Page 17 of The Withering Dawn
“Come, Henry,” I said as I moved up the steps. “I need to addressthe crew. That means you, too.”
Two dozen of my crewmen stood before me on the deck. The storm was beginning to calm and the rain had become a light sprinkle. I stood at the edge of the quarterdeck overlooking the men and leaned forward on the railing with a sigh. It was early and my men looked ready to hear the plans.
“We’re heading to port, but only for provisions,” I announced.
The men exchanged glances and Cathal watched, his eyes keenly searching for suspicious disagreement in their demeanors. He was good at that.
“We sellin’ the siren?” someone asked.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, coming to terms with my decision.
“No,” I said.
The men shifted their weight. Raised their brows. I could tell they were going to question me and I didn’t have much to say beyond that I didn’t think Aeris deserved to be sold.
“What are we doing with her, then?” someone else asked. “We can’t keep a siren on the ship, can we?”
“She’ll eat us all the first chance she gets. Heard stories, I have. The only good siren is a dead one.”
“When we get to port, anyone who disagrees with this decision is free to leave and enlist with another crew,” I announced.
“Treson Harbor has a lucrative market for things like her,” Henry spoke up. “You could get a fair amount of coin for a living specimen there.”
“She’s not a specimen and we already got a fair amount of coin from the Perry Smith.”
“With all due respect, captain. She is not a woman.”
“With all due respect,doctor,” Cathal cut in. “She saved our cap’n from the water. It’s his choice what he does with her.”
“It is not a crime to have a voice on my ship,” I said, looking Henry in the eyes as I walked down the steps. “But like I said. If you do not like my decision, you can find work at the next port.”
Henry swallowed, looking at me over the rim of his glasses. “I am only stating that her kind is very manipulative. This could all be a ploy and you’re playing into it.”
“What would you do? Sell her? Kill her?”
He shrugged. “I would study her. What I find could prove instrumental to those in the business of hunting sirens.”
“You want to cut her open. On my ship.”
“If you would allow—”
“No.”
He shook his head with the beginnings of a humorless laugh. “You are falling for her charms. There is no other reason you would have willingly unlocked her cell and gone in there and kissed—"
I clutched the front of Henry’s vest and spun him around, shoving him against the wall below the helm. He raised his hands in surrender, turning his face down like a dog who’d just been slammed to the ground by a wolf.
“You what?” Cathal asked.
I released Henry with a growl and stepped back to look him.
“It was nothing.”
“How was it nothing when you were in her cell?” Henry said, straightening his vest. “She is a foul creature. They all are.”
“Ye’ve never even seen one before her,” Cathal pointed out, folding his arms over his broad chest.
“Which is why my studies could—”
