31. Kaden

Chapter 31

Kaden

A rush of panic grips me as I hold Sasha in my arms, her body limp and unresponsive. The transformation is complete—her scales shimmer in the water, the claws have vanished, and she's back to her mermaid form.

Yet she's not responsive!

What if it's too late? What if I've lost her forever?

"Sasha, don't do this to me. You better not fucking leave me!"

Dread consumes me, and in my desperation, I barely register the signs of a vision coming. I've never hated the damn thing more than I do now.

"Fuck no, not fucking now!" I shout into the void as the world spins around me, dissolving into darkness.

I 'm standing at the front of the mansion. Authorities in crisp, dark navy uniforms surround my grandfather, their expressions stern, weapons drawn, charged with magic.

My chest tightens with dread at the scene in front of me.

Nearby, Nixi clings to my grandfather, tears streaming down her face. "Don't take him! He hasn't done anything wrong."

The lead officer steps toward my grandfather, meeting his gaze. "You are under arrest for running an illegal racket, for forcing mermaids into sirens, and for orchestrating horrendous killings and crimes through them."

Stunned, my grandfather stares at them, eyes wide with disbelief. Shock etches into his features. "You've got the wrong person!" he bellows. "I have no such ability! It's Lilia Acker—she's the one with the power to do this!"

Nixi is beside herself, sobbing uncontrollably. She clutches his arm, trying to shield him with her presence. My grandfather's rage burns like wildfire, his face reddening.

A guard jabs my grandfather with a weapon that zaps him with magic, his body convulsing violently as he drops to his knees. Nixi screams, a heart-wrenching sound, as they drag him away, two more guards snapping a metal brace around his neck.

My heart pounds in my chest, anger boiling inside me. I watch in horror, wanting to intervene, but I'm powerless to do anything but witness.

"Release me!" he roars, struggling against the guards. "It's Lilia! She's framing me!"

"There will be no hearing for your crimes," the officer in charge states with no remorse. "You are going straight to Tartarus Prison," the officer commands.

My stomach drops, and the rage within me intensifies. My grandfather tried to redeem himself, and it cost him everything. He was far from perfect, but he didn't deserve this. I want to scream, to tear down the very sky in fury at how everything crumbled around him, how the world he tried to escape from swallowed him whole. And that payment ended up being something my parents and I paid for as well by being born in Tartarus.

As they shove him away, I catch movement in the shadows by the trees. There, watching it all unfold with a twisted smile, is Lilia. That fucking bitch! Of course, she backstabbed him, orchestrating his downfall and sending him to Tartarus.

Thinking back, it all makes sense. Her jealousy destroyed so many lives!

In front of me, my grandfather fights with every ounce of strength he has left. The guards use their weapons relentlessly, driving him back to the ground. Nixi stands there, screaming for them to stop hurting him, her voice raw and desperate.

T he vision darkens, fading away like smoke in the wind, and I'm plunged back into the ocean. Disoriented, I float in the cold, dark water. I glance around, whipping around on the spot, to find no sign of Sasha or my pendant.

Despair engulfs me, a suffocating weight dragging me down into the depths. The ocean presses in from all sides. The vision lingers in my mind, a haunting reminder of everything I've lost, everything I might still lose.

But I can't lose Sasha. I refuse to let this be the end.

Blinking away the water and the tears that mix with the salt, I force myself to focus.

Fire ignites within me. I kick hard, surging upward, breaking through the surface, and instantly, I hear Sasha's voice from the boat. From my distance, I can't make out her words, but she's on the ship… Why the hell did she return?

I haul myself up the side of the boat, the metal cold beneath my fingers, keeping low as I peer over the railing. Night cloaks part of the deck, but there are lights strung across the back of the boat, casting a sickly yellow glow over the scene.

There she is. Lilia, hands on her hips, with that sneering, arrogant look on her face. Rage boils inside me at the sight of her, my muscles coiling tight with the desire to leap over the side and rip her to pieces. But I know she deserves worse, much worse.

Farther back, near the stern, I notice Sasha. My heart lurches at the sight of her in her human form, surrounded by several other women. One of them makes me do a double take—a woman who looks just like Sasha but older.

Realization hits me like a punch to the gut—her mother. The woman Sasha feared she'd become like. I take a steadying breath, my mind racing as I take in the scene.

Lilia's voice cuts through the night, sharp and commanding.

"Tomorrow, we'll cross paths with the Queen's Fortune ship." Her words are dripping with malicious glee. "It'll require all five of you to take it over. Sasha, you'll lead, with your mother guiding you."

