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He stood, making a show of his power by slowly walking over to meet me. He stared me in the eyes as he spoke.
“Are you a descendant then?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, but I know a young lady who is. I also know what party you can sneak into at the end of the month to meet her yourself.”
I changed my voice ever so slightly to charm him. His interest piqued. Whether it was from charmspeak or natural interest, it was hard to tell.
“And in exchange?” he asked.
“Transportation. I need out of the city. If you agree to make me part of your crew, then I’ll tell you where the girl is.”
I tried not to grip my fists while he considered. It was difficult to be this close to the bastard and not slit his throat. But killing him wasn’t enough. I needed the spiritual world opened again. And if I killed him now, they’d never accept me back into the Den of Sirens.
He nodded thoughtfully. “I believe I might have an opening for you.”
I held out my hand for him to shake. He looked confused for a moment, then amused, as he gripped my hand in a firm shake. He stepped back, suddenly uninterested in the people behind him.
“Tell me about the girl,” he said.
“Her name is Esmeralda,” I replied. “And you’ll need to buy her a birthday present.”
ELEVEN
She loved my story, but for the wrong reasons.
I could see that she wasn’t entranced the same way the men were. Henrik was the same way when I first met him: he had no interest in my charmspeak either, and it was difficult to get him to a place where I could control him. His touch with the spiritual world had made him more resistant to my powers.
But Esmeralda, she didn’t respond at all.
“A load of bullshit,” Adrian said, interrupting my thoughts.
The captain, on the other hand, was always entranced by my stories but never took them seriously enough.
“There is no man completely pure or evil,” he continued. “Sirens, merfolk, the spirits and what-have-you…there is no such thing. They would have swept half these bastards off my ship.”
The crew laughed emptily at their captain’s joke, somehow not taking any offense to being called scum. It was true, however, that most of the crew would be wiped from existence.
And if I had anything to say about it, Adrian would be first.
“You’d do well to respect the spirit world, Captain,” I replied. “Just because you pay no mind to them doesn’t mean they won’t search your heart.”
Adrian rolled his eyes and shrugged.
“I have no concerns for my morality,” he replied.
“No truer words spoken,” Henrik interjected.
The two glanced at one another, Henrik’s glare making Adrian shrink back in his chair. It was a small pleasure to see the great captain writhe under the disapproving look of his older brother.
With no other words, Henrik left the table. The table was silent for a moment until Esmeralda, still nestled in Adrian’s lap, looked at Adrian with genuine concern.
He didn’t take it in a very gentleman-like manner.
“You wanna stare closer, princess?” he asked, leaning in close to her.
I took this as my opportunity to step in. I hopped off the table and offered my hand to Esmeralda.
“I hate to steal this one away,” I said, “but there is a hot stove waiting for our attention.”
