Page 105 of Voice of the Ocean

No one did. Her gaze fell upon Raiden. She no longer felt like the lost little princess. Raiden looked from the body on the ground to Celeste. He took in her torn, dirty clothes and the blood splatter across her face and corset. And he saw it too. The change in her. Or maybe she was seeing what she wanted to see. Emotions warred in his expression. Fear, anger, and perhaps sorrow?

“Look at you,” he said. “The bloodthirsty siren.”

Tears pricked her eyes, but she did not falter. “And you, the backstabbing prince.”

“How does the story end?”

“It’s a tragedy,” Celeste said. “It ends in death.”

“Shame.” A sad smile played on his face. “I do love a wedding.” He took a step toward the pool but stopped as Celeste lifted the trident and pointed it to his chest.

“Leave,” she said.

She didn’t know what stayed her hand—why even now she could not bring herself to kill him, after everything he’d done. The pirate had betrayed her, manipulated her, locked her up in a cage. And yet her hands shook as she aimed the trident true. She still found him the most beautiful male she had ever seen. His brown eyes were on her face, a war raging within them.

“You know I can’t,” he said.

Grief ripped through her as she closed the distance between them. They crashed together like gravity. Inevitable. Celeste thrust the trident toward him. Raiden met it with his sword. The impact echoed across the room. And then they were dancing. A terrible, horrible dance of death. And for once they were evenly matched. He may have trained with a sword since he was a boy, but Celeste had trained with a spear for just as long. Somehow the trident felt right in her hands. Like an extension of herself. She lunged, and he retreated, losing ground. And when his sword tangled between the trident’s teeth, she knew she had him. With a flick of her weapon, the sword was out of his hands. She pressed the trident’s prongs against his chest, his heart. Eyes wide, the captain raised his hands above his head. Her tears came unbidden, running down her cheeks as she prepared at last to finish her mission. She wondered if it would matter now.

A piercing cry filled the room.

She turned to see a sword sinking into Kiyami’s side.

“No!” the scream ripped from Celeste’s throat.

Celeste watched in horror as her friend fell to her knees. Color faded from her face. Beside her, Bastian’s body lay on the floor, his limbs pointing at odd angles. To the right, Nasir and Torben raised their weapons, surrounded.

Raiden froze, his expression stricken.The crew he promised to protect.

It was Celeste who moved first. Raising the trident, she charged. A cry escaped her lips as she rushed to her friend’s aid. But the Song of her sister and Gala had grown too loud to hear it. The two voices rose together, reaching the climax of their Song, which, at any second, would fall to its inevitable end. The king’s man pulled his sword from Kiyami’s side. Her body slumped, blood pouring from the wound across the white stone floor.

Raiden, his face tight with determination, raced the other way, toward the pool.

No...

There was no time. She had to choose: save her friend or her sister.

Her heart breaking inside her chest, Celeste turned her back on her crew. On Kiyami, lying still on the floor. On Nasir and Torben as they dropped their weapons in surrender. Celeste dove at Raiden. They collided, tumbling to the floor, a tangle of limbs. Celeste pinned the prince, trident pressed against his neck.

The final note rang around the temple. Sephone’s voice sang alone, then stopped. Blinding white light exploded through the room in waves. Celeste buried her head in Raiden’s chest, shielding her eyes.

When she looked up, Gala floated in the pool face down. Dead.

Behind the body, Sephone sat on the edge of the pool, a knife pressed to her throat.

A knife held by the Sea Witch.

“Kill him if you’d like,” Nerissa said with a devilish grin. “His daddy won’t mind.”

Ice-cold dread crept down Celeste’s spine as she gazed upon her sister. Slowly, Celeste pushed herself off Raiden and stood. But she kept the trident trained on him. She wasn’t sure who her enemies were. She wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

“Nerissa,” she breathed. “What are you doing?”

“You poor child,” the Sea Witch cooed. “Sonaive.”

Celeste’s grip tightened on the trident’s neck. “I knew you couldn’t be trusted.”

“And yet you did everything as I planned.” Nerissa smiled.

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