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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

A wad of fabric forced its way into her mouth. A bag was thrown over her head. Celeste kicked and pulled, but it was no use.

“Celeste!” Raiden’s voice called out, but it already sounded far away.

Her hand reached for her knife, but she quickly thought better of it.

Without her sight, it was likely she’d be disarmed before she could do much with it. Better to wait and have something up her sleeve when an opportunity presented itself. Celeste sent one more wild kick into the darkness and felt one make contact.

“ Ugh! ” came the response. The voice feminine.

Celeste pulled her foot back, rearing to kick again, when a hand wrapped around her ankle. She felt the rough weight of rope being wrapped around her at the wrists and ankles. But she would not go down without a fight. Perhaps if she could delay them long enough, Raiden and the others could find her. But her hopes were not high. The city was crowded and vast. It would be too easy for someone to go missing. Celeste wriggled, throwing elbows and knees where she could, but soon the rope tightened, and the fight was lost.

As they half carried and half dragged her bound body, the clamor of the city died away. It was soon replaced by echoing drips and cold, humid air. Eventually, her body was dropped onto a stone floor. Hands touched her, searched her, and she felt her body begin to tremble. They took the heavy bag of coin at her hip but, praise the Goddess, did not find her knife. She hadn’t known what she’d use the coins for... or even if she would ever use them. But she had hoped to keep them. To add them to her collection in her room at the palace. Something to look upon and remember the journey she’d had. And now that, too, was taken from her.

This felt all too similar to the last time she was on land. Painful memories flooded her mind, nearly drowning her. Her heartbeat quickened. Sweat pooled on her brow. She forced herself to take deep breaths. It was all she could do to keep calm.

At last they drew the bag from her head and the gag from her mouth.

Valencia stood above her, holding a sword to her throat.

“I thought you and I could have a little chat,” she said.

A laugh bubbled up in Celeste’s throat. She couldn’t help it. This woman kidnapped the only person on their crew who wouldn’t tell her anything. But Celeste sobered when she felt the steel of the sword press into her neck, the blade so sharp she almost didn’t feel it when it cut her. Blood trickled down her chest.

“You’re brave.” Valencia smiled. “I like that.”

Celeste risked a look around. Wherever they were, it was dark. The only light came from a lantern held by Valencia’s massive, golden-haired crony, who Celeste recognized from earlier that day. The skinny, dark-haired human was there too, standing beside the taller one with a scowl. Behind them, in the shadows, were what Celeste assumed was Valencia’s crew. She couldn’t help but wonder why the crew was noticeably lacking males, when in her experience, sailors were usually men.

The walls were wet and round, as if she were inside a tube. Before her, the tube continued, curving past her line of sight. She would have called it a cave, had she not known for certain that the structure was human made.

Valencia moved the sword to Celeste’s chin, and the siren had no choice but to lift her head until their eyes met once again.

“I would threaten you,” Valencia said, “tell you that if you make any sudden moves I’ll cut you so deep your pretty face will never look the same...” The woman’s eyes crinkled at the corners. A chill crept down Celeste’s spine. “But given your association with the infamously reckless Raiden Sharp, I fear I’d be wasting my breath.”

Despite Celeste largely agreeing with this assessment of the captain, her face fell into a scowl at the words.

“So I’ll make this simple: Tell me where the Red Revenge is, and I’ll let you live.”

Celeste didn’t have to stop herself from laughing this time. There was nothing funny about the look in Valencia’s eyes. The cut at Celeste’s neck continued to bleed, a red stain blooming at the top of her dress. She didn’t like her chances. Valencia wouldn’t believe her if she insisted she couldn’t speak. And even if she did, she would still find a way to force Celeste to show her where the ship was.

Celeste could lie. Lure them all to a false location. But then what? How would she escape? What if she couldn’t? Her crew was probably out looking for her. Unless... unless they were on the ship getting ready to depart.

Celeste slowly nodded.

“Good girl.” Valencia grinned, lowering her sword.

