Page 33 of All Your Deadly Truths (The Filthy Duet #2)

Kairhyse

W e have been on this boat for three days now, and my Gods, do I feel fucking sick. It has nothing to do with the sea itself; I’m tied in knots needing to get to my girl, and the anticipation of finding her is actually driving me to be more of an asshole than normal.

That Sinnix girl—woman, Siren, whatever—has been asleep since we set out. She plugged the coordinates into the navigation system, and excused herself. If I wasn’t so desperate at this point, I would have just tied her up by the ankles above the cockpit like the fish she is.

Breathe…

I stand at the bow of the boat, grateful for its spaciousness, since I’ve been pacing back and forth.

Above me, just a few steps up, is the cockpit where Sydni sits with Brice.

Alaric is there too, constantly monitoring the navigation system.

I’ve never sailed before and I’m not fond of open water.

I love swimming, but something about not being able to see the bottom unsettles me.

This whole experience is completely outside my comfort zone.

Alaric, though, seems to be in his element.

To be honest, I’m not entirely surprised.

One of the sleeping areas is below me, and I start stomping my way toward the stairs. I need that Siren to wake up. I need answers—she promised to give them to us once she woke from her slumber.

I didn’t realize her nap would last our entire godsdamn trip !

There are stairs that lead straight to the cockpit and then dip down toward the stern, which has a platform for easy water access.

When Sinnix told me that Xeraphine is currently trapped at the bottom of the sea, forced to drown over and over, I nearly became sick.

Poor Sydni cried through her nausea, and while I never want to see my butterfly that way, there was a small part of me that found some twisted satisfaction in watching her vomit all over Alaric, who’d been standing too close.

No words will ever describe what I am going to do to the ones that hurt her.

Her father. Her mother. Lars. Everyone, big or small, they will suffer for doing this to my girl.

I know she will fight for her own revenge, but I’m not sitting back anymore.

She can wallow in that, because no one fucks with what is mine.

And she is just that: Mine .

“We are about an hour out from the location Sinnix marked for us,” Alaric says as I come to sit on one of the two L-shaped lounges, closest to the swivel captain’s chair that he sits on.

My gaze shifts to Brice, who rests on the same couch as Sydni.

She looks terrible—worse than she already has lately.

I can tell she’s been declining, and I don’t think the rough seas are helping.

Between hunger, the sickness from the knowledge of what our Xeraphine has endured, and the constant motion, she’s gone green.

“Syd…” I seem to startle her, and when she lifts her head, she gives me a weak smile. Without hesitation, she moves from Brice’s side and sits next to me. Her head leans against my shoulder, and I rest mine against hers. “Just a little longer,” I reassure her.

She nods, but doesn’t say anything.

That’s when I hear footsteps, dual sets, and I turn my head toward the bow, where Niyla and Sinnix are emerging from the cabin below. The Siren stretches her arms over her head, turning to give me a wave. She’s so carefree, and it pisses me off.

“Slept long enough.” It isn’t me that grumbles out the statement, but Alaric.

Sinnix makes her way up and plops down right beside Brice, shrugging her shoulders as if it means nothing.

“Do you know I swam for two days straight to get to that port? Then, had to suffer to shift for the first time ever into these walking monstrosities.” She kicks her feet.

“Then, learn to ‘walk’, ick . Took me hours. Be grateful. I could have taken my sweet fucking time.”

As she drags her finger from him, to me, I narrow my eyes and ask, “Are you rested enough to tell us what has happened?”

Her smile turns toothy. “Yup, what do you want to know?”

“Why are you helping?” I already know where Xera is, but understanding why is just as important. I know enough about Siren’s to understand they never do anything without a price. What had my girl done to earn the aid of one?

“Listen, that girl is a stubborn bitch?— ”

“Watch it!” I snap. “You’ll not disrespect her, ever.”

“Hey, hey.” She waves her hands in front of herself, a laugh bellowing through her words. “She said it herself. That one knows she’s a bitch, and honestly, I respect it.”

My nostrils flare. “I don’t give a fuck if she thinks that of herself. You will watch it—as everyone else will when speaking about her.”

If Xeraphine wants to call herself that, fine, but that’s it.

“Okay, overprotective much? My bad. But seriously, couldn’t you guess what she gave me? I’m not here to fight, that’s not what this is about.”

“Her heart,” Alaric provides.

