Page 24 of Siren's Treasure

Raggon scoffed, though his back stiffened at the thought of those vulture gazes fixed on her. He immediately called out for his most trusted man from his Sylphorian crew. “Theron!” his voice cut through the evening air. “Take charge of the door.”

Theron, a bear of a man with honor as solid as oak, took position with a sober nod. His presence alone would discourage any unwanted visitors coming to that garish cage. She was more precious than any of Maddox’s collections, and everyone on that ship had better figure that out soon, or he’d toss them overboard.

Raggon turned to Morris as they made their way to the quarterdeck. The evening sky had deepened to rich blue-black,with the last traces of twilight turning the waves into liquid obsidian. The salty air whipped at their clothes as they found a quiet spot near the stern, where the flames from the oil lamps rocked to the gentle rhythm of the sea.

“She’ll be safe. Happy now?” Raggon asked him.

“No,” Morris said. His usual worried lines were softened by the shadows, but his voice carried the weight of years spent keeping Raggon out of trouble. “What are you doing, lad?”

“She’s getting us the Undine Blade.” Even as he said it, Raggon knew how impossible gaining her help would be, but what choice did they have? Tobias’s life depended on it.

Morris sighed and ran a hand through the silver threads of his hair. “And she just shows up here when we need her? That’s far too convenient.”

Once again, Raggon agreed, but what else could they do? He muttered something noncommittal. “We’ll keep an eye out for trouble.” They were facing the gaping maws of death by defying Circe and stealing her blade away. The thought of the Land Witch gave the night wind a sinister feel.

“Raggon.” Morris caught him with his steely look. “This crew is a rough lot who haven’t felt the touch of civilization for ages, and the rivalry grows deep between our people. Sailors hate mermaids. Every lowlife on this ship will try to take revenge on her for what the seas have done to us.”

His heart raged at the thought of anyone hurting Clam. The nickname felt different now, less teasing and more… protective. Yeah, Clam would do for the present… until he could figure out how to communicate with her and get her real name.

And the second that gag came off, Raggon would be putty in her hands. He could blame her siren powers, but… well, there was more to it.

“I don’t care how you do it,” Morris said, “but you’d better claim this woman as your own—say, she’s your betrothed, aSylphorian princess in disguise. If it comes down to it, stage a marriage if need be.”

Raggon scoffed. None of that was necessary. “If anyone touches her, I’ll throw them off the plank with my sword in their back.” The steel of his words matched the steel stiffening his spine the longer he dwelled on her in any kind of danger. “How’s that?”

Tobias let out a bark of laughter behind them. “Sounds like love.”

Raggon twisted around in surprise. Without the power to materialize at will, Tobias shouldn’t be able to sneak up on him like before. His nerves must be more frayed than he’d realized.

The flickering lantern light caught the dull edge of the enchanted collar, and Raggon’s stomach turned. What had been gleaming silver this afternoon now showed patches of rust-like corruption where it touched Tobias’s skin. In the evening gloom, the collar seemed to writhe with a sickly greenish tinge. Raggon’s voice lowered to barely more than a whisper, rough with worry. “How are you feeling, brother?”

Tobias forced a smile to his lips. “The collar’s starting to hurt.”

An understatement if he ever heard one. The flesh around the enchantment had taken on an angry, mottled appearance—Typhon’s Kiss was leeching something from his brother’s very blood.

Raggon ran his hands through his hair, feeling like he was getting pulled in every direction by invisible hooks. The ship’s lanterns swayed above them, their light catching the bruised shadows beneath Tobias’s eyes. The mermaid’s captured presence in his cabin behind him suddenly felt less like a guilt-weight and more like a lifeline.

Let her hate him. Let her curse him with those haunting gazes. If she got them to the Undine Blade, he could bear a dulled conscience. There was no other way.

Some prices were worth paying, though this one might cost him fragments of his soul. And if anything happened to her? The thought sent an icy finger down his spine.

He stood quickly. He needed some rum in him. The night was young, the dangers were mounting, and somewhere below deck was a leather flask with his name on it. The burn would wash away the memory of her trembling frame beneath his hands, the way her eyes had flashed defiance even as she shivered in fear. He was desperate to forget how right it had felt to wrap her in his protection, but…

Well, who would protect her from him?

Morris and Tobias exchanged a knowing look in the darkness, but Raggon pretended not to notice. His mind was already back in Maddox’s garish cave of treasures, with a mysterious siren who could either be his salvation or his doom.

“Some birthday, huh?” he glanced over at his brother, and caught him tugging at the collar. Taking a deep breath, he threw his arm around Tobias’s shoulder, gesturing for Morris to follow. They all needed to forget their troubles. “You ready to celebrate this day properly with me?”

The sound of Sterling’s mocking cackles inside the cabin’s open porthole followed them across the deck. “Bad luck! Bad luck!”

Stupid bird—why couldn’t he say something they didn’t know?

Chapter twelve

“Bad luck! Bad luck!” The bird wouldn’t quit his squawking, though mercifully it avoided the magic words that would send Raggon rushing back to check on his prisoner.

Above Thessa, the crystal chandelier swayed and tinkled with the ship’s motion, its sinister play of glowing lights creating grotesque shadows that made the cracked painting of cruel pirate and captured mermaid come alive in disturbing display. Thessa’s stomach churned—was she staring at her own fate captured in oils and gilt?

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