The Siren and the Deep Blue Sea

by Kerrelyn Sparks

  “Well, ye must know that we worship the moon goddesses.” When Nevis nodded, she continued. “For centuries, the kings on the mainland persecuted and killed anyone who worshipped Luna and Lessa. So we learned it was safer to have as little contact with the mainland as possible.”

  “But it’s completely different now,” he insisted. “All four of the mainland queens grew up on the Isle of Moon. The worship of the twin moons is totally accepted.”

  Princess Elinor nodded. “I am aware of that, but others on the isle are not. Old traditions can be slow to change.”

  “Is Brody going to be king of the isle one day?” Nevis asked.

  She frowned. “He should be, but he refuses to come home until he gets rid of the curse. He doesn’t think the islanders could accept a king who’s a dog most of the time.”

  Nevis shrugged. “There could be some advantages to being a dog king. If someone made him angry, he could bite them.”

  Her frown disappeared as a twinkle returned to her eyes. “There are a few courtiers who would deserve that.”

  “And they couldn’t expect him to listen to their complaints for hours on end,” Nevis added. “Since Brody wouldn’t be able to talk very much.”

  “That would be an advantage for someone who tends to put his foot in his mouth,” she said with a pointed look.

  With a wince, he shifted his weight on the edge of the trunk. “I—I am really sorry for the way I addressed you and your mother.”

  “‘Hey, you’? ‘Old biddy’?”

  “It was a . . . a mistake.”

  “Ye’re blushing again.”

  “Am not.” He gulped down more cider.

  “I told my mother what ye called her.”

  He choked, then swallowed quickly, his eyes watering. “What? How could . . . ? Dammit! I mean, pardon my language, but the queen must really hate me now.”

  “No.” Princess Elinor grinned at him. “It made her laugh. And I haven’t heard my mother laugh in ages. Thank you so much, Colonel.” She touched his arm.

  He fell splat onto his rump on the deck. Dammit! He jumped to his feet and acted as if nothing had happened, even though the princess was biting her lip to keep from laughing.

  “So.” Nevis propped an elbow on the ship’s railing as he leaned nonchalantly against it. “Brody told me once that he had a mother and sister, but of course, I never imagined that you would be royalty.”

  She twisted on the trunk to face Nevis. “Brody mentioned us?”

  “Aye, and he said he’d sought out many witches to undo the curse, but he’d learned that the only one who could lift it was the witch who had put the curse on him to begin with.”

  “Oh.” Her shoulders slumped. “All I know is that the curse began when my father’s ship was destroyed at sea. My father and eldest brother died, along with the crew. Brody only survived because he was able to shift.”

  “It had to be the Sea Witch,” Lobby muttered.

  The princess sat up. “Are ye sure?”

  The old man nodded. “She’s the only one powerful enough to blow up a ship. That’s what she did to the ship I was on. When I lost all me mates.”

  “And you say this Sea Witch lives on the Isle of Secrets?” Nevis asked.

  Lobby’s hands trembled and he grasped the wheel tighter. “Aye, she’s there. If she sees us, she’ll destroy our ship. She’ll try to kill us.”

  “Don’t worry,” Princess Elinor assured him. “She won’t see us.”

  How could she be so confident? Nevis wondered.

  “This is excellent news,” she added. “If we find the Sea Witch, then we can make her lift the curse and Brody will go back to normal.”

  Lobby shook his head. “She’ll kill us first.”

  “Nay.” The princess waved a dismissive hand. “We’ll be fine, believe me.”

  Was the island really that dangerous? Nevis wondered. “I hope Maeve is all right.”

  “Aye,” Lobby agreed. “We need to find the lass and get her out of there.”

  “If Brody is with Maeve, we can rescue them both.” Princess Elinor finished her cider, then turned toward Nevis. “Do ye think something is going on between my brother and Maeve?”

  “I-I’m not sure.” Nevis turned his gaze to the sea. “I know she cares a great deal for him, but as long as he’s cursed, I don’t think Brody will pursue her.”

  “Then he is a fool,” the princess muttered. “If a man falls in love, he should be bold in the pursuit of his lady’s heart.”

