It’s not only my mother—it’s all of them. My mother was simply the one I wanted to care for me, even if in some small way. She never did. Not once.
Those inhuman, harsh, despicable eyes— those eyes are now her eyes.
Almost. The cry in my heart almost becomes audible. Whitley is gone. Everything I knew and loved about her has been taken. She’s dead and there is no bringing her back.
My heart is in tatters.
I could never love a siren.
Perhaps that’s not true. I can love her. The real truth is that a siren could never love me. A siren can’t love anyone. I’ve learned that lesson too many times in my lifetime.
Everyone on board laughs at her hiss. They like it. They made her into a monster.
When the laughter dies down, Stede grabs her by the waist, hand pulling at her dress, but the air around the ship instantly turns icy cold as every siren screeches. This time there is no laughter.
Stede freezes, and I relish the fear he can’t hide.
Mother rushes forward straight at Stede, back straight, head high, slinking in her unnatural way. Stede releases Whitley, but every muscle is clenched tight. The other sirens pull Whitley behind them—protecting her.
I swallow, unsure how to feel about this.
“No,” Mother hisses at Stede.
“What?” Stede grumbles.
“You will not touch her in that way.”
“You told me I could have my way. I could cause him as much pain as I can manage.”
“You can have all the pain you like, but she is a siren now, and you will not touch her in any way you wouldn’t a man.”
Stede’s shoulders relax. The silence stretches several long moments as he presumably considers this part of the deal. “This is the kind of detail you should make clear before making an agreement.” His voice is low and annoyed, but his reverence for the sirens is obvious. At least he’s not a complete idiot.
He retreats to his line of pirates, all gripping weapons like they would help them in the slightest. One note from any one siren’s lips and they’d go limp as noodles. Stede stands next to the red pirate. “This is allowed, then?” He points to the blade in his hand.
Mother nods and the acidic hate is back.
“Wait!” a shaky voice calls. “That was not part of the deal! You said you wouldn’t hurt her if I helped you find her!”
A pirate with dark hair and blue eyes kicks a man not far from me. “Hush, betrayer. You have no leverage here.”
The man whimpers.
I inch closer to realize I know this man, though we’ve never met. It’s Whitley’s father. My fingers clench the wooden railing hard as I consider ripping his head off here and now. This is his fault.
Or is it?
If he hadn’t schemed and betrayed all the wrong people, would the prophecy not have come true? Would it have been someone else fate chose?
It was always Whitley. That’s what my heart tells me. He was simply the signal that marked her as the subject of the prophecy. Maybe if he hadn’t been such an idiot and made it so obvious, maybe we could have had more of a chance.
I don’t know. But his pathetic sobs make it hard for me to hate him. He has received his punishment. Others are so much guiltier and have yet to taste the bitter despair they deserve. I turn and focus on them.
Whitley offers no resistance as pirates shove her into a wooden chair and tie her down. She’s like a limp doll. Her life gone.
I watch and realize I don’t know how to stop it, what’s coming. What power do I have to destroy an entire ship? I can’t even kill a single siren this far out to sea.
What is the power they’re so desperate for? The ability to change their form? To channel easy winds and kind waves? Sirens themselves have more power than that.
There’s something more. I know it.
Perhaps if I could figure out this power they so desire before they’re able to use Whitley to control me—but how?
A hand grips her hair and pulls her face up. There is anger in her eyes, but all her muscles are limp. The knife is pressed to her cheek, pushing into her soft skin. Harder. Farther until it gives, splitting, dripping blood down her cheek, and she squeals. The fear in the sound makes my head spin.
Every inch of my body trembles.
The pirate pulls the knife down slowly, ripping her skin apart. Whitley cries out. The sound isn’t that of a siren. It’s her. It’s Whitley. I cannot remain still.
Though I feel so powerless—I don’t know how to defeat them—I must try.
I fling my body over the railing, throwing every ounce of power I can find into my limbs. I flicker through several different forms: a massive muscled man, a tall and lanky solider boy, a small one-handed pirate, a siren, Stede, Whitley’s father—
I can’t even control the forms, they just keep coming, keep moving me without my permission. The sirens hiss and move away, but the pirates jump at me, at least a dozen of them with weapons spinning towards me.