When my shoulders drop, I feel Sydni wrap an arm around my waist and hold onto me. That’s right. Sirens survive on the hearts of other living creatures; Mundane and Dylox being the most potent for them to consume.

Sinnix’s eyes are on me now, her expression shifting from playful to one of sympathy.

“I’m a runt, as I told her. My father tried to kill me because I wouldn’t conform with his desires of the future of our kingdom, and our people.

The poison he injected me with was slowly taking my life, and I was desperate.

I had no strength to make it to the surface, let alone to land, where I could seduce and drag down a fisherman.

When I saw her…” She fiddles with her fingers, picking at her nails while keeping her eyes solely on me.

“I knew it was my chance to survive. I figured she’d be willing to give me what I wanted for quite literally anything, because, you know…

her predicament. She was suffocating to death over and over again. It should’ve been easy.”

Swallowing, my mind races to Xeraphine coming back to life, to just drown again.

Oh… fucking Vayl above…

“But fuck Thaldris himself, was I wrong. She denied me, stubborn Succubus. It wasn’t like her heart wouldn’t grow back.” She never tears her gaze away from me, not even for a second. “Because of you.”

My eyebrows pull together as I roll my lips, holding them between my teeth. “Your skin, your heart, your fucking brilliant brain, your psychotic tendencies. It is all mine. All of you is mine.”

“It wasn’t until I offered to kill the fetus, that?—”

“What?!” Both Sydni and I scream in unison. She’s sitting upright, while I’m on my feet.

Sinnix looks worried. “Oh, right… Shit, you wouldn’t know.”

“That’s impossible,” Niyla says, but even I can tell that she is doubtful of her statement. “She hasn’t hit her hundredth year of life, unless she is older than we believe. Right, Alaric?”

I look to him, but he doesn’t comment. Honestly, he doesn’t seem fazed by the revelation which is… odd.

I want to be upset that they, once again, know more about her kind than I do—or Sydni—but I’m not surprised. However, that’s not what’s important right now… She was pregnant?

“I can confirm very much so she was. I tore it from her and ate it. Not as delicious as her heart was, but still sustenance.”

Niyla fake-gags. “Disgusting. You ate it?! Do you have no respect? It was still a child.”

The Siren narrows her eyes, a snarl crawling across her lips. “She told me to eat it. I would have done it regardless, but with her permission it made it sweeter.”

My eyes flick to Sydni who has her hands over her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“How far along was she?” I ask, truthfully scared of the answer.

“If you are concerned it was yours, it wasn’t.”

I’m not entirely sure if that revelation hurts more or less.

“Wait…”

“It was only about four weeks old… I truly don’t think I’m in the position to tell you.” She was pregnant… not by me… that means someone— “She didn’t give me much, and what she did give me will only make you ask more questions I don’t have answers to.”

My entire body jerks as a sharp pain of understanding shoots through my body. I’m too close to Sydni, and I fear that I may lose control and destroy this entire boat.

“No…” Not my Xeraphine. My little demon. My fucking woman .

“Rhyse…”

“Kairhyse.” Sinnix clears her throat, and I slowly turn my head to her. I can see my chest rising and falling in my peripherals.

A gentle hand rests on my forearm, causing me to jerk downward, seeing a teary-eyed Sydni. “It’s… It’s?—”

“Do not fucking say it’s okay, Sydni.” I step away from her and squeeze my eyes shut. “It is anything but okay.”

If I hadn’t pushed that night at the apartment, kept my feelings to myself, and allowed for time to be the teller I loved her, none of this would have happened. We would’ve gone and got Sydni together, and survived whatever attack they had for us together .

It’s not okay, and I’m shaking with rage.

“Xeraphine’s kind is known for their selfish nature, hatred, and brutality.” My gaze sharpens as I meet Sinnix’s eyes. Her words aren’t filled with apologies or empty platitudes, and I appreciate that more than any comforting lie. It’s not okay… It’ll never be okay…

She continues, “Texts and our own ancestors speak of them, recounting when we walked among you ‘leg freaks’. They warn of the danger they pose…” I’m not sure where she’s headed, but I don’t interrupt her.

“It seems both of our kinds have been generalized. I’ve never seen anyone so unwilling to end their own suffering over something she would inevitably get back. ”

She’s talking about her heart, and I can’t put into words how that makes me feel. That she fought so fucking hard to not give it away because it belonged to me.

