“You look lovely.” His voice was filled with graveled admiration, but it somehow did not sound like a compliment.
I bit into my cheek, annoyed by that tilting feeling he cast over me. “I cannot tell whether you mean what you say.”
“I always mean what I say, my lady. It’s my implication that you cannot grasp.” He uncrossed his strong arms and gripped the edge of the desk he perched upon. “Youarelovely. You’re charming, and if our circumstances were different, I’d likely enjoy a meal with you, bask in your wit, but as it is your beauty and charm are like gnats that I must swat away from my eyes to keep my vision clear.Your qualities are wasted on me. They do not matter, because your purpose and power exceed them.”
The silence between us contorted, a mirror to my insides. I kept perfectly still, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing me shrink, of making me into some pest when it was his own self-importance that riled. “My purpose and power,” I said in a glacial voice. “And what might that be?”
For once an emotion flickered over his face, but to my frustration, I could not place it. He let me see him tense. He made a moment of pulling in a full breath and slowly releasing it. “Your purpose—the reason I agreed to bind myself to you—is to ensure that you will help me track down and kill King Nemea’s water deity, Eusia. And it’s your power that makes me believe you can. That silent lure you possess is Gods’ power. It’s beyond what a normal Siren can wield.”
I stilled. Blood raged through my ears. “Gods’ power…” I breathed through the light feeling that began to fill my head. “No. You’re… no—”
His acerbic tone fled, and he sounded suddenly like he was speaking to some spooked creature that was a moment away from a rampage. “I believe you’re the daughter of the Great Goddess Ligea.”
My thoughts came clipped and quickly. Theodore telling mehe knew me. The Great Goddess Ligea’s statue in Nemea’s ritual room, her face chiseled to dust. I supported myself against the back of the settee.
I’d already given my word to Theodore, and it was my bleeding duty to honor it. I’d likely die trying. “Not possible,” I squeaked. The sickness from our bond had settled, but I still felt ill.
“You have her face.”
I shook my head. “That’s why… that’s why you look at me likethat… isn’t it?” I needed air. I needed to move. On weak knees, I bolted for the unlocked door and ran out onto the ship’s deck. It teemed with sailors.
My feet slapped over the damp planks as I wove through the crew. The sky was a fiery red now and the salt wind whipped at my hot cheeks. Sea mist fell over me like the gentlest rain, sparking over my skin, clinging to the silk of my borrowed gown. I ran straight from the stern of the ship to the bow.
Behind me, Theodore’s voice boomed. “Everyone belowdecks. Now.”
I only heard the clomp of boots as the crew obeyed. The ship captain echoed the king, hurrying the sailors away. But I didn’t watch them go; I bent over the ship’s rail, not taking my burning eyes off the water. Though it frightened me to no end, though I dreaded what sort of monster it might make of me, I preferred its horrific mystery to what Theodore seemed so certain of.
He came up behind me with slow steps. “Lady Imogen…”
I whirled. “You ass. You sneaky, egotistical—this is just another ploy to keep me under your thumb, to use me.”
The wind ran through his dark hair like fingers; it tugged at his black shirt. “No. That’s why I need you to get the prophecy from the Mage Seer,” he said, soft, impassive. “She will tell you the truth.”
“What do you care whether I believe it or not?” My hands were fists, clinging to my now-damp dress. “I have this power—that I cannot control in the slightest, mind you. Why not just force me to use it regardless of whether a prophecy proves you right?”
He gave me a sullen look. “I do not wish to force you—”
“Oh, howgoodof you. Thank you, Your Majesty.” I gave an angry laugh. “You want me towantto go on a mortal hunt for a powerful deity, because it’s my divine duty.” My anger was wholly untethered, whipping through me. “And what could possibly be morerewarding than fulfilling it? Who wouldn’t want to die a hero in service of one’s king? I have no desire to be like you—” I jabbed a finger against his chest. “To scrape myself empty for others and call it noble.”
He’d gone rigid, eyes locked with mine. There was only the sound of the wind snapping through the sails. The sea crashing against the hull. That plucking sensation came again in my chest, deep in the middle, and I wished I could cut it out. Theodore and I stood still before one another, an abyss between us. I saw no way of bridging it.
I didn’t bother trying to stifle the tears that rolled down my face. Theodore looked… stunned. Helpless. He blinked too much; his full mouth opened and closed as his mind clearly reeled.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I demanded, through my weeping.
He shook his head. “I… I don’t know what to do with you.”
I swiped the windblown hair from where it stuck to my wet cheeks. “You do. You’re sending me to my death—”
“Stop. No.” He covered his face in his hands for a moment. “Right now. With you… emotional… in front of me.”
I cast my gaze out over the horizon, toward the red, sinking sun. I tried to school my features, steady my breaths. The ship pitched and swayed, and even I knew that the crew would need to return to their posts soon to keep us on course. One last deep breath of salt air. “Another day and this bond will settle. Then we can both enjoy some space from one another,” I said, gaze stuck on the last dash of sunlight. Without glancing back at him, I started for the confines of the stateroom. His warm hand wrapped around my wrist. I glared down at it, then up into his eyes.
They bored into me with a fathomless expression. “An embrace,” he said.
“Awhat?”
He tugged on my arm, forcing me a step closer. “Lachlan said an embrace—closeness—might help ease things.”
