When I withdrew my magic, Oran let out a wheezing gasp and clutched his soft middle, still panned out on the disgusting ground. Feeling mildly guilty for manhandling him, I stood and offered a hand. He hesitated before accepting and nearly bowled me over with his weight as he struggled to his feet.
“I have a better idea,” I said, straightening the crooked collar on his black coat. “You give me use of your shipfor free, and I will forgive the monumental debt you owe and pay you a flat fee for any additional ship you can convince to join you in this little endeavor.”
His beady eyes sparkled as he pretended to think about my proposal. “And how many ships would ye be needing?”
I bared my teeth in a vicious smile, letting him know exactly what would happen if he tried to cross me. “As many as you can get.”
* * *
After visiting the lovely town of Dreadshire, I had one more stop to make, this time to the coast above Longshadow. Most humans believed the Merrow made their homes in Tearmann’s seas—and a good few did. But the leaders lived in the frigid depths off Airren’s northern shore.
The sky was so black, it was impossible to tell where it ended and the murky sea began but for the frothing waves splashing the tips of my boots.
If this plan had any hope of succeeding, we’d need the merrow on board.
The only problem was—
“You think I’d give you anything after what your brother did to my daughter?”the man across from me snarled.
That. That was the problem.
Manann MacLír, leader of the Merrow, was apparently not a big fan of my little brother. Not that I could blame the man considering Rían had gutted his favorite daughter like a—for lack of a better word—fish.
I’d forgotten how ugly the King of the Merrow really was. Pointed teeth the same shade of dried-seaweed as the slimy, damp hair sticking to his brow. The pale blue skin of a drowned corpse. Gills flapping with each labored breath. Oran may have sounded like a pig, but Manaan had the snout.
The golden crown on my head slipped when I straightened my shoulders. Keelynn had suggested I wear the thing to remind the merrow king that he might rule the seas, but I ruled these lands. “Your daughter kidnapped a woman in my brother’s charge,” I explained. “Her death, while regrettable, was entirely justified.”
“Justified,” Manann muttered with a humorless chuckle. “It’s a good thing my decision to keep every single ship from reaching Tearmann is justified as well.”
“What would it take to change your mind?”
He seemed to consider for a moment, his flat nostrils flaring as he glowered down at me. “Syren Isle.”
What in the hell did he want with that useless rock in the North Sea? A few selkies made their homes there, but other than that, the place was uninhabitable. The merrow rarely went onto land—for good reason. I tried not to grimace at the king’s knobby blue legs.
When I asked him straight out, he told me that his reasons were his own. But I couldn’t just give him part of Tearmann without consulting someone first. “Choose something else.”
“I don’t want anything else,” he rasped. “It’s Syren Isle, or any ships that enter the bay and all those aboard will meet their just end on the ocean floor.”
I couldn’t even appeal to his compassionate side—if it existed.
He’d always been friendly with the Phantom Queen—as friendly as one could be with a murderous witch—so I couldn’t tell him my plans and show all my cards at once. Looked like we’d have to evanesce to a port in Airren and leave from there.
Except Keelynn couldn’t evanesce.
Back when I first bargained with the Queen to bring Keelynn into Tearmann, the witch had promised to give her safe passage to and from Tearmann exactly once. I had no doubt that if Keelynn left, she would not be allowed to return.
One problem at a time.
Manann returned to the sea, leaving me staring out at the horizon. I never thought I would miss my brother this much. “Where are you, Rían?”
Unfortunately, the sea didn’t answer.
42
RÍAN
The daring captaindidn’t want to share a bed after all.