Chapter 74

  After the initial panic subsided, Nereida leaned in to check her wife’s breathing. Ael’s breath was slow, as if she were sleeping. Her chest rose and fell in even rhythms. But Ael was hot to the touch, as if fevered. Nereida sang softly, but there was no water in the air here. She had spent it all killing the rge cat. She couldn’t even use the cat’s blood, as the whole carcass had somehow disappeared while they had been otherwise preoccupied. Nereida shivered, feeling the cool air more now that they had stopped moving so much. There was nothing she could do for her wife here, atop the altar. Nothing but keep her safe.

  She dressed herself to keep out the chill, and then dressed Ael as best she could, given the state of her shirt. The rags were unsalvageable, but Ael had brought a cloak, which Nereida put across her unconscious wife to preserve her modesty when help arrived. When she moved to put Ael’s underthings and trousers on, she saw the reason for her wife’s state.

  The bite wound she had inflicted in their passion was red and oozing. She felt a tremor of fear wash over her. She recalled, then, one of the sirens offering to hold her so she wasn’t afraid. Had he some kind of venom? Did she? This was not the first time she’d bitten someone, not the first time she’d drawn blood with her fangs, but she’d never seen this before. Venom, if that were the answer, was at least a liquid. Perhaps she could sing it out of the wound. Nereida y down on the cold stone, her body aching, and she began to sing. She had no words for her need, and so let the notes convey her intent. She called to the venom, hoping, praying, that it would be enough.

  After two minutes of anguished crooning, green, foul-smelling ooze began leaking out of Ael’s wound. It seemed like a great deal, enough to fill a tea-cup. Nereida rushed to the bushes and was promptly sick. What had she done? She felt tears begin to pour down her face. She wiped herself, and went back to her wife to hold her hand. Already she could feel that Ael’s fever was breaking. But the Admiral did not wake up. Nereida finished cleaning her wife up as best she could, dressing her and even attempting to braid the Admiral's long dark hair.

  An hour after dawn’s light found them, an hour after Ael’s fever broke, Nereida heard voices in the bushes.

  “Here!” she called out. “We’re here!” It had to be someone from the crew, come to find them. They were the only ones on the isnd.

  But it was blue haired sirens who broke through the underbrush, carrying knives to cut their way to her. None of them were familiar faces, and Nereida shifted into a defensive stance in front of Ael. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she could taste bile again. She had the wild, terrible fear that they were here to hurt them, or to take them away.

  “You are Dolphin’s Revenge?” one of them asked incredulously. “We expected someone… more formidable.” She flushed.

  “I am,” she kept her tone cool, hiding her anger and fear behind the calm tones of a courtier. She let herself be ice. Water raged, ice cooled. “I am Princess Nereida Dolphin’s Revenge, she who syed the betrayer and Chosen of the Ocean.” She lifted her chin, proud, strong. A smile pyed across the leader’s rough, unshaven face.

  “So you do have steel after all. Good. What occurred to your wife?” he motioned to her almost zily. She faltered, feeling heat rise up her cheeks and tears threaten her. She forced the emotions inside. She could fall apart ter. When their lives did not hang in the bance. His eyes narrowed when she did not answer right away. She swallowed her fear, but could not keep the embarrassment out of her tone.

  “I hurt her, by accident,” she crified hastily. “I… she asked me to bite her.” She expected rebukes or judgement. Instead she got sympathy in the eyes of the leader.

  “Dragon’s breath, child. Did your parents not warn you?” He saw something in her expression, her heart break, perhaps, or her pain. “No one warned you.” It was not a question. “Have you purged the venom from her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then she will recover. She will only need time.” His voice was calm, and he made a few, quick gestures toward the four others with him. They retreated into the woods. “My men will build a litter for her, and we will take you back to the nd-people.” He put down his weapon, and took a step forward, his hands spread in surrender. “I am not here to harm you, or her, child.” She nodded, colpsing back onto the unforgiving stone. The siren flinched.

  “Child… you don’t know what you sit on.” His tone was almost pained.

  “The altar of the Earth Dragon?” she guessed, her tone full of her exhaustion. His eyes went wide, almost comically so. “It’s empty now.” The blood drained from his face.

  “Perhaps, princess, you should begin from the beginning?” he suggested politely, his tone tight. She smiled at him, a wicked, dark, feral smile. He shifted away from her.

  “That’s why we are here, isn’t it? The Chosen of the Moon and the Ocean are destined to awaken the sleeping Dragons, and bring about their return?” He stared at her in concern, though who the concern was for she could not say.

  “You know the old legends?” his voice was quiet. She nodded. She just wanted to sleep.

  “I was taught them.”

  “But not the fact that you had poison in your bite.” His tone was dry, but she could hear the anger beneath his words, simmering.

  “Some of our people have been content to walk me to the edge of the dock and push me in without expnation or mercy.” She touched the grass growing beside the altar. Focused on the feel of it, of the smells in the air. Something floral and pleasant. If she kept focusing on her anger at the leaders of her people, she may explode. “What does the venom do?”

