Page 58 of Of Song and Darkness

I sniffled, trying to stop my tears, and stepped closer to Cael. “Medusa actually raised him? Was he not affected by her stone curse?”

Cael’s back straightened as if I had touched a nerve. “He told you about her?”

I stepped beside him, watching the sunlight dance in a rhythmic pattern across the water. “Yes. He told me she was his mother but nothing more. Our conversation got a little heated from that point forward.”

“Kai has a hole inside of him bigger than this ocean. It’s always been there,” Cael remarked, his tone tinged with a hint of sadness. “And to answer your question, no, he’s the son of Poseidon, he’s not affected by her stone curse.”

“That’s why he’s the only man who knew where to find her.” I scoffed. “I don’t understand how he could have taken me to his own mother when he knew I was after her locket.”

Cael’s grip tightened on the ship’s wheel. “I don’t think he ever expected you to succeed, and neither of us knew that removing her locket would make her fall victim to her own curse.”

I didn’t know how that realization made me feel. Angry at Kai for doubting me or sorry that I had succeeded.

“I didn’t,” I answered honestly. “Medusa gave me the locket. She sacrificed herself to stop the Dark Hydra.”

“He told me,” Cael replied, clearing his throat.

I smiled at Cael. “You two have been friends for a long time?”

“We’ve been friends as long as I can remember.” A smile brushed across Cael’s lips. “Kai told me that Medusa took care of him until he was old enough to fend for himself, then she put him in a boat with plenty of provisions and sent him away.”

I gasped. “How old was he?”

“No one knows for sure. Gorgons don’t exactly celebrate birthdays. I suspect he was close to my age when we met on the streets in Cisthene.”

I was afraid to ask, but I did it anyway. “How old were you?”

“Ten.”

I muffled another gasp by turning away from Cael. Kai had only been a child when his mother put him in a boat and sent him away. That and the fact of what Poseidon had done to his mother—I was starting to understand some of his uncontrollable wrath.

“When we were older and learned how good Kai was at killing sea creatures, we decided to spin a tale, telling people that he was the only man who had ever encountered Medusa and lived to tell about it. It greatly improved our status as monster hunters, and it wasn’t a complete lie.”

A shiver cascaded down spine. “That’s horrid.”

“He’s not all bad.” Cael scrunched his dark brows together. “Not really, anyway. Just a man greatly wronged by circumstances out of his control.” Cael glanced at me, but I refused to return his gaze. “I have begun to see a change in him since he found you on that beach. Maybe you’re just what he needs to bring him out of the darkness that’s plagued him for years.”

Cael was wise beyond his years. I had seen a change in Kai as well. Some of his hardness had started to melt away, but I wasn’t sure that was enough for him to be the sovereign the Seven Seas needed him to be.

“What about the Dark Water inside of him? What will happen if it reaches his heart?” My voice shook when I asked.

“I don’t know. All I know is that Kai is strong and way too stubborn to let something like Dark Water end him,” Cael said with a slight smirk tugging on his lips.

His words had the desired effect and slightly lightened my melancholy mood.

Cael held out his hand to me. “Come! Take the wheel. Everyone deserves to know what it feels like to navigate a ship as magnificent as the Wraith.”

A devious smile upturned my lips. “Kai will have a fit if he finds out you let a female steer his precious Wraith.” I walked over to the wheel and grabbed on. The current tugged against the rudder, and I was surprised by how much force I had to apply to keep the ship going in the direction Cael indicated.

“Don’t fight it so hard. As long as we are going toward the horizon, we’re heading in the right direction,” Cael said.

I eased my grip on the wheel, allowing the current to help me rather than fight against it. “Where are we going?”

Cael shrugged. “I don’t know. The Cap’n hasn’t said. Maybe you should go find out when you bring him breakfast.”

I smiled to myself as I walked toward the galley. Simon, the ship’s cook, usually brought Kai his food, but this was Cael’s way of giving me an excuse to go back into Kai’s cabin. For a pirate, he was quite the matchmaker.

With the tray in hand, the contents teetering with each step I took, I walked toward Kai’s cabin. I maneuvered the tray without spilling a single drop of the dark concoction in the tin cup. I was pretty sure that whatever was in the cup would likely do more harm than good if ingested, but my palate often did not align with that of land dwellers.

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