Page 59 of Blood of the Sirens
I told my instincts to shut up, and swam back to my clan. The trip was long, and I was already exhausted from everything that had happened. Our clan village was much closer to the surface, forcing me to swim up and up, adding to the ache in my muscles. I kept close to the surface for safety, just like they’d taught us. It made it easier to escape large predators. Soon enough, the ocean floor slanted upward, covered in the flowing red algae that indicated I was close. It swayed softly under the water, calm and soothing.
I hoped my father was alone. I drew up close by the door, smelling over twenty old mers.
Fuck,as Jesse would say.
He wasn’t alone. And not only that, but he was also with the entire council of elders.
I steeled my nerves, and straightened my shoulders. Perhaps this would be for the best. If I could get all the elders to agree to protect Jesse, they could control the younger mers.
I swam through the door, trying to look confident.
Gastor, the leader of the Jackfish clan, had been talking. He shut his mouth immediately as I strode through, the shark tooth necklace around his neck clinking loudly as it bobbed and flowed through his wild gesticulations.
“Where is she?” my father demanded, before anyone else could.
So much for subtlety. My chin snapped up, my fins flaring out in an unconscious gesture of trying to appear larger than I really was. I couldn’t even control it. My face flushed, and I struggled to keep my anger in control.
“Hidden, her scent concealed,” I replied. “You will not find her without me.”
The other elders growled. I wasn’t sure why I had been convinced they would help me. Of course they’d rather find Jesse and claim her for themselves and their own clan. Who wouldn’t? And what if Jesse liked one of them better?
The thought deflated me, and for half a second I considered leading them to her. She should have a choice after all, shouldn’t she?
“My clan will give you all of our wealth and our five guppies for the female,” Oran shot out, turning his attention to my father.
I jerked back, shocked.Give away guppies?
“Why limit her to one clan?” shouted another elder with white scales, whose name escaped me. “We will all make payment to your clan and we can all share her. Then all of us benefit.”
Rage erupted in my veins and before I knew what I was doing I’d pumped my tail and shot across the room, my handsand claws wrapped around the elder’s neck. Scales flashed and tails thwacked against my body as they forcibly removed me, still hissing and spitting.
“He reeks ofher. His pheromones are everywhere.”
I didn’t know who was speaking. It didn’t matter. All of them would bleed for suggesting they pass Jesse around like a prized breeding cow. I’d rip out all of their throats before they touched her.
“Where are the others?” I asked sharply, noting the absence of their scent in the water around the village.
My father arched an eyebrow. “You said there was another siren born on land. We sent them hunting while we decided what to do with the actual siren in our midst.”
It would be smart to let them think they had any say in what Jesse did or didn’t do. Unfortunately, my instincts were louder than my brain.
“She’d rather die than get near any of you,” I sneered before I could think better of it.
My father’s eyes narrowed, and the sharp tang of fury flooded the surrounding water. Not just from him but from every clan leader I’d just insulted.
I swallowed heavily, but held my ground. Maybe I could distract them.
“We met the sea witch. She seems to know a lot about what happened to the sirens. If we ask her—”
“The what?” my father asked, incredulous.
“Sea witch,” I answered back. “She had an old mer with him, but something was wrong with him. His scales were black, and—”
“He speaks nonsense. He’s gone mad. He’s not fit for a female!” Aris’s father, of course.
“She’s already sunk her teeth into him; he won’t give upanything unless we force it,” Gastor helpfully added as the elders tightened in a circle around me.
My father’s eyes widened in alarm, but he did nothing to stop them and their voices came at once.
