I blinked and shook my head. “Just to be clear, you want me to usurp the throne of Terricina?”
“Yes.”
“You want me to be the princess?”
“Yes.” She let out a frustrated sigh and straightened in her seat.
“But . . . why?”
We sat at the kitchen table, having just finished a delicious meal I now realized had been only for the sake of preparing me for this conversation. It had been my favorite meal, after all—boiled crab over spicy lime rice with buttered clams on the side and even some red wine.
“I will explain everything once you are on the throne,” my mother answered.
I pressed my fingertips to my forehead as I thought. My mother had just delivered a very frightening plan to take over the country of Terricina, and I didn’t know whether to be impressed or terrified.
“Explain how this is going to work,” I finally said, placing my free hand on the written contract before me.
“It’s rather simple, really. I have already arranged a meeting to speak with King Eric. I will present him with this contract, which he will be unable to refuse. You see, this contract states that we pirates will leave the shipping lane open from Castle Bay and westward to Ashwrya’s shore. Any merchant who flies the flag of Terricina will be allowed to pass to Delphi.”
I gasped. “Are you crazy? That would ruin us!”
“Calm down.” She chuckled. “This is why I say they will be unable to pass this opportunity.”
“And why trick them with this? How does that get me on the throne?” I pressed.
“That part is simple. Once they sign the contract, the city will be dragged into the sea, and King Eric will have no choice than to sign away his kingdom to you.”
“Mother, this . . . this is a foolish idea.” I shook my head and pushed the paper aside. “Did you consider talking to him about why you’re upset?”
She laughed at me. “Talk to him? No, this is revenge. I am taking everything from him.”
I stared at my mother in disbelief. “Perhaps you could just ask him to give it up?”
“You want me to ask him to have you rule the kingdom?”
“Well . . .” I glanced at the paper. “I suppose I meant threaten. Instead of dragging them directly into the sea, tell the king if he doesn’t give you the throne, then you’ll drag his capital into the sea.”
“Hm.” She ran her fingers over the silver chain on her neck. “And then when he refuses, do it anyway. Agree to bring the city out of the ocean if he surrenders the throne. I approve of this method.”
“Mother, how are you going to do this? We’re sirens with the ability to take on human forms. We aren’t magical beyond that.”
Athena touched the parchment. “Through this contract. I’ve enchanted it. If King Eric signs it, it activates the powers.”
“But . . .” I paused and shook my head. “Wait, you have enchanted it? Meaning . . .”
She smiled.
My heart started to race. “You have magic.”
“Our little secret.” She winked.
“You . . . are the sea witch?”
“How else would I be able to enchant something?” She gestured to the contract, a proud smirk on her face.
I think she expected me to be excited, but I was terrified. My mother was the sea witch? “Mother . . . I’m not even fit to be a princess! I don’t know that I want to rule a kingdom at all,” I objected. “I don’t want to.”
“Oh, hush. The decision has already been made.” She got to her feet. “I leave tomorrow with my crew to go to Delphi. You will follow at the end of the week with Captain Avery.”
“Tomorrow?” I jumped to my feet as well. “Mother, this isn’t a decision you should make so hastily.”
“It isn’t. This is something I have been preparing since the day you were born. Now you are eighteen, you are old enough to rule.” She lifted her hat from the table and placed it on her head. “And when you rule Terricina, you will be able to help every pirate as well.”
“Athena,” I said firmly, knowing she hated when I called her by her name.
“It is done, Odette.” She said each consonant sharply. Our conversation was over. She snagged the parchment and left the room.
I watched her, feeling helpless. I might have been raised a pirate, but not this kind of pirate. It was true some pirates were ruthless, but I had been raised to show mercy where it was due. Of course, that was mostly through Captain Avery’s teachings and not my mother, whom I barely sailed with.
I licked my lips and went to the only person I knew I could talk to—James Barrie.
James was lounging on the beach when I found him, absently running his fingers through the sand, eyes closed, and face turned up to the sky. The sun was setting, and I couldn’t blame him for enjoying a moment of peace.
I plopped down at his side in such a state of shock I could only stare across the bay. “My mother is leaving tomorrow.”
He opened his eyes, a grin sliding to his face. “Ah. So you and I can spend some time alone.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders. And then his smile dropped, and he pulled me to him. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s going to Delphi. The capital of Terricina.” I shook my head and dragged my knees to my chest. “She has this . . . insane idea that I’m going to rule the kingdom. She wants me to usurp the throne.”
“Your mother?” He arched a brow.
I nodded.
James took my left hand in his left hand and traced my palm, his right arm never leaving my shoulders. “Why on earth would she want to do that? Isn’t she content with what she’s built here?”
I let out a sigh and shook my head. “She wants revenge. James, she admitted to me she’s the sea witch.”
His body went rigid.
I peered up at him.
“The sea witch? She’s really the sea witch?”
“I don’t know what to think,” I admitted, throwing my hands up in dismay. “James, she’s completely serious. She is going to drag Delphi into the sea if we don’t stop her. There are thousands of people living in that city! She’ll kill them all!”