  Nevis slanted a quick glance her direction. “Even if one of them is royalty?”

  “Ye mean because Brody is a prince?” Princess Elinor set her tankard on the deck by the trunk. “It shouldn’t matter. Not if he loves her.”

  Nevis’s hand tightened its grip on his tankard. Should he pursue the princess, then? How could he? She and her mother both considered him a fool who made them laugh.

  “Land ahoy!” Lobby announced, pointing at a strip of land barely visible in the distance.

  “Wonderful!” Princess Elinor jumped to her feet to watch.

  “I’m bringing us up on the eastern coast,” Lobby said. “Far enough away from the Sea Witch’s castle that hopefully she won’t see us.”

  “She won’t see us.” Princess Elinor rummaged through a bag and withdrew a stack of papers. “I came prepared.”

  “What is that?” Nevis set his empty tankard on the deck and approached her. The paper on top was a painting of the ocean.

  She dropped the painting on deck, then scattered more paintings around them. The deck shimmered, then suddenly, there was ocean all around them.

  “What the hell?” Nevis collapsed onto the trunk and held on. The trunk was still there. The deck was still there, but all he could see was ocean.

  “Holy goddesses!” Lobby wrapped his arms around the wheel. “Are we all going to drown?”

  “Don’t worry.” The princess crossed the now invisible deck and touched Lobby on the shoulder. “’Tis only an illusion. If anyone looks our way, all they will see is ocean.”

  “Your . . . your paintings did that?” Nevis gave her an incredulous look.

  She nodded. “Brody isn’t the only Embraced one in our family.”

  He gaped at her. “You . . . you’re amazing.”

  She smiled. “Thank you.”

  “If you painted a cherry pie, could you make it become real?”

  She laughed. “Yes, but ye wouldn’t want to eat it. It would still taste like paper.” She turned to Lobby. “We should find a place along the coast to hide the ship. This illusion will only last about an hour.”

  Nevis continued to gawk at her as she walked toward him and sat beside him on the trunk.

  “Colonel?” She peered up at him from below the brim of her floppy hat. “Ye’re staring at me.”

  “Yes,” he croaked.

  Her mouth twitched. “Ye look quite stunned.”

  “I am.” Dammit. She was the most amazing woman he’d ever met. He cleared his throat. “Your Highness?”

  “Aye?”

  “You . . . If you don’t mind, you could call me Nevis.”

  She blinked. “Then ye would need to call me Elinor.”

  He gulped. “I can?”

  She nodded. “It’s better than ‘hey, you,’ don’t ye think?”

  “Ah . . . yes.”

  She leaned close to him. “Ye’re blushing again.”

  “Am not.”

  “Holy goddesses,” Lobby muttered as he made the sign of the moons. “Why are they flirting when we’re all going to die?”

  “We are not,” Elinor insisted.

  “We’re not flirting?” Nevis asked.

  She gave him a wry look. “We’re not going to die.”

  Then they were flirting. Nevis smiled to himself. “Don’t worry, Elinor.” He gripped the handle of his sword. “I won’t let any harm come to you.”

  “Thank you, Nevis.”

  His heart stilled at the sound of
her saying his name. The Light help him, he was completely, irreversibly smitten. Brody was going to kill him.

  Chapter 11

  Maeve sat up in bed when a knock sounded on her door. “Yes?”

  Ruth slipped inside. “Oh, I’m sorry to wake you.”

  “It’s all right.” Maeve climbed out of bed. “I was awake.” After eating and taking a bath, she’d slipped on a nightgown so she could rest. But she’d been too anxious about having another dream to let herself actually sleep.

  “Her Majesty wishes you to attend her in the throne room,” Ruth said. “She said to wear the golden gown.”

  Maeve swallowed hard. Her dream was coming true. She followed Ruth into the dressing room. “Do you know why Her Majesty wants to see me?”

  “She didn’t say, but I’ve heard someone important is coming to the island.”

  Who could it be? Maeve wondered while Ruth helped her into the gold satin gown and matching slippers. Once her hair was brushed and pulled back from her face with a pair of golden combs, Maeve was pronounced ready.

