Page 66 of Wicked Tides
There is one thing that can destroy as easily as it can create
And that is trust.
~Unknown
Vidar took me back down to the cell where Meridan was now awake and sitting against the wall. Our eyes met for a moment as Vidar stepped in with the keys and unlocked the gate. Meridan stood, watching as he opened it and stepped aside. Her gaze flicked toward me with concern and I just gestured with my chin, coaxing her out.
“What is happening?” she asked.
“Merilyn,” Vidar greeted with a sigh. “Dahlia will explain.”
“Meridan,” I corrected.
“That’s what I said,” he spoke over his shoulder, making his way back up the steps and leaving us both alone.
Meridan’s lips were parted with shock. She stood just inside the open cell, waiting for an explanation.
“We can’t go back in the water,” I said simply. “I believe Vidar and I have agreed not to kill each other until we understand what is truly going on.”
“You believe?”
“It was unclear,” I rolled my eyes. “But this, as ridiculous as it sounds, is the safest place we can be.”
“Is it because you were attacked on that beach?”
I nodded. “And because of what happened to our sisters.”
I stepped back into the cell. Vidar hadn’t told us we could sleep anywhere else, so I slumped down against the wall with a quiet groan. Meridan sat down beside me, waiting for me to keep talking.
“What really happened?”
“She tried to kill me,” I explained. “A Kroan.”
“They’ve tried to kill you before.”
“This time it felt different. Men try to kill us. The sons. Our sisters. I don’t know what side I’ve been fighting for all these years.”
“Our side.”
“Voel and Kea are dead, Meri. Linya died just last year to hunters. The tides are changing. I feel it. We’ve been killing each other for so long, but the sons coming from the depths twist everything up. And we cannot fight a war with just the two of us.”
“Then we run. We go far out to sea. To the other side of the world. I don’t care.”
“I can’t. I don’t deserve peace. I deserve to see the end of this wretched road. I deserve to stay on these wicked tides, being tossed this way and that.”
“But Vidar is on the same tide and you’ve been harboring your hatred for him all these years. Take your vengeance. You’ve done it.” She gestured toward the open gate. “You’ve made him trust you. This is the time you’ve been waiting for. Take their silentiums and bend them to your will.”
I thought about him and the things he said. I had nowhere to go. The safest place truly was on his gods forsaken ship.
I never thought it could come to such a thing.
“I can’t,” I whispered.
“Why?” Meridan hissed. She scooted closer to me, speaking in hushed tones. “You showed mercy to him once before. In that cage.He’s manipulating you again. You’re weak to him and he will use that to destroy you all over again.”
Her words stung. I’d considered that idea numerous times just walking from his cabin to the cell. I was still considering it. It angered me to think it could be possible that he was using me all over again, but what he’d said was just as true. We were stuck. We were enemies to our own kind. Enemies to man. Enemies to ourselves if we could not be smart. But Vidar had fought the sons once and survived. He’d fought others like me. He was strong and if we stayed on his good side (or as close to it as possible) we might just survive long enough to be the victors in the end.
“I have no reason to love our sisters anymore,” I admitted. “They’ve declared me as worthy of death as they consider humans to be. And now the sons wreak havoc on our home. The waves will see more blood very soon. I stayed loyal to them for years, Meri.” I ran my fingers over the newly healed claw marks on my chest. “But I believe I’m realizing just how alone we’ve been. There is nothing to cling to. It is you and me and that is it in the end.”
