Page 70 of Hymn of Breath and Bone

“You willneverbe king,” I spat. “Whether I die at dawn or not, the people will never bow to you.”

The Stormcrow stood, pulling his dagger from his belt and using the tip to clean his nails. “Perhaps I won’t kill your little mate, Caspian,” he said thoughtfully, glancing at me with a feral grin that set my teeth on edge. “Perhaps I’ll keep her for myself.”

I snarled, and Ilya strode down the hallway and sheathed his dagger. “Revenge is so sweet, Cas. I do wish you could taste it.”

We were silent as he left, and I waited several heartbeats to make sure the hallway was actually empty before speaking again.

“Villains really shouldn’t monologue,” Zephyr murmured. She hid her pain well in her voice, although I’m sure she was feeling every slight movement in her shattered wings. “Anyone could be listening.”

I choked out a laugh. “I suppose we’ll have to wait to find out. I doubt anything short of him learning he has a siren mate would sway the good captain, but ten gold pieces says he asks Marina about it.”

“Fifteen says he doesn’t,” Zephyr scoffed. “Do you think he does have a mate among us?”

“Probably somewhere. I’m fairly certain Astraios found his among the selkies.”

“Sereia?” Zephyr scoffed. “That tiny thing?”

“Tiny, perhaps,” I agreed, “but she has some kind of hold over him. None of the females caught your eye, then?”

“Ana would skin me alive,” Zephyr sighed, missing her mate as fiercely as I missed mine. “Skies, she’ll kill me if I die here.”

I laughed, despite the anguish I felt, both for her and for Marina. To distract us both, I said, “Five more gold coins that Vitulus has a siren mate.”

“Ten that we die before we can find out,” Zephyr said darkly.

Chapter 26

I wasn’t sure howmany hours passed as I paced my bedroom, testing the door every so often and finding it locked.

“You will never see that male again as long as I am alive,” my father had growled, dragging me to my room as my mother was escorted behind us by several guards.

“Nereus, please,” she’dpleaded.

“No more, Silene. This ends at dawn. Whatever magic that male has over Marina will end with his death.”

“Nereus, you have to listen—”

“No one comes in or out of this bedroom other than me,” my father commanded, speaking to one of the guards as he pulled me into my bedroom.

“Father, please—”

“I do this because I love you, Marina,” he interrupted, his face both fierce and compassionate, love and hatred warring in each line and angle. “I will break whatever magic he has holding you to his will. I will save the Isles from his curse.”

He whirled on my mother. “Take the queen to her chambers and lock her inside,” my father commanded. “Put all other guards on the prisoners.”

He whirled from my room, slamming the door behind him without heeding my protests or pleas.

And so he’d left me pacing and fretting and trying to think my way out of an impossible situation. Even worse, my lungs had begun to tickle again, an unpleasant sensation I hadn’t dealt with since before arriving in the Siren Cliffs. I silently cursed Vitulus for his part in my suffering.

I’d thought about trying to escape. There was a window, but the storm lashing outside and the occasional rocking of the keep from the earthquakes that shook its foundations made the climb precarious, if not deadly. I could call the sea, but that might flood the dungeons and drown both Caspian and Zephyr.

I sent out another call to the sea, begging her for help. She responded with a faint, impatient tug, as if she were waiting for something.

Without a solid plan or way to get out of my room, I paced.

Come dawn, I would have to brave the climb and try to stop my father before it was too late.

A part of me wanted to hate him. To hate him for his lies and his bigotry and his refusal to see the truth.