Page 10 of Of Rime and Ruin
“And the stars light your way,” I echo. My eyes burn, tears pricking at the corner. “But it’s open water. What if I’m caught by a dredgebeast? Or worse?”
There’s that knowing smile, spreading across his face. “Then tame it, my girl. Make it your bitch.”
My jaw drops from its hinges. He grins. With one last squeeze, the old siren dives off the Rim, and his amber tail emerges beneath the waves.
Behind me, the streets are nearly empty. The captain barks an order, and stragglers rush into their homes.
He spots me where I crouch on the Rim. “Your Highness!” I grip the coarse shell with my hands, finding little purchase. He rushes toward me. “Secure yourself!”
I raise my hand to stop him. “I’m in the saddle today, Captain.”
“Get situated, then. Make haste.” He leaves me to it.
Ramona releases a low, trembling groan. Her shell shifts beneath my feet, and I stumble. The water churns and wakes. Ramona tilts. My breath catches, lungs sucked dry. The sea rises to meet me.
My tail snaps free, my gills flutter, and my ears ring with the low roar of rushing water. And as Ramona plunges into the deep, I release my hold on her shell.
Chapter five
Aethan
There’salwaysayet.Every. Fucking. Time.
A mutilated body lies on the rocky shore, icy tongues of seawater lapping at the leftovers. The Rime has preserved what’s left of him—an arm, the sleek curve of the siren’s tail, three deep gashes across his torso. In webbed patterns, ice clings to the wounds like lace, staving the blood. He wears the mark of a hunter around his neck, but I can’t make out his face beneath the mess of silver hair.
Another subject is dead at my feet.
The Frost Guard pulls the stiff corpse from the water. They make quick work, keeping their feet low to the stones, careful to avoid splashing or submerging too deep. They eye the surf warily, as they should. According to legend, the clawbeast attacks in darkness, and the sun has barely risen.
“Your Majesty, we await your orders.” The captain looks at me. His eyes have sunk into his broad face, and the hook of his noseis speckled white with chill. This isn’t the first body he’s pulled from the Rime for me. Because of me.
Her face, pale as the morning snow, blooms with freezing blood. A gash on her cheek, tugging the corner of her sad, knowing eye. She reaches for me through a cloud of bubbles. It’s the last I remember of her, before my world went dark.
Pain twists in my throat, and I avert my gaze from the waiting captain, swallowing my anger.
This is why I ordered my people to stayoutof the water. Why I invited them into my ancestral warm-season grounds to live ashore year round. No one swims, no one gets hurt.
It’s like telling a bird not to fly into a pane of glass. They won’t fucking listen, and they’ll never learn.
This is the second casualty this moon cycle; four in the cycle prior. Since the killings began, it’s always the same injury, the same three marks where the clawbeast’s talons cut deep. And the monster leaves his kill on my goddessdamn doorstep every time.
I scan the basin for signs of movement, knowing I’ll find none, knowing it’s an act—to deflect the suspicion. Let them think the Beast is outtheresomewhere, not standing next to them on the shore.
The clawbeast attacks in darkness, and I have no memory past midnight.
The floes bob in the soft current, undisturbed. Ice stretches toward the early morning sky, framing the cavity that marks the entrance to my dominion and shielding against the worst of the wind. Still, its sting penetrates the thin threads of my fur cloak, nipping my bare chest beneath.
“Take the remains to the healer,” I tell the captain. “Have Lucas identify the victim and alert the family. Condolences from the king.”
My voice is cold and rhythmic, the words a recitation. How many times have I given the captain this same order? It shouldbe habitual by now. Another body on the shore? Clear the evidence. Condolences to the family. Done. He does not need to rouse me or pull me from my iron cage.
Anger uncurls in my stomach, icy hot. It slithers through my chest and tightens its grip. My teeth chatter as the ice moves through me, numbing my veins.
I can’t breathe. My lungs burn. Frozen. I stare at my feet, my snow-white skin marbling with dark blue scales. The color spreads, crawling over my ankles, then calves. With it, a burning chill.
Not now. Fuck no. Keep it together, Aethan.
I inhale, pushing the anger deep. I count to ten. Then twenty. I unfurl my fists. Drop my tongue from the roof of my mouth. The wind wicks the sweat from my palms. Finally, the color fades from my feet, and I exhale in relief.
