Page 21

Valen held a hand out. “Let me go first, my lord.”

The king allowed his commander to shimmy up the rope and over the edge before he hauled himself up. Raz’s breath heaved in and out as he reached the deck. Not because the climb was strenuous but because he kept imagining falling back into the water.

He scanned the deck, counting the bodies.

Fifteen total.

The stench hit him, and he swallowed hard before sucking in a short breath. The older sailor with the long beard moved past him and knelt next to the nearest body. “There’s a hole.” His voice held shock.

Raziel strode to his side and tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

The man was missing his heart.

“Her heart was torn out,” Valen whispered.

The king glanced at his commander on the port side of the ship, the hair along his arms rising. “What did you just say?”

Valen’s blue eyes met Raziel’s and held. “Her heart was yanked from her chest.”

“This one as well,” Eliah said, her voice ragged.

Raziel wiped his hand over his face. “Check them all.”

Every person bore marks from the sun, scavengers, and decay, but they were all missing their hearts.

“What would do such a thing?” Coven whispered, covering her mouth, her eyes haunted. “What would kill just for the heart?”

A chill ran down his spine.

Sirenidae.

“We need to leave now.” Valen’s tone held no room for argument. “This is too dangerous.”

“I agree, my lord,” Eliah added. “We can come back for the bodies.”

“No,” Raziel growled. He scanned the bodies along with the dried blood that led to the edges of the deck. “We get them now.”

“What’s wrong?” Cove asked.

“Sirens,” the older man growled. “Clearly, this is the demons’ work.”

The king’s throat bobbed as he spotted a smaller body on the deck holding a stuffed animal. Raziel tuned the crew out and tugged the shirt off his body, kneeling. He tried not to look too closely at the wee one as he wrapped them up. Tears dripped down his cheeks as he tucked the ragged toy into their hands.

This was wrong.

It should never have happened.

He pulled the small body into his arms, woodenly moving toward the railing. Rage, pain, and hatred boiled in his chest. The Sirenidae would pay for what they’d done.

“I will avenge you,” he vowed.

They’d declared war, and Raziel would answer tenfold.

Chapter Nine

MER

It wasall Mer could do to not get into the water.