Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 36
Ramsay
I stare down at Sterling’s decapitated body and the only remorse I feel is that we didn’t get rid of him sooner. I don’t know how he escaped from his chains but us Brethren can pull up extra strength at times and perhaps it got loosened during the battle with the Royal Navy. Had we done what Maren suggested and found some atoll and left him there, this never would have happened.
But it did happen. And though I know Maren can defend herself, she’s better on the offensive, better when she’s the one attacking and not the other way around. Sterling had her, he…he almost broke her. Thank the lord that when I heard her get up and tell me to go back to sleep that I didn’t stay asleep for long. I had this niggling feeling in my gut that something wasn’t right.
And now Sterling is dead and we have a lot of explaining to do, not least of which is to answer the bosun’s question of “what are you?”
I go over to Maren, a little unsure if she’ll think differently after I brutalized Sterling like that in front of her, but I also don’t care if she thinks it’s an overreaction. I’d warned him once that I would kill him if he touched her again. I only followed through with the threat. Besides, I am on edge these last few days. The loss of Henry has had my rage a lit fuse. It was only a matter of time before it all came out like this in explosive violence.
I reach down and take her from the bosun’s arms, giving him a nod to thank him for taking care of her, then I hold her against my chest. Her arms go around my waist and she grips me tight. I kiss the top of her forehead. “I will always protect you,” I say against her soft hair. “No matter what.”
She nods against me and sighs, still shaking slightly. Then she cranes her neck back to look at me. “We need to tell them.”
I glance over at the crew, most of them awake and chattering amongst themselves and wondering what’s happened, Cruz poking Sterling with the tip of his boot. “Uglier in death,” Cruz comments with a grimace.
Maren pulls away from me and clears her throat, facing the crew.
“There’s something I need to tell you all,” she says. She sounds so strong, her voice steady, though I hate the fact that she’s telling them this way and not on her own time.
I grab her hand and give her a squeeze for support.
She takes a deep breath, looking into everyone’s curious eyes.
“I’m…a Syren,” she says. “A mermaid.”
A hushed cry goes out among the crew, nearly everyone squinting at her bare legs expecting to see fins appear.
“I was a mermaid,” she clarifies. “Though we call ourselves Syrens. And once upon a time, I lived under the sea in the Kingdom of Limonos. When I was sixteen, I fell in love with a prince and, well, you know how that ended. But in order to gain his love, I had to sell my soul to the sea witch, Edonia.”
Several people gasp, knowing full well who Edonia is and what she’s done to me.
“Edonia had me trade my fins for legs and my tongue so that she could have my Syren song. I don’t know why, I was never a very great singer to begin with,” she adds with a smile. “But I digress. She promised me things that she knew weren’t true and I, being young and brash, fell for it. So now you can see what I’ve been for the last ten years. I have had legs. Eventually my tongue grew back. But I could never return to the sea.” She pauses. “That is, until I saw my sister, Asherah, the mermaid in the tank.”
More gasps and murmurs spread in the crowd, followed by someone, Drakos I think, saying, “I knew it!” But of course he couldn’t have known that.
“As Asherah lay dying, she kissed me and that kiss gave me some of my abilities back. I became more of a monster, if you will, though I still have legs.” She sticks one of her legs out. “So, that is everything there is to know about me.”
Thane steps forward, giving Maren an inspecting look before looking at me. “Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?”
“Because I didn’t want you losing your bloodthirsty minds once you found out she had mermaid’s blood,” I tell him.
“But,” Maren says forcefully, “now that you all know, I am here to offer you my blood.”
“Maren,” I growl, pulling her to me, my hackles raising. “What are you doing?”
“I want to give them my blood,” she says, her brows knitting together. “It’s the only way we can defeat Edonia.”