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The siren’s eyes opened wide. “Cepharius...is all of this...true?” she asked—at the same time I could sense her going through our memories, all of the time since she’d seen Ceph last, both in his mind and mine, up until this morning.
“Is she not proof of it?” Cepharius asked, winding a few of his lower-arms around me protectively.
“Wow,” the man’s voice said with wonder. “That is . . . something else.”
I looked up with horror. I was only barely able to make out the shadow of a boat above us. Was he going to tell anyone?
“If you will give me a moment,” Omara said, disconnecting from our ’qa, while her eyes were still protected with white.
“What’s happening, Ceph?” I whispered to him.
“I am unsure,” he said. “All I know is that no force on earth can take you away from me—and no force from outer space, either.”
“All right,” the siren announced, rejoining us at the same time as the man’s mind did—this Royce, that Ceph already knew.
“I’m in a bit of a difficult situation up here, Cepharius. None of which is because of you—I see how things went down. You did the best you could, in an incredibly difficult situation.”
“Thank you,” Ceph said, while staying tense.
“But—Arcus Marlow wants to know how he spent his money. And it seems like everyone who could’ve told him that—or what happened to his spaceship—is dead. Except for you, Doctor Kepzler.”
I shied away further behind Ceph.
“Do not fear,” Omara said, putting a hand out to calm me. “We are decided.”
“We?” I asked.
“Yes,” the man responded. “But first off, are you absolutely certain you want to stay down there, Doctor?”
“Yes,” I answered instantly, and meant it with all of my heart.
“Because there’s not going to be any way to come back from this,” he went on, but the siren interrupted him.
“Get on with it, Royce. The girl knows what she wants,” she said, giving me a smile that revealed a row of sharp teeth.
“Okay. Here’s how this is going to go—it turns out you died down there, Doctor. And Cepharius. The both of you. It was an incredible tragedy.”
I frowned at Ceph, not entirely understanding.
“And what happens now is you swim away,” the siren said.
“But—he knows what happened,” I said. I remembered Donna’s warning about telepathic species—surely Arcus Marlow could hire some other similar monster to tease this Royce’s mind open and figure the truth out.
“Not for long,” Omara promised. “Because once you leave, I will erase his memory of this moment ever happening. He will be unable to tell anyone.”
I could feel Ceph’s astonishment at this. “He would allow you to do that?”
“Honestly, I could give a shit about you two, but not knowing will make my life easier, plus it’ll make her happy. For some reason Omara likes to believe in true love.” We both felt a wave of strong affection from the human above—but not for us, for the siren. “Just as long as you’re sure about this, Doctor. Because once I forget this conversation and Omara tells me that you died, I’m going to take it at face value. Your obituary will be posted before my ship even gets back.”
There was no point in hiding my elation. “Tell them I died doing what I loved,” I told him, and he laughed.
“Okay. Nice to meet you, and hope I never see you—either of you—again. Omara? Can you—” he went on.
Omara removed him from our ’qa, then took my hand in hers. “I would ask if you’re sure, but I already know,” she said, smiling, looking between the two of us. “I wish you both the best.
chapter 70
ELLE
