Page 18 of The Song of the Void

Before Gatelo could even open his mouth, I locked eyes with the black-haired young man who seemed to enjoy making me miserable. “I accept.”

“Not you. I’m challenging the bilge rat.”

“Yes, well, you see…” I used both of my hands and hauled the saber up to point it at him. “I’m the one holding the sword. You aren’t afraid I’d actually win, are you?”

Probably not one of my brightest ideas, getting myself into a sword fight with an ex-pirate turned bodyguard. But Gatelo would definitely lose if he accepted this challenge, and I had a feeling Reiven would make sure he stayed far away from me when he won.

“You can barely even lift that saber.” Reiven laughed, flourishing his cutlass with enough strength and skill to make a ball of nerves knot in my stomach.

I stalked over to the railing of the ship and climbed atop it, carefully placing one foot in front of the other to keep my balance on the narrow beam of wood. Letting the saber rest in front of me, I motioned for him to join me. “Since I have a bit of a disadvantage, let’s make it a little more challenging for you, too. Whoever falls off onto the deck or into the water first loses. A test of both balance and swordsmanship.”

“Ah-ah. The ocean’s off limits, and that goes for your water magic too.”

I shot him a smirk. “Oh, I forgot…You’re scared of the ocean.”

“Not really. I’d just prefer not to horrify the crew with the sight of you waterlogged like a drowning victim. Don’t want a mutiny on our hands.”

I throttled the hilt of Gatelo’s saber. A pulse of energy rippled through my body, stemming from the collar around my neck. It tugged on my mind, coaxing me closer to him, just like at the banquet. For a moment, I thought I saw a glimmer of those chain links that connected me to the invisible shackle on his wrist, but it may have been the light off the waves. Unless…

I planted my feet to brace against another wave of an urge to be closer and spoke through gritted teeth. “Are you doing this on purpose?”

The pull dissipated as quickly as it had come alive.

“No idea what you're talking about.” Reiven hopped up onto the railing before me, smoothed back his windblown hair like a damn preening peacock, and rested his cutlass over his shoulder. “Let me guess: non-lethal strikes?”

I flashed him a hateful smile. “I think we can leave that part ambiguous.”

Maybe I’ll chop off one of your arms. That’s not lethal.

“You know something, Blue? I think watching your ass hit the deck hard will be a nice consolation for all that annoying singing you’ve been keeping me up with. Go on, I’ll give you the first strike, if you can even swing your weapon.” He had the balls to sheath his cutlass, crossing his arms as he watched my every move with amusement. Infuriating, mocking bastard⁠—

No, I couldn’t let him shake me. I took a deep breath of salty air and looked away from him, towards the sea I loved so much. The rhythmic motion of the waves whispered of sword fighting lessons in days long behind me, when my weapon of choice had been a pearl-handled rapier. My mother and the rest of the elder Sirens instructed their young in the ways of battle, in case of another war. I excelled in our training sessions, but that was in the water, against Sirensteel machines that didn’t fight with tricks and distractions like Humans did.

I calmed my breathing and locked eyes with him. My ears picked up and fixated on one singular sound out of all the others. Not the wind gusting into the sails. Not the deckhand dropping a crate onto the deck as they all halted their work to watch this display. Not even the creaking of the wood beneath my feet as I shifted my weight.

I focused on a single wave, out of the millions of waves that gave the expanse of gorgeous blue those delicate, ever moving caps of white. The moment that wave hit the hull of the Maiden of Blue—I swung.

I aimed for his neck. He must have gotten lucky and noticed something in my eyes, because he just barely leaped a step back, letting my saber catch the air before him with a wicked whoosh. I held it at an angle in front of me as he guffawed and clapped his approval.

“So, that saber is real heavy, huh?” He smirked at Gatelo, who had joined with the crowd of crewmen to watch this spectacle, and was surely pouting that I lied about the weight of the sword.

He’d forgive me. Probably. For now, all that mattered was that cute image of Reiven plummeting into the waves below, a former pirate who, for some reason, disliked the water. With him distracted by mocking Gatelo, I swung again.

Reiven drew his cutlass and blocked in a smooth motion. That cocky smile on his face didn’t even falter as he kept our blades crossed. “I knew I was right about you. Vicious.”

He shoved my blade away, but I lashed out again. I delivered blow after blow after blow in a flurry, and although he blocked every attack with ease, he had no choice but to back up a few steps to keep the power behind my strikes from knocking him over.

“I can see what you’re trying to do with that carpenter boy,” he panted after another clang of steel on steel.

“Please, don’t be jealous, Reiven.”

“You’re just as Sirens were described to me. Dangerously charming and undeniably treacherous.”

“Aww, how nice of you to say I’m charming. Is that why you hate Sirens, because you fear our allure?”

“Full of yourself too, aren’t you?” His pinched expression made me want to laugh, but instead, I slashed at his knee. He didn’t even have to look as he blocked it. “I hate Sirens because I was warned they use their charm and beauty to prey on the weak. The tales all say your kind are evil, and I won’t be another man who allows himself to be sung to his watery grave. Unlike your bilge rat over there.”

Reiven took a swing at me for the first time, but it was an easy parry. Rather than attacking again with his cutlass, he kicked me square in the stomach.