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The way he stared after his answer made my hair stand on end. He slowly rose to his feet to meet me, and I stepped back.
He chuckled.
“You act scared now,” he said. “You weren’t so timid when you cut down three of my men and then put a sword atmythroat.”
I swallowed, but didn’t answer. The soup bowl was warm against my palm.
“You’re obviously courageous enough to be on this ship,” he continued. “I’m interested in how you got the captain to let you aboard the ship headed straight for the Eros. Was it your impressive resume or something else?”
He stared me down. I held my breath in order to steady myself, but it didn’t keep me from sweating.
“Who are you?” I asked.
He raised one shoulder and dropped it. “Someone who knows a reincarnate when I see one. My question is, how doyouknow what you are?”
I licked my bottom lip, glancing at the bowl of soup. “Fortune tellers.”
This time his laugh was more bitter than amused. “Leave it to them to screw up the spiritual realm, then poorly attempt to fix it in order to look like saints. I bet they charged you every last penny for it too.”
I didn’t answer. He folded his arms and leaned against the bars.
“I assume you know the woman is an incarnate as well?” he asked.
Again, I didn’t answer.
“Let me guess,” he said. “You found another one of your kind, and now you’re running home together. Rather romantic for sirens, really. But the king will be pleased to have two of his children home again.”
I almost forgot to breathe. The Siren King really did exist. I had heard stories from the fortune tellers, but to hear it from another source was breathtaking.
The leader of the prisoners nodded approvingly. “I hate romance, but at the same time, you whisking the woman siren off to the den will take care of my problems as well. So I’m willing to cut you a deal.”
“A deal?” I scoffed. “What could you offer?”
He leaned against the bars as he smiled at me.
“Let me out of this cell,” he said, “and I’ll take you both home.”
The word hit me straight through the gut.Home. Oh, how much I had wanted to say that word on my own lips. And when I searched his eyes, I saw no dishonesty in his proposition.
But how could he know where it was? Not unless…
“Are you returning as well?” I asked.
He snorted distastefully. “I have no interest in your king or his domain.”
So he wasn’t a siren. And he clearly hated fortune tellers. So that meant he was either a Hunter or a Judge.
“Swear to me that you won’t hurt Esmeralda,” I said.
He didn’t blink as he searched for his words. I saw his desires once more—the same desire I had seen when I first met him with Esmeralda—causing me to pull her out of his way.
His desire was to see the sirens destroyed.
“There are no choices in my world, little siren,” he said. “Your destruction is your own doing. I can’t force you toward it, nor can I save you from it.”
I stepped back again. His desire was not only for our deaths, but our deaths were also his job.
Which meant…
