40. Epilogue

Chapter 40

Epilogue

The Siren

W ith my eyes closed and my chin tilted upward, the warm, salty breeze of the Mediterranean Sea brushing against my face as I stood on the deck of Kipp's ship. The sound of the sails billowing, the wind filling them and propelling us forward like a sharpened knife splitting through the deep blue waters. My breath was deep, it was relaxed, and a smile stretched across my lips… until I dropped my attention to the waves that rocked against the hull, to the depths below that I used to call home.

"Say it," Kipp said at my side, his thick hand warm on the small of my back. "I can tell that something is bothering you."

I didn't look at him when I spoke. My gaze fixated on the never-ending horizon ahead. "I made a promise. We made a promise."

I felt him turn from me, his arm slipping from my waist as he placed them along the railing until he leaned over it. "Their path is not ours to worry about. You owe her nothing," he responded gruffly.

I stared down at the bargain tattooed on my palm. "Beg to differ on that one. Unless you want to call dear old dad to come revive me too," I teased darkly.

He sighed and shook his head. "I suppose not. I'd forgotten about that." He took my hand in his, studying the bargain tattooed there. Silvery in color, it was easy to miss if you didn't already know that it was there, and just as easy to forget.

I knew why he didn't want to keep our promise. He hadn't said the words to me yet, but I could see it in the way he looked at me. Still, I wanted to hear him say it. I needed to, and, if I were being completely honest, he needed to admit it to himself. We wouldn't be able to move past it if it all remained unsaid.

The silence stretched between us, but I didn't fill it. I waited for him to break it.

"You're not as powerful as you were last time. Do you think you'll be able to defeat a sea monster if one pops out again?" he finally asked.

The route back to Scylla would be treacherous, and it would take us dangerously close to Charybdis. I no longer feared Poseidon. He had gotten what he had wanted, and he couldn't be the one to end my life. I'd seen to that when I broke the curse that had bound our people.

I shrugged. "Maybe yes. Maybe no."

"It's not just about you." Kipp turned to me then, his hands closing around my waist. "If something happens to you, it affects us all."

His shadowy tendrils slithered from his fingertips and danced across my body, signaling his growing strength as an heir of Thanatos. Now that he knew more about his origins, he saw them for what they truly were, rather than fear them for a curse that had only ever bound him from himself.

I faced him then, resting my arms around his neck as I lifted my chin. I saw just a flicker of his fear behind his warm brown gaze, but there was love there as well. Something I didn't know if I'd ever get used to seeing. I brought my lips to his in a chaste kiss.

"Kipp," I said, my voice soft and for his ears alone as his crew already readied our ship to change direction. Despite his fears, he would take me where we needed to go. "Death claims us all when it is our time. I don't think the fates pulled all those strings to claim us just yet, do you?"

He smirked, his gaze raking over my chest while I admired that dimple that threatened to steal the strength from my knees as I clung to him. "I sure hope not."

"Besides, I only gave up half of who I am," I reminded him with a grin.

With a shake of his head, he replied, "We still don't know what that even means."

It was true. I'd given up my siren gifts, but I was still the daughter of Poseidon. Having a godly father meant I still had immense power within my veins. I just hadn't figured out how to wield them yet. Every time they'd flared to life before had been because of dire circumstances of life and death.

Even with his doubts, we were already sailing toward Scylla's island, keeping closer to her territory in hopes of avoiding Charybdis. Kipp had told me once that I wore my emotions clearly on my face, and as the days had passed, I hoped I'd gotten better at concealing how I felt. Because I was afraid as we approached Scylla, the cursed monster who had once been our enemy. I empathized with her plight. A misunderstood creature. The jealousy of the gods knew no bounds, and it was time for Kipp and I to defy those powers, to right those wrongs, again.

No, I probably couldn't defeat a monster, or hold back a 100-foot-tall wave sent by Poseidon. But I wasn't without power. I was still a goddess. I just no longer held the power of the sirens. I didn't have the power coursing through my veins that could compete against the big three anymore.

I flicked my hair over my shoulder to keep it from blowing into my face. "Besides… Scylla won't hurt me."