“Okay, first you’ve got to take a breath.” He demonstrated while I rolled my eyes. “There must be some way to stop her.”
“The contract,” I muttered. And then I gasped and grabbed his face. “You’re smarter than a dolphin!”
“Uh . . . thanks?”
“All we have to do is burn the contract. If she doesn’t have the contract . . .”
James’s brows lifted. “Ah, then she can’t go through with her plot.”
“Exactly.” I kissed him, then climbed to my feet.
“When is she leaving?” He grunted as he followed my lead.
“Tomorrow. Which means I need to get rid of the contract tonight.” I wiped off the butt of my pants and turned to him. “I need you to distract her.”
James laughed. “No, thank you. How do you expect me to do that?”
“I don’t know. Get your father to try and make a deal with her for something. He’s fond of that arrangement.” I shrugged.
His brow twitched. “You’re not wrong,” he muttered. He dusted his hands on his pants. “Or you could just wait for her to fall asleep.”
I tapped my lip. “That would work too.” I opened my mouth to add something but heard footsteps and quickly turned to see who could be close enough to eavesdrop on our conversation.
Sky stopped in his tracks. “What’d I do?”
I breathed in relief. “Nothing. What did you need?”
“Captain Avery wants you.” He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. “They’re gettin’ ready to set sail.”
My breath hitched. “Right now?”
“Yeah. Captain Athena wanted you guys to do one last mission before . . . something.” His f
orehead scrunched in thought, and the scar on his cheek pinched. “I forgot.
I faced James with a helpless sort of silence. If I didn’t leave, my mother would know I was up to something. Then again, my mother was likely sending me on this red herring to keep me distracted so I couldn’t interfere.
James stepped forward. “Don’t worry. You go. I’ll take care of it.”
“Are you certain?” I asked, my voice low so Sky couldn’t hear.
He winked and my heart jumped. “You can trust me.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine, sending a rush of tingles to my toes. “I’ll be here when you get back. Don’t worry, everything will be all right.”
I gave him a weak smile, not trusting that things were okay. My stomach rolled in unease, like a sea before the storm hits. I was learning to trust my gut—something Captain Avery always emphasized—and right now it was warning me not to leave James behind.
But I saw no other choice.
Begrudgingly, I made my way onto Captain Avery’s ship.
He smiled at me. “Welcome aboard, Odette. We’re heading off to pick up some cannons for the new ship. Shouldn’t take longer than a few days.”
My gaze shifted to the new ship in the harbor, the belly of the ship jutting from the land like the ribs of a skeleton. The keel was in place, like a spine, and soon would be filled in. In a few months, the new ship would be completed.
I’d speculated with James that he would be the next captain. He’d laughed and said it would be mine, for sure, since I was the daughter of the pirate queen. I had to admit looking at it at that moment, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I would much rather have been a pirate captain than princess of a land I wanted nothing to do with.
“Odette? Are you all right?” Captain Avery put his hand on my shoulder.
“Fine,” I answered shortly and straightened. “I’m just not feeling well, is all.”
“Getting back out to sea always seems to help.” He offered me a friendly wink and turned to his helmsman. “Ready?”
“Aye, Cap’n!” Smee hollered back.
“Let’s set sail!” Captain Avery walked away from me, seeing to the ship getting off properly.
I fell into place, climbing rigging to release the ropes around the sails. From my vantage point, I looked out at Port Mere. My home. James was down there somewhere, possibly walking up to my mother’s house right at that moment. In a few hours, he would have the contract burned, and I . . . I would be out at sea with Captain Avery for no fewer than three days, depending on which port my mother decided to send us off to.
I was anxious the entire journey, and as I feared, something horrible happened.
When we arrived in the small Port of Gillsberry two days later, Sammy called down from the eagle’s nest that there was someone in the water on the port side.
Everyone ran to the left of the ship just as Sky poked his head from the surface, breathing hard as if he’d swam all day and night to get to us. Which seemed to be exactly what he’d done.
“James . . . is gone,” he panted. His fingers clung to the barnacles on the hull of the ship, and he didn’t seem to care that his hands were being cut up.
“Get him up here!” Captain Avery shouted.
Men threw rope down and hoisted Sky onto the ship. His two-toned red and blue fin peeled from his body, giving into his land legs painfully slowly.
“Tell us what happened,” Captain Avery ordered.
Sky shook his head, working through the pain to catch his breath. “Athena took him.”
My heart stopped, and I dropped to my knees beside him. I grabbed on to his shoulders and shook him. “Tell me everything! Now!”
“I’m trying!” he yelled back, giving me a shove. “I don’t know exactly what happened. I ran out and saw her dragging him down to her ship, spewing curses and saying something about getting her revenge. She left . . .” He paused and glanced at the sky, then finally shook his head. “The morning after you left. She took him. I don’t know where. I didn’t follow them. Probably should have, but they headed up the coast westward.”
I looked up at Captain Avery and opened my mouth.