  “Depending on the individual and its strength, it gives euphoria to the victim, before taking away their senses. It was, before we made such a practice illegal, a way of making a pliable mate. A man or woman, once bitten, will do nearly anything we ask.” Nereida felt another wave of anger.

  “I was asked, once, if she was my mate. I said she was my beloved.”

  “Then you saved her life,” he said, looking pensive. “Some older tribes… still practice it. A mate is to be used until pregnancy is achieved, and if the venom is not enough to kill, only weaken, then a pregnant siren is expected to drown their mate, to cim the soul for the Ocean, so that their child will be strong and draw watery breath.”

  Nereida tasted bile. She shut her eyes, counting her own breaths. How could her people be so barbaric? Were they simply no longer human? Were they as twisted as the demons, in their own way? She felt the man’s hand on hers, and looked up.

  “It is supposed to be a dead tradition, child. I am sorry.” He gnced at Ael. “How long ago was she bitten?”

  “Two hours or so?”

  “It is good you purged her then… you may be of a line with a more toxic bite.” He smiled at her thinly. “Have you a lineage that you know of, or has that been kept from you too?”

  “By my own hand,” she replied softly. “I did not want to know, can not know. If I do, I condemn them for breaking the w to save my life as an infant. I am simply Dolphin’s Revenge.”

  “I had pnned to meet you ter today, but a gnome told a nursing woman that you were missing and we came quickly. We had pnned to guide you here, knowing who you are. Fate, it seems, had other pns.”

  “It’s for the best,” Nereida managed, looking up at the cloudless sky. The morning sky was such a lovely shade of light blue. “It required a blood sacrifice. The sacrifice attacked us. A cat.”

  “Big bck creature?” he asked. She nodded. “There are a few on this isnd, but they stay far from the shore. They prey on the other animals that live here. Your wife killed it?”

  “I did. With ice.” He stared at her.

  “You’re a Warrior. Small wonder your bite is particurly toxic.”

  “I’m no warrior,” she began, then looked up. “Oh. Warrior caste.”

  “I’ll admit you don’t look the part of a warrior.” She flushed at that, looking down at her torn, bloodied dress. He chuckled, looking up at the sky. “The gods have a sense of humour, I suspect.”

  It was not long before the other sirens returned, having built a litter out of sticks and one of their cloaks. The men gently eased Ael onto the litter. She looked small and helpless, wrapped in a cloak for warmth, her face sck. Nereida felt her heart lurch. She had done so much damage! Her mouth was dry, and she followed the procession of sirens back through the thick underbrush.

  It took four hours for them to reach the camp. By then, Ael had woken. She was groggy, her expression sour. Her excmations that she was not a helpless babe went unheeded by the sirens, who simply looked amused at the antics of the half-dead nd-dweller. Ael was in a mood by the time they reached the camp, especially as the leader had offered to bind her to the litter and gag her if she did not quit her wiggling and compining. Desperate to hang out to her st shred of dignity, the Admiral had psed into sullen silence. She gred at any who dared make eye contact with her, even Nereida. Nereida only made the mistake once, her lover’s ire like a sp to the face. She had nothing left, the walk back to camp sapping what remained of her inner strength.

  All the princess wanted was to colpse onto a pile of leaves and sleep, but a pair of high voices pierced her inner turmoil.

  “Mommy!” She looked up, tears springing to her eyes as her sons came flying across the sand. They charged into her, their arms grabbing for her, their little heads narrowly missing each other. She pulled them into her embrace, holding them and doing her best to not sob. Every time she left her children alone, it felt as if her world came dangerously close to imploding. She felt Egaz’s wet tears on her shoulder as she knelt, his crying silent. Alejo wasn’t crying, but he was shaking.

  “We woke up and you were gone,” the older of the two managed. “Mommy, you scared me.”

  “I’m sorry, little love.” She kissed his head, then his brother’s head. “I am so sorry.” She looked up and saw Dymion and Evander heading toward her. Both men looked serious, Evander looking to his Admiral with worry burned on his usually mirthful face. Dymion, wearing a cloak of bck fur, had his eyes on her. He squeezed his husband’s hand, and the two separated, Evander to fuss over his Admiral. As Dymion approached, Egaz hid behind her, sniffling. Nereida looked at her son, her stomach clenching in sudden worry. What did her boy know? Dymion, for his part, gave them a reassuring smile.

  “I’m gd you are both alright,” he said. Nereida smiled back, but her mind whirled uncomfortably. Something was off about how he was speaking. “I’ll speak te the other sirens, see if they have recommendations te relieve her,” he added, his cadence slipping back to normal. “She’ll be alright, ma’am.” She nodded. He smiled again, this one, fleetingly, seemed almost feral. But she had to be imagining it, right? “Cat got your tongue, child?” he asked, meeting her eyes. He touched his cloak.

  Nereida blinked at him, fear settling in her chest. No! What had they done? She swallowed, pulling her children close to her. Egaz was trembling now, his head bowed as if he were before royalty. It was so, so much worse than that.

  “Your Grace,” she muttered, her voice low. “Is my friend alright?” The Great Earth Dragon, wearing Dymion’s body, chuckled.