15. The Shimmering Scales

Chapter 15

The Shimmering Scales

The Siren

W ith a start, I awakened as I pressed my fingertips to the back of my head, wincing at the bruise that formed as I sucked in deep lungfuls of air between clenched teeth. I should be in the sea by now, but instead, I'm stowed away in a small room. I could feel it swaying in the sea, the water just meters below me, calling to me.

The bed I found myself in was small, the mattress thin and barely large enough for two people. A cluttered desk sat pressed against the far wall with papers and maps littered across the top. The steady swaying meant I had been stowed away on a ship, one currently sailing the open seas.

Dark wood made up the entire room, the smell of the sea overwhelming. Layers of soft blankets and pillows cushioned my body, but I flung them all sideways as I swung my legs over the edge. I glared at my wriggling toes, annoyed that I still held this human form.

"Good. You're awake," a familiar deep voice spoke from the doorway. The man leaned against the doorframe, his amused dark gaze dragging across my skin.

I felt his gaze as if I were naked before him, and I glared at him, unwavering beneath his scrutiny. "You're dead," I promised him, my words squeezing through my clenched teeth.

He looked different in this space than he seemed on the beach or in the street. A ribbon of red tied back his hair and a large hat sat upon his head, leaving most of his face darkened by shadows. He wore a simple white, billowy shirt, several buttons undone to show a sliver of his tanned chest, a warm shade of olive I knew would protect his skin from the heat of Apollo's sun. He lifted a brow and quirked his lip in a half-smile, dimpling his cheek as he watched me.

I didn't care that he found it amusing that I raked my gaze over him just as he'd done to me. I took my time. His dark eyes seemed to peer through me to my very soul as he looked down his long, straight nose at me. A scar sliced his jaw, but even that couldn't detract from his appeal. In fact, I bet even Adonis himself would find reason enough to be jealous of this man who held a rugged handsomeness. I could almost enjoy looking at him if it weren't for the fact that this man had declared himself my enemy by binding me to him.

He closed the door behind him and crossed the room, sitting in a thick wooden chair that matched every other surface of this space, and probably the ship beyond this room. He kicked his boots atop the corner of the desk and leaned back in the chair so that only two of the legs remained on the floor. He pinned me with those unnervingly dark eyes, and the fleeting thought that he might be cursed crossed my mind. No one had eyes that dark otherwise. A thrum of power cascaded off him, leaking from him like shadows that stretched.

"I'm not sure you're in much of a position to do anything…" He let his words trail off as a devious gleam entered his eyes. Again, he let his gaze linger on my body, a hungry look flashing behind his dark gaze. "…too violent. But maybe we could play other, more fun, games."

I pulled the covers up to hide my body. I wasn't ashamed of my body. As a siren, I often used it to lure victims into my hold. But beneath his stare, with only the thin, sheer fabric of my chemise for coverage, I felt exposed in a way I didn't quite enjoy. I was used to choosing when to use my charms.

Both of us were predators, assessing one another with watchful gazes. The creature within me knew he held a danger about him like a second skin. I didn't understand why or how, but there was a strength my predator could admire.

"There she is," he purred, his fingers running slowly along the hem of his shirt. I couldn't turn away from him, my gaze glued to the slow, purposeful movements of his calloused hands. "I heard once that when a siren gains her powers, there is a certain period of…" He didn't finish, he just smiled as if he knew I followed his line of thought.

"Uncontrollable lust," I finished for him, a growl rumbling within my throat.

He wasn't wrong. Once our full power ignited within us, we felt more, craved more, and needed more for a time. We usually spent the first several days island hopping, spending our time satiating our lust and consuming their hearts until we'd had our fill. I glared at him, both rage and want storming within me because he'd stolen this from me, trapping me somewhere I wouldn't be able to satiate either need.

My skin vibrated with need. My power hummed through my blood, and it threatened to burst if I didn't find a way to control it. I needed to get back to the ocean. Now.

Without warning, I jolted to my feet, shoving his chair backward until he clattered to the floor in a clump and a grunt as I raced toward the closed door of this small cabin. Before my fingers even closed around the handle, his fingers gripped my shoulder, and he spun me around, slamming my back into the wall. He held me into place, the length of his body pressing into mine as he caged me in. Our breaths mingled as he said, "I wasn't done talking."

