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She’s standing there with her back to me in a blue gown, a crown on her head as her black hair billows in the breeze. Her dress is wet, puddles of water forming underneath and flowing across the deck.
“M-Maren!” I try to yell at her, to warn her, because she’s in my dream and she doesn’t know what happens next, but her name is caught in my throat. I can’t move either, I’m just frozen in place, forced to watch what I know will happen.
Another thump shakes the ship, causing people to cry out and then Maren starts to slowly turn around to face me.
I gasp, my heart sinking.
Though her eyes are as bright and beautiful as ever, her face has rotted away, barely any flesh covering the bone. She has succumbed to the curse and is crumbling away before my very eyes.
Then my gaze trails south to the hem of her gown where the water that was flowing is now turning red, tainted with blood, and the tip of a mermaid tail stick out from under the dress. The tail slowly turns to bones.
“Maren!” I yell again, this time finding my voice. “Come here. I’ll keep you safe. Choose me!”
But she doesn’t move. Her eyes stare blankly at me.
And from behind her the great Kraken’s tentacle rises high up in the air, the sun reflecting off a purple sheen, and then it comes crashing down toward her.
I yell and start to run to her, but the end of the tentacle is forced into her mouth and it pulls back like a fish hook, whipping her off the deck and down into the sea.
I wake up panting for breath, sweat making my hair stick to my neck. I nearly bash my head on the bunk above, remembering where I am in the nick of time.
I’m not on theNightwind. No, this boat is revolting in its stench and dirtiness. Once upon a time she would have been beautiful, but a cursed crew would have different priorities than me, and keeping her clean wouldn’t be one of them. In fact, the only place I found acceptable to sleep in was one of the officer’s quarters, the only one with a working window to get the flow of air in here.
I look out the window at the night sky. The moon is out, just a crescent, bathing the water in fragments of silver, while tendrils of fog hover above the surface. The sea swells from earlier have died down, but the dream still sticks to me. I hate having a fear of the ocean but that’s what those dreams do. They remind me that under this ship’s keel is a world that I know nothing about, a world filled with monsters such as the Kraken.
Monsters such as Maren. I suppose that’s why she fascinates me so. Both of us are monsters, creatures apart from humans, yet we still come from two different worlds. In all the time we’ve hunted mermaids—Syrens—I never thought that they would be something I could relate to. I never stopped to think that they could be kin. We’re worlds apart and yet the same. There is so much to learn from her, if only she would let me.
I know she will be an uphill battle to win. She has been from the very beginning. I’ll be the first to admit my tactics are rough and sometimes cruel and they are not the ones of an ordinary gentleman trying to woo an ordinary lady.
But she’s also been dealt a poor hand in life. I see what disadvantage she’s been at for a decade, and I also see how she lives in regret over her past. If I could just get her to trust me, I’d help her see her true potential. Right now she’s this wild captured animal constantly lashing out, but if she could harness and focus that female rage, she’d be unstoppable.
We’dbe unstoppable.
King and Queen of the high seas.
My heart changes tempo for a moment, becoming this foreign item in my chest. I haven’t felt this way about anyone for a very long time, and the idea of Maren actually joining my side gives me a foolish sensation of hope. That all of this, this whole life over the centuries with all the pain and the losses, that it’s not for nothing. That it’s for something.
For someone.
Even though I said I would visit her in the morning, I know I’ve left her waiting for long enough. But if I need to convince her to let me feed from her, I have to at least attempt to win her over again.
I head up to the deck. The wind is steady in the sails and the ship is cutting smoothly through the sea, the dark night stretching beyond and mingling with traces of mist. By now I reckon we’re getting close to the Kiri Islands from which we will be taking a northerly heading. I look over at the skeletons standing at the helm, the bosun and who I assume is the new quartermaster.
I wasn’t sure how this crew would feel with me taking out their captain and taking over the ship, but once I told them that we could find more mermaids and that this would be the first they’d be chasing Nerissa instead of the other way around, they were all for it. In any event, I don’t think they’ve been allowed to sail this far across the Pacific, so they seem excitable and in good spirits.
Which, even though I was just battling them and chopping off their limbs and smashing in their skulls the other day (not to mention throughout the years prior), I do feel a responsibility for them now to keep them safe and happy. Being a captain of a ship isn’t just about having control—it’s about accountability and that’s something I pride myself on.
I just hope the crew of theNightwindstill feels that way. I know how most of the Brethren regard me, especially my immediate family, but I don’t know what Sterling has been telling them. The man has zero charisma and the brains of a gnat but that doesn’t mean he won’t strike a chord with some of them. It’s impossible to stay in my position for so long and not acquire some resentment.
But I will worry about that later. I trust that Thane and Cruz will keep everyone as safe as they can and I’m hoping that Nerissa isn’t causing too much trouble. When the cursed crew told me that she had left the ship for theNightwind, I was surprised but, then again, the sea witches can be unpredictable and prone to following flights of fancy.
I bring my mind back to Maren. I know exactly what she needs and wants, even if she won’t admit it. I go to the bench where I had laid some of the fish I caught earlier to ensure there are some left after Sedge and I cooked up dinner. Now that I know she’ll eat one raw, it will be easy to keep her fed (though I shouldn’t be surprised considering her appetite).
Then I go to one of the empty barrels that had been collecting rainwater, filled to the brim, and pick it up with a grunt, lugging it over to the stairs and below deck. There I rummage for anything clean, and finally find some old but acceptable linen sheets and a shriveled bar of lard and lye soap. On theNightwind, we have bars of fragrant Castile soap that I am sure the princess is used to, but this will have to do.
I knock on her door as a courtesy and unlock it with the rain barrel sticking out first, just in case she feels like attacking me. It would be futile for her, but annoying for me.
But Maren is kneeling by the porthole and staring out the window at the moon and the sea and…damn it, it knocks the wind out of me. That’s all she really wants. To go home. She doesn’t want to be with me. She just wants to return to the sea.