He laughed, but he didn't feel amused. His knuckles tightened their hold around the railing at our side as he turned, feeling the salty mist at the front of his ship. "I highly doubt that," he argued, "She tried to kill us last time."

I flicked a glance over my shoulder, to where Glaucus stood next to Patton at the helm, staring ahead with hope in his eyes. The crew hadn't even bristled at having another god aboard, not after the revelation that Kipp had always been one himself. With a smile, I replied, "This will be different. We are bringing her a present."

Kipp followed my gaze. "You really think it will work?"

I nodded, my fingers brushing against the scar lining his neck. "I have faith in love."

Already, the island formed in the distance, and Kipp placed a soft kiss to my cheek before he left me at the bow of the ship to make arrangements for our trip to shore. I'd made a promise to Scylla, and it had led to everything we had wanted. Kipp's curse broken. The sirens' curse. And it had led me to a love for which I hadn't even known I'd been looking. I owed her this.

Footsteps came to a stop just behind me. I didn't bother looking; I knew who stood at my shoulder.

"I'm afraid to admit that I'm scared."

I stepped aside, giving him the space that he needed so that he could stand beside me. His gaze held a mixture of fear, worry, and hope behind every blink as he stared ahead toward the approaching island.

"Why?" I asked him.

His shoulders weighed down as if he held all of these worries and doubts upon them. "Because all those years trapped on that island, I thought surely that she must have moved on. I didn't know…" he said, his fingers rubbing at the nape of his neck as if he could release the weight there.

"You didn't know that Scylla had been cursed by Circe? That she has been a monster for centuries?" I asked, watching his face as the truth hit me.

He shook his head.

My gaze lingered on his weather-worn features, taking in the tanned complexion and rough hands that bore witness to his time stranded on the island. He didn't know what lay ahead for him. He knew his love had been turned into a monster from the words that I'd spoken, but he wouldn't truly know until he saw her.

"How many days did you spend on that island?" I asked, curiosity consuming me as I watched the longing looks that he sent out to the sea.

He sighed. "I'm not sure. I lost count after a year. It felt like an eternity." A shudder ran through him. "After a while, I gave up hope of ever making it off Circe's island, out of her grip."

My hand clasped around his shoulder. "It's not your fault," I reassured him. "We are all victims to those who seek to control us. Right now, Scylla needs you and that is all that matters." I turned to look at the island in the distance, the mist from the waves breaking against the boat coating my face.

"I think I'm ready," he finally said, the weight slightly less on his shoulders as he straightened. "Thank you for helping me through this." He smiled at me, determination shining in his eyes as they met mine.

"You remind me so much of her," he continued, causing my brow to furrow. "Your mother… before she married Poseidon. She was fierce and beautiful. She loved the ocean and her people."

A pang of sadness clenched at my heart as he mentioned my mother. The memories he still had of the woman I had lost so long ago that I could barely remember her myself. Now, her soul was somewhere in the Underworld.

"I don't remember her like that." I sighed, blinking back emotion. "She was always focused on her duty, reminding me that it would one day be my duty to the siren kingdom…"

The last memory, the only one I wanted to forget, played within my mind as I stared into the ocean.

"You despise me!" I spat at her, yanking my hand from hers as she urged us to return to the palace immediately. My anger blinded me to the fear in her voice, the fear etched into the expression on her face. I didn't care.

"Talia, no one hates you. Least of all me," she pleaded, desperation laced in her tone.

"You don't even know me," I shot back, throwing my arms up in a flurry of bubbles as I glared at her. "You only talk about duty."

Disappointment flashed behind her gold-rimmed gaze. "I know I'm sometimes hard on you, but I have to prepare you for what's to come. I fear I won't always be there to protect you…" she let her words trail off, her gaze lingering on me with a sense of love and sadness. "In case something happens to me, you must be ready to take the throne and lead our people. They will need you."

I scoffed at her fears, at her worries. But then I saw her face change. Saw the fear widen her stare as she looked over my shoulder. Felt her fingers as they wrapped around my wrist and yanked me toward her.

"Swim, Talia. Swim fast! Go!" she cried out, shoving me behind her as a frenzy of sharks descended on us.

