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ROYO

THE WEST SEA, YUSAN

T he sea wind whips around my head, a constant whooshing sound filling my ears.

Mikail is at the front, leaning forward with the scepter in his hand. The relic causes this boat to move unnaturally fast when he focuses. Etherum makes us cut through the water like we got twenty sails, a dozen men rowing, and a favoring wind.

I sit alone at the back to watch for danger, but we’re far from Rahway. I breathe out a long exhale and lower my shoulders. Our plan worked.

Before we went to Rune’s study, the four of us met in the coju cellar and came up with a plan of escape.

Sora said that the count wouldn’t just let us go—to Oosant or anywhere else.

He’d been keeping close tabs on us since we arrived.

Mikail knew it was a possibility that Rune would try to trap us, but we had to risk it in order to find help.

I hadn’t even realized we were prisoners, but it made sense. The count knew about the relics, and he had his own play. Either he wanted to turn us over to King Joon, Count Seok, or he wanted to use us himself. Who knows?

We didn’t want to stick around to find out.

I had to find a reason to storm off and make it look real.

Then Aeri would try to soothe me. We then had to make a scene loud enough for Mikail and Sora to intervene.

It worked, but we had to wait on Mikail.

Aeri was worried he wouldn’t come out, so we shouted at each other, the emotion real.

She called me hellishly stubborn, and I called her a liar.

Once Mikail walked out, Sora had a carriage take us to the skiff with the help of Rune’s courtesan.

I think the girl, Misha, is a poison maiden. She’s gotta be. Nobody looks like that except for Sora. If I’m right, at least I don’t have to worry about Rune.

One worry down, a thousand to go.

I shift in my seat. We made it out, but it’s already sunset on the water and we haven’t reached Gaya yet.

I don’t like the idea of being on the cruel seas at night.

We didn’t have much of a choice, though.

We had to leave while we still could. I asked why we didn’t just kill Rune, and Mikail said he could prove useful.

I disagree, but at least I got my axe back. I grabbed it on my way out.

I also have a spyglass. I look off the stern toward the setting sun, but I scan to the sides, since nobody is following us. Yusan is to the port side. I swing to starboard, to the South Sea, and there’s something weird in the distance.

We’re moving so fast that the wind roars in my ears, but there’s music coming from somewhere.

High, melodic notes. And that’s not right.

Sora’s not singing, and there’s no music on the ocean.

I continue to look through the glass until I spot the source of the sound.

Far away, nearly on the horizon, there’s a rock outcropping. And…women.

“What the fuck is that?” I ask.

Everybody but Mikail turns to the right to look at where I’m pointing.

“I don’t see anything,” Aeri says.

Right. I have the spyglass. I hand it up to her. She holds it to her eye, and then Sora does the same. My palms itch, eager to get the glass back, to let me look again. Eventually, Sora gives it over, and I put it to my eye.

“Are those…women?” she asks.

“On rocks?” Mikail asks.

He stops using the staff to talk. Without him focusing, the god magic doesn’t work. We slow down, and the singing becomes clear. It’s fantastic. One of the best sounds I’ve heard in my life. We have to get closer. Mikail immediately puts the staff back in the water.

“Cirena!” he yells.

I’m barely listening to him, though. We start to move away. No. We can’t. I need to swing the mast so we sail to the rocks.

I get to my feet, but Aeri dives at me. She tries to put her hands over my ears. I dodge her and move my head.

What is she doing? I need to hear more of that sound. She tries again, and I toss her arms off me. Those women are stranded. They need me. We have to get to them! We need to turn. We have to save them! Ten Hells, I’ll swim there myself if I have to.

Aeri’s golden eyes stare at me. I’ve just noticed the look on her face when her lips mash against mine.

She slips her hands over my ears, but it’s hard for me to notice because, at the same time, she jumps and wraps her legs around me.

We fall back against the bench, and she straddles my lap in her short dress as she kisses me.

That plump lower lip and her taste that’s like a sugar house fill my senses.

I know I was just thinking something, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what.

She wraps around me like a vine, and my hands crawl all over her like they got a mind of their own.

Heat flushes my face and chest. There’s a small part of me that says I shouldn’t do this, but fuck if I can remember why.

Ten Hells, I’ve missed her. I press my fingers against her skin, savoring the feel of her body, her smell.

Hunger burns through me, and the bottomless kind of appetite I feel with her returns. She’s pressed against my pants, and I need to feel more of her. I bite her lip. More. I need to have her right here. I want her writhing beneath me while she moans my name.

I move to shift her under me, but then the boat rocks. I reach out to steady myself, and I suddenly remember we’re on a skiff. With Sora and Mikail. In the middle of the sea.

Wait, what the fuck just happened? What am I doing? Why is Aeri on top of me?

What is going on?

I break from Aeri’s kiss, or maybe she does first. I dunno, but we’re both panting. I adjust my pants. I was just about to take them down. I was just about to…

I run my hand down my face.

“I think we’re safe now,” Sora says.

I lift my head to look at Sora, and Aeri rises off my lap. Sora is up at the front, half-tackling Mikail. She slowly lets up and removes her hand from Mikail’s head. She’d had her lips up against his other ear. With her right hand, she’d covered her own.

“What the fuck is going on?” I ask.

“That was a cirena,” Mikail says.

He shakes his head and then pats Sora’s hand. She smiles back at him. I guess they’re okay now. Can’t hold a grudge about every murder attempt, I guess.

But what did Mikail just say? A cirena?

“I thought they were just a myth.” I’m sweating, and my arms are shaking. Definitely not a myth.

Mikail blows out a breath and rights himself, fixing his torn shirt. “No. Normally, they hunt well into the South Sea. I don’t know why they’re this far north, but all that matters now is that we reach Gaya.”

He resumes his position at the front of the ship.

“What are they really? I saw beautiful women on rocks,” Sora says.

“Me too,” Aeri says.

Mikail has the staff in the water, but we’re not moving yet.

He looks back at us. “They’re enormous sea beasts that make their tentacles appear like stranded women.

The rest of their bodies are like octopi, hiding under the surface.

The sound they produce is hypnotic and goes on for miles.

They lure sailors in and then pluck them from their boats to feast on them. ”

I close my eyes, remembering how strong the urge was. The way I needed to save them. I was willing to grab the sail and steer us right to the beast.

I wipe my forehead. Ten Hells. We almost got eaten again.

But Aeri and Sora saved us. My desire for Aeri was greater than the sound. Which is really awesome for keeping my distance from her.

“Wait, why did Sora cover one ear?” I ask. “Don’t they only affect men?”

Mikail shakes his head. “They affect anyone attracted to women.”

That’s right. She’d loved a girl in poison school.

“I can’t hear them in my left ear,” she says. “Hearing loss. So I only needed to cover my right. I whispered to Mikail about Gaya to keep us going, away from them.”

That was really smart.

We start moving, and Sora sits down next to Aeri. The wind blows over our hair and ears, cooling our skin. I grip the seat with my legs still shaking. The sun is nearly below the horizon now.

I really fucking hope nothing else tries to eat us tonight, but there are more rocks ahead.