Siren Song (The Fated #1)

04 | Children of the Sea

Something was wrong.

"--one is fine. She is not potentially dangerous."

In all the stories Iliana had ever heard about the Lake of Souls, the path didn't include opening your eyes to a strange looking man. Nor did it include being held in his arms like a bride as he complained to some unseen companion. Then there was the fact her body felt like someone had beat her with a club. Iliana's best guess was that--given the situation--she'd somehow managed to not die. Despite how impossible it seemed, she'd been rescued. That left one important question.

Who did the rescuing?

She studied him through half-lidded eyes. His bare, scarred top was slender, and paler than most everyone she knew. There was the faintest hint of angry color, as if the stranger spent time under the sun, but his body was naturally inclined for shadows. Despite the obvious age of the scars, they appeared harsh, and painful. They curled over his shoulders, etched into the skin and disappeared beneath his ash blond locks. The hair fell far enough that some of the loose strands were tucked between her and the stranger.

Her current position gave her a clear view of behind it, however, to his neck where she could see a blue-green scale pattern brush his skin around very clear and distinct slits.

Iliana was being carried by someone who had gills.

"I do not see why you are angry at all," his companion replied. The voice was distinctly feminine, and held an accent Iliana couldn't place. The soft lisp on the harder vowels, and the harsh 'r' was strange, but not nearly as important as the conversation itself. She forced her scattered mind to focus, ignoring her curiosity.

"You don't... do I need to explain myself again?" he asked wearily.

"Feel free."

She couldn't take her eyes off of his gills despite how important she knew listening to the conversation might be. The sight had sent a shiver of uneasiness down her spine. Perhaps she wasn't alive after all. Like every other sailor on the ocean, she'd heard what sometimes happened to those who drowned in open waters. Rumor said they were touched by Umae and made into a child of the sea--one of the merfolk.

Was that happening to her? Had she drowned? There was a chance she could be mistaken about their surroundings. Maybe they weren't on land like she thought, but far below the ocean? Umae was a god, no doubt he could trap air in his home. Her heart began to race, panic making it harder to fill her lungs.

Iliana wasn't ready to die.

"She's awake," the man announced.

She couldn't breathe. Even as her eyes flicked away from him, taking in the open beach and the clear blue sky, her thoughts spun.

If she'd died, she couldn't help her crew. Kain would drown. Artemios, Saul, Ancus, all of them would die. She couldn't be dead.

They were her family.

Iliana's head spun as the man sat her down. Her fingers curled into the warm sand and she attempted to use the familiar sensation to strangle her panicked thoughts. They didn't have beaches under the ocean. Not like this. She wouldn't be struggling to breathe in the salty air if she'd been taken to Umae's kingdom. She wasn't dead.

The others...

"Are you alright?"

It had been midnight when the song called them to the ocean. Daylight now flooded the sky. She'd been out for hours. What did that mean for the rest of the crew?

Callused palms grasped her cheeks. Her gaze focused on where his face was suddenly in front of her, his sea-colored, blue-green eyes forcing her attention. His cold, even expression was a stark contrast to the gentleness in his touch.