Page 65 of Voice of the Ocean

“I’m sorry for disturbing you, sir,” the constable said, flushed in embarrassment, though Celeste wasn’t sure whyhe’dbe embarrassed. “And, miss, you can never be too careful. People get a little rowdy during the festival.”

Celeste stepped backward out of Raiden’s arms, leaving his hands to fall to his sides.

“I understand, Constable,” he said, his voice huskier than before, and his eyes still on Celeste. “Thank you for your service.” He pulled his gaze away and stuck out his hand to the officer, who shook it. The two made a little more idle conversation, but Celeste didn’t hear it. She could only hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears, and the ghost of his lips on hers.

“Aren’t you a clever one,” Raiden said, when the constable had disappeared. His words were teasing, but the look on his face was anything but. His jaw was tight as his eyes roamed across her face. She wasn’t sure what he was looking for. And so she shrugged, avoiding his eyes as she set about folding her knife back into the waist of her skirt. “But you’re a terrible liar,” he said, leaning down so that his face was inches from hers. She swallowed, trying to meet his gaze with an equally even look. Inside, her heart beat out its own rhythm. A frantic staccato. The corner of his right lip curled up in response, as if he had found whatever he had been looking for.

He turned and began walking again, forcing Celeste to follow. After a step or two, he turned and took her hand back in his to make sure she didn’t get lost in the crowd. The touch of his rough hand sent another wave of heat rushing through her.

She didn’t want to think about what had just happened, but it was undeniable. There was a sort of gravity between them now. And although she was desperately trying to resist it, it pulled at her. She tried to distract herself with the many things going on around them. But it didn’t work. All she could think about were his soft lips when he kissed her back. His hands on her back. The hungry look in his eyes when she pulled away.

Sure, she had always been painfully aware of how attractive she found Raiden. Annoyingly so. Every look from his big, dark eyes had made her stomach churn since the day they met. He was funny and charismatic and entirely too easy to like. But his pretty face and sparkling personality weren’t enough to distract her from her goal. It was a passing fascination. Something to be brushed aside and ignored, like plenty of other crushes before him.

Only this didn’t feel like that anymore.

And it was ruining everything.

The street opened up into a large square, where people gathered, talking and chattering around a great fountain. It depicted a triumphant scene filled with creatures Celeste had never seen before. There were small, childlike creatures with hairy bottom halves that ended in hooves. These creatures rode on small horses and lifted instruments into the air from which the water poured, rushing down in arcs into the pool beneath. In the center, raised high by a large clamshell, was a beautiful young siren. Celeste’s eyes widened in shock as she beheld her, dropping Raiden’s hand. The statue was crowned with a wreath of pearls and flowers, her long hair artfully covering each breast. An intricately carved tail curled up beneath her, adorned with eight oysters, four on each side of her fin. Despite the girl being carved of white stone, she looked soft and wistful. As if she desperately wanted to come to life and walk among the people who filled the square.

Celeste’s heart filled with sorrow for the statue before her. It reminded her of a statue she had in her room in the palace of a young human boy. As if they were somehow cut by the same hand. And yet if that were true, they would never be together. He lay at the bottom of the ocean, and she was trapped in this shell on land.

“She looks like you,” Raiden said, offering her half of the orange. He had removed the outer layer of the fruit in one circling strip, revealing the gorgeous heart. The many segments clung together, forming a half circle. Celeste hadn’t seen anything like it before.

She pulled off one section like he did, and when she bit down on it, juice burst from the skin unexpectedly. It dripped down her chin and fingers. The fruit tasted like sunshine, bright and sweet. Raiden’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he watched her cautious curiosity turn to utter delight. Eagerly, she pulled another section apart and popped it in her mouth. Raiden guided her to the ledge of the fountain, and the two sat together in silence as they ate. They licked the juices from their fingers and watched the passersby.

Celeste knew she shouldn’t be enjoying this. That every second she spent with the humans was one more second of pain for her mother and father as they waited for her return. Every moment she spent with Raiden made it harder to kill him. And what did that make her? Enjoying his company, letting him speak to her in soft words as she plotted to cut his throat.

And yet she was quite possibly the happiest she had been in quite a long time. The orange was delicious, and as she took in the city around her, she realized that humansmadeall this. If she could just show her mother these things, maybe she, too, would see that humans couldn’t all be bad.

The smell of the citrus still lingered on her hands after she polished off the final bite.

“I admit I’m disappointed,” Raiden said.

Celeste turned her head to raise an eyebrow at him, wondering how he could possibly be disappointed with anything in that moment.

“That was not how I pictured our first kiss.”

Her heart skipped a beat, and she blinked in surprise. She didn’t know how to respond.

Luckily, she did not have to. For at that moment, a woman with shining brown hair and sea glass–green eyes strode through the crowd toward them, her long maroon coat billowing. People parted around her like an ocean. Her hand reached up to her hat, dipping it just below one eye.

“Raiden Sharp.” Her voice was a blade that could draw blood.

He stiffened like an animal sensing a predator. Then his hand was in Celeste’s, tightening protectively. “Hello, Valencia,” he seethed, standing to use his full height, dragging Celeste with him.

Valencia’s bloodred lips curled into a sinister smile. “Don’t look so surprised. You knew I’d come for you after youstolemy ship.”

CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN

“Nice dress.” Valencia’s eyes flicked over Celeste.

The siren flinched. Suddenly, the lacing felt too tight. She wished more than anything that she could take it all off.

The Pirate Queen smiled at her discomfort. She looked exactly as Celeste had imagined her. Elegant and predatory. She looked perhaps near her twenty-fourth cycle. Too young to be Raiden’s mother, as she’d once wondered. Plus, they looked nothing alike. Violence radiated from the woman, despite carrying no visible weapons. Perhaps Valenciawasthe weapon. Her eyes looked as if they could cut much deeper than steel.

Raiden angled his body to tuck Celeste behind him, pulling Valencia’s attention away from the siren girl. The fact Celeste had ever believed Raiden a human prince was laughable to her now. She should have known the moment she heard him speak of how he had “commandeered” a ship for their crew.

“Did you think you’d seen the last of me?” the Pirate Queen asked, smirking.

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