Page 13 of Bind Me

Intrusion? Family affairs? Who exactly are these two?

When she doesn’t respond, a half smirk plays on his lips.

“If not, then I will seek residence with King Kaspian. I hear he’s a reasonable king and will no doubt understand the power of welcoming someone like me into the House of Gold and Garnet.”

Wait! What? So, the merman isn’t from this House?

She emerges from the darkness, stepping into the flickering light of the cave, and her face becomes visible to me. My stomach drops, and my insides turn to mush.

My heart’s in my throat—not just because she’s the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen, but because I’ve seen her before… well, paintings of her.

For a split second, my heart locks up, and a cold realization spreads through me at having someone like her standing so close to me.

Asbesta.

The Queen of Sirens, of Mermaids, of the Oceans. She’s a goddess, a powerful and intimidating one with a dangerous reputation. Stories speak of her voice being so deadly it could lull someone into doing anything she asked. Just staring at her could have that impact, and here I find myself frozen in place, caught in her presence. Unease spreads through me. Fuck, I definitely don’t want her to see me. I’ve heard stories of her ruthlessness.

As the Siren Goddess, she rules the waters in our world from her House of Sea and Serpentine. Those of us from different Houses—like me—are forbidden from entering her domain without permission, a.k.a. the oceans and rivers and fjords.

I did it many times back in South Africa, staying close to the shore, figuring no one would see me.

Yet, here I am, tucked away in the shadows of her fjords, uninvited and unnoticed. And from what I can tell, this merman has done the same, been caught, and now she wants him to pay a debt by joining her House. I have no idea why Asbesta would want the likes of a merman who’s being investigated for murder.

Disdain flickers across Asbesta’s face, yet I admire the merman’s guts. He’s got some serious brass balls to stand up to her like that.

A sudden flutter of the school of mackerel rushes past me in such a flurry that it has me flinching and missing out on part of the conversion. Exhaling and trying not to draw attention to myself, I refocus on the pair.

She takes a deep breath, and even furious, she’s drop-dead gorgeous.

“Accepted. When you complete your affairs, you are to relocate to the House of Sea and Serpentine immediately,” she states firmly. “With your committed loyalty, you have uninhibited access to the fjords. You will uphold your agreement.”

He nods once, a sharp, quick gesture, and without another word, he strides back into the cave, leaving the Siren Goddess alone on the ledge. Time seems to freeze for a moment, my heart still thundering in my chest, and I honestly have no idea what she’s going to do next.

She turns abruptly to face the wall of water surrounding her domain. For a heart-stopping second, her gaze sweeps my way, and I lock up, my veins turning to ice.

Has she spotted me?

Fuck! Fuck!

I don’t need to be punished for being in her territory when I’m already trying to fix my work reputation.

Just as quickly, she shifts her focus back to the water and steps gracefully off the ledge, disappearing through the magical barrier and into the water.

I withdraw farther into the shadows, watching and waiting until the last glint of her iridescent scales vanishes in the dark fjord. Once I’m sure she’s really gone, I slowly move closer to the cave to look for any sign of the merman.

Of course, he’s no longer there.

And just like that, the light flicks off in the cave, and a great rush of water surges around me, wrenching me forward as if I’ve just plummeted down a waterfall. I grunt as I crash into the hard wall of the fjord, panic rising through me as the force of the water pins me against it.

I fight against the flow, convinced I’ve been caught by the Siren Goddess, my mind spinning on an excuse. When nothing more happens, it hits me that with the light going out, the cave has not only closed, but the pocket of air has been replaced by water.

Frantically, I swim to the surface, more confused than ever. My head breaks the surface, already transforming back, and I’ve never scrambled out of the water so fast.

As I wring out the last drops of fjord water from my hair and frantically dress, which is hell when I’m completely drenched, my thoughts circle back to Belu. The more I replay the encounter by the cave, the more something doesn’t sit right with me.

The handsome man’s demeanor, his brazen defiance in the face of divine authority, the fact that she permitted him to use her waters, which is rare for an outsider—well, this isn’t exactly the behavior of someone skulking away from having missed bail and hiding from a bounty.

No darting glances, no jittery nerves that usually mark the guilty. He was too composed, too… regal.

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