Page 76 of Liar Witch

“No.” Her sigh rings out over the waves below. “You have forced me to take my people in a direction I have given everything to avoid. This path is risky, and I wonder how you plan to accomplish it while sharing a ship with Queen Catherine’s rabid dogs.”

“Those men are mine,” I hiss.

“They’rehers,” she retorts. “Sworn to her. They’ll stab you in the back the moment she asks them to.”

I fume, but don’t bother objecting.

“My people have tried many times to take out theDeadwoodand its fractured crew. Every storm I’ve sung to sink it. Every legion of soldiers, lost to their blades. And now they sit in my harbour, ready to sail away with my son.”

“Yousent that storm after us off the shore of Vertling,” I growl. “I almost fucking drowned.”

“I will not apologise for anything I’ve done to save my people,” Athena snaps. “That ship carriespiecesof my subjects from Ignira to be ground up andeatenby a mentally unstable human.”

“And they don’t do it willingly. You yourself just said, they’re fae-bound.”

“Then you’ll have to kill Catherine before she orders them to kill you.”

“I know exactly what the risks are and how fine the line I’m walking is,” I mutter. “I don’t need you to point it out.”

“But you will need my help. I was not lying. Free my people from Ignira and kill their captors, and the sirenae armies will side with you.”

“I’m an assassin, not a warrior. I don’t plan on needing an army.”

The cold laugh that greets my statement grinds against my last nerve. “You plan to depose a Queen. You will need an army.” Her gaze sharpens, all traces of chilling mirth gone. “You willprotect my son, Nilsa.”

Not dignifying that with an answer, I turn to leave. “Goodbye, Empress. Hopefully, by the next time we meet, you’ll have learned not to doubt me.”

Chapter Nineteen

Valorean

The sirens don’t even ask permission before barging on to my ship. I recognise one as the princess who led us into this damned city, and sandwiched between them is a man I’m far too familiar with.

Niklaus.

Does Nilsa even know how many times we’ve clashed? How many holes this man’s ships have put in my fucking hull?

Of course not.

For almost three days I’ve endured the glares and suspicious glances of the bronze-clad sirens that patrol the docks while the witch has been off doing gold-knows-what to rescue the son-of-a-bitch.

When she finally appears at the end of the gangplank, it’s so tempting to make it disappear and leave her stuck here with the race of obstinate women. She should feel right at home.

Nos, waiting by the bow, head close together with one of the sirens, distracts me before I can do anything.

He doesn’t get close to anyone who’s not crew or Nilsa; so who is this other siren?

I’m so distracted by watching them that Nilsa reaches the top of the gangplank before I can keep her away. Her first step onto the ship catches my attention like nothing else does. Whatever small relief my cock had given me in her absence disappears, and I grind my teeth together as it surges back to full attention.

I refuse to let it bother me. Biology is trying to force me to fuck the world’s most headstrong, aggravating, annoying…

My thoughts cut off as she crosses the deck below and clasps forearms with the leader of the waiting group of sirens. I can’t hear what they’re saying over the noise of the docks, and I find myself moving closer, subconsciously intrigued by how at ease they seem with one another.

When Rysen and Cas returned to the ship, they made no secret of how Nilsa was treated by the sirens. A curiosity at best. The warrior women had frowned at her dirty tactics.

Sirens and their bloody honour. They wouldn’t last a day in the real world.

But the group of women leave the ship with smiles and waves. The one who was talking to Nos is the last to leave, looking slightly tearful as she hugs Niklaus goodbye. Come to think of it, he looks a little bit emotional as well.