Page 114 of Voice of the Ocean

“Celeste?”

She turned to see Maeve swimming toward her, the remaining Chorus members following behind. From their numbers, it seemed that three had fallen in the skirmish. The once jovial officer Io looked so small floating in the water despite their muscular frame. As Maeve neared, Celeste noticed there was something wrong about the way she moved. With every forward push, her right side dipped a little into the water. And then she saw the body in her arms.

The violet hair.

It was Analora. Their classmate. A siren who spoke little but worked hard. Gone. She hadn’t known her well, but they had been initiates for four cycles together. The wood beneath Celeste tipped as her body swayed. She would have fallen into the sea, if not for Raiden righting her.

Maeve looked upon Celeste as a solider, no sign of the grief she surely felt. “I was intercepted on the way to Staria. A messenger was able to take your warning back,” Maeve assured her. “The waters have also cooled. So we’re safe for now.”

“Analora,” Celeste breathed, scanning the body for the source of the injury. A glass shard protruded from the siren’s stomach. “Was there no one to heal her?”

“The healer on our squad was killed as well,” Io said softly.

And that’s when Celeste realized the general should be the one delivering such news. “Xandra?” she asked, but for once she did not want the answer.

“Cannon,” Io replied. “There is no body to return home with.”

Tears fell freely down Celeste’s cheeks as reality sunk in.

“Celeste,” Maeve said, her soldier’s demeanor softening slightly. “Crying isn’t going to help, you know.”

“I know,” the princess replied, but the words were stifled by sobs.

“The human king has Sephone,” Maeve said, a slight teasing in her voice despite everything, as though they were back in the training ring taunting each other. “Are you going to sit here and cry, or are you going to do something about it?”

Celeste smiled through her tears. “Bold of you to assume I can’t do both.”

It was as much comfort as she would get from her old friend, and far more than she deserved. Maeve nodded and straightened.

“Take care of her,” the cecaelia said to the crew, voice stern.

“We will,” Raiden replied. To most, he would have looked calm, stoic, but Celeste could see the pain in his eyes.

Satisfied with his answer, Maeve fell into line behind her superior officer. Together the sirens disappeared beneath the waves. And Celeste fell apart.

Three Chorus members dead.Because of her. And now the crew was stranded. Tears dripped down her chin.It should have been me, not Analora. Not Xandra. The Admiral moved closer, curling up against Celeste with his head atop her leg. She didn’t feel it. Didn’t notice when the crew gathered to her. They did not try to speak to her or stop her from crying. They merely listened, bearing witness to her pain. She didn’t want them to see her like this. Didn’t want the Chorus to see her like this. But she didn’t have the energy to care. And, if she was honest, it felt good. It was a small comfort to know she wasn’t alone.

She wondered if she’d ever stop crying. If this endless expanse of grief would ever ease. And although the grief did not, the tears eventually did. Her hands stopped shaking. And at last she was able to breathe.

In the water before them, rowboats emerged, each towed by two sirens. The princess’s eyes widened in disbelief. Why had they returned? Why had they retrieved these from the wreckage of theRevenge? Leif, an initiate from her class, pushed one of the boats toward them.

“We take you to nearest human trade route,” Maeve said in the common human tongue, her accent thick. “Perhaps you find a ship. Take you to land.”

“Thank you,” Kiyami breathed.

Celeste didn’t know what to say. She lifted her head and found the two sirens helping each of the humans into a boat, Io steadying it as Oakes pushed himself over the edge. The process was awkward, and mostly silent. And although only days ago Celeste would have done anything to see humans and sirens working together, the victory was hollow.

Once they were all aboard, the sirens gathered behind the boats and pushed them east. The hours passed in silence. There was nothing to say. They swam through the night, until at last they saw the flickering lights of a ship on the horizon.

* * *

Nothing about the ocean felt safe anymore. For the next week, Celeste hardly went above decks, preferring to lay upon the hammock she’d been provided. The trade ship that had picked them up had been more than generous to the small group of survivors. Raiden had spun an easy tale about their ship being lost in a storm, and that was that. They were allowed to remain until the ship reached Velluno. The crew, in general, gave her space. Kiyami and Nasir were the only ones Celeste spoke to with any regularity. And only when they sat with her below deck.

It wasn’t until the final evening that Celeste found herself stir-crazy enough to get fresh air. She stood along the railing, thoughts of her lost sister and the fallen Chorus members still plaguing her. What must her mother think? Her father? Had Staria been compromised? Surely, with Nerissa feeding the king information, it couldn’t be safe for them to remain. But Celeste had no way of knowing. Of contacting them.

“Are you okay?” Kiyami sidled up to her friend, leaning against the banister as they gazed upon the endless ocean before them.

“No,” Celeste said. It was perhaps the first time she’d answered the question in the many times her friend had asked. With a nod, Kiyami wrapped her into a hug, squeezing tight. Celeste sagged in her arms, the last bit of fight leaving her body.

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