Page 64 of The Song of the Void

I didn’t know how to respond, so I grabbed a handful of sand and flung it at him. It coated his hair and prompted him to cackle and sprint towards the jungle, away from the beach and the ocean. Away from my home.

And I followed him, smiling.

We traipsed around the island, noting the location of anything that might seem useful. The yellow-gold sand of the shore ebbed into a blanket of soft grasses that then melded with the plentiful foliage. Further within the lush jungle was an entire grove of coconut trees and a few pineapple plants sporadically amongst them. At least we wouldn’t starve. We were lucky to run across a stream of clean water that cut through the center of the tropical forest, perfect for boiling and drinking.

The shore on the opposite side of the island proved to be far rockier. A moss-covered cliff of black stone jutted out over the ocean, but I was more interested in the crabs scuttling about between the nearby boulders. Pelicans and gulls screeched high above, and insects sang and chirped from high in the trees as we made our way back to the other shore, gathering dry wood as we went.

I left Reiven in charge of attempting to build a fire while I shook a few coconuts from a tree. I brought them back to the grassy patch right between the jungle and the beach. We had determined that spot would be our camp, since the trees provided some shelter from the balmy wind.

Rei sat cross-legged, rubbing some sticks together over a pile of branches and dry grasses surrounded by stones. And he was having absolutely no luck. We feasted on the ivory flakes of coconut meat after cracking them open with my knife and a sharp rock he found. The water inside was deliciously refreshing.

Reiven grumbled and showed me his box of matches, damp and all but useless. “Might as well use these for kindling.”

“Well, I might be fine without fire, but you’ll definitely get cold. Keep trying, Rei. I believe in you.” I rested my hand on his shoulder without thinking, letting my touch and gaze linger.

I departed and returned an hour later with a bundle of sticks, only to find him snickering as he added his remaining kindling to a small campfire. He ran his hand through his hair and said, “I actually managed to make a spark that caught on some of the grass. After several minutes of blowing on it and begging it not to die, here we are. We’d better keep it alive, though. It’d be a pain in the ass to get it started again.”

“I can’t believe one of those wet matches actually worked. Nice job.”

Reiven grinned proudly. “Now we can relax.”

“Go on and take a break. Just don’t let the fire die. I’ll go hunt for some shells we can use to boil some water for you. And when your break is over in an hour, you can gather more wood so we can make the fire bigger.”

He lay back in the grass, groaning, “Yes, mistress.”

I shushed him and left for the shoreline. Hermit crabs scuttled for the water as I approached. Rather than hunting for shells, I settled in the gritty sand, watching the crabs creep about, the pelicans dive for fish, the waves roll towards me. I sat just outside the range of the water, chin resting on my knees.

Even with the waters of my home so close, my thoughts kept returning to Reiven. The way he returned my kiss underwater felt so real. My mind drifted to the first night we slept together in his cot, when his heavy breaths and the hunger in his eyes made me desperate for more. His body had molded against mine so perfectly, yet it was infuriatingly incomplete.

I was a Siren. Humans held me captive for years. I should feel nothing but hatred for the entirety of their race, especially the worst of their kind—a former pirate. A Siren-hunter. Falling for one of them would be a catastrophic mistake.

“No, I’m not falling for him,” I told a hermit crab passing by. I didn’t think it believed me, what with the insecurity in my voice, so I repeated myself and added a hysterical giggle for emphasis. If the crab could have laughed back at me, it probably would have. “Not after what his kind did to me. I’d never fall for him.”

But Reiven wasn’t his kind. Neither was Ashkade, Lyneca, or Captain Larsel. People like Ipheri and Gatelo, pirates like Vaetrik—they were the enemy, not the man I’d gotten to know and care for. The man who caught me and tried to pull me up during our sword fight, who I had been callous enough to slash at. The cursed man who carried so much pain with him.

I had to stop thinking, or I might lose my mind. Right as I decided to get back to work, a deep, wonderful voice calling my name made me pause and smile.

“Don’t tell me you gave me a hard time about taking a break, then took one yourself?” Rei’s shadow fell over me as he came to stand at my side.

I let him pull me to my feet, unable to wipe the pure happiness off my face. “Break time’s already over? Did you manage to nap?”

“Couldn’t without you.”

A breeze flowed past us, a languid, whispering voice. It rustled the white flower he held in his hand, a kind I’d seen blooming on vines outside the treeline. He tucked it behind my ear with no explanation, just an uncharacteristically soft smile.

“Reiven—”

“This place is beautiful. Could you imagine living here? I bet Ash would like it. He could while away the hours fiddling with his time rings in the shade while you swim and I keep the fire going.” He rolled his trousers up above his knees and took my hands again, walking backwards as he pulled me into the shallows. It warmed my heart to see a man who didn’t like the ocean put aside that distaste so willingly—for me. My feet squished in the sand as he kept talking. “I wouldn’t mind swimming with you, but I’ll admit, I don’t like how my clothes get all itchy when the saltwater dries on them. Chafes like nobody’s business.”

I giggled and brushed my hand against his shirt, and the brownish bloodstains embedded in the black fabric. “Maybe we can wash your clothes in the stream tomorrow. Scrubbing them with rocks might get these stains and the salt out.”

“How kind of you, Siren.” Sun rays reflected off the water between us as we came to a halt an arm’s length apart. “Hey, do you remember when I pushed you into that fountain when we first met?”

My smile melted into a scowl, but he just laughed.

“Thought I was such a clever asshole, and while I regretted ruining your makeup and dress…I couldn’t help but think you looked even more stunning with your hair wet. I never apologized for that—I haven’t apologized for any of the petty ways I pissed you off…Truthfully, I think I wanted your eyes on me and me alone, but I just ended up making a fool of myself. Forgive me?”

Yes, he was being sweet now. But he had reminded me just how humiliating it had been when he shoved me into the fountain in front of all those people, and revenge jumped to the forefront of my mind.