Page 77 of A Reckless Indulgence

I’m in love with you.

Her skin tingles. She turns the word over in her mind again and again, as if she can sand down its meaning, strip it of its power, reduce it to nothing but ash.

Love.

Love.

Love.

No matter how much she handles it, the meaning remains.

It lingers when she wakes in her cabin to light creeping across the sky. Upstairs, the Indulgence rustles to life. She lies on her back and listens to the creak of the ship, the sleepy mumbles of the crew, the gentle jostling of the tankards. If she weren’t so used to the agitation of Tidus, the mellow chaos here might almost be…nice.

Her nose wrinkles. She pulls herself out of bed and ascends the stairs to Cav’s hammock, but it’s already flat and empty. She scans the faces on deck, but Cav is not among them.

Lace sidles up beside her with a piece of hardtack. “Looking for Cavalier?” He points past the railing, and Lyx follows his finger to one of the shops where Cav hoists a basket of fruit onto his shoulder. Lace dunks the bread into his coffee. “Why don’t you two share a room? Or is the distance part of the foreplay?” His eyes sparkle. “Pretending you’re strangers. That you couldn’t possibly spend the night together.”

“Don’t give them ideas,” Briar grumbles, nursing a steaming mug. “Cav doesn’t need more reason to hoard her away.”

Their banter is familiar, a mischief that would fit right in among the sirens. The comparison surprises Lyx. How long has it been since she thought fondly of her siblings? Of anyone? It’s a strange, homesick feeling that hits her in the center of her chest.

Briar misreads her. “Don’t worry. You won’t be cooped up on the ship for much longer. We’re almost at the end of our route.”

“A week off. Unsupervised.” Lace nudges his hip against Lyx’s. “You know what that means…”

She lifts her brow, but a blue fluttering catches in the corner of her eye, and the flag of Tidus’s ship waves like a set of gnarled fingers.

Her heart seizes. He’s never gotten so close to the Indulgence, but today, he’s tied only a few spots away. Has he grown tired of waiting on her? Has he struck out on his own? Has he done something to Cav?

She leans over the railing until it digs into her abdomen, but she strains further. There’s no sign of Tidus, but when she looks back at Cav, he’s vanished.

Lyx breaks away from the railing, pushing through the disgruntled crew until she reaches the bottom of the gangplank. It’s like swimming upstream, shoving her way through bodies toward Tidus’s ship. Standing on her toes, she can’t make out anything. There’s no sign of movement on his ship, but she needs to get closer. When she lowers to elbow through the throng of people, someone knocks her into the shops.

Her feet skid on something sticky. A pulp of berries clings to her sandals. When she steps back to inspect it, she nearly trips on an apple. There are more abandoned fruits along the side of the building. Lyx follows the trail, passing trampled bananas and scuffed oranges until she finds the basket discarded. It sits half-empty beside the mouth of the alley, obscured by an overhang of vines that swings gently, like someone has just passed through them.

She ducks into the alley to find a maze of paths, worn trails that wind through stone and flora and jut off in different directions. Lyx turns right, but she stops short and doubles back. She has no clue where to go until she spots the purple smear of berries sloping down the hill.

She dives after them. The clamor of the dock fades away. The trail grows more faint, but she pins her hopes to it until the berries fade completely.

Her chest heaves. She spins in the intersection, searching desperately for a sign. Down one of the forks, sunlight glints off something silver. She sprints after it, ducking under archways and scraping the walls until she reaches the courtyard hidden in the trees.

A blue hand clamps around Cav’s throat and pins him to the wall. He doesn’t look at Lyx. He’s focused on the woman before him, his eyes covered in a film that Lyx hasn’t seen in so long.

She flings herself forward and knocks the woman to the ground. They are a mass of scraping nails, gnashing teeth, and swinging fists. Lyx rolls herself on top, but the woman squirms out from under her. It’s instinctual how their hands tangle in the other’s hair, jerking back to root each other in place while they catch their breath.

Only now does Lyx recognize her sister. So rarely has she seen Sinoe on land, her features tempting but sharp. She moves fluidly, adapted to this environment like any other. There’s the barest widening of her barracuda pupils before she wipes away the shock and shoves out of Lyx’s grip.

They both rise to their feet. Cav rushes toward Lyx, no longer trapped under Sinoe’s spell. He handles her gently. Sinoe’s gaze flicks over them until Lyx speaks. “Sinoe.”

Sinoe’s lips curl into a smirk. “I see we’re all lining up to kill this one.”

A typhoon of emotions courses through Lyx, but she knows better than to take her eyes off Sinoe. Lyx eases Cav behind her, but it doesn’t go unnoticed. Subtly, Sinoe maneuvers two steps to the left, eyes sparking when Lyx mirrors her.

Lyx has to turn Sinoe’s attention elsewhere. She settles onto the balls of her feet, toeing the line between bracing herself and inciting this further. “How did you find me?”

“I didn’t.” Sinoe jerks her chin toward Cav, who rubs the mark on his throat. “I was looking for him. Something was pulling me here.” Her focus hones on Lyx. “I guess that was you.”

Lyx swallows around emptiness. It couldn’t have been her. She doesn’t have her song, the only thing that connects her to other sirens. She’s been cut off from it for years, but…could it do this on its own? Could it be reaching for people that Lyx isn’t aware of, crying out for things outside of Lyx’s control?