Page 51 of Wicked Tides
“We’ve got two of the bitches on board,” Uther added. “That’s more than enough to see to it we get our pockets filled. And like Gus said, we can make sure the girls get honest work. The young ones can go to the convent until—”
“I said no.”
The world was ugly enough. Dragging people from a faraway tribe into the twisted bullshit that was our violent reality was a sin I wasn’t keen to add to my long list of offenses. I wasn’t a kind man by any means. Maybe I wasn’t even a good one, but traveling north would benefit me in two ways. It would give me time to think and it would clear my conscience a bit. I deserved that. We all did. One good act wouldn’t grant me passage to heaven, but maybe I’d feel better for a day.
And the days of travel could give me insight into what else was plaguing the ocean as of late. It would give me time withher.
With what we took off the Cornwallis, Boil was able to cook up something with a bit of actual taste that night. Merchant ships were always better stocked with luxuries. Naturally, the girls ate huddled together in a corner of the deck. Once in a while, one of the younger ones would laugh, which renewed my hope that they’d forget about their whole ordeal if we managed to return them home.
After the men’s bellies were full and their moods lightened, I met with them all and announced the plans to head north. There were a few skeptical looks among them, but I eased their minds by reminding them that we had two sirens on board and a bunch of supplies from the Cornwallis to either use or sell.
Eventually, I won the crowd and everyone went about their business as usual.
After that, there were only two other people on board that hadn’t heard the plan. I wasn’t sure if they deserved to, but they hadn’t eaten since the night prior, so I took a single platter of bean soup and some bread down to the holding cell. I found Dahlia and Meridan leaning against the far wall atop the thin bedding, bored and still. Meridan’s head was rested against Dahlia’s shoulder, her eyes closed. Dahlia, however, was completely aware and followed me with her gaze as I walked to the front of the cell.
“Comfortable?” I asked.
“Not at all.”
I shrugged and crouched down to slide the food across the floor and into the cell. She didn’t move.
“Are you planning to sell us?” she asked.
“I’m thinking about it. Your kind is fetching a higher price alive than dead these days.”
“Why?”
I shrugged again. “Some men have a fondness for fucking things they shouldn’t. I imagine it might be satisfying to defile a thing like you. A thing that man has feared for a long time.”
“So, it is a twisted sense of revenge to take our power away.” She straightened her head and sighed. “Doyouwant to take my power away? Would you like to put those irons back on me?” Her voice lowered, her eyes becoming shrouded in shadows. “Wet your cock in a body you’ve longed to destroy for so long? Is that how men get their pleasure? By feigning control?”
There was no fear behind her words. Just taunting calmness. My gaze raked slowly down her body, now clothed in a thin shift and oversized coat. She was a predator. A killer. A monster. Not one bit of her was human, despite how much she emulated one outside of the water. Even with all her hard edges and that long scar on her cheek, she had a rigid and dark beauty to her. One that made my eyes want to keep looking, even if something in the back of my mind told me to run. All sirens had that eerie allure, but Dahlia… Dahlia was different. Dahlia and I had a history that made looking at her even more agonizingly addictive.
“Are you thinking about it?” she whispered. “About spearing me with your cock instead of your sword?” A wicked grin teased the corner of her lips. “You must be wondering which one I would hate more.”
Taking a deep breath, I leaned forward on the gate, pressing my forehead to the cold bars.
“All these years, I knew we’d meet again,” I said. “My plan was to run you through the moment we did.”
“My plan was to devour you.”
“Seems we’ve both been fools thinking it could end that quickly.”
“I didn’t kill your father’s crew, you know,” she said, her tone softening and catching me off guard.
“You stood by and watched.”
“Killing is what we do.”
“Killing is what we all do and yet here you sit, alive. I could have killed you both. I still could.”
“Why haven’t you? Were I not in this cell, I don’t know if I’d have the self-control to spare your men.”
“You mean if those girls weren’t on board. Why do you want them to live if it’s in your nature to kill?”
“They’re—”
“Innocent? Like you believed me to be when we were children?”
