Page 112 of Wicked Tides
The shadow stepped toward the very edge of the firelight’s reach and I saw a tall, pale form with hip-length black hair clinging to her still-wet figure. Her black eyes were sharp with hatred as she lifted her hand. In it was a bone dagger much like my own.
I was instantly ripped from the throes of pleasure when the woman launched the dagger toward Vidar’s back. Without thinking, I spun him around so his back hit the wall and I pushed myself away from him. The dagger hit the rocks with a loud clank that echoed through the hollow passage.
“Traitorous cunt,” the woman hissed.
She looked half starved and her eyes were red and crazed as if she had not slept in many days.
“Ligeia,” I muttered.
“You keep taking and taking,” she said. “And leaving us to clean up the mess.”
“What?”
“The men you killed. They were meant for the sons. They would have left us alone, but now they hunt and you are here, fucking a human.”
I heard the metal of a blade unsheathing and glanced back to see Vidar shrugging off his coat, his cutlass in one hand. He paced like he was about to fight a pack of wolves for a fresh carcass.
“The father wants you,” Ligeia continued. Her gaze bore into me like two poisoned picks digging right into my soul. “And I can give no more of my sisters to appease his hunger. You’ve angered the sea.”
“So, he calls me and not you, sister,” I said. “It must be torture to know that.”
“You will surely not be spared for what you let that man do to mother. Akareth loved her.”
“Akareth loves no one.”
“You did this!”
“We both know this has little to do with mother and more to do with the fact that you wish it was you who was chosen. Ligeia, the loyal little bitch always striving to be the favorite and yet your name is not the one being whispered on the waves.”
“They’ll tear you apart, bit by bit, your body and mind, because you’re not a believer,” she said through her teeth. “And we’ll kill your hunter. In front of you, as you both deserve.”
“We?” I laughed. I crouched to pick up the bone knife from the ground and snarled. “Have you other sisters, then?”
She cocked her head at me, flashing her fangs when she smiled. Her eyes darted to the space behind us and both Vidar and I spun around only to see the flash of a pistol firing. It was blinding in the darkness. The sound ricocheted through the tunnel, but I did not feel a thing. Instead, I saw Vidar stumbling back into the wall, his hand clutching his shoulder.
When the white spots from the muzzle flash had cleared, I saw Uther standing at the mouth of the tunnel, his pistol smoking. Behind him were four other men looking on while their captain bled.
“Sorry, cap’n,” Uther said. “Nothin’ personal, but since when are we fucking sirens?”
Vidar growled as he stood, blade still in hand. Shouting rose up from the village as people awoke to the loud gunshot. The other menpulled out their weapons and began to advance and I quickly ran toward Vidar, lifting the knife in front of me as if it would help against men with pistols. Vidar pulled his own, aiming it over my shoulder at Uther with a scowl.
“So this is your pathetic little attempt at a mutiny, is it?” he said, unafraid.
My eyes darted toward Ligeia to see her jeering at the whole ordeal. Why the men were ignoring her was made clear when I glimpsed Uther’s chest to see that he wasn’t wearing a pendant. None of them were. In a blink, my mind sored back to that black-sand island. I remembered him being the last man on the boat during our retreat. Had he been wearing his silentium then?
“You’ve been following us all along,” I said. I addressed Vidar. “She’s been in his head since the island.”
“Fucking figures,” he spit.
The men from the village drew nearer and I heard Gus shout at Uther. The men turned on each other, whipping their pistols around. Meridan came darting out of the crowd and leaped onto the back of one of the traitorous crewmen, her teeth clamping down on his ear. He screamed, firing into the ceiling of the tunnel. Vidar lifted his pistol, swinging it over my head and turning it on Ligeia. She ducked and the bullet rebounded off the wall with a spark.
Suddenly, one of his men charged at Vidar, swinging his sword as if they’d never been friends. He fought him, but in four moves, despite his injured shoulder, he had slammed the man’s head so hard against the wall that he wavered and plummeted to the ground. Uther charged Vidar next and before I could think, I lunged, driving my blade into his gut four times in quick succession.
He didn’t even look like he felt it. He slammed the hilt of his cutlass against the side of my head and I saw spots for a second before I recovered and stepped away, dislodging the blade from his stomach.
Another one of the once loyal crewmen rushed forward and Vidar tugged at my arm, spinning me around to the back of him and blocking the man’s blade with his own.
I looked up at Ligeia. She absorbed the situation and when she realized her poor, enslaved puppets were going to lose, she bolted toward the coast with a hiss.
