Page 34 of Of Song and Darkness

The darker-haired one came closer to me with a flip of her tail. “Why is a siren princess traveling with cutthroat pirates?”

“Noethia, I will ask the questions,” Genevien said with an air of authority. “But I would like to know the answer to that one myself.”

I watched them with careful eyes, unsure if I should tell them anything about my death quest. “The pirate captain Kai helped me get here. I hired him to help me find Medusa.”

“Kai.” Genevien spat his name like it left a bitter taste in her mouth. I couldn’t blame her. I had a similar reaction when the sea witch told me I had to associate with him. Genevien flicked her long golden hair out of her face. “Why do you seek Medusa? It is our responsibility to keep intruders out. Even though you are a princess, I cannot let you pass.”

I was afraid she was going to say that.

“It is our only chance to stop the Dark Hydra and put an end to Dark Water spreading throughout the oceans.”

Noethia’s stare flicked to mine, the hate finally fading from her eyes. “Dark Water is real?”

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” I assured her.

The gravity of my tone made Genevien pause. Her body language indicated she was carefully considering my words. “Let them pass,” she finally ordered.

“You can’t be serious. Do you know what will happen to us if we let them pass?” Noethia argued.

Genevien sighed. “Do you know what will happen to us if we don’t?” She paused. “Besides, I doubt very seriously that any of them will survive the encounter with Medusa.”

Noethia opened her mouth like a puffer fish but then closed it when the sound of something hitting the water with a splash interrupted her.

Kai. I bit my bottom lip as the water encompassed him, and he started swimming toward me.

“Let’s go,” Genevien ordered, and they all dove into the shadowy depths of the deep lagoon.

Kai was on me in seconds, looping his arm under mine and dragging me to the surface. He sucked in a breath of air when his head was above water. His eyes bored into mine, but he didn’t say a word as he pulled me toward the shoreline. Once we were in knee-deep water, Kai bent down and lifted me in his arms.

I hissed in pain when his arm brushed against my lacerated back. Kai’s face pinched with anger as his stare swallowed me whole. His bare feet crunched through multicolored pebbles that lined the shore as he carefully sat me down on a moss-covered boulder.

He bent toward me, concern flashing across his face. My heart ground to a halt as he pressed his sizable palm against the flank of my tail, his fingertips delicately tracing my scales, igniting a tingling sensation that coursed all the way down to my fins.

“Why did you do that?” he asked barely above a whisper.

I swallowed past the emotional lump that formed in my throat. A lie was on the tip of my tongue, but that wasn’t what tumbled from my lips. “I had no intention of standing by and watching my kind slaughter the crew.”

Kai stood, towering over me. His blue eyes that rivaled the color of the lagoon washed over me as he gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his stare. “Don’t do it again.”

It was not a question but a demand. He released my chin and walked around the boulder to see the damage inflicted on my back.

I focused on the sunlight glittering across the water instead of the big, burly pirate at my backside. I flinched when his fingertips danced along the skin on my back.

“It’s deep,” he said.

I shrugged, a move I wished I hadn’t made when the skin on my back tightened, sending a shooting pain across it. “It will heal soon enough,” I said through clenched teeth.

When Kai lifted a pistol in the air, and the weapon exploded with a resounding bang, I nearly jumped from the boulder. In a matter of minutes, the boats were loaded and hit the water, heading in our direction. Kai stepped in front of me as he watched his men.

I tried to ignore the heat simmering in my belly every time my eyes brushed across Kai’s physique. Water beaded from his dripping curls, splattering across his sun-kissed skin. The salty water etched a path down his muscular back until it disappeared below his drenched black pants that clung tightly to his brawny thighs.

The scrape of wood against stones broke my trance as the boats reached the shoreline. The crew piled out, grabbed supplies, and walked toward us. I was surprised they approached me at all in my siren form, but they did not hesitate.

Cael handed Kai a shirt, who, in turn, gave it to me. I quickly used the material to cover my chest.

Cael walked behind me when Kai motioned to my back with a quick jerk of his head.

“This is going to need stitches,” Cael’s voice rumbled from behind me.

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