Page 45 of Siren's Treasure

The powerful currents of Undine’s Isle dragged them closer to the shining shores of the Serpent’s Coil, the full brightness of morning now illuminating the towering palms with knife-edged fronds and twisted mangroves that loomed over the beach like silent sentinels.

Scylla had full control of the sea now—Poseidon was dying, his power extinguished like the stars had that dawn, and yet… something had pulled their ship onto the rocks and away from Circe’s grasp!

A massive dark shadow swooped past them across the morning sun, a silhouette of such magnificence and horror that Raggon’s breath was ripped from him.Tobias!The dragon moved toward the island like a bird returning to its nest, powerful wings beating against the morning sky. In its claws, it carried a familiar glittering contraption—the wind whistler.

The sight of his brother reduced to a dumb beast made Raggon’s stomach sink with despair and terror. How could his heart not drag him into the depths with the heaviness of his loss?

Thessa crying out his name made him turn. She grasped the driftwood. He clawed against the splintered edge, forcing his head over the waves. If they made it to shore, they’d be weaker than drowned kittens.

How would they be any good against Circe and her venomous sister then?

Chapter twenty

“Where the water pours forth from the heart is where ye’ll find it!”

The riddle to find Undine’s Blade echoed through Thessa’s mind. Somehow Tobias had connected to his Sylph ancestors when taking on his terrible form, and yet… Undine was not his ancestor.

What foul trick was this?

Her gaze shifted to Raggon lying against the white sands of the beach. His black hair ran like strings across his face, blood seeped from his arm, staining the ragged shirt clinging to him. But worst of all was the despair darkening his expression. He’d lost his ship, his men, the good Duke who’d raised him, and… well, who knew what had become of his brother’s soul?

The same fear and sorrow raged through her. Thessa was exhausted after fighting through the waves, only to be washed up on the lonely shore of Undine’s Isle under the blistering morning sun. Somehow, she’d retained Maddox’s blood-red banyan. Thesilk from the morning coat dripped over her bare legs, legs that were a dreadful reminder of her failure.

Was her father gone? How else could the deeps be unleashed on them like this? Hot liquid slid down her cheeks—she knew what they were this time.

Raggon’s arms immediately wound around her. “Don’t cry. Please!” His breath was warm against her ear as he held her close to his rough cheek. “Nothing bad’s going to happen to you on this island. I’ll protect you with my life!”

How could he think of her when he was still reeling from the loss of his brother? And yet, she couldn’t stop from confiding the ache that weighed against her heart. “My father must be dead,” she whispered. “How else could the creatures of the deep turn on us like that?”

Shaking his head, he ran his hand down her arm. “I think he’s still alive.” His lips brushed gently across her cheek in a bracing kiss. “It’s just a gut feeling, but… something,someonewas helping us out there. Circe wouldn’t want us grounded on those rocks. She couldn’t get close to us… and it was almost like we were taken out of harm’s way.”

A thin slice of hope pricked at her, though it was immediately doused. “What about your brother…?”

She felt a shudder run through his chest, and she knew he was trying to shield her from his grief. “I—I couldn’t save him, Thessa.”

He was wrong! “There’s still a chance!” The words were torn from her. “Did you see what happened when he saw his invention? The dragon’s eyes changed to be his…. It was like Tobias was human again!” They just had to find Undine’s Blade and cut him free. “Tobias’s heart is in that dragon somewhere—we can reach him.”

“And what do we do?” his voice was edged with despair that tugged at her sympathies, “—call him over like a dog? And then try to cut that collar off without slicing off his neck with it?”

“Yes, yes… all of that!” She wasn’t ready to surrender yet, though using her siren voice to order him closer would’ve been so tantalizingly simple. “He told us where to find the dagger. Surely, that wasn’t a fluke! He wants us to rescue him.”

Raggon leaned back into the foam that the waves had left behind, his bare heels gritty with sand. She watched his brow furrow. “Where the water pours from the heart?” he repeated the riddle that the bird had given them. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She played with the stolen coin from his home country. The chain dangled across her neck as she thought it over. “We look for water.”

His bleak gaze scanned the lagoon, the surrounding streams, the babbling brooks running through the lush green island. Undine Isles was a canopy of jungle fed by rivulets of fresh water.

Yeah, hint taken—there was water everywhere, but not… “Hearts,” she said. “We’re looking for a heart too.”

He took a deep breath, his arm slid from her where he steadied himself with a fist in the sand. “It could mean the heart of the island.” He pushed to his bare feet. The sand dripped from his sodden buccaneer gear. He still had his gun and sword belts, minus the weapons. The sight of his broad shoulders blocking the sun was imposing. This was the caliber of man who would help her to that treasure, despite Circe and her hordes of beastly warriors hunting them down. Only now, he watched her with such an expression of raw despair and longing that her heart felt torn from her chest.

Scylla’s blessing for their union still hung as a warning between them.

Taking a deep breath, he shielded his eyes to face the horizon. Besides the lone flag whipping bravely in the wind atop the wreck of their shattered ship, broken-backed against the swells, there was nothing else in sight. Circe must’ve flanked the island to cut them off. “She won’t win,” he said. “There’s nothing she can do to stop us from getting Undine’s Blade.”

Thessa prayed they weren’t playing into the Land Witch’s hands, but what choice did they have? Only to keep their heads low and stay out of sight.

Raggon reached down and helped Thessa to her feet with a gentle strength that made her catch her breath. Those arms had been around her last night, those lips kissing her. The connection between them was intoxicating, growing harder to resist, and yet it had also highlighted the danger that their love could bring on their people. An alliance like theirs seemed to be the spark that ignited every danger around them. Could it be that even the sea was warning them back?

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