My heart clenches at the way none of the sirens react. They sit, faces blank, like puppets waiting for strings to be pulled. There's only one guard sitting among them, his attention on Lilia. The others must be inside, but I don't care about them. My focus is on Sasha, sitting stiffly next to her mother, hands in her lap.

The charm, my precious pendant, is nowhere to be seen. I can't tear my eyes away from her. Back in the water, I could have sworn I saw her mermaid form. But here, in human form, I can't tell if she's back to herself or still under the siren's curse. It gnaws at me, the fear that I failed her, that I didn't do enough.

I wait a bit longer, biding my time, watching as Lilia turns her back, speaking to someone inside before heading in. This is my chance. I swim around the boat quietly to the side where the guard is seated among the women.

I climb up onto the boat and over the railing behind him, snatching him into a headlock and squeezing tight. He thrashes, his fists beating against my arms, but I hold firm, hissing curses under my breath. None of the women pay attention, not even Sasha. It's like they don't see me or don't care.

My little mermaid. I'm going to save you, and we're going to try again. I'll die trying to bring you back to me.

The man goes limp in my arms, and I drag him overboard, letting him slip silently into the water. I take a deep breath, glancing around to make sure no one else saw.

Now's my chance. I dart past the empty chair, leaping toward Lilia. She has to die. Until then, Sasha will always be in danger. I rush at Lilia just as she turns, her eyes widening in surprise. But a guard comes charging out from the side, gun drawn.

A bullet tears through the air, hitting me square in the arm. Pain explodes, sharp and excruciating. I grit my teeth against the agony, growling through clenched teeth.

"You fucker," I snarl, but I don't stop. I don't care about the pain, about the blood dripping down my arm. All I care about is ending Lilia.

I slam into her, knocking her off her feet. She goes down hard, crying out as I land on her, but I don't let up. The bullet's sharpness is killing me, but I took it so she wouldn't escape.

I'm on top of her, fists to her face, mostly to keep her down. I get up in seconds, wrenching her up by the hair and shoving her in front of me as a shield from the two gunmen who are now facing me. I smile at them. Fuck, my arm stings so bad, but I push past that.

"Step out of my way, or you'll regret it." I hold Lilia, and she's stumbling, groaning, holding the side of her face that's bleeding from my hits. "And don't try anything, or I'll snap your neck," I threaten her.

One of the men approaches me, and I hear the groan of steps behind me.

But I warned them.

My tentacles burst out from my back, striking out simultaneously with brutal precision. The man behind me is slammed in the face, sent crashing into a window, shattering the glass as he tumbles overboard with a splash. The ones in front of me barely have time to react.

I whip a tentacle into the face of the first man with the gun, sending him sprawling backward. His weapon clatters to the deck as he hits his head on the side of the boat, unconscious before he even hits the ground.

The third is suspended in midair, dangling upside down by his ankle in my grasp, his screams cutting through the chaos. I give him a good shake, watching as his gun slips from his fingers, tumbling uselessly into the ocean.

With one powerful toss, I hurl him out into the open water. He arcs through the air, disappearing from sight, his screams fading into the distance.

"Now, where were we?"

Lilia laughs. "You think you can save your precious Sasha?" She spits the words. "She's mine now, Kaden. And if you kill me, she will still be lost to you. That gives me so much satisfaction because, after all these years, I still hate your grandfather, and that includes you. But if you're smart, you'll keep me alive because maybe I can help you with getting her back."

"Shut the fuck up!"

The rest of the sirens rise as if commanded, moving toward me like specters in the dim light. I shove them away with my limbs, holding them at bay, careful not to hurt them. They are the innocents in this, victims of Lilia's cruelty. But they keep fighting, slashing at my tentacles with their claws, biting into me like damn beasts. Sasha ducks beneath one of my tentacles, darting across the deck so fast it startles me.

"Sasha!" I call out, panic seizing my chest.

Lilia's chuckle cuts through the air, a chilling sound that raises the hair on my arms.

"Kill him, Sasha." Her voice is poisonous. "End this now!"

Heart in my throat, my tentacles coil in preparation, but I hesitate. Instinct screams at me to defend myself, to strike before I'm struck, but the thought of hurting Sasha is a knife twisting in my gut. I can't bring myself to harm her.

Then I see it—a glint of something in her hand. The pendant. In that split second, Lilia stiffens, her confidence faltering. She must have seen it, too.

"Sasha, stop!" Lilia bellows, her voice rippling through the air with the force of a command. "I command you!"

Sasha grins, a defiant light in her eyes, and I want to kiss her so much my heart aches. Under the boat, our kiss, our pendant—it worked. Somehow, it brought her back. Here she is, my girl, faking still being under Lilia's control until the moment came to strike.

