by Frost Kay
“You tell me. Did lady Salbei seem like a weak, unhinged woman last night?” Tehl leaned back in his chair to watch the show.
Half the men gaped at him from the table. It made him want to smirk at their open mouths. They looked like fish.
William smiled at him. “The enchanting siren from last night is to be our ambassador?”
“Indeed, she is,” Sam replied.
Jaren’s eyes flashed with outrage. Here we go.
“You knew she was a rebel last night, and yet you did not think it was pertinent information to tell us?” Jaren haughtily demanded. “How do you know she wasn’t the one to try to assassinate the king?”
“Your crown prince does not have to explain anything to you, Jaren,” Gavriel spoke up, coldly. “I would rethink the tone you were using with your future king.”
Jaren glared at Gavriel for a moment before reining himself in. He gave Gavriel a thin-lipped smile before turning to Tehl. “Excuse my tone, I meant no offense. I was surprised—that was all.”
Zachael and William coughed at his lie. Tehl’s lips twitched in humor. He despised Jaren, but he was a necessary evil. The man was filthy rich and had a brilliant mind. “These are extraordinary circumstances we are all having to adjust to,” he said graciously. Sam gave him a look like he approved, so he must have said it in a politically correct manner.
“The scars?” Lelbiel asked.
Tehl understood what he was getting at. He was sure none of the men in this room would forget her display any time soon: creamy thighs and—
A chair screeching cut his thoughts off.
Zachael pushed his chair back and placed his hand heavily on the old round table. “We did that?” he choked out.
Grim faces surrounded the table, even Jaren looked disgusted.
“No,” Garreth interjected. He was next to the combat master. “Sick men did that.”
Murmurs of agreement sounded around the table.
“If I remember correctly—” William paused. “She said the captors hadn’t been punished.”
Tehl eyed the wily old fox with appreciation. Nothing slipped by that man. “The men were punished except for the leader, he escaped. He has been apprehended by the rebellion.”
“Are they going to hand him over?” Garreth asked, curiously.
A vicious grin touched Tehl’s face. “I asked, but they kindly refused. I doubt we will see Serge again.”
“And you are okay with that?” Jaren questioned.
Tehl pinned him with his gaze, his smile widening. “I am more than okay with justice, especially when I sanction it. Anything else, Jaren?”
Jaren swallowed hard. “No, my lord.”
Tehl tipped his head. “Very well then. We have six days until we exchange our list of demands. We will meet here in three days and discuss what those will be. Think about it in the next couple days. I don’t want to bicker about it for hours. Good day.”
His advisors stood at his dismissal and bowed before streaming out of the room, leaving Sam, Gav, and himself as its only occupants. “That went better than I thought it would.”
Gav bobbed his head. “It worked in our favor that she was at the festival last night. Her scars had already made an impression.”
“You’re right. She was a human being already, not some faceless female rebel.” Tehl squinted at his cousin. “You’re sounding like Sam.”
“Hey now,” Gav protested.
Sam sniffed. “Eh hem. Everyone wants to be like me.”
Tehl exchanged looks with Gav before they both snickered. “You keep believing that if it makes you sleep at night, brother.”
“I will tell you what makes me sleep at night. This pretty little blonde…”
“That’s enough of that.” Tehl cringed. “I don’t need those images in my mind.” Sam had already scarred him enough.
Sam smirked. “I will always want those images in my mind.”
Gavriel shook his head. “You understand nothing until you have a wife. Come to me after being married a couple years and then we can swap stories.”
Sam looked intently at his cousin, looking intrigued. “Really?”
Smug satisfaction filled Gav’s face. “Indeed.”
Tehl stretched and stepped off his raised chair. “This has been informative, but I have a date with Damari.” Today they were going over the treasury books. He loved pouring over the books. Numbers always made sense. They never changed, and, if something was wrong, it was because there was a mistake somewhere.
“Run off to your accounting then.” Sam wrinkled his nose. “I will make inquiries and discover what our various advisors think we should demand.”
