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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“All right, Admiral, you keep these men in line,” Raiden said, bending low to the ground so he could be eye level with his dog. He put his hands on either side of the animal’s head and brushed across the tops of the ears with his thumbs. Although Raiden had said he was keeping a group of men aboard the ship at all times for security reasons, Celeste guessed a large part was due to the fact Bastian had managed to convince Raiden that bringing the Admiral along to get supplies was a bad idea. The captain stood, brushed himself off, and squared his shoulders. It was like watching him transform from one person to another. The transition from Raiden the animal lover to Captain Raiden Sharp the pirate.

“Make sure to get our supplies first,” he told the crew surrounding him. “Then you’re free to spend the rest of the time as you please.”

“I still need money for supplies,” Torben said, jutting out a hand toward Raiden.

Raiden scoffed. “I know I gave everyone their portion of the raid money and more for supplies, Torben. You’re not fooling me.”

Celeste’s hand fell to her side, feeling the weight of her own raid money in her pocket. She almost had refused it, then considered giving it to Kiyami. She wouldn’t be needing it. But she didn’t want to rouse suspicion.

Torben grinned and shrugged. “Wanted to make sure you’re paying attention, Captain!”

Nasir chuckled under his breath and took his partner’s hand, steering him away from the group. The gunner Oakes stalked after them, getting quickly distracted by the sights of the festival. Bastian and Kiyami peeled off next, heading toward the lumberyard. Kiyami held her map aloft, which she and Bastian had used to plan their route around the city. Soon they disappeared, swallowed by the thick crowd.

The town was overwhelming in its activity. Small humans—children, Celeste corrected herself—chased each other about and shouted joyfully. Humans argued at stalls while others walked in pairs, holding hands. One couple in particular, Celeste noticed, pressed their lips together in a kiss. A sign of love. A soft smile reached her lips. At least humans and sirens had some things in common.

The people of Velluno shone as brightly as their buildings. Among the red, orange, and yellow, some stuck out in shades of blue like the sky and sea. Celeste’s simple blue dress seemed pale in comparison. The clothes were the same in style and silhouette to those in Port Romsey, but here the women often wore woven brown hats on their heads, tied with ribbons to keep the sun off their faces. Others wore crowns woven of ribbons and flowers. Celeste pulled her attention away from the town long enough to see Raiden trotting off down the dock. Her feet clipped along the floorboards as she dashed after him, but as she drew closer to the city, she found more to distract her. Men climbed on ladders, hanging lanterns and ribbons all along the main street. Flowers decorated every doorway and window, drooping with the weight of the blooms. Vendors fanned themselves with colorful papers, sitting beneath fabrics stretched above them to block the punishing sun. Carriages passed, drawn by what she now knew were horses, and she saw people riding horses as well. She wondered what that would be like. She had ridden on a dolphin, but only a couple of times.

As she caught up to Raiden on the cobblestone street, the smells of Velluno filled Celeste’s nose. Beyond the salt spray of the ocean and the fresh fish being sold by vendors along the dock was the sweet scent of the white blossoms on the trees that wove through the town. And, of course, there was the food. Some of it was now familiar. The warm butter of fresh bread, the sharpness of pungent cheese, but others were new. Different. There was something that smelled acidic and sweet.

“This area is known for its citrus,” Raiden commented, smiling as he watched her eyes devour the sights of the food stalls around them. “Have you ever eaten an orange?”

The siren princess raised an eyebrow at him, as if to say, What do you think? Without another word, Raiden took her hand in his, guiding her toward the stalls further down the main street. Celeste stared at his large hand, curled around hers. His grip wasn’t tight, and she knew she could slide her hand free if she chose to. But she let him lead her. Nothing about it felt real. Soon she would wake to find she was still in the water looking at shore and watching a human girl hold a human boy’s hand.

Raiden weaved through the crowd, his hand the tether that kept her from being swept away in their current. She should have been afraid among all these humans. Or even nervous. But those feelings did not come. Instead, she took in the sights around her, enjoying the energy of the crowd. It reminded her of holidays in Staria. In the spring, they held the celebration of the Mother, honoring the Mother Goddess and all the siren mothers. They would crown the women in delicate corals, raised for sacred days such as those, and sing songs. With a pang, she realized she had missed this cycle’s celebration. That her mother was left without two of her children. Her heart squeezed in her chest. But Staria did not celebrate the summer like this. Sirens did not honor the sun as humans did. They were children of the moon.

Raiden came to a stop in line for a vendor with a purple awning. On the table beneath sat piles of fruit, round as pearls but far larger. Some were as big as her palm and colored orange, while others were smaller and yellow or green. With a gentle tug, Raiden pulled Celeste into his side and out of the way of those passing. She had been too preoccupied to notice them.

