Page 179 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

Aiden paced forward and said, “Aye. In my father’s homeland, legends foretold that mermaids are ancestors of bound women thrown from ships in fear they’d stir the seas to curse the vessels.” He stopped in front of the vanity mirror, licked his left thumb, and flattened a wild strand of hair from his forehead. “The damned beauties were cast into the depths until they changed and swam to the surface for revenge. And unlike human legends of my mother’s world, they sometimes sang while their lungs still burned from the saltwater they breathed, luring them to shipwreck. Then the sand offered them their legs back to walk the land and deliver the men a bloody end.”

Aiden waggled his eyebrows in the mirror when she surveyed the mermaid tattoo on his forearm.

“I wanted to try it with Jade, but she never let me. Bloody devil.”

Alora shook her head and smiled, huffing a laugh. “How long did you know Jade before you shipwrecked in Elysian?”

Aiden knocked over a perfume bottle on Erissa’s vanity then fumbled to right it, knocking over three more. “Bloody hells,” he cursed then turned his attention to the vanity drawers. “What is time, really?” Shuffling through two more before he went on, “She bossed my crew around on and off the sea for two years. But damn, they loved her.”

A look of shock stole Alora’s features as she maneuvered Soulstryker along the wall.

Her sea captain shrugged. “Some pirates wear daft little beasties on their shoulder, but we found having a dragon perched on my mast was far more terrorizing.”

She didn’t contain her chuckle. Fixing her bare shoulder against Erissa’s bedpost, Alora imagined fiery red hair in the sea breeze, one boot pressed to a mast while the other dangled alongside a dagger in Jade’s hand. Aiden was right. With that red-headed killing machine, any enemy would run in the other direction. And Jade didn’t even breathe fire. Her look alone could burn souls.

Trickling water from the outside fountain accompanied Aiden’s footsteps to a nearby bookshelf. Alora wondered if Aiden would find anything to his liking and pocket one of the trinkets. But instead of offering a warning, Alora asked, “Why have you been searching for Soulstryker?”

Aiden’s hand stopped fumbling along the books as if he hadn’t expected the question to rattle him so intensely. His shoulders dropped before a hand flattened on the wood. It was the most calm she’d seen him, usually shuffling his weight or fidgeting with something, but now he resembled the mountains.

Staring at the collections in a daze, he barely whispered, “My twin sister, Aleyna.”

Alora whirled to him, her ballgown caught the edge of the bedframe, tearing a strip down the fabric. “Yoursister?” she repeated, wide-eyed.

Throwing a withering gaze over his shoulder, Aiden turned, folded his arms, and leaned against the shelves. “Wretched thing went and got herself married,” he scoffed, but instead of disgust, Aiden smiled at the floor, undoubtedly captured in a memory. “Kallias—Kas—my first mate. Hells, he loved her. Damned fool, maybe loved her too much.”

As mistakenly blue eyes roamed over the room and landed on the fountain outside, Aiden paced until he stood in the doorway, and inhaled like the pool was the sea. “We lost him.” He spoke to the mountain and trees. The sky and Stars Eternal beyond.

A wind swept through the opening, disturbing his captain’s jacket when his voice adopted a rogue quality of vengeance. “And I vowed to Aleyna that I’d rip the soul from the man who did it. For them, I’d scour the seas until I found a way.”

A look of mischief crossed his eyes as he looked over his shoulder. “Soulstryker was a myth … but I acquired the Compass of Beginnings. And possessed a fragment of that bloody dagger’s leather.” Which meant he had used the compass.

Alora gripped Soulstryker harder, stepping toward him. “You were led to Elysian?”

“No,” he quickly answered. And added, “We found its origin, which told a tale of two places it could be. Aleyna and I captained our own ships, deciding she’d seek out one world while I sailed to Elysian.” Where he, Jade, and their crew shipwrecked on the outskirts of Miratara.

It was an effort to keep her feelings contained. A vicious determination pebbled her skin. This male she’d only befriended a few weeks past since his return from Galdheir, standing beforeher with hurt and love and revenge and something everlasting in his eyes—she felt it too, as if those he spoke of were her own family.

But even in the intensity of that protective spirit, Alora’s face fell. “Aiden,” she breathed, shaking her head. “Soulstryker kills both the intended and the executioner. You’ll die.” A ruthless shiver rippled down her spine, granting her the reminder; someone, they didn’t know who or how, would have to use that dagger on Magnelis.

A smile like glimmering silver widened across Aiden’s face. “Never said I would be doing the stabbing, love.” He winked. “We captured the bastard’s brother. Both were to blame. Aleyna sails with him in the brig. The plan was to use his hand.”

Alora scanned her sea captain. Then, held her obsidian dagger between them, gripping the leather until it groaned, and avowed, “When this dagger is whole and Elysian is free, we will find a way back to your sister.”

Eyes glistening, Aiden smiled. “Thanks, love. But unless you’re able to restore my ship and the magic within, I’m afraid Aleyna will be wondering what happened to her older brother for centuries to come.”

She pinched her brows in a thin line.Older?

He registered her confusion and clarified, “By six minutes. I’ll never let her forget it.”

“You can remind her when you see her again.” Because he would, she would make certain of it. Somehow?—

Clacking heels and heavy boot scuffs echoed down the hallway.

Males. A female voice. Another as thick as bloodlust whispered along the walls and vines.

“Damn.” Aiden surged forward, dug his shoulder into the threshold, and used a knuckle to nudge the door an inch open.

Alora moved behind him. The cold of the wall seeped into her back.

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