“No rest for the wicked,” Tehl called over his shoulder, heading toward the door.
“I will hold your compliments close to my heart, you know.”
“You do that,” he retorted, leaving the war room.
Chapter Six
Sage
It had been three days, and Sage still had difficulty grasping the fact that she lodged on a Sirenidae vessel. Not only that, but though it’d been mere weeks, it seemed as though her entire world had been flipped on its axis:
The Aermian king wasn’t evil.
The rebellion wasn’t perfect.
A race thought to have disappeared fifteen hundred years ago somehow still existed.
It was enough to have anyone’s head spinning.
Sage mindlessly peered at the glistening waves as they lapped against the hull, fascinated that, despite the movement, its waters were clear as glass. She marveled as little schools of fish darted around below, shimmering purple and silver in the sun. She cringed, though, when it served as a reminder of the abrupt question she’d carelessly blurted to her host, and she had to fight the impulse to bang her head against the quarterdeck. Thankfully, Lilja had only laughed instead of seeing fit to drown her. The unusual captain had then slapped her on the arm and showed her to her quarters.
Sage leaned her elbows on the railing, deciding tonight she would finally ask about the Sirenidae. For the last couple of days, she had found herself staring at Captain Femi’s scarf, curious about the gills she knew it hid. She had been sorely tempted to ask at the time but quickly decided it was better to wait for the right moment. Since then, Sage had been filling her time by helping Lilja, doing whatever was needed.
There’d been a few instances where she’d thought of sneaking from the ship to her family’s smithy, just to see if they needed her, but reason always prevailed. It was too much of a risk, for she knew both Sam and Rafe would have her home watched, hoping to catch her doing just that. Also, she was certain she had seen Rafe skulking about the docks shortly after her arrival. That man was an expert tracker, so it was best not to tempt fate.
As she sat, silent in her contemplation, the sun slowly sunk below the horizon, streaking the sky in shades of gold, orange, red and pink. Abandoning her perch, she skipped down the stairs and onto the deck. Sure-footed, Sage moved to the opposite side and down into the galley, and her stomach growled as the savory smells of herbs and warm bread greeted her.
Lilja smiled and waved her forward. Sage stepped up the table, watching as Lilja added spices to what seemed to be a stew. “What can I do to help, captain?”
The captain flashed her a smile, pointing to the bread and vegetables. “Could you cut those for me?”
Sage plucked a heavy blade from a wooden block and began doing so. “It smells delicious,” she remarked, glancing at the stew, and paused. It was almost the same color as Lilja’s eyes. “It’s an…unusual color though.”
“A question but not a question. I find you refreshing, Sage.”
Sage’s brows wrinkled.
The captain tossed her a wry look before continuing to stir her soup. “It’s apparent you are filled with curiosity, and yet you have not asked me a single question.”
It was true. She was brimming with a million questions, but she also didn’t know what sort of burdens came with the
answers. Sometimes it was best to remain ignorant. “On some occasions, it’s safer to keep your questions to yourself.”
Lilja considered her for a moment before setting her spoon down. “True, but without questions how would one learn? Knowledge is power.”
“It also means danger,” Sage answered, not looking up from chopping her sea onion.
“Another wise answer for one so young.”
“You age quickly when your innocence is stripped from you,” Sage replied, keeping her cuts in perfect, even slices. She may be young but she felt like she’d aged years in the last month.
“You have suffered many things, ma fleur.”
A pale hand settled on hers, ceasing her cutting. Sage lifted her gaze to Lilja’s and saw in her unusually-colored eyes that the captain understood what she was suffering. Sage dropped her eyes back to the onion, waiting for her to speak.
“It will pass with time, love. You have strength beyond anything you can imagine.” The captain removed her hand and paused. “So to answer your question-not-question. I muddle a special seaweed into the soup, and that’s why it turns that color.”
