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His feet follow, and everyone on the ship quiets, watching him. “Now what?” he asks as he rises to his full height. “Am I to face a firing squad? Be imprisoned till the day I die? You don’t have—”
His words are stopped by a fiery-red blur crashing into him. They crack through the wooden railing and topple off the side of the ship, a tangle of limbs and hair and my father’s shouts.
As soon as they hit the water, I know I will not see my father alive again.
The water churns violently as Kalligan tries to claw his wayto the surface. There’s a muffled, watery scream, a sound I’ve never heard him make before. My mother pulls him deeper. The water folds into place as their dark shadows fall away.
One,
two,
three bubbles.
And all is still.
The pirate king’s reign has come to an end.
***
The cheering is ear-shattering. It mixes with the songs of hundreds of sirens, shaking the ship from under the water. The girls rush one another, tangling themselves in ferocious hugs. We’re alive. We’re still alive and the king is dead.
For one, brief moment, I mourn the man I thought my father to be. I mourn the rare embraces, the words of comfort and encouragement. I mourn the man who taught me to fight. Who set an example of leadership. Who showed me the joys to be had in a life on the sea.
I mourn him, and then I remember the ultimate choice he made. He wanted control and power. Nothing more. He did not know how to love, only to use what he had to get what he wanted.
So I mourn the man I once believed my father to be.
And then I let him go.
I throw myself at Mandsy, hugging her with as much strength as I dare without crushing her or jostling my own injured arm too much. Soon Enwen joins us, looping his arms around both of us. A relieved laugh escapes me as I lookaround at all the happy faces. Even Sorinda doesn’t shrug away from the embraces that come her way. Until Kearan tries, that is.
As soon as Enwen and Mandsy leave me to celebrate with others, my eyes scan for the next closest person.
They land on Riden.
The look we share seems to crackle with its own energy. Suddenly he’s not standing over there. He’s here. Right in front of me. Until he’s so close that I can’t see him at all.
My eyes close as he presses his lips to mine. And though it is nowhere near our first kiss, it feels brand new. Neither of us is burdened down. Draxen is not here to keep us apart. My father cannot terrorize us. Even the threat of death doesn’t hang over our heads.
This kiss feels honest. It feels real.
And I don’t ever want it to feel differently.
Chapter 24
WON’T YOU STAYwith me?my mother begs for the tenth time that hour. We’ve spent days together under the water, talking, singing. My aunt, Arianna-leren, stands next to her. Now that we’re not under a time constraint, my mother made the introductions. Arianna-leren is a beauty with gold locks that pool around her in waves even thicker than mine.
The sirens no longer treat me as an outcast now that the pirates have been defeated.
You know I can’t,I say.I’ve stayed too long as it is.
But Kalligan is dead. He is no longer a threat. I’ve added his gold to the hoard.
I look down at the sand.
The sirens have so few cares.
They do not need to eat. The ocean nourishes them. They do not need clothing or shelter. There is nothing that can harm them so long as they stay underwater. Time is not something they concern themselves with. Their lives last twice as long as a human’s. While my mother has said I will likely keep my youthful appearance my whole life, my life span is likely to be as long as a human’s, since I will spend most of my life living as one.
