Page 62 of Hymn of Breath and Bone

“Fuck that. No, you didn’t. Even I’m powerless against a dagger to the throat.” Sirens healed quickly, but not fast enough to prevent a cut jugular from bleeding out.

We sat in silence for a while, the sounds above deck were those of the ship being readied to sail.

“WhereareAstraios and Sereia?” Zephyr asked quietly once the bob of the hull told me we were away from the docks. “Did they really fly back?”

“They stayed in Nordhavn,” I murmured, keeping my voice low so we weren’t overheard. “To rally the local selkies and their siren mates.” Zephyr raised a brow so high it disappeared into her hairline, and I laughed. “It was Marina’s idea.”

“Smart,” Zephyr murmured. “Not helpful though. I assume they plan to head south?”

I nodded in confirmation, trying to think my way out of this. Without magic, Marina couldn’t summon the kelpies for help like she had on the beach with Vitulus, and I was no better than the insufferable seagull she used to accuse me of being.

“He’s going to kill us.” I tipped my head back against my pillar and closed my eyes, grateful that at least for now my wings were still in one piece. “The Selkie King.”

“Marina won’t let him,” Zephyr replied fiercely.

I sighed. I’d been a fool to let the Stormcrow live. I’d been a bigger fool to meet with him. To take Marina to him.

Her certainty that her father never left the Isles had swayed me, and of course, that had been a lie along with so manyothers he had told her.

How he’d found Ilya, I had no idea. But a desperate male will go to desperate lengths, and clearly, the king hadn’t believed his daughter’s letter.

That incensed me all the more. Marina had chosen, and her father refused to abide by her choice. If I somehow managed to get free of this—if I didn’t die a horrible death at his hands—I would throttle the king myself.

A tug in my gut brought Marina’s desperation back to me, and I tugged back to let her know I was alive, if not completely unscathed. I sent a soothing caress down that bond between us, wishing I could hold her in my arms and murmur into her hair that everything would be alright.

I felt a caress return, and I clenched my teeth in frustration.

How Zephyr was so sure Marina would get us out of this mess, I didn’t know, but I prayed to the skies and the sea and any gods who might be listening that she was right.

Chapter 23

“You’re making a mistake!”I jangled the iron cuffs in emphasis, knowing that it would do me no good to struggle. The iron had cut me off from my magic, and I couldn’t even reach out to the sea with my mind under its icy influence.

Vitulus stood like a statue, arms crossed over his tattooed chest, blocking the door toCaspian’s—to our—quarters.

“The only mistake was leaving you on that island,” Vitulus replied, his gaze steely. “I should have found a way to break you from the siren’s control.”

“I’m not under his control!” I threw up my hands in frustration while pacing the tiny room, wondering if Cas would hear me thumping about. “Surely you must know that! The iron would have stifled siren magic.”

“It may take time—”

“No!” I glared at him, my interruption startling him into silence. “I am under no one’s control but my own, and IchoseCaspian. Ichoosepeace between our people. It’s you and my father who refuse to respect my choices!”

“Marina,” Vitulus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked paler and thinner than he had the last time I’d seen him, as if my absence and my father’s commands were wearing on him. “You don’t understand what it’s been like.”

“Then tell me,” I insisted, finally ceasing my frantic pacing to perch on the edge of the bed. “I sent a letter explaining my choice. Asking for a peaceful meeting. Tell me why it has come to this.”

I shook my shackles again in emphasis, and Vitulus cringed.

“Your father,” he began, speaking slowly and carefully, “has been frantic since you disappeared. He refuses to believe you are not under some siren spell.”

“Like you,” I scoffed.

“And who could blame him, Princess? All our lives we have been warned of their wicked magic and thieving ways.” He put a hand over his heart, as if his words were some sacred vow. “I have spent my life defending the Isles from what I have been told are monsters. And based on how theykidnapped you in the night and killed my soldiers when we tried to recover you—”

“You attacked their ship,” I pointed out, remembering vividly the night of the kraken and the shipwreck. All of this had been set in motion by Vitulus’ attempt to retrieve me.

“To save you! And since that night, everyone on the Isles has suffered. Storms have washed the crops away, earthquakes have cracked even the strongest homes, and the gods cry out for vengeance.”