Page 110 of Wicked Tides
“Always searching for new knowledge.”
“Always.”
“Why learn about us when you just intend to kill us?”
“I take it you’ve never heard the saying, ‘Know thine enemy,’ before.” I shrugged in response. “My father thought he knew his enemies. It got a lot of men killed.”
My eyes wandered for a moment, thinking back on that day. “I didn’t know my enemy, either. I didn’t know how cunning he could be until I unlocked his little cage.”
“Deep down, we both know we cannot blame each other for what happened that day.”
“And yet we’ve held onto it for eighteen years, letting it kill us and keep us alive at the same time.”
Vidar scrubbed his face, taking another long look at the walls of the tunnel.
“Well, it’s been exhausting. I’m here to make sense of things,” he sighed, picking up a stick and breaking off little pieces to toss in the flames of his campfire.
“What things are you trying to make sense of?”
“You, for starters. You defy everything I’ve ever known. It was all black and white before I saw you on that cursed island. Sirens were creatures of evil. We were the ones to rid the world of them. Deep down, I knew you weren’t like the rest. Not yet. And I used that to my advantage to survive.”
“I am like the rest now.”
He snorted, running a hand over his hair. “I’ve never met a daughter of the sea that has to convince herself so often that she is awful.”
“Awful creatures can do good things and still be awful.”
“Then I am no less awful than you. You, Dahlia, are an enigma. Born from the vilest creatures to ever rule the seas and yet you released a boy from a cage so he would not get eaten. You saved young girls from men and sailed with your greatest enemy to see them to safety. You freed my… David from certain death when you could have let him drown to spite me.”
“Are you here to reason that I am a virtuous person under the ugliness, Vidar?” I said, glimpsing the walls. “Do you see these carvings and wonder if I am not the monster you’ve always thought me to be because the Maruhk somehow avoid war with humans?”
He tossed his stick into the flames with a groan and shook his head. “Perhaps I am.”
“The Maruhk are sirens, but they are not the Kroan. Just like your nuns and priests are human, but they are not hunters.”
“And what are you?”
Our eyes locked and I opened my mouth to defend myself only to find that words had abandoned me. I was no more Kroan than he was. I was nothing. I was just… me.
I understood myself just about as much as Vidar did. After the time I’d spent with him and his crew and with the girls, I was starting to think it felt nice not to be looked at like an evil menace.
“You should go back. It is cold out here,” he said flatly.
“I don’t need—"
“I know. Your warmth is deep, as you said.”
I pulled my coat tighter around me, leaning in toward the heat of the flames.
“My warmth is deep,” I spoke, pausing a moment to wonder if I should go on. “My heart is even deeper.” I lifted my eyes to meet Vidar’s again, a knot in my chest making it hard to think. “But it’s there, I assure you. Buried beneath armor far thicker than your own.”
I lost myself in his eyes and he in mine as if some thin shroud had been lifted and our vision was clearing. Vidar was the first to divert his gaze only to toss another stick into the flames. A flurry of red sparks flew up between us.
He cleared his throat and spoke softly. “Would you ever tell me how to get through that armor?”
My stare remained on his face, which had become blurred by smoke. “No.”
He smirked faintly. “So, I’ll have to figure it out on my own then.”