“It’s tradition to eat citrus fruits during the summer festival. That’s when they’re in season, and they’re hard to come by... so it’s sort of a delicacy,” he explained, his hand still holding hers. She stilled when she felt his rough thumb brush idly against the back of her hand. It was such a small touch, and yet she noticed every movement of his hand in hers. The sweet and tart smell she had encountered earlier was stronger now and the music louder. It mixed with the hum of the crowd into a perfect melody. She took in a long breath, tilting her head back to let the sun warm her face as she listened. It was a feeling unlike any she had ever experienced. To be surrounded by sound and smell and... people . A smile pulled at the corner of her lips as she let herself soak it all in.

“One orange, please,” Raiden’s familiar baritone sounded from beside her.

She opened her eyes when Raiden’s hand pulled free from hers and watched as he pulled out coins and handed them to the vendor. She pulled out coins of her own and tried to offer them to him, but Raiden ignored her. With their single orange fruit in tow—an aptly named thing, she noted—the captain took her hand back into his and pulled Celeste behind him up into the crowd. She nudged him in the ribs with her elbow, an eyebrow raised.

“I wanted to take you to a nice spot to enjoy our festival treat,” he said in answer.

The two made their way down the busy street, passing vendors selling food, clothes, jewelry, paintings, and knickknacks. Unable to help herself, Celeste pulled Raiden to a stop so she could admire some of the paintings up close. Most of them depicted the city around her through blurry, dreamlike strokes. After she had her fill, Celeste turned from the booth and walked straight into the back of a passing guard.

She froze, every muscle tightening. Her hand left Raiden’s and instinctively went to the knife hidden in her waistband. The sound of her bodice ripping echoed in her ears. But before she could pull the knife free, Raiden’s hand caught her wrist and held it.

“Stop,” he breathed, his lips pressed against her ear.

But it was too late. The guard turned toward them.

“Good afternoon, miss,” the man said, his voice firm. “Is this man bothering you?” He eyed Raiden’s hand around her wrist.

“No, Constable. We were just on our way to enjoy our fruit in the square,” Raiden said.

The guard—constable—narrowed his eyes.

“I was speaking to the lady.”

Celeste pulled her wrist from Raiden’s grasp and hid the knife from view behind her back. She tried her best to keep from shaking.

“She doesn’t speak, sir.”

“Sounds to me like you won’t let her.” The constable’s hand moved to the hilt of his sword. Raiden’s body became tense, ready for a fight.

The constable turned to her. “Is this true? You can’t speak?”

She nodded, but his skeptical expression did not change.

“Was this foreigner bothering you?” he asked again.

She shook her head, but he could tell she was afraid. Of course, this man wouldn’t know it was him she was afraid of. It was jarring to hear him speak to her as if he wished to protect her, even respected her, when just weeks ago a man wearing a similar uniform stripped her naked. She wondered why this situation was so different. Why would this man wish to protect her now when she did not want or need protection? And why did he call Raiden a foreigner, as if it had been a dirty word? She knew Raiden was born in Hinarso, but he had grown up in Ethoria, as far as she was aware.

“Why don’t you come with me, and we can get you sorted,” the constable said, taking a step toward Celeste as if to pull her from Raiden’s side. She took a step back.

“You’d separate a wife from her husband on this sacred day?” Raiden said.

Both the constable and Celeste stopped cold.

Wife? She turned to look up at Raiden, and he gave her a smile. He was lying to this human. And he did it so well. Celeste wanted to argue, but to deny him would just make things worse. So she decided, against her better judgment, to play along. She wrapped her free arm around his waist, pulling his body closer to hers and trying not to show how her pulse jumped at the feeling. Then she fixed the constable with her best pleading expression.

The constable frowned. She couldn’t blame him. Her acting was atrocious. And she clearly wasn’t behaving like a human wife.

“Come along,” he grunted, reaching for her.

Panicked, she mimicked that other human couple she’d seen. She lifted herself up onto her toes and pressed her lips to Raiden’s. At first it felt as though she were kissing a wall. Her captain stood stock-still, as if he had stopped breathing. Then his lips softened against hers, and his hands were on her back, pulling her closer. It felt real. Too real. And in that moment, she knew she had made a terrible mistake. Celeste broke away, heart pounding.

What had she done?

“I’m sorry for disturbing you, sir,” the constable said, flushed in embarrassment, though Celeste wasn’t sure why he’d be embarrassed. “And, miss, you can never be too careful. People get a little rowdy during the festival.”

Celeste stepped backward out of Raiden’s arms, leaving his hands to fall to his sides.

“I understand, Constable,” he said, his voice huskier than before, and his eyes still on Celeste. “Thank you for your service.” He pulled his gaze away and stuck out his hand to the officer, who shook it. The two made a little more idle conversation, but Celeste didn’t hear it. She could only hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears, and the ghost of his lips on hers.

