Page 12 of Of Song and Scepter
“Good trip tomorrow? I hope the Intercurrent doesn’t give you too much trouble.”
“Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” She jerks a thumb over her shoulder, indicating a crowd of guards sparring in the fighting rings. “I’ve gotta get back. Try not to shrivel up in your sandcastle till I get back, eh? Touch some water once or twice.” Humor sparkles in her eyes.
I dip my head. Already, my mind feels clearer. Sharper. My muscles are smooth and warm, the soreness of the day leaking out slowly into the water. “Aye aye, Captain.”
Chapter seven
Enna
“Still need to thinkthis through?”
I stare at the Abyssal Princess’s lips, fascinated by the way my master’s caustic essence can still come through, despite her royal glamor.
I bare my teeth. “I was debating just killing you now, saving myself the trouble.”
She sneers. “Fine. Send my condolences to the Abyssal King.”
The Kingdom of Coral is a three-day swim to the west if we take the Intercurrent. According to Odissa’s intel, Princess Aris is expected to meet the Coral escort at the Abyss entrance to the Intercurrent soon. We’ll accept the escort in her stead, me in the place of a beloved handmaiden whom Aris would never abandon. And, if the Coral escort doesn’t sniff out our lies by then, we’ll follow them into the royal city of Aquisa and takethings one step at a time. Odissa woos the prince. They marry. And she’ll release me of my blood oath, never to ask for my help again.
Or so she says. But I have a good feeling about this job. Itwillbe my last. One more headache for a life of freedom? It’s a risk I’m willing to take.
Soon the lights of Vespyr disappear beneath us, and we swim, suspended in the darkness.
After a while, Odissa groans. “I can’t see.”
“Is that a request for assistance, Your Highness?” I ask, sarcastically.
She grunts, continuing to swim.
Then she slams into the pumice, her skin scraping along the rough rock. “These eyes are useless. How do sirens live like this?”
Feeling smug, I smile. If she thinks the double eyelids are weird, I cannot wait for her to discover the rest of her body’s quirks. Her round, smooth teeth will struggle to cut raw meat, for one. And if Coral is anything like the Abyssal siren courts, she’ll likely spend a lot of time in her two-legged form.
“Lower the inner lid. That’s your dark vision. Your old body didn’t have that.”
Her eyelidssnickinto place. A moment passes. “I still can’t see.”
“Use your shiny new siren Voice, chum-brain. Make a little light for yourself.”
Odissa concentrates, generating a gravely purr. She adjusts the pitch higher, then lower, but nothing happens.
“Voice-box broken?” My joke falls flat. Anxiety sinks its claws into my neck. If Odissa doesn’t have the Voice, how the fuck is she going to convince these foreign royals she’s a worthy suitor? Her charming personality?
She slaps on her chest, clears her throat, and tries again. The same grating purr. No lightning.
“It’s a feeling in your gut. Tap into it. Do you sense the energy pooling there?”
Odissa screeches in frustration. “This body’s a fucking half-breed. I knew there was a risk, but I thought, maybe…”
I brush off her implications. I know I’m part of a lucky few. Most half-breeds don’t inherit the Voice. Maybe this princess was Voiceless. When I attacked her troop in the Drink, she hadn’t fought, hadn’t assailed me with her own magic.
“Fuck.” Panic leaks out of her voice.
Sighing, I clench my muscles, emitting a soft purple glow from the stippled patterns beneath my skin. Odissa straightens her path but says nothing. Her arms flail as she pumps her tail, struggling to adjust to her new fins. Her blue eyes widen with desperation, but she sets her jaw and pumps harder.
“We’ll figure something out,” I say. I can see it now—my freedom slowly slipping away. Failing this assignment is not an option. “We’ll have to.”
Gradually, the blackness of the deep fades to gray, then to deep blue, as we draw nearer to the surface. We crest the rock column, passing into open waters. My eyelids click, the dark-vision layer lifting to adjust to the light. Though the pressure of the ocean has eased in our ascent, the pressure in my chest only squeezes harder. I survey the endless stretch of blue—wide and menacing.