Her stoic expression breaks into a grin, and in a heartbeat, she rushes at Lilia with a determined ferocity. Her movements are a blur. In one fluid motion, she slashes the pendant across Lilia's throat, a trail of crimson following in its wake.

A gurgled scream tears from Lilia's lips as she stumbles into me. Her hands fly to her throat, trying to stem the flow of blood, but it's too late.

I shove her aside, and she falls over.

Sasha stands over her, panting. "You won't control me anymore," she says, her voice strong and unwavering. "Not now. Not ever."

Lilia's body shudders on the deck, blood pooling around her. Her eyes fix on Sasha, a final flicker of defiance burning out as life drains from her.

A part of me is disappointed I couldn't deliver the final blow myself. But seeing her writhing there, dying slowly, her life draining away, there's a certain satisfaction in knowing she's finally suffering, finally going to face the darkness she wrought upon so many.

"Die, bitch!" I growl.

Sasha grins.

The pendant Sasha used to kill her lies nearby, covered in blood, its sharp ends glistening with the crimson that had torn her throat apart.

A surge of magic rises out from Lilia's mouth, dark and thick like smoke. As she chokes and bleeds out, the energy pours from her faster, threading and spiraling out in five directions. It funnels into the four sirens on the deck, each thread seeking its target, curling around them, seeping into their being, and another strand spears off the boat into the night. Most likely to other sirens she's cursed.

The sirens on the boat stumble, blinking as though waking from a long nightmare. They appear to be shaking off the curse that had them under Lilia's control, but while they look lost, they are still dark sirens, still trapped souls. Three of the sirens glance around frantically and jump overboard, vanishing beneath the waves.

Sasha's mom remains, staring at her with a sense of recognition and something deeper. My understanding is that sirens still remember some elements from their lives, even if they may slowly forget emotions over time. She looks at Sasha as if she remembers, as though she misses her.

"Mom," Sasha says, stumbling toward her.

Her mom blinks at her, and I step closer behind Sasha's back, just in case. Sirens are unpredictable, and while her mother may not remember much, the natural darkness of their form still lingers.

"I forgive you, Mom," Sasha finally says, her voice breaking. She sniffles and wipes at her cheeks. I hold on to her shoulders, letting her know I'm behind her, supporting her.

Her mom stares at her, her expression filled with something akin to sorrow. "I will always think of you." Then she dives into the water, vanishing into the depths.

Sasha rushes to the railing, staring down into the pitch-black ocean. I'm at her side, embracing her with my good arm. She turns and cries into my chest, her body racked with sobs, and my insides are breaking for her.

Around us is death, chaos in the making for centuries, so much hatred and jealousy, and it's finally come to an end. I left Tartarus to do two things—find my fated mate and discover who put my grandfather there. I have those now, coming at a huge cost, but with Sasha by my side, it's something I won't ever regret.

"You did incredible today," I whisper to her, and she glances up at me, tears in her eyes. It kills me to see her this way.

"I'm so happy," she says, voice cracking with emotion.

"Oh, you are?" I question, reaching up to wipe some tears away from under her eyes.

"I got to see my mom again, knowing that she's out there, but she's no longer trapped. I know she didn't kill my father of her own doing…"

I nod, understanding the bittersweet relief she's feeling. It's a small comfort, but a comfort nonetheless.

"I don't think I'll forget today for a long time," she continues. "But most importantly, you saved me, Kaden." She grins, reaching up to kiss me. "I have no idea how you worked out how to bring me back from being a siren, but is there a chance we can use it on my mother, on other sirens?"

I shake my head, the weight of the truth heavy on my shoulders. "The magic only works on those turned within twenty-four hours and only by those true of heart," I smirk, trying to lighten the mood. "That's me." I pat my chest.

She's laughing and crying.

I lift her into my arms. "I've got you now, Sasha, and you want to know something?"

"Yeah, what's that?" she asks, giving me her cheeky grin.

"Today, I gave myself to you, willing to let you kill me, because I'd rather be gone than be in a world without you."

She frowns, her eyes narrowing in playful scolding. "I don't like you saying that because if I go, who's going to look after Chowder?"

I chuckle, the sound rough but genuine.

"Seriously, though," I say, looking deep into her eyes. "Today made me realize how much you are my world and that I am never letting you out of my sight."

"Well, you know what I learned today?" she says, leaning in to kiss my cheek, then the corner of my mouth.

"Go on."

"That you, Kaden, are my pain in the ass, my stubborn kraken, and I have fallen completely and utterly in love with you."

My heart might have just exploded. I capture her lips, kissing her, pushing past the aching pain in my arm. She's what matters, and she said she loves me, too! It's a promise of a future together, one where we'll fight for our happiness, where I'll fuck her every damn day. And one where she might stop fighting me.