Sage appreciated the change in subject. Her time in the dungeon wasn’t something she wanted to think of; she dreamed of it often enough each night. Hayjen and Lilja had burst into her room the first night thinking she was being murdered, but she’d only been screaming in her sleep, and poor Hayjen had received a blow to the face when he woke her. She still prickled with guilt whenever she thought of it. She’d been so out of sorts she hadn’t known what was real or what was the dream.
“Where do you find the seaweed?”
“It grows about three hundred arm-lengths below the ocean’s surface.”
Sage’s eyes rounded. That was incredible. She had never heard of anyone being able to dive that deep. Maybe asking a few questions wouldn’t be too offensive. “That must be an interesting trip,” she ventured, tipping her vegetables into the soup.
“It is unlike anything you can imagine.”
“As a little girl I always wanted to be a Sirenidae,” Sage remarked off-handedly, scrubbing the sharp blade in a wash bin. “I’ve always loved swimming, and I feel like the ocean is my second home.”
“There are so many treasures down there. It is truly a completely different world.”
Sage wiped the blade dry and placed it back on the wooden block, turning to Lilja. As she again eyed the woman’s scarf she fought her nerves, jerking her chin toward the royal blue material concealing the mysterious white hair and gills. “How do those work?”
White teeth flashed at her in a deep smile. Lilja brushed away the scarf and drew a long pale finger down the side of her bare neck. “They filter the oxygen from the water, and my body keeps the oxygen and injects it into my blood while forcing out the water.”
Her brows furrowed. “Oxygen?”
“Air.”
What a perplexing thought. But fish had to breathe some way so she supposed it sort of made sense. “I didn’t know there was air in the water.”
Captain Femi gestured for her to sit at the table. “It is all part of science.”
Sage pierced her with a serious look and sat slowly, thinking. No one practiced science after the Scythians did what they did. Everyone lived and used what they could from nature. Science had caused the Nagalians’ genocide and no one wanted that again.
“Don’t give me that look, ma fleur. I will not turn into a murdering barbarian before you.” Captain Femi’s eyes glinted. “Remember: knowledge is power.”
“Indeed.” Sage cocked her head, studying the woman across from her. “How are you still alive? Sirenidae are now just myths.”
“Through secrecy, deception, and cunning.”
Sage didn’t doubt that. “Do others exist?”
Lilja lifted her scarf and patted it into place without looking away. “That is a secret I can not give you, but our race will never die off.”
Sage respected her answer and moved on. “Are the stories true? Do you drag men into the ocean and drown them?”
Lilja stared off, like she was seeing something else. “That is one fable that sprung up after we disappeared. During the Nagalian purge, we did wage war from the sea and drowned our enemies. But we never did it as sport, as the fables say, it was against the law.”
“Whose law?”
Lilja’s gaze sharpened. “The king’s.”
“Are you speaking of Poseidon?”
“The one and only.”
Her mum had told her stories about the unearthly ruler of the Sirenidae. “Did he have magenta eyes and white hair as well? Is that a racial trait?” she asked curiously.
Lilja smiled. “The silvery-white hair is a Sirenidae trait. We are born deep in the ocean where the sunlight doesn’t reach, so we have no color in our hair.” Captain Femi gestured to her eyes. “As for the unusual color, they change once we eat the rose seaweed. It has properties that enhance our vision, enabling us to see in the ocean’s depths.”
“So you weren’t born with pink eyes?”
“No, my eyes were a lilac color. They fade back if I’m unable to regularly eat rose seaweed.”
“Does the sun affect your hair?”
Lilja shook her head. “No, I’ve spent too much time in the sea. Between the lack of sunlight and the salt, it is permanently colorless.”
“What would happen if a Sirenidae was born on land?”
“They would look like anyone else.”
So they could blend in. “What about the gills?”
Captain Femi laughed. “If I stay out of the sea, they seal shut until I swim and need them again.”
Sage opened her mouth to ask another question but paused when Hayjen stormed in, wearing a blustery expression. Her burly friend halted at the edge of the table, scrutinizing her. Sage glanced to Lilja, the captain’s face sobering as she eyed her husband warily.
