Page 97 of Wicked Tides
“You may stay with her or not, but I’m locking this gate tonight.”
She nodded and took a step back, confirming she didn’t want to stay inside the cell. I wasn’t sure if that was because she didn’t want to be locked up or if she was afraid, but the look on her face suggested Dahlia’s behavior had unsettled her.
Dahlia, like a tired child, curled up against the wall and pressed her hands to her ears as I stepped out. Though, in truth, part of me wanted to stay. She looked in pain and not the kind of pain we both were used to. Locking the gate behind me, I turned to Meridan, who was staring at her friend like she was dying.
“Explain,” I said.
“You won’t understand.”
“Do your best.”
She took a deep breath and sighed, hugging herself with her arms. I hated the timid way they were both acting. If sirens were so afraid, it couldn’t mean anything good for us men.
“She explained how the sons work to you.”
“Yes. They call you down to breed is what I gathered.”
“To breed. To break us. Like men without silentiums, we sirens cannot resist when they summon us into the depths.”
“So they’re calling her? Why now?”
“Why ever? No one knows. We are at the sons’ mercy. At the father’s mercy. Piling pirates and sailors on an island in hopes of satiating their appetites could never work forever. They feed onus.She is Reyna’s daughter. Reyna bore many children with three journeys to the deep. The father favored her. It was only a matter of time before the sons took notice of Dahlia.”
“Dahlia has sisters.”
Meridan nodded. “Ligeia remains. Poel went to the depths and never returned. The others disappeared years ago like many others. And unlike some of those zealots, she doesn’t want to go to go down there.”
“Why would anyone want to go?”
“The Kroan especially dedicate themselves to the father. They’re more religious than most. Some prepare their whole lives to give themselves to him in whatever way he pleases, but many fear him and his sons as we do.”
“You call serving these creatures a religion?”
“There are some that don’t believe in Akareth. So, yes.”
“Do you believe in him?”
“I’ve seen enough to knowsomethingis down there that changes us. Once returned, something is forever missing. The returned feel nothing. It is said that looking upon the face of Akareth will tear the mind and soul apart and while some see it as a great cleansing, others fear it. And perhaps it is because Dahlia has never been down there that she is still as kind-hearted as she is, even when her sympathies got her people killed. When a child of Akareth grows in a woman’s womb, it creates a hole that cannot be refilled and we are tricked into thinking we are stronger for it. That the empty space is for the father. In truth, I believe every mother resents her child for what she lost.”
“Do all sirens believe this?”
“No. But her people did. Do you ever wonder why it is the Kroan of all sirens that choose to meet you in every battle? They are bloodthirsty and broken creatures. They are the closest to Akareth inspirit, it is said.” Her eyes turned to the semi-conscious Dahlia. “She has a sliver of light in her that you should be very glad still exists. None existed in her mother. She had only enough room in her soul to care for Dahlia in the end. And I believe even that is something Dahlia’s been lying to herself about her whole life.”
Everything she said chilled me. I realized my understanding of her people was not nearly as sound as I had believed it to be.
“Have you been down there?”
“There’d be no mercy in me if I had, Vidar. Though, sometimes I think being stripped of feeling would be easier.”
“You truly believe that? Would you go down there if you were called?”
She paused, narrowing her eyes at me. “I don’t believe I’ll be called. I am different.”
“How?”
“My father was human.”
I had to repeat those words a few times in my head to truly hear them.