My tail swept through the water as I propelled myself through the water. With a glance over my shoulder, I watched as she attacked them, but they didn't relent. Their jaws snapping at my mother as if they were driven by some unseen force. Despite the power my mother wielded and her attempts to control them, they turned on her instead.

I wanted to help her fight, but I knew I was no match for the hungry predators. Only one of them chased after me, and it caught up to me, taking a chunk from my thigh before my claws dug into its eye, forcing it to let me go.

My mother had known. She'd been tough on me because she had known. I knew that now. Knew that she had foreseen the danger coming and that she had sacrificed herself so that I could live.

"Your mother was a beloved leader. She was admired by all," Glaucus said to me, his words quiet.

"How does a god take power from another?" I asked, my mind whirling with what I had realized.

"They take it by force," Glaucus replied, his words dripping with bitterness as he revealed the truth. "Usually through murder."

My heart stilled as every piece fell into place. That day, that final moment between my mother and me… I was never meant to survive that attack. Our deaths had been orchestrated that day, and no one would have questioned any of it. Oh, he had been so smart with his plans, but my mother had seen it all coming and she'd made sure I could survive.

He had arranged for my downfall from the very beginning, using murder and deceit as his weapons of choice. He'd set me up to fail repeatedly, my chances of success always just illusions that were cleverly sabotaged at every turn by the vengeful god. All that pain and anger I had always felt, the constant need to prove myself, all of it. Now, it made sense. It had always been him.

Another thought occurred to me then. "Could it be possible that Zeus still visited my mother? Even after Hera's curse?"

I knew she had never given up that love for him, even deep beneath the sea and married to Poseidon. When had their affair ended? It must have been centuries ago.

Glaucus shrugged. "It's hard to say. I mean, it is possible. He does have a habit of sneaking away from Hera."

My mind raced with questions as I tried to piece together why Poseidon hated me so much. What had he learned that made him want to kill us both, my mother and me, that day so long ago? My mother had taken her secrets to the grave, but I thought I understood them.

Poseidon wasn't my father… Zeus was. My mother had paid the ultimate price for her love. I shot a glance over my shoulder, to where Kipp and Camilla readied one of the boats. None of it mattered anymore. It didn't change who I was, or how I loved those around me. He hadn't poisoned me all those years, and he hadn't broken me… even with all his failed attempts.

When I faced Glaucus again, I grabbed his hands and kept my voice firm and insistent as I said, "No matter what happens on that island, you must never give up on Scylla."

He gave me a mischievous grin. "Even if she's a monstrous creature with flaming eyes and lightning that shoots out of her ass… I will still love her. I have always loved her, and there is no one else for me in this lifetime or the next."

I couldn't help but smile at his declaration as I gave a playful shove to his shoulder.

Kipp appeared behind us. "We can't get any closer to the island. We are giving you a boat to take to shore."

Glaucus turned to him, gratitude shining in his bright blue eyes. "Thank you both for everything."

I pulled him into a hug. "Good luck."

"If you ever need anything, just call," Glaucus said with a bow and a sweep of his hand. "My queen."

"I am not a queen," I said, and as I admitted it for the first time aloud, I realized that the statement didn't bring with it the feelings of inadequacy I thought it would. It didn't feel as though I had failed my people. I knew I had chosen the right path for me.

"You will always be my queen," he said as he climbed into the boat that hung from the side of Kipp's ship.

As I watched him row toward the island, I thought that maybe I could do this after all. With a renewed sense of hope and anticipation, I turned toward Kipp and wrapped my arms around him. Whatever adventure awaited us, we would be ready for it.

He took my hand and kissed it softly, his warm breath sending shivers down my spine. "What shall we do now, my vicious little monster?"

I grinned at him. "There's always that dagger sitting next to our bed…"

"You are?—"

"Sexy, strong, fun…" I ticked off a list of attributes, knowing none of them were the word he'd intended to use.

"I was going to say insatiably wicked," he finished.

A surge of desire shot through me as he led me backward toward the lower decks, toward our cabin. I laughed, eager to feel his skin against mine. It didn't matter what lay ahead. Whatever it was…

We would face it together.

End