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I raise my chin. “Is that so? On what grounds?”

He doesn’t answer, his jaw clenching.

A tall, lithe man with shaggy red hair steps forward from beside him and looks at the rest of the crew. “Perhaps it is for the best if we give Aragon and Larimar some time alone.”

“I’m not going to be alone with him,” I practically spit. “I have nothing to say to him.”

“So sorry, but how is it that you know each other?” the man with his hair pulled back says, scratching at his facial hair. From the way he hovers protectively behind Maren, I’m going to assume this is her Vampyre husband.

“Why don’t you tell them, Priest?” I sneer. “Why don’t you tell them what you did?”

“They know what I did,” he says quietly. “They just didn’t know it was you.”

“So they all knew you pulled me out of the ocean? That you kidnapped me, held me captive in the back room of your church where you would torture me and drain me of my precious blood?”

“Sounds familiar,” the man remarks gruffly.

I turn my head to look at him. “Who are you?”

“Thane,” he says. “Your brother-in-law. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lady.”

I scowl at him. He’s no different than any of these men. From the way they all stare at me, with that hunger in their eyes, these Vampyres are dying for a taste of me, just as Priest was.

I look back to Maren. “Did he then tell you that he lowered my defenses? Made me believe he cared about me?” I trail off, looking away, hating that I have an audience for this, that they have to see my shame. “Or perhaps he didn’t even try. I fell for him anyway, soul, heart…body.”

“Larimar,” Priest says, his voice hoarse.

I ignore him, adjusting myself in Thane’s grip. “And then one day, one day I thought I was his equal, and he let his monster come out. He tried to kill me. I only escaped by pure luck. I hit the ocean, and thanks to the way he bound his spell, the magic reversed, and I turned back into a Syren. I swam away while his church burned.”

Maren rubs her lips together, thinking it over as she looks at Priest. “The stone wouldn’t let me see who the Syren was. Had I known it was Larimar…”

“What?” Priest asks. “Would you have still brought me on board? Still let me join your crew?”

“Yes,” she says, her eyes watering. “Yes, because I would have done anything to bring my sister back into my life. I need your magic, Aragon. I need you to let her have a proper life with me.”

Priest’s intense gaze slides over to mine. “And you, Larimar? Is this what you want? Or are these your sister’s wishes?”

Everyone is looking at me, waiting for an answer.

But I’m afraid to speak the truth.

I’m afraid if I do, it won’t happen.

Because this monster still has so much power over me, and I hate him for it.

I hate him for so much.

But mostly, I hate him because I loved him.

“Yes,” I finally say, trying to sound strong and commanding, the opposite of how I feel. “I want you to give me legs again so I may join my sister on land, and I want to be able to turn into a Syren when I’m back in the ocean. Most of all, I want you to disappear afterwards. As soon as this storm clears, I want you on one of those small boats over there, and I want you set adrift.”

“We can at least wait until we get to our next port,” Ramsay suggests.

I shake my head. “No. I don’t know how long that will be, and I don’t want to be stuck on this ship any longer than I have to with that creature over there.”

If Priest is hurt by my words, he doesn’t show it.

Now, every head swivels toward him, waiting for his reaction.