Page 75

“So is everyone on the ship the same creature as you? The boys?”

“All the pages are, but they are vulnerable. We won’t even let Page John or Bart fight until they’re thirty-five. It’s not worth the risk of them dying if they don’t have to. They certainly want to, and they have the skills to do so, but I don’t think it’s necessary.”

“And Sedge…”

“I had told you before Sedge is a human. I meant it. And because he’s human, he’ll fall victim to Nerissa’s curse. Which is why we need to go back on their ship and save him. Then after that, we’ll take over the ship and sail it after theNightwind.”

“You’ll never catch theNightwind, you’ve said so yourself.”

“Ah,” I say, displaying my flexed fingers and moving them around in the air. “But the magic that Venla granted me isn’t tied to theNightwind. It’s tied to me. I’m the one that controls it. They may be under Nerissa’s control right now, but I can put wind into any ship’s sails.”

She swallows, her throat bobbing and she looks down at the grass. “You must have really loved her.”

Her statement surprises me. “My wife? Of course I did.”

“She seems like a hard act to follow. But I suppose you have until the end of time to find someone else.”

“I haven’t been looking, to be honest with you,” I admit slowly, wondering if Maren’s words hint at anything at all. “It’s been thirty years and there have been women and men here and there since she died, but I haven’t found another to share my heart with. And yes, before you question it, I do have a heart.”

She slides her eyes to mine. “Do you think you ever will find someone?”

“I’m not sure,” I muse. “It’s hard to find one that doesn’t hate me.”

That brings a smile out of her, followed by a soft laugh, and for a moment I feel like going over to her and pulling her toward me, kissing her soft lips, and telling her that maybe one day, in another world, in another century, she could learn to love me instead of hate me.

But then I think about what she is and what I have to do still, and I know I will only end up making her hate me more in the end. Our destiny is suited for monsters.

She can sense the shift in my thoughts because her smile falters and her posture stiffens. My preternatural sense of smell is always strong, too strong at times, hence why I run such a clean ship, and I can smell the metallic tang that blood takes when prey catches wind of a predator.

“I can help you get Sedge back to theNightwind,” she says quietly. “If you promise to let me go after that.”

I shake my head, giving her a sad smile. “I’m sorry, luv. But I can’t let you go.”

“You’ve claimed me in front of your crew, you said they won’t touch me now. You said I’m safe.”

“Aye. Safe from them. But you are not safe from me.”

Her hand starts to tremble and she lets go of her necklace, her eyes scouring the jungle behind me, looking for an escape path. “Why not?”

“You know why, Maren. Your blood. Your mermaid blood. I can’t defeat Edonia without it. You, my dear, are the answer to all of my prayers. You are the key to my revenge.”

“So that’s it then?” she asks, her chin contorting, her features turning hard. “So you bed me and use me to bleed me and kill me?”

“I promise I won’t kill you,” I tell her. “I’ll keep you alive. I have to keep you alive.”

“Alive down in the hold where you kept the others? Where I’ll be left to rot while you siphon my blood and drink and I end up like my sister? So I can beg you to end my life?” The pitch of her words gets higher and higher.

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” I assure her, though I don’t think she’s going to believe me. “You can go back in my cage. It will only be me who drinks from you, I won’t let anyone else, I—”

I almost don’t see her coming. Suddenly she’s flying at me, her claws extended, aimed right at my heart.

I knew I shouldn’t have told her how to kill me.

I raise my arm and manage to deflect her, even though her claws slice right through the muscle and fat of my forearm, straight to the bone.

“Fuck!” I roar, the blood flowing from my limb as she gets to her feet and starts running through the jungle. I hold my shredded arm to me, trying to stem the blood even though I know it’s pointless, then I stagger to my feet. By tomorrow my arm will have fully healed and I’ll be fine, but until then it’s going to be a pain the arse to deal with.

I let out a low growl that rumbles from deep in my chest.