Page 68 of Voice of the Ocean

And suddenly she felt her body tip, falling into the arms of a stranger, who dragged her backward over the cobblestones before she could scream.

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

A wad of fabric forced its way into her mouth. A bag was thrown over her head. Celeste kicked and pulled, but it was no use.

“Celeste!” Raiden’s voice called out, but it already sounded far away.

Her hand reached for her knife, but she quickly thought better of it.

Without her sight, it was likely she’d be disarmed before she could do much with it. Better to wait and have something up her sleeve when an opportunity presented itself. Celeste sent one more wild kick into the darkness and felt one make contact.

“Ugh!” came the response. The voice feminine.

Celeste pulled her foot back, rearing to kick again, when a hand wrapped around her ankle. She felt the rough weight of rope being wrapped around her at the wrists and ankles. But she would not go down without a fight. Perhaps if she could delay them long enough, Raiden and the others could find her. But her hopes were not high. The city was crowded and vast. It would be too easy for someone to go missing. Celeste wriggled, throwing elbows and knees where she could, but soon the rope tightened, and the fight was lost.

As they half carried and half dragged her bound body, the clamor of the city died away. It was soon replaced by echoing drips and cold, humid air. Eventually, her body was dropped onto a stone floor. Hands touched her, searched her, and she felt her body begin to tremble. They took the heavy bag of coin at her hip but, praise the Goddess, did not find her knife. She hadn’t known what she’d use the coins for... or even if she would ever use them. But she had hoped to keep them. To add them to her collection in her room at the palace. Something to look upon and remember the journey she’d had. And now that, too, was taken from her.

This felt all too similar to the last time she was on land. Painful memories flooded her mind, nearly drowning her. Her heartbeat quickened. Sweat pooled on her brow. She forced herself to take deep breaths. It was all she could do to keep calm.

At last they drew the bag from her head and the gag from her mouth.

Valencia stood above her, holding a sword to her throat.

“I thought you and I could have a little chat,” she said.

A laugh bubbled up in Celeste’s throat. She couldn’t help it. This woman kidnapped the only person on their crew who wouldn’t tell her anything. But Celeste sobered when she felt the steel of the sword press into her neck, the blade so sharp she almost didn’t feel it when it cut her. Blood trickled down her chest.

“You’re brave.” Valencia smiled. “I like that.”

Celeste risked a look around. Wherever they were, it was dark. The only light came from a lantern held by Valencia’s massive, golden-haired crony, who Celeste recognized from earlier that day. The skinny, dark-haired human was there too, standing beside the taller one with a scowl. Behind them, in the shadows, were what Celeste assumed was Valencia’s crew. She couldn’t help but wonder why the crew was noticeably lacking males, when in her experience, sailors were usually men.

The walls were wet and round, as if she were inside a tube. Before her, the tube continued, curving past her line of sight. She would have called it a cave, had she not known for certain that the structure was human made.

Valencia moved the sword to Celeste’s chin, and the siren had no choice but to lift her head until their eyes met once again.

“I would threaten you,” Valencia said, “tell you that if you make any sudden moves I’ll cut you so deep your pretty face will never look the same...” The woman’s eyes crinkled at the corners. A chill crept down Celeste’s spine. “But given yourassociationwith the infamously reckless Raiden Sharp, I fear I’d be wasting my breath.”

Despite Celeste largelyagreeingwith this assessment of the captain, her face fell into a scowl at the words.

“So I’ll make this simple: Tell me where theRed Revengeis, and I’ll let you live.”

Celeste didn’t have to stop herself from laughing this time. There was nothing funny about the look in Valencia’s eyes. The cut at Celeste’s neck continued to bleed, a red stain blooming at the top of her dress. She didn’t like her chances. Valencia wouldn’t believe her if she insisted she couldn’t speak. And even if she did, she would still find a way to force Celeste to show her where the ship was.

Celeste could lie. Lure them all to a false location. But then what? How would she escape? What if she couldn’t? Her crew was probably out looking for her. Unless...unless they were on the ship getting ready to depart.

Celeste slowly nodded.

“Good girl.” Valencia grinned, lowering her sword.

Moving carefully to not alarm her captors, Celeste reached her bound hands toward the mud and drew a circle with an arrow inside with careful strokes of her finger. A compass. She understood them now from all her work as a navigator. How they worked with the maps to show where things were. She had learned so much. The very idea helped ground her. Steady her.

Valencia hummed to herself. “So, you’re the one I heard about. The silent one.”

Now it was Celeste’s turn to be surprised.

“Oh, child”—she laughed—“you think my ship was taken from me by the son of my sworn enemy, and I didn’t inquire about where he went and with whom?”

Celeste supposed the group hadn’t exactly been subtle when they were in Port Romsey. Still, a chill ran down her spine at the thought. The human world felt endless compared to the siren world. In the ocean, there were perhaps a few hundred thousand sirens. But there weremillionsof humans spread out across lands so vast that not only did they have countries and even towns but they also had villages and districts and whatever else they had to differentiate one from the other. But perhaps pirates were more like sirens. A community where it seemed little remained secret.

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