Page 53 of Siren Problems
And I reach back.
Just before I wake, our fingers brush.
And I swear I hear him whisper my name.
CHAPTER 18
CALDER
The cave hasn’t changed.
Still smells like kelp rot and stormwater. Still buzzes at the edges like old spells barely holding their shape. Still echoes like something down here remembers when the ocean wasyoung.
I strip to the waist and step into the pool.
It’s colder than I remember.
The water bites, sliding over old scars and fresh regrets, but I don’t flinch. If I’ve come this far, I’m not backing out because the water’s angry.
“Come for absolution?” rasps the eel, coiling from the depths like smoke made flesh.
“No,” I say.
“Then why do you stink of loss?”
“I need answers.”
She laughs. Dry. Cruel.Hungry.
“And you think I give them for free?”
“I came to offer a truth.”
That stills her.
The Oracle Eel moves closer, her face a blur of fins and impossible eyes. “A truth freely given,” she echoes. “Not bartered. Not twisted. Are you sure?”
No.
But I nod anyway.
“Speak, cursed prince.”
I exhale slowly.
And then I say it.
“I loved someone once.”
The water shifts, but she says nothing.
“I was young. Reckless. Full of power and promise and pride. She was the Sea-Warden’s daughter—sharp as coral, with a voice that could command whales. I swore myself to her. Swore I’d return after the war.”
I close my eyes. It hurts. Even now.
“But I didn’t.”
The cave groans, the pool rippling with weight.