“Get us back to Port Mere now,” Avery said before I could get a word out. “Put everything into her sails! And may the gods be with us. Odette, you’ve got some explaining. Does this have to do with you being nervous to leave two days ago?”
I swallowed the growing lump in my throat and nodded. “Y-Yes. I . . .”
He took me by the arm and pulled me to my feet. “You and I will speak alone. Reginald, help get Sky some clothing and get him to a hammock to sleep.”
“Aye!”
Captain Avery took me to his cabin and closed the door. “Now we don’t have prying ears, what is it?”
I explained everything I knew, about my mother’s plan to have me rule Terricina, sink Delphi, my idea to burn the contract so she couldn’t, and how I couldn’t follow through because I was commanded to leave so James was going to do it.
I paced as I spoke, moving my hands in a dramatic fashion. “ . . . so my mother must have caught James in the act. I don’t know what her plan is with him. Do you think she’d hurt him?” I looked at Captain Avery but knew my mother well enough to know his sullen expression before I even asked the question.
Yes, my mother would harm James if he tried to intervene in her plans.
“Odette, I can’t say what your mother did was right or wrong, or what she’s going to do. It hasn’t happened yet.”
“But it will happen if we don’t find some way to stop her.” I let out a frustrated groan and put my hands against my temples. “I don’t understand why she’s even doing this in the first place. Yes, being a pirate is against the law, but we sort of deserve it. I don’t think it’s so traumatic that she would be angry about it.”
Captain Avery rubbed his chin. “It might have to do with something that happened many years ago, come to think of it.”
“And what is that?”
He shook his head. “I don’t remember all the details. Time’s washed them away, but I do know it has something to do between her and King Eric.”
“You’re so much help,” I muttered.
He offered me a fatherly smile. “We’re headin’ back to Port Mere now. In a day and a half, we should make it if the wind’s right and the current doesn’t fail us, and then we’ll find out about James.”
I wasn’t able to eat or sleep while we sailed back. It was agonizing, knowing James was in trouble and not being able to do a single thing about it. I knew I wouldn’t be able to swim any faster than the Naiad, so there was little point in trying.
When we arrived back at Port Mere, in one and a half days as Captain Avery had promised, we were greeted by a pirate holding a letter with my mother’s seal pressed into the blue wax—a siren.
Dearest Daughter,
I hope you find this letter before it’s too late for your foolish lover. I offer you a choice and one only. Grimsby has been directed to give Captain Avery a letter of his own. As I am telling you, I am telling him.
James is in Castle Bay, held in the old boathouse. I trust you remember Castle Bay’s reputation. Should you desire to go after him, I am not responsible for what the people of Castle Bay may do to you. I may have given them instruction to attack any ship pulling into port that isn’t mine. I may have even told them the pirates were planning an attack on their very home.
You will find me in Delphi, the capital of Terricina. By the time you reach this, you will have just enough time to meet me there on Saturday. Join me now, and James will be released. Refuse me, and you’ll never see your lover the same way ever again.
I will see you at the end of the week, Odette. Don’t disappoint me.
Athena
My hands crumpled the edges of the parchment, and I struggled to swallow
. Part of me wanted to shred it into pieces, and another part of me wanted to collapse to my knees and burst into sobs. I trembled as I turned to Captain Avery.
He ran his fingers through his hair and glanced at me. “James is in Castle Bay.”
I nodded mutely.
“Your mother gave me explicit instructions to take you to Delphi.”
“But James—”
“I’ll send another crew to get him. You and I are going to Delphi.” He motioned me back to the ship, but I didn’t budge. “That was an order from your captain, Odette.” His eyes narrowed, and his lips pulled downward in a frown.
I looked over my shoulder at the water. “I can swim there.”
“Not through the Siren’s Gate, you can’t.”
“Then I’ll go around it!” I shouted. I threw the paper at Grimsby, who didn’t budge. “I’m not leaving James behind! He would save me if the roles were reversed.”
“Get on the ship, Odette.”
I turned, but Captain Avery grabbed on to my arm.
“I can’t help if you don’t trust me,” he said quickly and softly right in my ear.
I put my hand over my mouth, stifling a pathetic sob. If anyone told James how dismal I was over his getting captured, I would gut them. But lack of sleep, starvation, and fear were taking its toll on me.
Captain Avery guided me back on board and ordered someone to get me food, then ordered me below deck for some sleep. “It’s at least a day to Castle Bay, and you’re useless to me like this.”
I knew he meant it in the kindest way a pirate captain could, and so I complied. I ate all my food, discovering I was rather ravenous, found my hammock, and climbed in.
Sky rocked in his hammock, watching me. He looked much better than he had a day and a half ago. But he gave me a pathetic puppy-eyed look. “I’m really sorry about him,” he said.
“It’s my fault,” I whispered back. “I sent him.”
“Sent him to what?”
I closed my eyes. “It doesn’t matter.”
“But—”
“I said it doesn’t matter!” I snapped. “Now shut up or I’ll cut out your tongue!”
Sky clamped his mouth shut.
The Siren Princess Page 16