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Chapter Ten

RAZIEL

The smoke from the pyres clung to Raziel.

The taste of ash coated the roof of his mouth. It was as if ash coated every inch of him.

They’d laid to rest the fishermen from the Zephyr and with that, heralded the arrival of his bride.

His horse pranced beneath him, feeding off his dark energy.

Each step closer to the coast, his anger ratcheted up a notch.

He hadn’t asked many questions about Mer Thalassa when his mother offered him the marriage contract.

Raz vaguely knew of her from the Warlord’s War.

She was the sea king’s granddaughter and the one responsible for all the attacks on enemy warships.

He was unconscious at the time, but apparently, she’d saved him from drowning.

By all accounts, she was a masterful tactician with a compassionate heart.

That’s how the stories went.

Raziel didn’t know if he believed a single one. The Sirenidae hadn’t interfered in the politics of the surface in eons, and yet they did now.

Why? That was the question.

What agenda did they have to join the war? Or to marry one of their princesses off, for that matter?

None of it made sense.

It doesn’t have to. You got what you wanted.

King Raziel had secured a bride with powerful healers and drugs. Surely, they’d end the Mirror Plague, and his people could prosper.

As long as sirens weren’t ripping their hearts out.

He cursed underneath his breath, anger igniting in his belly once again. While no one had seen the Sirenidae attack the Zephyr , there was undeniable proof.

The missing hearts.

The Sirenidae were elusive, and the only proof of their existence was the carnage of ships and bodies left in their wake.

Every once in a while, a sailor or fisherman would claim to have seen one, but their descriptions were all different.

Haunting songs were supposed to drive a crew to madness.

No one had truly come face to face with the siren and lived to tell the tale.

Including children.

His fingers tightened on the reins, and he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the stuffed children’s toy from the ship. Nightmares about the Zephyr had plagued him for two weeks without letting up.

Enough. Focus.

He blew out a breath and opened his eyes.

Soon he would have one in his hands: a Sirenidae who would answer for what her people had done.

He’d get the answers he sought.

Even if it meant he ended up a widower.

Waiting on the docks was excruciating.

Not because of the needle-like ocean spray or the winds that howled but because he’d meet his new bride soon.

Or new enemy.

He squinted at the sails of the Methian flagship in the distance.

Soon enough, he’d meet her.

“Don’t worry, my son. She’s your perfect match,” his mother said softly.

He nodded but said nothing.

What a perfect match looked like, Raz didn’t know.

All that mattered was that he needed a queen, a cure, and answers about the latest attack, not a friend or wife.

Someone to fill the position and bring prosperity to Methi.

Liar.

Raz brushed the thought away. All he needed to do was focus on her dowry. The Sirenidae king had been generous with the sum. The dowry would keep Methi running for several lifetimes even if the whole kingdom did nothing but lay around and drink.

It was everything he wanted.

Then why did he feel so hollow?So bitter?

Because you’re alone.

A grunt escaped him.

His mother arched a brow. “Something on your mind?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Mm-hmm.” The dowager queen pulled her cloak tighter around her figure. “I’ll let that lie go.”

Raziel shot a smile at his mum. She’d always known him best.

The ship drew closer and with it, the ire of the storm.

The dark skies broke open, and water rushed from the heavens, drenching their party in seconds.

He wiped the rain from his eyes, and his breath seized when he spotted a lone figure standing at the bow of the ship.

Her unusually short silver hair just touched her pale bare shoulders.

He could almost feel her magenta gaze running over him, appraising.

She was tall for a woman. Willowy but strong as she held the railing while the rain, spray, and wind tore at her. She didn’t move, almost as if she couldn’t look away from him.

“Are you ready?” his mother asked.

“I was ready the moment I signed the marriage certificate.” He’d made his choice weeks ago and hadn’t wavered. This was the right decision. For his people. For the future.

The dowager queen snorted. “Marriage written on a scroll is something completely different than marriage in and of itself.” She scanned his face and frowned. “Stars above, son, paste a smile on your face. You look like you’re attending a funeral.”

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.

He held his ground and refused to back down as she cocked a hip and sashayed his way, too much skin on display—her dress nearly transparent.

Raziel gritted his teeth and yanked at the clasp of his cloak, ready to toss it over her shoulders.

While she didn’t care for her modesty, it seemed he would have to.

His fingers spasmed, and he gasped as the most intoxicating scent reached him.

He inhaled deeply and lurched forward. Raz found himself striding toward her, the cloak slipping from his grip and dropping onto the deck in a damp puddle.

Heat flushed through his body, and he reached a hand toward the Sirenidae.

All he wanted was to just touch her skin.

One single touch would be enough to douse the raging inferno inside him.

She smiled, batting his hand away, and stepped into his space as if to embrace Raziel. His eyes closed, unable to stifle the groan that escaped him when her fingers traced his chest.

Yes, this was exactly what he wanted, no, what he needed?—

Lightning quick, she shoved and knocked his legs out from underneath him.

Raz slammed onto his back, air leaving his lungs.

Cold magenta eyes glared down at him as his bride straddled him.

He smiled at her, barely registering the prick of pain at his throat when his hands rested on her bare thighs.

Fog settled over his mind, and all he could think of was the beauty hovering above him.

Distantly, he registered shouts, but Raz couldn’t care less.

This was exactly where he was meant to be.

He shifted restlessly, wanting to press against her body, but couldn’t find it in himself to move. It was as if he was drunk.

She snapped something at him in a lilting language, pulling his attention to her soft pink lips, the shade of the inside of a shell. He wanted to taste them. No, needed to taste them.

Another whisper of pain registered fleetingly as he leaned up into her space, desperate to sample her lips. To assuage some of the desperate longing.

Her breath caressed his own. “I hope you suffer as much as I am,” she hissed.

In the back of his mind, warning bells rang, but he couldn’t focus on them.

Deep pain registered a moment before the princess was torn from his grasp.

Raz bellowed and rolled to his feet, blades in each hand. His arms shook as he stared at the two warriors restraining the queen. How dare they put their hands on his wife?

“Release her,” he growled, taking a step toward the princess.

He paused when his mother placed a firm hand on his chest. Raz stared down at her hard dark eyes. “What?”

“Come back to me, my boy. Take a step back.” She slipped her handkerchief to his neck. “Move away.”

“I want,” he rumbled, not able to take his eyes from the beautiful woman as his mum gently pushed him away. “She needs me. I need...”

“No, my love. Take a deep breath and come back to me.”

Raz frowned, trying to understand her words.

He hadn’t gone anywhere, had he? All he wanted was... Raziel shook his head, trying to clear the fog and lust clouding his mind.

Sharp pain shot up his neck to his jaw, and he flinched.

He blinked repeatedly at his mother, who still had not released him.

All the while, his female guards dragged the fighting queen down the dock toward the beach.

Slowly, he touched the handkerchief just beneath his ear.

Pulling back, he saw that his fingertips were bloody. That didn’t make any sense.

“Take another breath,” his mum whispered, stepping close to tie the scarf tightly around his neck.

“What just happened?” he asked gravely, feeling like the world had turned on its side. Everything was foggy.

His gaze was pulled toward the fighting princess, his new queen.

His mum cupped his cheek and turned his attention back to her. She bared her teeth, and her expression was full of anger. “Your new wife attacked you.”

Raziel blinked slowly.

That was a first.

No one had ever wanted to kill him before they even knew him.