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“There’s something I need to tell you all,” she says. She sounds so strong, her voice steady, though I hate the fact that she’s telling them this way and not on her own time.

I grab her hand and give her a squeeze for support.

She takes a deep breath, looking into everyone’s curious eyes.

“I’m…a Syren,” she says. “A mermaid.”

A hushed cry goes out among the crew, nearly everyone squinting at her bare legs expecting to see fins appear.

“Iwasa mermaid,” she clarifies. “Though we call ourselves Syrens. And once upon a time, I lived under the sea in the Kingdom of Limonos. When I was sixteen, I fell in love with a prince and, well, you know how that ended. But in order to gain his love, I had to sell my soul to the sea witch, Edonia.”

Several people gasp, knowing full well who Edonia is and what she’s done to me.

“Edonia had me trade my fins for legs and my tongue so that she could have my Syren song. I don’t know why, I was never a very great singer to begin with,” she adds with a smile. “But I digress. She promised me things that she knew weren’t true and I, being young and brash, fell for it. So now you can see what I’ve been for the last ten years. I have had legs. Eventually my tongue grew back. But I could never return to the sea.” She pauses. “That is, until I saw my sister, Asherah, the mermaid in the tank.”

More gasps and murmurs spread in the crowd, followed by someone, Drakos I think, saying, “I knew it!” But of course he couldn’t have known that.

“As Asherah lay dying, she kissed me and that kiss gave me some of my abilities back. I became more of a monster, if you will, though I still have legs.” She sticks one of her legs out. “So, that is everything there is to know about me.”

Thane steps forward, giving Maren an inspecting look before looking at me. “Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?”

“Because I didn’t want you losing your bloodthirsty minds once you found out she had mermaid’s blood,” I tell him.

“But,” Maren says forcefully, “now that you all know, I am here to offer you my blood.”

“Maren,” I growl, pulling her to me, my hackles raising. “What are you doing?”

“I want to give them my blood,” she says, her brows knitting together. “It’s the only way we can defeat Edonia.”

“We don’t even know if we’ll see Edonia,” I tell her, a coil of molten possessiveness forming inside me. “I don’t want to share you.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “It’s just blood. It’s not sex.” Then she pauses at that, frowning. “Good gods, I hope I just didn’t offer everyone sex.”

“No,” I tell her firmly. “It’s out of the question.”

“Bones,” Nerissa’s low voice rings out across the deck, “keep your jealousy under control.”

Everyone turns to look at her at the back of the crowd. “If Maren thinks they should have her blood, then they shall,” she says.

“They’ll drain her,” I stammer.

“For heaven’s sake, Ramsay,” Thane scolds me. “Do you really think your motley crew lacks that sort of control and finesse? We don’t have to feed directly from her, you arse. You can siphon her blood into a bottle and we can pass it around. You know only a little bit will do.”

I think back to when I fed from Maren. It had hit me so fast and I had so much of it, I felt like I could lift theNightwindclear over my head. It also faded by morning, though there were still some residual effects. Even a little bit would suffice for the short term. A little bit amongst the crew might be enough to have a solid fighting front.

But even so.

“No,” I say firmly. “Absolutely not. She’s mine and her blood is mine too.”

“My blood is my own,” she cries out. “It’s mine to do what I wish.”

I ignore her and look to the crew. “I forbid you all from drinking her blood and, as captain, that’s an order.”

They all sigh and grumble amongst each other, turning around and heading back below deck and to their quarters, waving their arms in a dismissive motion. All of them leave except Crazy Eyes, who steps around Sterling’s body and takes his position back at the helm, and Nerissa who lingers and gives Maren a long knowing look. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that information was passing between them silently.

“Pray tell, what are you doing?” I ask. “Maren?”

Maren finally tears her gaze off Nerissa who walks off below deck, then looks at me with a scowl. “You say you own me Ramsay, but you only own my heart.”