that you keep bringing?” she asks.
His brown eyes fall on me. “To see your sister smile for once.” I roll mine, which gets him to chuckle.
“Did you bring something for me?” Rohana asks him, hands clasped together to keep her excitement in check.
Tobias reaches into his long brown leather coat and pulls out something but keeps it hidden in his palm. My sister skips to him, stopping when she’s a foot away, impatiently waiting for him to reveal what he’s brought.
Extending his palm, a soft gasp leaves my sister’s lips before she snatches it.
“Oh, Davina!” She twirls on her heels, holding up what looks to be a gold chain with a large purple gem hanging off it. “It matches.”
I crack a grin. “It’s beautiful.”
Nesrine walks in Tobias’s direction and bumps his shoulder purposely while stating, “Good luck with that.”
Striding from the room, the rest of my sisters follow her but not before Atarah gets to make her final comment, of course.
“The next time you step foot on this island, pirate, make sure you bring someone for my sisters and I to play with. We don’t like it when someone plays favorites.”
She bumps his other shoulder then sends me a warning look before withdrawing from the room.
Rohana ignores Atarah’s hostility, clearly in her own state of euphoria, because her lavender hair wraps around Tobias’s shoulder as she gives him a hug. Mumbling a quick thank-you, she scurries out, following the rest of my siblings.
Tobias sighs, adjusting his brown coat, and brings his attention to me. “I swear, one day she’s going to kill me.”
“She’ll have to go through Rohana first.” The left side of his mouth quirks as he picks up his chest and rests it on the dining room table, rust sprinkling onto the surface.
“I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long to come back with things, got caught up in Port Thetis but...” Tobias cracks the lip of the chest as it whines in protest, expressing its age and the amount of time it hasn’t been opened. “I brought you this, Princess.”
Gems of different colors; reds, blues, and greens along with long strings of pearls fill most of the bottom—but it’s the small dagger on the top that gets my full attention.
One like the Viking’s.
It’s beautiful, no special encrusted gems or engravings embellish the weapon except for the etched lines down the middle of the knife. The handle is black and gold while the blade makes a sharp descent into a fine point.
How many stories this weapon must have—the bloodshed, the crusades it could’ve sailed or marched on. Every object has a story, and that’s one of the best curiosities and wonders I have about each thing Tobias brings me.
“Of all things, you pick the blade,” Tobias chortles with a shake of his head. “I bring you rare jewels, you choose the most dangerous thing out of the chest.”
I ignore him, turning it in my hands and examining any hidden clue of its past or journey.
“I’ll keep the rest of it here for you in case you change your mind. Give some to your sisters,” he voices. “There’s enough
for you there. And speaking of, I better leave before your sister makes good on her word.”
I don’t respond, still studying the new item to add to my assembly.
“I might not see you for a few weeks, I have to go make good on my own word with another pirate who stole something from me.” I can feel his eyes on me. “So take care of yourself.”
I hear him walk away, all the things around his waist clacking and clicking together.
“Don’t you dare come in here giving me gifts then tell me you’re going to go fight your stupid human battles.” I hear him halt. “What did they take from you?”
“It’s more like whom—they have my brother.”
My head jerks up to him with plummeted brows. “I thought you said he was dead.”
“I thought he was.”
“Then how do you know otherwise?”
“I’ve been searching for him.”
“Tobias,” I say softly. “Why haven’t you told me?”
He gives me a feeble grin. “Didn’t want to get your hopes up.”
He means his hopes up.
Tobias’s younger brother, Lorne, disappeared when they were children and, for about five years now, Tobias had exhausted all reports of him. No leads of a young man with a scar in the middle of his forehead that he followed were successful, and it only grew his ongoing irritation. To the point where Tobias suddenly stopped searching because each time cracked his heart more and more.
“Do you know if he’ll be there when you arrive?” He shakes his head, averting his gaze from mine. I turn over the dagger in my hand. “Take this, I want you to be safe.”
Tobias looks up to the blue sky. We don’t have ceilings in the castle because it never rains, and I like the sun on my skin. “I have swords, little one.”
I gesture toward it with my head. “You humans can never have too many weapons. Take it.”
He reaches out his palm, and I gently place it there. “Thank you.” I bow my head in acknowledgment. “I’ll miss you.”
I glance back up at him but don’t say a thing.
“I miss us when we were children. Time has changed a lot of things.”
“We grew up.”
“But did we have to grow apart?”
No, we didn’t. I’ve just been pushing him away because I didn’t want Father to find him here. It wasn’t safe, he’d kill Tobias, and there wouldn’t be anything I could do about it.
My sisters, I could stop—the King of Lacuna, also son of Poseidon, there wouldn’t be enough words for him to listen to make him decide to keep a human alive that’s trespassed onto our island.
Everything got worse when I submitted myself to Merindah, my father became more on his guard, more weary of the sea. He has my sisters checking my every move, and the moment one of them leaks that a Viking is here—he’ll die too.
His fingertips graze my cheek, and my body relaxes at his touch. “I think about you all the time.”
“I don’t sing,” I retort. “You’re not sired to me in any way.”
“No, you just looked at me that night with challenge and fear in your eyes, and I knew that I’d never be the same after meeting you.” I glance at the small scar on his left cheekbone from my knife that fateful night.
I owe Tobias everything, and in return, I’m saving his future by attempting to keep him away from this island—it hasn’t been working very well.
I just never have the heart to make good on my word to hurt him the next time he comes to visit. It could also be because I’m selfish.
I enjoy the outside world coming into mine or the vexatious feeling of how much I care about him. Tobias was that breath of fresh air, the person who never made me feel like there wasn’t a limit to what I could do.