“Aren’t you a clever one,” Raiden said, when the constable had disappeared. His words were teasing, but the look on his face was anything but. His jaw was tight as his eyes roamed across her face. She wasn’t sure what he was looking for. And so she shrugged, avoiding his eyes as she set about folding her knife back into the waist of her skirt. “But you’re a terrible liar,” he said, leaning down so that his face was inches from hers. She swallowed, trying to meet his gaze with an equally even look. Inside, her heart beat out its own rhythm. A frantic staccato. The corner of his right lip curled up in response, as if he had found whatever he had been looking for.

He turned and began walking again, forcing Celeste to follow. After a step or two, he turned and took her hand back in his to make sure she didn’t get lost in the crowd. The touch of his rough hand sent another wave of heat rushing through her.

She didn’t want to think about what had just happened, but it was undeniable. There was a sort of gravity between them now. And although she was desperately trying to resist it, it pulled at her. She tried to distract herself with the many things going on around them. But it didn’t work. All she could think about were his soft lips when he kissed her back. His hands on her back. The hungry look in his eyes when she pulled away.

Sure, she had always been painfully aware of how attractive she found Raiden. Annoyingly so. Every look from his big, dark eyes had made her stomach churn since the day they met. He was funny and charismatic and entirely too easy to like. But his pretty face and sparkling personality weren’t enough to distract her from her goal. It was a passing fascination. Something to be brushed aside and ignored, like plenty of other crushes before him.

Only this didn’t feel like that anymore.

And it was ruining everything.

The street opened up into a large square, where people gathered, talking and chattering around a great fountain. It depicted a triumphant scene filled with creatures Celeste had never seen before. There were small, childlike creatures with hairy bottom halves that ended in hooves. These creatures rode on small horses and lifted instruments into the air from which the water poured, rushing down in arcs into the pool beneath. In the center, raised high by a large clamshell, was a beautiful young siren. Celeste’s eyes widened in shock as she beheld her, dropping Raiden’s hand. The statue was crowned with a wreath of pearls and flowers, her long hair artfully covering each breast. An intricately carved tail curled up beneath her, adorned with eight oysters, four on each side of her fin. Despite the girl being carved of white stone, she looked soft and wistful. As if she desperately wanted to come to life and walk among the people who filled the square.

Celeste’s heart filled with sorrow for the statue before her. It reminded her of a statue she had in her room in the palace of a young human boy. As if they were somehow cut by the same hand. And yet if that were true, they would never be together. He lay at the bottom of the ocean, and she was trapped in this shell on land.

“She looks like you,” Raiden said, offering her half of the orange. He had removed the outer layer of the fruit in one circling strip, revealing the gorgeous heart. The many segments clung together, forming a half circle. Celeste hadn’t seen anything like it before.

She pulled off one section like he did, and when she bit down on it, juice burst from the skin unexpectedly. It dripped down her chin and fingers. The fruit tasted like sunshine, bright and sweet. Raiden’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he watched her cautious curiosity turn to utter delight. Eagerly, she pulled another section apart and popped it in her mouth. Raiden guided her to the ledge of the fountain, and the two sat together in silence as they ate. They licked the juices from their fingers and watched the passersby.

Celeste knew she shouldn’t be enjoying this. That every second she spent with the humans was one more second of pain for her mother and father as they waited for her return. Every moment she spent with Raiden made it harder to kill him. And what did that make her? Enjoying his company, letting him speak to her in soft words as she plotted to cut his throat.

And yet she was quite possibly the happiest she had been in quite a long time. The orange was delicious, and as she took in the city around her, she realized that humans made all this. If she could just show her mother these things, maybe she, too, would see that humans couldn’t all be bad.

The smell of the citrus still lingered on her hands after she polished off the final bite.

“I admit I’m disappointed,” Raiden said.

Celeste turned her head to raise an eyebrow at him, wondering how he could possibly be disappointed with anything in that moment.

“That was not how I pictured our first kiss.”

Her heart skipped a beat, and she blinked in surprise. She didn’t know how to respond.

Luckily, she did not have to. For at that moment, a woman with shining brown hair and sea glass–green eyes strode through the crowd toward them, her long maroon coat billowing. People parted around her like an ocean. Her hand reached up to her hat, dipping it just below one eye.

“Raiden Sharp.” Her voice was a blade that could draw blood.

He stiffened like an animal sensing a predator. Then his hand was in Celeste’s, tightening protectively. “Hello, Valencia,” he seethed, standing to use his full height, dragging Celeste with him.

Valencia’s bloodred lips curled into a sinister smile. “Don’t look so surprised. You knew I’d come for you after you stole my ship .”