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The touch is electric. My entire body comes alive even more so than before. I still feel the strength of being underwater. I feel the confidence, the power.
And my mind returns to me.
Riden.
I grip his arms and kick to the surface. His face breaks free of the water and gulps down breath after breath of air.
The waves fight against me with everything they’ve got,but I don’t surrender. I keep Riden above the water where he can breathe. It is beyond strange to be so surrounded by both water and him, as if the two forces are battling each other for residence in my mind. The water encourages the siren, Riden the human.
“Pull us up!” I shout as loud as I can. I’m prepared to sing to Kearan if he hasn’t covered his ears yet, but the rope starts yanking us toward the ship, Riden spluttering as we are pulled through the waves.
The cold hits me once I’m out of the water. Riden shivers next to me, but I haven’t felt the cold long enough to be affected so deeply by it yet. The extreme temperatures of the ocean don’t harm or even register to the siren.
When we reach the ship’s edge, several girls pull Riden from my arms and get him onto the deck. Then they grab me. Instead of lowering me lightly onto the floor, I’m practically thrown.
“What the—”
A weight drops on top of me. Ropes. No, a net. I paw at it, trying to break free, but that only entangles me further. Then I’m being dragged.
I focus on my surroundings, wondering who could have possibly boarded us in the storm. But I’m not staring at intruders.
“Niridia?” I say, astonished to find she’s one of the girls dragging me. “Get this damned thing off me! What are you doing?”
“Get Riden to Mandsy so she can look him over. And for star’s sake get his ears covered.”
Oh. She thinks I’m the siren. Of course she does. I went into the water.
“Niridia, I’m fine. It’s me.”
Haeli and Reona, two of my riggers, look to Niridia questioningly at my lucidity.
“Ignore her. Captain’s not herself. She’ll be all right by morning.” She leans toward Sorinda. “The creature’s getting cleverer.”
I sigh. “Niridia Zasperon, I’d really rather not spend the night in the brig. It puts me in a mood the next day.”
She steps away from the netting and looks at me. “Only the next day, Captain?”
“Very amusing.”
She places her hands at her hips. “You would have me put the safety of this crew in jeopardy so you can have a soft bed?”
I hold in a growl. “Fine. Put me in the brig, but I need dry clothes so I don’t freeze. And extra blankets.”
Niridia chuckles to herself, though I can’t hear it over the wind. “All right. Let the captain out. She’s fine.”
***
When I can feel my fingers again, I head belowdecks with everyone else. Kearan stays above to keep the ship righted. I promise to relieve him shortly. He brushes off the comment as though he couldn’t care either way. He’s a lot like Sorinda in that regard.
In a corner of the crew’s sleeping quarters, a little girl cries into her father’s arms. As soon as she spots me, Roslyn stops her sniveling. She stands tall, pushing out of her father’s grasp.
“I will accept whatever punishment you have for me, Captain.” She pulls her dagger from its sheath and offers it to me.
I watch her carefully. “Did you hear Niridia call everyone belowdecks?”
“No, Captain, but…”
“But?”