  “The guard will show you the way.” Ruth busied herself with some metal knobs close to the tub. “This is how you make the water drain from the tub to a gutter outside.”

  Maeve stepped closer to study the ingenious plumbing. “That’s very clever.”

  Ruth nodded. “It dates back hundreds of years. But you should be on your way. You don’t want to keep the queen waiting.”

  “All right.” Maeve hurried out the door.

  As the guard led her down a passageway, she attempted to befriend him, but he ignored her. Finally, they reached the corridor she had seen in her dreams.

  “The Great Hall is down there.” He gestured to the end of the passageway.

  She already knew that but kept her mouth shut. As she walked along the corridor, a chill skittered down her spine. The hall was exactly the way it had appeared in her dream: long and at least two stories high.

  To her right, glass-paned doors opened onto the balcony that overlooked a garden of wave-like clipped hedges and bushes in the shapes of seals and dolphins. Just beyond the garden lay a small harbor and the ocean.

  Long purple curtains rippled in the breeze that fluttered through the open doors. Her slippers were silent on the green marble floor, but the guard’s boots clunked heavily as he trailed behind her at a distance.

  To her left, the wall was covered with portraits. Were these her ancestors? Had they all been sorcerers? Had some of them been able to foresee the future?

  Finally, she reached the open golden doors, and her heart stilled for a moment as the grandeur of the throne room swept over her. It was just as she had dreamed, with the mosaic floor designed to look like the sea. Green marble pillars supported a ceiling that had to be three stories high. The glass dome in the center allowed rays of sunlight to dance and shimmer along the mosaic floor, making it appear like a sun-dappled ocean. At the end of the room, the dais was covered with purple and green glass ornaments in the shapes of giant clams. More glass spiraled up from the pretend seabed as if it was coral or underwater plants. In the center of the dais sat the golden octopus-shaped throne.

  Hanging over the throne was an enormous flag, suspended from the high ceiling. A purple octopus on a sea-green background. Purple and green, the colors of the Telling Stones that she’d accidentally picked.

  Her steps came to a stop as she reached the octopus pictured in the mosaic floor, its giant tentacles stretched out to capture fish. It all made sense now. The octopus represented her—

  “Ah, there you are.”

  Maeve stiffened as the exact words of her dream were repeated. She turned slowly, spotting the figure in the shadow beyond the golden doors. Her mother.

  She opened her mouth to greet her and fulfill the final moment of her dream, but the word caught in her throat. This was the woman who had abandoned her as a babe, who was forcing children to labor in the fields, who was imprisoning Gabby and hiding the Embraced army.

  Still, if Maeve was going to survive here, if she was going to help the children and defeat the army, she had no choice but to play along. If she didn’t, she could end up in the cell next to Gabby, unable to accomplish anything.

  “Mother.” She forced the word out.

  Queen Cahira sauntered through the doors, wearing a gown of purple satin and a gold crown designed to look like coral and seashells. “What do you think of my throne room?”

  “It is magnificent,” Maeve answered, relieved that for a few seconds she could be perfectly honest. “I have seen the throne rooms of all four mainland kingdoms, and this is by far the most beautiful.”

  A corner of the queen’s mouth lifted with a satisfied smirk. “Of course it is. Our civilization was flourishing back when they were still living in caves and straw huts.”

  Maeve bowed her head to appear in agreement.

  “The gown becomes you.” Cahira stopped in front of her and eyed her carefully. “Since it was the legend of Aerland that spoke to you and drew you back to the place of your birth, I am considering the possibility that you were fated to return. In that case, you may be worthy of my acceptance.”

  Maeve fought to keep her hands from curling into fists as indignation twisted her gut. Instead she gripped her skirt and sank into a curtsy. “Thank you, Mother.”

  “I cannot deny you are of superior blood.” The queen stepped closer. “But I’m not convinced you can be trusted.”

  “All my life, I have wondered who I am and whence I came. My trip here has been a dream come true.” Maeve winced inwardly. That last sentence was too close for comfort.

