Page 92 of Voice of the Ocean

She heaved the cecaelia onto her shoulder, staggering to the side of the ship. The same place where she had stood just last night. The place where his body pressed her into the railing.

“Maeve,please. Please wake up. Please, Maeve,” she repeated, her voice raw.

She couldn’t throw Maeve overboard like this. Anything could happen to her in the ocean. But despite her pleas, her friend did not wake. Did not move in her arms. Footsteps pounded against the stairs.

They were out of time.

With a cry, Celeste bent her knees, and with all the strength she could muster, she flung Maeve’s body overboard.

“No!” Raiden cried.

For a moment, the cecaelia looked serene. Her purple tentacles waved gently as she plummeted through the air. And then her body hit the waves with a deafening crash. Celeste swung a leg over the banister as a pair of hands clamped down on her shoulders, dragging her backward.

“Let me go!” Celeste cried, thrashing like a caged animal.

Raiden said nothing as he struggled with her, pulling her away from the side of the ship. Away from Maeve.

Shouts sounded on the stairs. The others had awoken. Bastian reached the decks first, his face contorted with rage. Behind him, the others blinked warily in the daylight, groggy and concerned. Celeste twisted in Raiden’s grip until she could face him. She wanted to see him. See the look in his eyes. But he refused to meet her gaze.

“Please,” she sobbed, hope withering inside her. “Raiden, please let me go.”

“Put her in the brig,” Raiden said to Bastian, voice tight. “We still need her in case there’s any surprises waiting for us on the island. I’m not taking any chances. Torben, help him.”

Torben didn’t move.

“That’s an order,” Raiden snapped.

With a shake of his head, Torben obeyed.

The last shred of hope in these humans shattered within her as they pulled her farther and farther from the banister. From Maeve. Of course it ended like this. Why did she ever believe they could really care about her? A siren?

The men walked her toward the stairs, Nasir and Kiyami watching with quiet horror.They must think I’m a monster, she thought, fresh tears filling her eyes. Each step was agony as they retraced her journey back to the brig. They walked her into the very cell she had found Maeve in just moments before. It felt like a dream. A nightmare. And when she awoke, she’d be back in the captain’s bed, waking from what she had thought was the best night of her life.

When they let go, she didn’t move. It was as if the light had died from within her.

And when they gagged and bound her, she let them.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX

Celeste sank to the dirty cell floor.

There was no way out. She had betrayed her people at every turn.

She leaned her back against the cold metal bars, trying to find a comfortable position with her rope-bound hands behind her back. The bars surrounded her on three sides, while the fourth was the wooden side of the ship. What little light there was came from a small window at the far end of the hall, which grew brighter and dimmer as the day wore on. Time slipped through her fingers as she sat alone. Her mind felt as though it were stuck in a whirlpool, spinning around and around. Coming up with nothing new. At some point, the tears stopped, and when they did, she laid down on the floor, curling in on herself. Lonely didn’t seem to capture what she was feeling. Nor did the wordlost... but the two combined came close. There was an ache inside her that grew and grew with each memory that arose, each treasured moment upon theRed Revengethat turned acrid now.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she heard footfalls in the hall.

Captain Raiden Sharp appeared in the doorway, a shadow blotting out the light in his long black coat and leather gloves. A sword gleamed at his hip. His mouth was a hard line as he opened her cell door and entered, gaze falling upon the crumpled siren on the floor. Celeste’s body tensed as if waiting for another blow.

“I never meant for this to happen,” he said, removing her gag.

She squeezed her eyes shut as another wave of pain hit her in the chest.Don’t cry. Don’t let him see you cry. But she never had been able to stop herself, and today was not the day she would start. Hot tears pooled in her eyes and slipped down her face, dripping onto the floor.

“If you didn’t help us, we would have died. All of us. Even if the sirens didn’t kill us... my father would have. For failing him.”

“You could have told me,” Celeste said, voice faltering. She finally turned to look at him, but it was a mistake. His hair was tousled, the way it always was when he was running his hands through it over and over. A habit that had once been dear to her.

“You wouldn’t have helped if you knew.”

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