The heat of his words sent warmth pooling through my body. My nipples pebbled at the feel of his chest through my thin chemise that didn't protect me at all from feeling the strength hidden beneath his defined chest. I wanted to hate him, and I did, but my traitorous body and the raging lust of having just awakened my siren-given powers left me pliable beneath his touch, his hold.

"I need your help," he said, bringing his lips closer to my ear as he spoke in a husky tone that sent a chill running down my spine. He pulled his face from mine, still holding me firmly in place against the wall, his hands roughly against my shoulders and his hips pressing against my own. "If you help me, I promise to let you go."

I tilted my head, watching him closely. There was a slight plea in the words that he spoke, and as I studied his face, his muscles strained and stiffened at the same time his jaw ticked. He closed his eyes, the darkness like ink within their gaze hidden as he sighed.

"I give you my word," he said quietly.

"I don't need your word!" A wicked growl tore through me as I let my anger take control. I slammed my fist into his chest, my claws digging into his flesh several inches, and then I curled over in pain as the feeling of being punched stole my breath away. I caught my breath and stared at him. "What have you done?"

"I did what I had to do," he admitted, his fingers rubbing at the spot I had punched as he straightened.

I'd jammed my claws into his flesh with a blow that should have killed him, but he stood in front of me as if I hadn't even touched him. He was something… other.

His eyes deepened in darkness, turning pitch black as he just watched me. He didn't fear me. I stood in front of him, one of the greatest predators in the sea, and he didn't seem bothered in the least. I took a step backward, realizing for the first time that the creature in front of me might just be a bigger monster than even me.

My back pressed into the wall as I watched a war play out behind his eyes. A monster stared through those midnight irises, a cruel lift of his lips before he blinked and became the man again. It couldn't just be a curse, this man before me wasn't entirely human.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, crossing my arms over my thin chemise. My attention flicked from him to the rounded window over the desk, wondering if I'd be able to fit through that.

He chuckled. "As I was saying, I will let you go. I just need your help first?—"

I made another dash around him, my shoulder knocking into his and rocking through my own as my fingers gripped the windowsill. My arm went through the glass and blood sliced across my flesh as shards cut my skin. I needed to get to the ocean, needed to get away from him. I dove through the gap and hurtled toward the sea, sighing as its cool embrace caught my body.

My legs kicked viciously through the water, pulling myself deeper and deeper into the sea until my fins and gills developed, then with the full strength of my tail behind me, I thrashed forward at top speed. I needed to put distance between that monstrous human with dark secrets and me, and I needed that distance now.

Suddenly, I could swim no more as I reached a limit and an invisible force yanked me backward, pulling me back the way I'd come as if some kind of rope—gods, no, a leash—had been fastened around my neck. It didn't matter how much I shoved myself forward, I couldn't push myself further than a hundred meters from the ship above. Even beneath the sea, I had been trapped.

I followed the ship only because something invisible forced me to, but I refused to leave the sea. I swam beneath the ship as I plotted my revenge. Lost within my swirling thoughts, I almost didn't see the shadow circling below me in time. My gaze flicked to the white imprints marring the shimmering scales of my tail, the imprints that matched the jaw of a shark.

With my full powers awakened within me, I knew I could battle this mindless beast that would consume anything that moved within his waters, even if my last encounter with one had nearly ended with my death. It wasn't fear that had me glancing upward toward the ship sailing slowly above me. It was the realization that if this shark had found me from the depths of the sea, it wouldn't be long before other creatures of the ocean found me.

How long would it take for rumors to spread through the sea that the princess of Atlantis had been tricked, out-smarted, by a mortal. I'd already messed up with every turn I had taken, if it got out that I'd been captured by a human then I would lose what dignity I had left. I would never see my mother's crown again, except on the head of an underserving half-breed.

The ocean stole the tear that slipped from me. What would my mother think if she could see me now? My teeth clenched and I growled as I flicked my tail and spun in the waters, changing direction until I headed back toward the surface. My head broke through the rippling surface, and as I peered up at the railing of the ship, the dark eyes of my captor stared down at me, a cocky half-grin lifting his lip as he waved for his crew to lower a platform for me.

I flopped onto the board, my hardened gaze pinned to his triumphant dark eyes in a battle of wills as my tail dripped fresh water. The board tipped, dumping me and my fins to the deck of the ship where I sprawled out onto the deck at his feet.

