Page 115 of Voice of the Ocean

“Neither am I,” Kiyami said into her hair.

They held each other together, until at last Celeste pulled away. When they did, Celeste saw Raiden standing behind them. Her heart thudded in her chest at the sight.

“May I have a word?”

They hadn’t spoken for a week. He had visited her many times, but Celeste always turned him away. She accepted the Admiral’s company, although the dog greatly disliked being placed upon a hammock.

Kiyami opened her mouth to argue, but Celeste quieted her with a hand. “It’s fine.”

With a glare in the captain’s direction, Kiyami stalked away, leaving the two alone for the first time since the brig.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“I want to apologize.” His eyes were red rimmed, as if he hadn’t been sleeping, and his mouth was pulled into a permanent frown. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I want you to know I did not mean for all this to happen.”

Celeste remained quiet, keeping her eyes trained on the ocean.

“I did not know the Voice of the Ocean was a siren, let alone your sister. I thought it was a necklace or a ring or—” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “What happened was my fault. I should have told you everything. Should have trusted you with the truth. But you know what failure would have meant. I couldn’t risk it with my crew’s lives as forfeit. Your life.”

Raiden drew closer, watching her carefully.

“You’re right,” Celeste said, turning toward him. “You don’t deserve forgiveness.” She hated him. Hated what he had done to her sister. To the Chorus. To her. She didn’t trust him. And what’s worse, she didn’t trust herself around him. Not when he looked at her like that. As if all the world was darkness, and she was the moon.

“I promise I will help you make things right,” he said, his voice a low rumble.

“Your promises mean nothing to me,” she replied, and turned away.

She wanted to believe him. Wanted it so desperately it stole the breath from her lungs. But nothing had changed. Raiden betrayed her. All of them. And although something within him pulled at her like an invisible string, she couldn’t bring herself to hope.

Raiden waited, searching her face. Then, with a sigh, he walked away. Good. She didn’t want to speak with him anyway. So why did she feel such pain when he left?

“Land ho!”

Sailors crowded toward the railing, searching for sight of the port after weeks at sea. Relief washed over Celeste. It was over. She could finally escape the sea. Set foot on solid ground again and consider her options. But as the lights of Velluno came into view, the town looked different from when she last saw it. The lights were not from the festival’s lanterns but fires. The long, sandy beaches she remembered weren’t there. Nor were the docks. And as they drew closer, Celeste could hear shouts. Crying.

Velluno was in chaos.

Aboard the ship, the merchant sailors halted in their preparations to make port. There was nowhere to go. Their captain shouted orders, confusion erupting upon the ship. Celeste’s heart thudded in her chest, and she tasted something bitter in her throat. Sephone hadn’t only raised the sea around the island.

Half of Velluno was underwater.

The once colorful homes of the shoreline now looked like ghosts, distorted beneath the clear water. Streets they’d walked down now ran directly into the waves. Festival banners and flowers washed up along the new shoreline like trash. People cowered in the streets, displaced from their homes, while others plundered their neighbor’s shops, the sound of breaking glass filling the air.

“What has he done?” Raiden was beside her now, his voice taut.

The former crew of theRed Revengegathered along the bow, Bastian the last to arrive.

“The water must’ve risen across the entire coast. Maybe even as far as Port Romsey,” he said.

“The Broken Compass—” Torben began, turning his eyes to his husband. The pub had been close to the waterline. If the water had risen in Port Romsey as much as it had here, his business would be underwater now. Nasir’s expression darkened.

“If it’s across Ethoria, it could have happened elsewhere too,” Bastian added.

Kiyami’s eyes widened. “My family lives near the coast.”

“Did you know your father was planning this?” Bastian asked, turning to Raiden.

“No,” Raiden said. “I didn’t.” The captain’s eyes dropped to his hands. “But I guess now we know why that cargo ship was transporting my father’s assets. His home was on the shoreline. He’d been planning this for a while.”

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