Page 27

Raz arched a brow. “I just left a funeral.” He ignored the grief that creased her face at the reminder, and his attention moved back to the Sirenidae who’d be his queen, but the bow was empty. “It’s better she sees me like this than for her to hope for something that will never happen.”

The blue-green waves crashed against the dock and battered against sharp black rocks jutting from the sea around them as if they wanted to lay claim to the land too. Rain slicked the wood beneath his boots as he shifted. The flight home would be rough.

The ship entered the harbor.

Goosebumps rose along his arms as a haunting tune cut through the air and seemed to vibrate from the sea. His attention snapped to the murky water.

Leviathan.

A huge black fin sliced through the water before disappearing beside the dock as if it had never been there.

“It seems the princess has brought monstrous protectors with her,” Valen commented behind Raz.

His mother tsked. “The Sirenidae’s entourage proceeds her.”

And what an entourage it was. This area wasn’t known for leviathan. It wasn’t good hunting grounds, and yet they swarmed the area.

They were the wolves of the sea.

The dowager queen took one step closer to his left side and away from the dock edge.

“Do you really think Sirenidae can control them?” he asked his mum.

“I’ve seen a great many things over my life, and they can communicate through song and whistles with the beasties. I don’t know if they control them, but they can influence the leviathan,” she answered, eyeing one who rolled onto its side as if to study them.

Uncanny and yet... useful for Methi if the queen had such powers.

The ship groaned as the crew weighed anchor.

He frowned.

The ship looked rough, like it had been through battle.

What the blazes happened on the journey here?

They lowered a dinghy, and Raz stared hard as the crew parted, standing on either side of a swinging rope ladder. Raziel watched as his queen strode to the edge of the ship and stared at the little boat.

She lifted her head, the wind tugging at her silky dress that melded to her body in the rain and wind.

Time stilled as they stared at each other.

There was something hauntingly beautiful about her and yetalso ... off-putting.

The princess smirked at him and glanced at the water, breaking the spell.

A yell caught in his throat when she ignored the ladder and instead dove over the dinghy and right off the side of the ship, plunging into the churning water. The songs of the leviathan rose in pitch, and he clenched his jaw, taking one step closer to the edge of the dock.

Why the theatrics?

He scanned the water for any sign of his bride.

It wouldn’t do if she was eaten in his bay before they’d even properly met.

Delicate hands surged from the water and seized the edge of the jetty. The Sirenidae princess hauled herself from the freezing water, magenta eyes pinned on him. He flinched as her gills spurted water along her neck and then sealed closed. She flashed him a smile, her incisors sharper than his own.

More fish than human.

Disgust rolled in his gut, but he schooled his expression.