Moving carefully to not alarm her captors, Celeste reached her bound hands toward the mud and drew a circle with an arrow inside with careful strokes of her finger. A compass. She understood them now from all her work as a navigator. How they worked with the maps to show where things were. She had learned so much. The very idea helped ground her. Steady her.

Valencia hummed to herself. “So, you’re the one I heard about. The silent one.”

Now it was Celeste’s turn to be surprised.

“Oh, child”—she laughed—“you think my ship was taken from me by the son of my sworn enemy, and I didn’t inquire about where he went and with whom?”

Celeste supposed the group hadn’t exactly been subtle when they were in Port Romsey. Still, a chill ran down her spine at the thought. The human world felt endless compared to the siren world. In the ocean, there were perhaps a few hundred thousand sirens. But there were millions of humans spread out across lands so vast that not only did they have countries and even towns but they also had villages and districts and whatever else they had to differentiate one from the other. But perhaps pirates were more like sirens. A community where it seemed little remained secret.

Valencia turned to her companions with a grin. “Looks like we’re going for a little walk.”

“Captain, forgive me, but what if she’s lying? Or trying to trick us?” asked the thin human, stepping out of the shadows to their leader’s side.

“She could be,” agreed Valencia. She closed the distance between herself and Celeste in one long-legged stride, taking the siren’s chin in her hand. Her grip was unnecessarily firm, fingernails biting into the skin. “But this is likely all she’ll give us.” She sighed. “And a warm hostage is better leverage than a cold one.”

Celeste jerked her chin, but the Pirate Queen’s grip remained strong, a coy smile playing upon her bloodred lips. “I would hate to waste a perfectly good Wayfinder. They’re so hard to come by these days.” Valencia tipped Celeste’s head up so that their eyes met.

Celeste kept her face neutral, but inside she burned with annoyance. She hated how much this woman knew of her, even if most of it was a lie. She hated the way she spoke of her as if Celeste wasn’t even there or was too stupid to understand. And she hated that this woman reminded her of how small and helpless she was. A fish struggling in a net.

With a grunt, Celeste kicked, her foot landing just between Valencia’s legs in the spot she knew to be sensitive to humans. But the Pirate Queen did not double over, crying out in pain. She jerked away, dropping Celeste’s chin with a surprised look on her face, before laughing.

“Do I look like a man to you?”

Did it only work on males?

Valencia turned to the human at her side. “Hex, get the rest of the crew.” Her bloodred lips pulled into a smile. “We’ve got a ship to catch.”

* * *

Leading Valencia and her crew to the ship might’ve been a bad idea. But Celeste did not have any good ones. She had considered leading them somewhere else; however, the town was a labyrinth to her. If she got lost, they’d know what she was doing and kill her on the spot. Plus, if she led them far away, the chances of her crew finding her would be lower, though it was likely most of the crew had returned to the ship by now.

What if they already left? The thought came unprompted, a poison rotting her from the inside out. Pirates weren’t known to be particularly loyal. But they couldn’t hope to get to the island in time for the eclipse without her. Right? She’d already proven herself as a navigator. And even if Raiden could navigate the ship there himself, a captain like him took his responsibility to his crew very seriously. He would not abandon a member of his crew if he could do something about it.

And something happened between them today. A feeling she wouldn’t dare to name.

The bite of cold metal pressed against Celeste’s back. A silent reminder. The group trekked through the city, an odd little parade that kept to side streets to avoid the large crowds. They weren’t going to give Celeste the opportunity to slip away into the festival, it seemed. Dirt and mud coated the streets, and a rancid stink filled the air, a noticeable departure from the cleaner streets Celeste and Raiden had trod mere hours earlier. They didn’t run into many people, but when they did, they didn’t appear friendly and turned a blind eye to the girl at gunpoint. It seemed even this prosperous and beautiful city had a darker side if you ended up on the wrong street. There were many dangers to sirens in the ocean, but the citizens of her own kingdom were never one of them.

