Page 10 of Siren's Treasure

Panic seized her now. “Where are you?”

“Thessa!” Nephele appeared suddenly, her hair floating around her like a dark cloud, her face tight with an older sister’s mixture of relief and reproach. “We’ve been waiting for you!” She grabbed Thessa’s arm.

Sudden reluctance filled her—seeing her father’s worsening condition for herself would make it all the more real, and still she allowed Nephele to lead her toward their father’s chambers—a room the mighty Poseidon rarely used since he hardly rested.

All feared him, all quaked in fear. And now? She was shocked at the sight of him lying weakly among pillows of softest sea-silk and blankets woven from multi-toned kelp, sheltered by a canopy of delicate coral lace. Such magnificent surroundings couldn’t disguise his weakness. He looked out of place there, more tired than she’d ever seen him, though his barrel chest and powerful shoulders still spoke of his legendary strength.

Thalassa, their gentle middle sister, carefully lifted their father’s crown—a masterwork of platinum and black pearls shot through with veins of ever-changing crystal. She tenderly placed the heavy adornment in his weathered hands, the same hands that had once gathered all his daughters into the security of his powerful hugs.

The great leader of the Sea Sovereignty had been brought low, and now his daughters must tend to him.

“Nephele,” Poseidon sought out his eldest daughter by his wife, Amphitrite. His voice carried echoes of its former thunder. “Take my trident, girl.” The legendary weapon gleamed with an inner fire; its prongs forged from deep-sea metals no human smiths had ever touched. The broken tip remained a testament to ancient battles—likely lost in some brave clash between merfolk and human.

Nephele approached, her cheeks pale in sorrow, accepting the trident as her shoulders bowed under the weight of both weapon and responsibility.

“You must be strong now, my children.”

Thessa could bear it no longer. “Father!” The cry tore from her throat. “Fight this! Please, fight this!” She rushed to him, brushing past her sisters’ warning hands to grasp his fingers, though she tempered her desperate grip at their urgent whispers to be careful.

“Ah, my Thessa,” her father’s eyes softened as they found her face. An emotional glitter of phosphorescence brightened his expression. “My youngest by Amphitrite. I had hoped to see you one last time.”

“No,notfor the last time, father!” She shook her head, copper hair swirling through the water. “You cannot die! We must find a way to stop this!”

“My dear! I expect nothing less from your fighting spirit! The fire of your hair has run straight to your heart, and yet, not evenyoucan stop the course of nature.”

But they could! There was a way! “I was told Scylla came!” Thessa blurted. Normally, she’d never dare whisper her name, but her desperation moved her.

Her father’s proud chin lowered. True fear flickered in his eyes at the mention of the Sea Witch. But why? He was never afraid. “I sent her away,” his softened tone still held a commanding edge.

“How could you, father?”

Her sisters gasped at her insolence at talking back.

Thessa didn’t care if she was ramming through their every custom like a whale trying to fit through a tiny porthole. She’d dance with the forbidden to save her father. “What could it hurt to use the Sea Witch’s help this one time?” Surely, they could find an agreement that wouldn’t harm their people.

Her father was already shaking his head, though the movement clearly drained him, making her heart constrict with guilt and fear. “Put that out of your mind, youngest.” His derisive snort at the thought of Scylla’s assistance emerged as a weak growl. “You think she offered her assistance out of compassion? Her visit was only a mockery on us. Her demands are tricks—she only came to steal what is not hers in our time of weakness. No, my dear Thessa, trust nothing she says. She’ll rise up against us after I fall. Use your fiery spirit to stop her instead of falling for her tricks!”

Wage war was all that they ever did—they were just as bad as the humans! “Father, her magic can make you better.”

“Her magic destroys everything in her wake.” He sank deeper into the cushions of woven sea-silk, his strength failing him.

Thessa tried to make him understand. “Not all magic destroys…” If he wouldn’t take Scylla’s help, then perhaps he’d take hers. Steadying her shoulders, she gathered the last of her courage. Some secrets could not be kept back when they could do such good. “My power can heal… let me use it on you, father.”

Anger blotched his cheeks like red coral, his weakness forgotten as he pushed up from his bed. “Never! Heed me in this!” The muscles in his face trembled with such terrible fury that would have sent any of his subjects fleeing through the currents—all but Thessa. “You will never use your powers on our people… or you arenodaughter of mine. Do you hear?”

The words struck her like a physical blow, each one breaking off a piece of her heart.

Her father’s hand caught hers with desperate strength, and she understood that beneath his harsh words lay fear—fear of losing her, though she couldn’t fathom why. “You think Scylla was always this way?” His voice dropped low with the question, and still as powerful as the sea. “Magic warped her soul. The dark enchantments are seductive. They lure the users down troubling paths! She is to blame for my sister’s fall.”

Yes, but what had happened to Undine was more than a thousand years ago. Could they not learn to work together?

“She is a trickster!” her father’s voice rose. “And in return for her voice, Scylla gave my sister what? Legs? Every step Undine took was wracked in pain, like the jagged edge of shells in the soles of her feet. What a mockery! Not only did that witch turn my sister human, but she rejoiced at her fall! Encouraged Undine to fall in love with a—a human prince, knowing he was selfish and unfeeling, and that he’d never love her in return! My sister…” A spasm of pain contorted his face.

“Father!”

He couldn’t respond immediately, sinking back against the pillows. His grip on her hand never loosened. Thessa squeezed his fingers, desperate to hold him to this life.

Nephele cried out. Their other sisters rushed forward like a school of startled fish. “Please, let’s not speak of this anymore,” Nephele pleaded. “Father needs his strength.”

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