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I will come back after I and my crew are safe. I promise,I tell her.
Good. Now go. The sooner you leave, the sooner you can return.
***
I wish there were more time. My mother is no mindless beast. She is a siren, true to her nature, but that does not make her a monster. She is deadly and ruthless, but so am I. A new future opens up before me. One in which I know my mother. I visit her. We are different, and I can never abandon my human nature, but there is something for us. Where before there was nothing, now there is hope.
And my fury toward my father burns only brighter for his keeping her from me. But beneath that fury, there is still fear. He’s right behind us, could come upon us at any moment. My ship has kept a lead, but he has those sweep oars. For all I know he’s worked his men half to death to catch up.
I swim back for my ship. For theAva-lee. I suppose there is no need to rename her after all.
Niridia’s left a rope for me. It hangs down into the water. I grab it and effortlessly hoist myself onto the ship, taking in the water as I go.
When I reach the deck, I find it empty.
My heart plummets. I told them not to go ashore. Made that perfectly clear. And I told them to keep watch. The ship isneverunattended. Something is very wrong.
The railing is chipped and broken in places on the port side. Grappling hooks? I search the water on that side, opposite from the way I came. Wood scraps float on the water’s surface. Blown-apart rowboats? Did something come aboard from the island and run off with my entire crew? I didn’t even think to ask my mother what lived on this island in all the emotions of seeing her again.
I don’t have any weapons except my dagger. I go to my rooms first.
He’s waiting for me there.
“Alosa.”
The voice is deep and curt, swift and piercing all at once. It is the voice of pain, the voice of violence, the voice of terror.
My father’s voice.
Chapter 20
DREAD SEIZES EVERY MUSCLEin my body for a full second.
“Where have you been hiding?” Father asks. “My men searched the ship thoroughly.”
My mind races. Did he see me in the water? Is he trying to get me to admit something? Where is my crew? What has he done to them?
“I went ashore,” I lie smoothly.
“Good, you can show us where the treasure is.”
Several of his men stand behind him, hands resting against their sword hilts. Tylon is among them.
“Don’t bother trying to sing. Their ears are covered,” Father says. I’m only mildly surprised he would risk himself by not covering his own ears. But then I attribute it to his own arrogance.As soon as he is done with me, he will cover them and move on with his plans. It’s probably too much to hope for the charm to start singing again.
“I’m giving Tylon your ship, since you ruined his.”
“Ruined? I sank it. Where is my crew?”
“They’re below, waiting for you. Why don’t we go see them?” His tone replaces the blood in my veins with ice. What has he done to them?
Tylon’s men draw their swords at some unheard command. There are over ten of them crammed into my modestly sized room. Were my father not here, I might attempt to fight my way through them. But with him here, I know I don’t stand a chance.
And Ineedto see my crew. Horrid images flash in my mind. Images of them already bloodied and dead. It would be like him to kill them all and lock me up in the brig with nothing but corpses of all my loved ones for company.
But when we get down there, I am not met with death. My crew is safe for now, but locked in the cells, with even more of my father’s men stationed to watch them.
“Captain,” Niridia says with relief. Mandsy is in the cell with her. Sorinda, Riden, Kearan, Enwen, and the others are spread throughout all the cells in the brig.
