Page 58 of Gods of the Sea

I turned to him, opening my mouth to say something, then shutting it again. It was like my soul shut down every time I even thought of the words. I couldn’t bring them past my lips.

He sighed, chewing his bottom lip and shaking his head to himself. He stared out onto the water, his eyes getting heavy along with his shoulders.

“We’re nearly to the Eros,” he said flatly. “Once we arrive and the stone is in my hand, you can take your husband and live whatever life you choose.”

The words were a promise of freedom, but they were so sharp that it felt more like an attack than a reward. Before I could ask any questions, Adrian spun on his heel and went back to his room, slamming the door shut behind him.

CHAPTER 18—WAITER

“I can’t believe you threw me overboard, Luc.”

Now that I had recovered from Jacques’s attack on the ship and the deaths that had followed from it, I felt revitalized enough to yell at Luc in the way he deserved.

Luc stopped stirring the soup as he looked over at me, pulling his lips to the side.

“I told you that you were perfectly safe, didn’t I?” he replied, not as guilty as I wanted him to be. “You bobbed right up. Just like I said.”

“I didn’t bob up! I was thrown in the air! By some—”

I stopped. I hadn’t told anyone what I had seen in the water. I had spent the last few days processing all the events that had unfolded since Jacques’s attack on the ship, and quite frankly, I had no idea how to tell anyone what I had seen.

“Luc,” I said, tugging on his sleeve. “I saw something. Something in the water that day.”

He put down his spoon, turning to face me with focused eyes. “What was it?”

I ticked my head back and forth as I tried to remember. “It was some sort of spirit. Some sort of water creature made of…what? Bubbles and pearls?”

Luc smiled. “The merfolk. They’re back in the water.”

“Merfolk? Aren’t they supposed to be fish?”

“In full form, yes.”

He said it like I was supposed to know the difference betweenfull formand whatever the alternative to that was.

“So what does that mean?” I asked.

He chuckled darkly and went back to his soup. “It means all the bad eggs need to stay on board.”

I grabbed his sleeve and shook it. “I’m serious, Luc.”

“So am I.”

“Why didn’t it attack me?” I asked. “Well, it did throw me up in the air once, for no apparent reason, but it mostly just stared at me. I thought it was supposed to drag me down into hell?”

Luc wiped his hands on his apron, looking deeply into his pot. He licked his lips, turning his head over to look at me again, his eyes narrowed.

“What is it?” I asked, unnerved by his gaze.

With a breath, he shook his head and moved on to one of the counters to slice some carrots.

“Nothing,” he said. “The fact is, if a merfolk looked at you and didn’t try to take you, it means you have nothing to worry about.”

“Take me? Take me where?”

“If a siren or a merfolk declares you evil, they will take you to the Den of Sirens to be tried.”

I was genuinely confused. “A trial? The spirit world has such a thing?”

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