  Queen Cahira sighed as she strolled toward the dais. “When I sent you to the convent, I meant for your life to be uneventful. I never imagined that you would grow up with four girls who would all become queens.” She whirled around, her purple satin skirts swishing around her ankles. “So, are you loyal to those false sisters? Or to me, your real mother?”

  How to sound convincing? Maeve wondered. Perhaps if she included a sliver of emotional truth. “I have to admit that I grew up loving my sisters. But after they became queens, everything changed. They confer with themselves and completely leave me out, as if I’m no longer good enough for them.”

  Cahira snorted. “Ridiculous. They have no idea how special you are.”

  If I’m so special, why did you abandon me? Maeve suspected her bitterness might be apparent on her face, so she used it to her advantage. “Actually, I was glad to leave my sisters. I never really fit in with them.”

  “Of course you didn’t.” The queen stepped up onto the dais. “You’re far superior to them, the last full-blooded descendant of our ancient race. Your father, you see, is the last full-blooded male. That is why I selected him.”

  Her father? Maeve blinked. “Is . . . is my father here?”

  “He’s on his way.” Cahira settled on the golden octopus throne. “Burien and I always made an excellent team. He was the one who came up with the Grand Idea, while I was the one to implement it.”

  “The Grand Idea?”

  Cahira nodded. “The Circle of Five, of course.”

  Maeve flinched and stumbled back a step. Her parents had begun the Circle of Five?

  Cahira smirked. “You look surprised.”

  More than surprised, Maeve thought. Appalled. Sickened. She struggled to keep her emotions from showing. Luckily, her mother was no longer looking at her, but gazing up at the glass dome in the ceiling.

  “It was an excellent idea, but unfortunately, it has proven difficult to bring to fruition.” The queen made a fist and tapped it against the seal-shaped armrest. “The problem was we had to ally ourselves with inferior beings on the mainland. I spent a bloody fortune on Lord Morris to ensure his loyalty and acquire a network of spies, but in the end, the fool ended up killing himself.”

  Maeve’s mind was still swirling as she cringingly accepted this new reality. So her parents were the first two members of the Circle of Five. Lord Morri
s must have been the third. “II wouldn’t call Lord Morris a complete failure. Wasn’t he the one who sent the Embraced children here for your army?”

  Cahira scoffed. “And the bastard went around taking credit for it.” She sat forward, her sea-green eyes glittering. “Do you want to hear how it came about? It’s quite an interesting story.”

  Before waiting for a reply, the queen continued. “You see, about twenty-seven years ago, King Frederic of Eberon sired a bastard son on a chambermaid. Kendric was his name, born on the Spring Embrace. Normally, Frederic had all Embraced babies killed, but he found himself somewhat reluctant when it came to his own son.”

  “Understandable,” Maeve muttered with a wry tone, but her mother was so caught up in the story that she missed it.

  “So Frederic asked Lord Morris to hide the child somewhere far away.” Cahira motioned to herself. “At that point, I stepped in and offered to take the baby, so Morris would be indebted to me. Kendric grew up here, and by the age of seven, his powers were already apparent. Amazing powers, really. That’s when I realized how useful these Embraced children could be. So I told Morris to start sending them all here.”

  “Then the Embraced army was your idea?”

  Cahira smiled. “Of course.” Her smile suddenly faded and her eyes widened. “Oh! I just had another fabulous idea!”

  Maeve forced an excited look onto her face. “Really?”

  “Yes!” Cahira rose to her feet. “I just realized how you can prove your loyalty to me.” She clapped her hands together. “And the timing is perfect! Kendric should be here in the next day or two.”

  Maeve steeled her nerves. Whatever her mother was planning, it was bound to be awful.

  Cahira pointed a finger at Maeve. “You will marry Kendric.”

  Maeve flinched. No. Brody was the only one she could ever marry. “I . . . how . . . how can I marry someone I don’t know?”

  “He’s of royal blood. Young, handsome, intelligent, and powerful. What else could you want?”

  A bloodcurdling burst of panic erupted inside Maeve, demanding that she flee immediately. If she could make it to the shore, she could shift and swim away. But could she do it? Wouldn’t there be guards to stop her? Hell, her own mother might shift and come after her, wrapping her tentacles around her to capture her. Imprison her.