Sage’s heart flew to her throat. Something bad had happened. “Are my family okay?” she asked, her tone sharp.
Hayjen’s blue eyes softened a touch. “Your family’s fine, Sage. I checked on them myself today.” He blew out an irritated breath. “Rafe called a meeting of the rebellion. It is to be in less than half an hour.”
Sage pondered that for a moment. “Why is this the first time I am hearing about it?”
Hayjen’s nostrils flared. “It’s my belief he intended to exclude Sage.”
A small noise of outrage escaped Lilja.
Frustration bubbled under Sage’s skin. What game was he playing? She had every right to be there. She’d certainly earned it. Was she now the enemy because she was a liaison? She was merely seeking the best outcome for all citizens of Aermia. “I will have to sample some of your fabulous soup later, I’m afraid. It seems I have business to take care of.”
Capitan Femi cocked her head, eyes twinkling. “Give them hell, ma fleur. Show them what you are made of.”
The look in Hayjen’s ice blue eyes stopped her. “Rhys will be there.”
Every muscle in her body tensed at his name. Nightmarish images flashed through her mind and she bowed forward, clutching the end of the table, her fingers turning white as the wood bit into her flesh. She let go the breath she’d been holding and tried to regulate her breathing.
Could she handle seeing him again?
She barely registered the scraping of a chair when an elegant pale hand entered her view. Sage focused on the hand settling on her own. The slight pressure caused her to glance up into magenta eyes filled with understanding but no pity.
“There is no shame in weakness. There’s strength in knowing your limitations, but this is not one of your limitations, Sage. You are better than that animal. You know he will never hurt you again. The strength of your inner person shines brighter than the dawn’s first rays. He has no power over you. You are not in that dungeon, you are here with Hayjen and I. He will be by your side in place of your family. You have allies. You are not alone.” Warm hands cupped her cheek
s. “You will never be alone. Dig deep, and use all that anger and desire for vengeance to do something good. Use it to protect your people.”
Sage’s eyes blurred, and she dropped her eyes to Lilja’s chin. She needed those words. “I want him dead,” she whispered, speaking the ugly truth out loud. “I know I shouldn’t feel that way; it’s wrong. But he haunts me every time I sleep. I am so tired, Lilja, worn out. Why is that monster free?” She lifted her watery eyes back to Lilja’s.
“Everyone is punished for their actions one way or another. I don’t care what the rebellion decided. He will be held accountable for his actions, mark my words, ma fleur.” Her eyes darted to Sage’s emerald ones. “Can you do this?”
She pulled in a stuttering breath and nodded yes. She would not let her fear rule her. Lilja’s hands dropped from her face while Sage blinked back her tears. She sucked her lip in and bit it. She would let no one keep her from this meeting.
She twisted her head back to Hayjen. “Are you ready?”
He walked around the table and wrapped both Lilja and Sage in his burly arms. “I am. Everything will be all right. I will never leave your side.” He dropped a kiss on top of the Captain’s head, releasing them. “We will be home in a couple hours, my love.”
Sage trailed him before glancing over her shoulder at Lilja. “Do you want to come with us?”
Captain Femi snorted and waved her off. “Those men would run for the hills if they met me. I would be a distraction more than anything. Watch that man of yours, he has quite the reflexes. I doubt you will escape him easily tonight. Keep your wits about you.”
Now it was Sage’s turn to snort. “Never lost my wits to a man yet.”
She jogged up the two stairs and across the shadowy deck. Reaching the rail, she swung her leg over and shimmied down the rope ladder. At the bottom, Hayjen reached for her and pulled her to the dock.
“Are you ready to face the beasts?”
Determination filled her, and she used it to force back some of her fears. “Indeed.”
Hayjen grunted and began a clipped pace along the dock that had quieted. Most of the laborers had gone to their homes or ships by now, yet it was still early enough that they hadn’t drunk enough to be noisily inebriated. Hayjen led her to the same tunnel she’d escaped from and Sage dropped down, noting the water was three inches higher than the last time she’d done this.