Page 36 of Wicked Sea and Sky

The water warmed, becoming almost too hot as the warden’s chant grew louder. Then a shimmering band of gold coiled around Sirena’s throat, binding tight. Her song flashed beneath it, sending rays of light scattering through the current.

Sirena jolted, her head tipping back as the band vanished, taking her song with it. The inked thorns dissolved into nothing, leaving her throat bare.

She blinked, dazed for a second before she opened her mouth. No notes emerged.

“My lure is gone,” she said. “I can't sing.”

I took Sirena’s hand, lacing my fingers through hers as our shackles emitted a muffled clang.

My lips trembled.

A siren without her song was a cruel twist of fate. Once lost, it was nearly impossible to regain. But then, finding a lost relic after years in Saltgrave felt impossible too. If I succeeded, maybe there was also hope for Sirena.

The warden placed the driftwood onto a different stack, then faced me.

“Now… here is your legend. Listen well. Long ago, a mystical shard was stolen from the heart of an ancient underwater tomb. They say it holds the power to defeat the sea’s dark magic, but only when paired with a true source of ocean enchantment. Alone, it is dormant.”

The warden’s voice dropped lower, and we both leanedcloser to catch the rest.

“No one knows where it lies now. Only this: it was cast from the sea and taken above—out of the hands of mermaids and into the corrupt grip of those who walk on land.”

The warden finished and offered nothing more, just a flick of her hand before the guards returned.

“Back to the line,” she said, already turning to watch the shackled inmates entering the mines.

Sirena and I swam in silence. The sting of her sacrifice prickled my skin like needles.

As we rejoined the line of prisoners and the mouth of the mines swallowed us, Sirena murmured, “Was it enough? Can you find it?”

Her voice sounded strange, hollow without the melodic undertone of her song.

A magical shard cast from the sea.

I was sure I’d heard that tale before, but when I closed my eyes, the details wouldn’t come. Too much time had passed. My mind was too broken. Each thought blurred and tumbled with other stories and wisps of information until they were just murky fragments floating away in the current.

But Sirena’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain. I knew how to break through the walls surrounding my memories.

In another ironic twist, the pearl Tivara had gifted me—the one bound to my blood, that showed visions of the past—might not be a curse after all.

I looked at Sirena before we were separated and gave her a quick nod.

“I will find it.”

Chapter 13

But where had Iburied that blasted pearl?

Sirena sat in the sand, slurping her seaweed. Every once in a while, her hand strayed to her throat, then she’d frown and close her fingers into a fist.

I was too anxious to eat. I couldn’t even choke down mine, and the seaweed mocked me from the bottom of the bowl.

“I still can’t believe you traded your lure,” I muttered, picking at my meal.

“You wouldn’t have agreed to meet the warden if I told you my plan. You’re too moral. It’s your greatest flaw.”

I curled my lip. “I have no flaws. I’m good at everything.”

Except remembering where I hid the magic pearl…