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You’re just as soulless as me.

Her words echoed in my head, but I fought against them and did my best to calm my breathing. I rubbed my fingers together in my sweating palms as she neared. There was no way she could know me, not in this time. I wasn’t born yet. She might be powerful, but she didn’t have the ability to see the future.

She joined Valdez, stopping at his side and placing her hand on his shoulder gently. “What did you need me for, darling?” she asked in a sing-song voice that matched the rest of her refined appearance.

“Take a look at this ‘girl’ would you. Is she one of yours? Maybe a runaway to land?”

Cordelia narrowed her eyes at me. “Ah, I could see why you might suspect that,” she said. Taking a step toward me and holding out her hand, she addressed me for a moment. I glanced around, realizing Noah and McKenzie were gone. Did they abandon me? Or were they taken when I wasn’t looking? My heart began to speed up so fast I thought it would be loud enough to hear. “Come here, angelfish.” She spoke softly as she reached for my hand and pulled me from Bellamy’s grip. “Don’t be frightened.”

I focused on my breathing, trying to keep from looking nervous. If I looked scared, she’d know I had something I was keeping a secret. As Cordelia circled me slowly, inspecting my face and body with her gaze, I fought every nerve going haywire within and told myself to stand still and relax. But my heart felt like it would explode through my chest.

I was shocked when she glanced at Valdez and said, “I assure you she isn’t one of them. You won’t find her of any use in your dealings.”

It took everything in me not to breathe an audible sigh of relief. But when she turned her head back around to look at me, my stomach flipped, and I froze with a sinking feeling. She cunningly smiled at me with a look in her eye, in a way that communicated everything at once. And the way she fiddled with the mermaid scale necklace at her neck to draw my focus to it was no coincidence. She knew who I was. And she’d just saved me—whether because I was her granddaughter or because I was a pawn in her plan, I’ll never know. Maybe both.

Whatever the reason, I watched her pull Valdez away and reassure him I wasn’t who—or what—he thought I was. Bellamy turned to me as I stumbled around, steadying my shaking breaths that threatened to betray me.

“This is your chance. Go, now, and don’t ever come back here,” Bellamy said, catching me off guard. His tone was anything but gentle.

I turned around, confused. “If you hate me so much, why did you try to protect me just now?”

“I don’t hate you,” Bellamy mumbled, “but I could never be with a siren. I’ve seen the consequences of that.” He glanced at his father, who was still busy talking with Cordelia. “Like I told you before, my love—my only love—is the sea. Not the demons within it.”

“Well…thanks, I guess,” I said, slightly offended at his last choice of words. “But don’t worry, I don’t belong here, so hopefully you’ll never have to see me again.”

“It would be for the best,” Bellamy said, and he leaned forward, kissing my forehead. I’d never felt more confused and bewildered, but I didn’t question it. Bellamy was as mysterious as the sea itself, and I’d never quite understand what he was feeling. But it didn’t matter, I realized as I snapped out of my siren fog. Milo.

As if reading my thoughts, Bellamy added one more thing. “Besides, I wouldn’t want your Milo to miss out on such a prize. Does he know what you are?”

I tilted my head as I thought how to best answer him.

“He knows better than anyone,” I said. But something nagged at me. Of course, Milo was the one who insisted that I accept my mermaid side. But did he know of this selfish, conniving side that came with it? That, I didn’t know. And I wondered what would happen when he saw the other side of me. The side that fed off intimidation and desire, showed no compassion, and made me do things I would never choose to do. The side I still didn’t know how to control.

“Be careful out there, siren.” Bellamy nodded knowingly, as I pulled my gaze from him.

“You do the same,” I warned. The thought crossed my mind to tell him that I would see him again someday. But I thought it’d be best to keep that information to myself. And with one last look at Bellamy, I turned away toward Nassau, determined to set out to find Milo, the others...and hopefully myself.

I hadn’t gotten far after I left the harbor when I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was following me. Footsteps trailed me, and I whipped around as shadows passed. And then, a brooding figure pulled me into an alleyway of rotting fish and old crates, a hand over my mouth to silence my screams.

26

Bedlam

Milo

The church bell sounded its miserable chime, each one ringing out like another pistol shot. I couldn’t listen to the boy’s heartbreak any longer. Standing, I did my best to fight back the tightness in my chest and the burning in my eyes as I intended to leave this place of horrid memories. I shouldn’t have come here to begin with.

As I walked away, I heard the desperate shouts of my teenage self. I didn’t need to turn around to remember the dreadful scene unfolding at my back. I listened to the broken boy struggling as he fought against the crewmen pulling him onto the ship by his arms. One of the men grappling with him struck him across the face, splitting open the skin above his left eye. I touched the scar on my eyebrow as if I could feel it happening just the same.

“An orphaned lad needs a home, and the Siren needs a good sailing master and navigator.” Valdez chuckled with a sharpness in his voice that made my stomach turn both then and now. “Welcome to the crew, Harrington.”

“No!” I winced as I heard the break in my voice. “I’m not a pirate. And I won’t become one!”

“Seeing as you have nothing left to lose here in this shit-ridden city, and you know just as much about charting as yer’ father did, I’d say you’re just about as much a pirate as my own son.” Valdez turned to address the men taking hold of the boy on either side, dragging him away from the lifeless body of his father. “Put him in the brig hold for now, you swabs. He’ll come ‘round soon enough.”

It would almost seem strange to think that this scene could unfold at a busy harbor—a kidnapping over a freshly slain man lying in his own blood. But this was Nassau. There were no rules. This type of madness was the norm.

“Don’t worry, boy. Daven Harrington wasn’t the man you think he is.” Valdez followed behind the crewmen forcing my younger self up the gangplank.