"As I was saying," he said as he looked down upon me, his crew already tying ropes off to secure the platform along the ship wall before heading in different directions to busy themselves with work. I didn't miss the strange looks they shot my way, or the gasps they couldn't conceal. "I will let you go once you help me."

The silver and purple scales faded away into bare legs, and I pulled the chemise down to cover my hips. My legs curled beneath me, and I remained seated on the damp boards of the ship as I tried to figure the human out in front of me.

"Captain, sir, do you think it is wise to promise her freedom? She…" a young man spoke from behind me, trailing off as if he were about to say something more but had thought better of it.

I tore my gaze from the triumphant gaze of this captain and turned my attention to the boy behind me. He was young, a non-threat, clearly just a subordinate of some kind and not worth my time at all. I twisted back and faced their captain instead, the man who held me by this magical leash.

"So talk," I growled, climbing to my feet with deliberate movements as I barely concealed the rage flowing through my veins.

We stood on the deck of a large ship made of wood with a black flag rippling in the wind atop the mast. Pirates then. There seemed to be a fair-sized crew aboard, and many of them looked at me with a hatred burning behind their gazes. I was their enemy; my kind had been responsible for the deaths of many pirates over the centuries. If given the chance, I'd rip out their throats in an instant. They had good cause to fear me, to fear my kind.

With my jaw set into a hard line, I looked at them all with a confidence I had no right to feel in this moment. My hatred burning with every blink. I would make them pay for this captivity. There was so much more on the line than any of them knew, and they put that all at stake by keeping me here. Yes, I vowed to return their cruelty in kind.

"Come back to the cabin with me and we will discuss this," the captain said, a hand outstretched toward me as if he invited me along for a simple meet and greet, as if I had any choice in the matter. I didn't move, but I could see a flicker of fear within the depths of darkness in his eye. He knew how dangerous a creature he had captured.

I hissed, making sure he saw every sharpened tooth concealed within my mouth as I marched past him, my body shoving his offered hand out of my way. Seconds later, I heard his footsteps as they followed me back to the cabin I'd only just escaped. Twice, I practically growled at having to be told which way to turn, having become lost in the labyrinth of the bowels of his ship.

Once we'd made it back into his cabin, I stood in the center of the space, my arms wrapping around my soaked chemise as my dark hair dripped onto the floor at my bare feet.

The captain crossed the room and opened a cupboard, pulling out a thick, gray blanket and offering it to me. I didn't want to take it from him. I wanted nothing to do with what this man needed or wanted. Yet, the dampness of my skin caused me to shiver, so I yanked the fabric from his hold and wrapped the itchy material around my shoulders.

As warmth cocooned me, I almost felt relieved, thankful even. I pulled the blanket closer to me and shoved the emotion away. Pesky humanity sneaked through my defenses. Turning my back to the captain, I peered out the now-broken window to the sea, so close yet still so far from my grasp. I needed to get back to it, needed to fully surround myself in my siren nature before these emotions became more troublesome than they already were.

Sirens became human by staying on land too long during their rite of passage ritual, their humanity breaking their connection to the sea. Something almost as bad could happen to a siren who'd gained her powers and remained on legs for too long as well. It turned them into sea witches, turning them into bitter, angry creatures who yearned for the sea always but would never return to it. Everything stacked against our dwindling numbers as a siren population, and my mother had told me all of this in hopes of wanting us to find a solution together. Now, that seemed to fall to my shoulders alone, but I couldn't do that bound to this pirate.

The fight fell from me as the weight of my failures pulled me down. I sat on the edge of the bed, pulling the blanket closed around my shoulders as I let my chin drop, a shaky breath escaping my lips as I let the rocking ship calm me. A storm brewed outside, rocking the ship and sending waves crashing through the broken window next to us as the sky broke open and cried alongside me.

I didn't even look at him as I said, "Do you mean to use me and kill me, or drive me mad?" I asked. When he didn't answer right away, I blinked up at him, peering at him through my damp lashes as I flopped my damp hair over my shoulder.

He shook his head. "None of those things will happen to you if I can help it." He shrugged. "I need your help. Why would I want to kill you or drive you mad?"

I sucked in my lip, feeling the prick of my sharpened teeth before releasing it. The inner fabric of the blanket now held the dampness from my body, the chill making me feel weaker than I'd care to admit. "What do you want from me?"

He smiled, pleased I'd finally asked. "I've been cursed," he said, and the room felt as if it held its breath as he added, "and I need your help breaking it."