Page 14 of Vasmora

Damn it!

“Rykaia, your heirloom …”

“What about it?” Her head bobbed just above the water as she seemed to weaken.

“Offer it to her.”

She frowned, her lip peeled back in contempt. “I’m not offering my mother’s ring to this vicious cunt. I’d sooner watch her try to eat me alive.” She lifted the blade higher, and the Syrenian tipped her head, eyes twinkling with what looked like a strange fascination. Before Rykaia could so much as swing out at her, the sea matriarch slipped through the water before coming up behind her and making a clicking sound. A warning, while she buried her nose in Rykaia’s hair, inhaling her.

Body rigid, Rykaia clenched her jaw. “You try anything …”

Two more Syrenians, perhaps seconds in command, swam closer.

“Rykaia, for gods’ sake, she will incite a feeding frenzy if we don’t offer her something,” Dolion urged. “It will mean more coming from you, as you’ve injured one of hers.”

The matriarch’s gaze snapped to Dolion, her lips peeling back to show sharp teeth that could chew through his flesh with ease.

Rykaia swallowed hard. “Fine. Fine!” Blade still caught in her hand, she tugged at the ring, seeming to struggle at first, her fingers likely swollen from the cold. The jewelry finally popped off her finger. “You want it? Go fetch it, fishface.” She tossed it into the water, and like lightning, the Syrenian darted after it.

Torryn let out a chuckle, struggling less than before in the calmer water. “That’s my girl.”

“I have no doubt that ignorant stunt pissed her off.” Allura glared back at Rykaia. “Must you always be so stubborn!”

“Yes. I just gave up the last thing I had belonging to my mother. A ring meant to be passed down to my own daughter someday. I’m a little pissed myself, thank you!”

The Syrenian emerged from below, gliding toward Rykaia once more with the ring held up.

“Of course she found it,” she muttered.

“Nyi’gutzfuma yezi,” the Syrenian said toward Rykaia in what would’ve been a series of aquatic clicks and strange sounds to the rest of the group, but Dolion had studied their language as an elective in the House of Sages. Perhaps the most important moon segment of his life, looking back. Ring captured in her palm, she held it to Rykaia’s head.

“What is this?” Rykaia frowned back at her, swatting at her arm. “Don’t touch me.”

“She’s asking for you instead of the heirloom.”

A chuckle flew out of Rykaia, only to be broken by a cough. “What? Me? As in, supper?”

“No.” Dolion cleared his throat. “As in one of her … pods.”

“What’s a pod?”

“A rather large group she mates with regularly.”

Rykaia’s jaw dropped open with her laugh. “She wants to fuck me?” She reached for the Syrenian’s arm in a way that almost looked tender for a moment, then pressed the matriarch’s clutched fist to her bare breasts. “Keep the ring.”

Ignoring her, the Syrenian let out a guttural purr. As she reached below the water’s surface, a pale blue light glowed, illuminating where she’d placed her hand against Rykaia’s belly.

“Stop that!” Rykaia said, attempting to swat her away again. “That feels … strange.”

The Syrenian let out a low growl and turned her attention toward Torryn. “Nglut za’ruhjte hotzua?” Who did this? The matriarch snarled and jerked her head toward Torryn, hissing and clicking her tongue in a threatening gesture. “Ent’chyawe leu’kho ruvunbu sutj uza’lo?” Was it you who put rot in her womb? She thumped her long, webbed fingers into his chest hard enough that it knocked Torryn back a few strokes.

“Hey! Don’t touch him!” Rykaia growled and sent a splash of water toward the matriarch’s face, yet it didn’t seem to bother her, when she set her gaze on Torryn again.

Dolion lurched toward the matriarch, shaking his head. “Nyi ent’chyate hotzu.” He did not do this. “Kabunyé hotzi.” Others did this to her. Dolion gestured to his hair. “Se’byo gaua.” The golden-haired.

The matriarch’s gaze snapped away, brow pinched with anger, but her eyes wavered with a mist of tears. There was nothing more sacred to the Syrenians than a woman’s womb, after all.

Life. Fertility. Legacy.