A brief stint of silence envelops us before she continues, “So, the answer as to why I helped is simple: Because it’s what she assumed I wouldn’t do.

Just like I assumed she wouldn’t help me.

We both needed something, and as selfish as both our needs were…

in the end she gained nothing by helping me but more suffering. This is the least I can do…”

“I’m not glass, Kai.”

Fuck! I want to scream! I know you aren’t, little demon but… I can’t have people trying to break you.

“It tore her to pieces giving it to me,” she says, as if trying to convince me—or maybe she’s using this to calm me down. “I think she thought you’d hate her.”

“If anything, I’d hate you. But I don’t.

Not at this time at least.” I find the calm I so desperately need, and shift back down to sit beside Sydni, who has since stopped crying but doesn’t hesitate to bury her face against my chest. “Thank you. Not many have been there for her, and she deserves the help. Even if she won’t ask for it. ”

Her soft nod is followed by silence. There’s so much happening, and I just need answers. But more than that, I need my girl. I need her back in my arms so I can shield her from this damned world that is out to take what doesn’t belong to them.

“White-haired boy that has been grinding his teeth,” Sinnix addresses Alaric. “You could absolutely play the villain in some dramatic lumina. I’ve probably seen a few with your exact?—”

“What is it?” he drawls, interrupting her.

“Let’s stop the boat. I realize we may not want to come up right on top of where she is.” She pops up to her feet. “And I see we are close.”

I shift my gaze over to the navigation system. About eight miles, nautical miles, whatever. “I can swim at a max of forty knots?—”

“You know boat terminology but have no clue what a phone is?” Niyla doesn’t hide her annoyance.

Sinnix narrows her eyes. “Where do you think you people got ‘boat terminology’ from, Vamp?”

“Wait…” This is the first time Brice has spoken since we began this discussion. “Is that a ship?”

Everyone turns their heads forward, and though it’s far off in the distance, the silhouette of a vessel is unmistakable. The motor cuts out completely as we slow, drifting aimlessly. Sinnix curses under her breath and starts moving, heading toward the back of the boat.

“Shit, shit, shit. That’s right, she said they would be coming to take her up.” The moment she’s at the back deck, she tosses off her dress, exposing her completely bare back.

I turn away but ask quickly, “Who are they? Do you know?”

“Nope, I mean, not really. I just know that her mother is involved, and they have a shark Shifter.”

“That’s confirmation enough, then.” Alaric gets my attention briefly. “That woman looked identical to Xeraphine, but wasn’t her. That was likely her mother commanding that Necroth.”

“Fuck!”

When a splash comes, I jerk back to look at Sinnix as she emerges. “Let me check to see if she is down there and I’ll come back.”

“With her?” My heart leaps to my throat.

She shakes her head. “She is in a cage created from the Beyond, forged from Netherpyre. We will need to figure out how we can break through. I don’t want to waste?—”

“Take me with you.” I’m removing my shirt and pants when a rough hand grabs my forearm.

“Rhyse, wait.” Sydni looks up at me with pleading eyes. “Let her see if she’s there first and then if she is she’ll come back, right?” She looks to Sinnix.

“Right, I’ll?—”

“No!” I jerk away from her grip. “Take me, and if she’s not there, take me immediately to the boat.”

Just as I’m turning to dive into the sea, a larger hand grips my shoulder, halting me. When I whip my head around, it’s Alaric, eyes bouncing between mine.

There is a moment of pause, causing me to growl out, “What?!”

“Take this.” His opposite hand reaches under his shirt and grabs hold of a chain. It’s gold, and when it comes over his head, the sun beams against it, casting a light across the deck. “Wrap it around the bars. Use it to bend the metal. ”

My eyes narrow, and before I can ask the obvious question, he says, “Forged from the Vayl. Should be strong enough to create an opening, but it won’t break it.”

Taking it from him, its weight alone tells me it isn’t gold from this world. I nod, and as his hand leaves my shoulder, I dive into the sea.

The moment I’m in the water, I see that Sinnix no longer has the legs of a Mundane—she’s transformed into her true form. Her fingers are webbed, and when they grip my forearm, the texture feels like silk latex.

“I don’t need to breathe, but I can die from the pressure,” I explain, knowing that if she swims at the speed she’s hinted at, the descent might very well make my head explode.

“Let’s see how far we get, but we will need to watch for that Shifter.”

The moment I nod, she drags me under, pulling me into the depths of darkness that promise to lead me to my reason for living.