“You should go.” The longer he stays, the more risk.
“But you don’t want me to. I can see it in your green eyes.”
“I’m not a map, Tobias,” I counter.
He grins. “No, you’re just the X on mine.”
Fixing him with an exasperated look, I never wanted him to be more than the boy on the boat. Never thought I’d see him again, until I did back at Coral Cove. He waited for me there, he said, for two weeks.
I should’ve let him starve to death.
But apparently I have a conscience, and he did the unthinkable going against his shipmates.
Which doesn’t explain half of the things that’s wrong with Tobias.
Things that can’t be overlooked, but somehow I do because he’s more than the boy who rescued us.
He’s the man who may have stolen some of my heart.
“Thank you again,” Tobias finally says when my silence has stretched to more than he can bear. “I’ll bring you more things when I—”
“You might not want to come back,” I cut in, not wanting to entertain the idea or excitement. “My sisters are getting leerier. You don’t belong here.”
Tobias smiles. “Do any of us belong?”
“Answering my question with another question won’t get lost on me, Captain.”
He lifts his shoulder with a half-shrug. “I tend to live on the dangerous side of life, Princess. No offense, but your sisters don’t scare me. I might be a fool, but I’d travel around the sea twice to see your eyes light up at something small like a blade.”
I fix my jaw, trying my best to look annoyed. “You are a fool like Atarah says you are.”
He chuckles, tucking his chin into his chest. “Maybe I am. Regardless though—” He looks up at me. “I’ll take my chances.”
“You don’t understand. There is a—”
“There isn’t anything you’re going to say to make me change my mind,” Tobias alludes with a stern tone to his voice. “You’re the only thing that makes my life—see you in a few days with some news.” He turns on his heels, evading my effort to keep him free from harm.
And I’m not the only one in denial about what this is. How our friendship is a dangerous game we’re playing and neither of us wants to fully stop.
“Tobias, please. You don’t—”
“Why do you keep pushing me away?” he snaps, twirling back to face me. “What did I do?”
I open my mouth like old times. That’s how they feel when we’re together. When we were younger and wilder, more free and reckless.
I wish a thousand moons I could go back because I’d be able to talk to him out loud instead of in his head. For him to hear my anger and worry when I tell him that this is for the best.
Because it is, and I can’t bear the thought of losing him. It’d be like losing my right arm, loss of function and ease.
“I’ve loved you forever,” he censures. “But you weren’t an option for me. I can’t live in the sea and you couldn’t live out of it. And now you’re walking on an island, with legs and lungs that can withstand the air, but you don’t want anything to do with me.” He inches closer. “We used to dream about it, remember? You told me that we’d hold hands on the sand and let the waves sink our toes into the beach. You said you’d—” He stops, locking his jaw while his nostrils flare.
Tobias is an easygoing man, and it breaks my spirit to see him upset.
And to know that I’m the cause for it.
“It’s not that I don’t want you here,” I mutter. “It’s how you’re here.”
“I told you, Davina, I don’t know how I can get by the veil. There’s something wrong with it.”
“There can’t be anything wrong with it because you and—”
“Me and what?”
I straighten my spine. “No human has been able to get through it before nor can they see it.”
“I only know about it because of you. You showed me.”
“But you’re not a siren.”
“No, shit, I almost died trying to prove it to you,” he practically spits, throwing his hand in the air.
“Then how are you here? How is it that—”
“Is it because I’m not trustworthy enough?” I watch hi
m cringe, and it makes me sick to my stomach. “Have I ever stolen anything from you?”
“That’s not—”
“Don’t say ‘point’ to me,” he berates. “I’d never do anything to you—ever. I’d never let anyone find you. I’ll never hurt you. You’re just too much of a coward to face what we dreamed of. You’re worse off here—” he waves his hand in the air. “—than you were in the sea. Maybe you don’t belong here.”
He gives me his back once more, his strides longer and more meaningful in his escape to leave me, so he can get back onto his ship, where he feels more like himself.
“You promised you’d never leave me angry.”
He responds with a loud, annoyed sigh but turns back around and stalks toward me again.
Stopping right in my space, he drops his head and gives me a long, stilled kiss to my forehead. His soft lips press into my skin, and I feel his bothered state, how he wishes I could be who I was before.
I can’t be her anymore.
“You take care of yourself, Princess,” he utters.
Then I let him leave.
I don’t know if he’ll come back like he said he would or if the days he’s away will change his mind.
All I know is that I want him to because I let my selfish side win with him every time.
I can’t stand the way she looks at me now—like a stranger. An intruder in her world that shouldn’t be there, and yet, I am.
The first time I laid eyes on Davina, we were on different sides of sea level. She was a beautiful creature that lived under the sea, and I was a young lad that ran with my uncle’s bunch who trailed and preyed on her kind—Hunters. A growing group of men who either sold, killed, or raped sirens.
Thankfully, my Uncle Declan wasn’t very good at it.
Except for that night.
When he first spoke about the women who sang men into rocks, off ships, and ripped their heads clean off, I believed his drinking habit had worsened.
That, or his mind went adrift off the deep end because he sailed the Black Sea a million times over and had no concept of the real world on land anymore.
Hunters were just superstitious pirates that liked the quest of something challenging and alive. Sirens were worth quick gold on the market, though, again, I’d never seen one at Port Royal, where I grew up with my Uncle Declan. Half the time when he got word of sightings, he would leave me alone with some money to fend for myself, and while I spent a lot of my time at the fishing docks, no magical creatures ever showed up dead or alive at the pier.