Celeste led them on and found that despite the twisting streets she could use the darkening sky to lead her back to shore. The familiar sound of the waves called to her above the noise of the festival, pulling her home. Behind her, the Pirate Queen’s boots clipped on the sidewalk, her stride casual and swaggering. But the others in the party were tense, like strings pulled tight. Beside Valencia walked the thin, dark-haired human called Hex and the larger blond woman. The rest of the crew followed behind in silence.

As they neared the edge of town, Celeste’s hands grew slick with moisture, a sensation she hadn’t felt before. Was this a human thing? Where was the moisture even coming from?

Bang!

The sound cracked against the stone walls of the city. Celeste dropped to the ground. But the sound hadn’t come from the gun in Valencia’s hand. It had come from above.

Bang!

A shower of glittering red light exploded in the sky above. Sparks rained down. Far away, a crowd erupted with awe. Celeste steadied herself as another burst of light exploded above them, washing them all in its sparkling blue light. The explosions were beautiful, now that she gathered they weren’t a threat.

“Get up, girl,” Valencia said, pistol now pointed at Celeste’s heart. She looked over Celeste as if she were nothing more than a wounded creature. Pathetic.

The siren pushed herself to her feet, and the party was off again. Celeste wished she could be back with the crowd now, watching the lights in the sky. She wondered what she’d be doing if she hadn’t been captured. Would she be dancing with Raiden? Laughing with Kiyami? Drinking honeyed wine? Instead, she was leading a crew twice the size of her own toward her ship. Goddess help her.

But if the Goddess was listening, there was no answer.

A gleam of dark water beneath anchored ships appeared at the end of the street. And soon a stretch of beach and a cliff was all that separated them from the Red Revenge . Please let me be right. Let the crew be there and ready to fight . Each step felt like an eternity.

Bang! Bang!

Two new colors burst in the sky, gold and purple. Celeste watched the reflections of them dance across the shimmering waves. Her feet sunk into the sand with every step. They turned around the last bend into the cliffside. Celeste’s heart shuddered in her chest.

There was nothing there. An empty ocean ebbed and flowed against the beach before them. There wasn’t so much as a footprint to show that anyone had been there.

Celeste was certain this was the right place. The pirates had abandoned her . She clenched her shaking hands into fists. Humans couldn’t be trusted. She knew that. So why did it feel as though the air had been knocked from her lungs? Why was she so surprised?

The cold barrel of the gun pressed into her temple. “I believe I made myself perfectly clear, love,” Valencia said. All the swagger had left her voice. Now she only sounded cold.

A clicking noise came from the back of the gun, priming the weapon to fire.

Tears sprung to Celeste’s eyes. Her mind raced, trying to quell the rising panic and grief. She still had one weapon she could use. One that could possibly wipe out every last member of Valencia’s gang. But it was too risky. There was no way she could sing by herself to such a big crew and keep them all under her control. Even if she could, what then? She’d be stranded alone in this human town, far from her home and her people. And what would that constable do to her if she was found among hundreds of bodies?

Bang.

Celeste flinched as sparks rained again over the city. Tears trailed down her cheeks as joyful cries rang out.

Valencia circled, dragging the tip of the gun from Celeste’s temple to below her chin. “They left you.” It wasn’t a question.

Celeste’s heart felt as though it were splitting apart. She hadn’t expected this pain. She had let her guard down and had started to trust these humans. Hells, she had even started to like them. They were pirates and villains, but they were warm and kind. They had treated her like one of them. Or at least they had when they needed her .

All this time she had believed she had so few friends, that sirens didn’t want her around because of what she was—a princess who couldn’t control her power. But these humans hadn’t known any of that about her. And they still rejected her.

“I suppose you must not be a very good navigator.” Valencia laughed, letting the gun drop to her side. The words were worse than if she had shot her.

“I don’t know... she did an excellent job steering you here.”

At the sound, Celeste’s heart faltered. Her eyes scanned the darkening shoreline.

And there he was, emerging from the shadows, sweeping the strands of his dark hair from his eyes. Captain Raiden Sharp. All the fear and tension released from her at once, and she felt herself smile as she blinked back her tears. The captain’s eyes met hers, and he gave her a wink.

And then he was running.

Running in the opposite direction.