I punch and hit at them indiscriminately. I even manage to grab a sword and plunge it into one man’s belly. I don’t see his face. I can’t see much of anything, but his warm blood splatters onto my face.
“Don’t kill him!” a rough voice calls out.
I swing again, but someone grabs my arm with surprising strength. Another set of arms wraps around me from behind. I try to force them off. Every bit of strength, of magic, of anger pulses from me.
But it’s not enough.
Their bodies pile on top of me, the weight so heavy that I can’t help but succumb. I fall, buried in a tomb built of Stede’s pirate crew.
Why did I ever think I could win this stupid game?
Whitley
Bluff. This whisper shifts through my whole being.
He’s broken. I can see it in his eyes and it causes an acid to fill my veins. The sting on my cheek turns to a throb as the attention is pulled away from me and to the boy. Within moments, he’s trampled by a mass of pirate bodies and pushed to the floor.
Bluff. I try to push the name from my lips, make it audible. I hardly have control of my own body. I want to go to him. I want him to know I’m here.
They pull him to his feet and his head hangs limp. I wonder if he is unconscious or if he’s simply given up.
Bluff. The cry is desperate but silent.
The bearded pirate laughs heartily. “I’m almost disappointed you showed up so quickly, boy. I could have had so much more fun with your little lass.”
Bluff doesn’t move. The pirate leans in. “Then again, my fun doesn’t have to end just because you showed up.”
Bluff’s muscles jerk like he wants to fight again, but he’s restrained by several large pirates.
“I’ll kill you.” Bluff spits.
The pirate just smirks. “There are worse things than death. I suppose you know that, though. Don’t you, lad?”
Bluff goes limp, his fight gone.
Please, I whisper inside. Don’t give up yet.
“Well, now that this business is taken care of, let’s see how this works, shall we?” Everybody on the ship stills as the bearded man approaches me with slow deliberate steps.
He squats next to me. “Hello there, Whitley.” He says it like he’s speaking to a spooked animal. I’d claw his eyes out if my hands weren’t tied.
“You have something I desire,” he says coolly.
“Go,” I force out with strained voice. “To.” I wince at the pain the words cause. “Hell.” My chest fills with more power. It’s worth the pain, the look on his face as he jerks back from me.
“Do you know what I want?” he asks, his expression calm once again. “Because I think you’d rather like it.”
A growl rumbles in my chest.
He takes in a deep breath and smiles. “You have power,” he whispers. “And I just want you to use it.”
Power? That sounds delicious.
A form slithers up to my side, her face close to my ear as she whispers,
“Tell him to rise.” Her voice is one-part hiss, one-part melody. My vison blinks in and out of focus, and then my fingers begin to tingle. I can feel it. The power.
It’s right here. Waiting for me to use it.
"Rise," I force the word from my lips through my raw throat. Again, pain ripples through my whole body, but this time so does the magic. It escapes my body and strikes the boy. The magic forces his head to rise first, exposing eyes wide with fear. Panic. Pain.
The rest of his body follows suit and stands up straight.
You're worth saving, the memory of his voice drifts through my mind.
As I blink, images come rushing back. A boy in a prison cell. His hands guiding me to the ground after leaping from a window. Bluff standing beside me as we set sail on a pirate ship.
I can make him do anything I want. The power tingles over my skin, seeping into my bones. Filling me.
It’s intoxicating.
Bluff cries out as he pushes against the magic, fighting against me. He’s not strong enough. I’m winning. He can’t stop me. I want more of this. It feels so good.
But the pain in his eyes— the panic. A despair so great I can’t breathe.
I pull back from the magic, but the grip is tight—it doesn’t release. And suddenly I’m not sure even I can stop me.
This...isn’t what I want.
My heart pounds faster. Stop, I whisper inside my mind. Stop. The call grows louder, but not loud enough. Panic grips my heart. No.
I search his face, so full of desperation that it’s all I can feel. My hands shake.
More images: beautiful grey eyes staring at me in the crow’s nest. Confusion and desire. Then the kiss, the way his whole being filled me, even wearing another’s skin. Another kiss in an alleyway. Another below deck of The Freedom. Another on the beach.
“Bluff.” Finally. Finally, my call is audible. I know he can hear it, because his expression changes. It’s still pained, still fearful, but shock and confusion, even hope, blur into one emotion.
I don’t want to hurt him. I don’t want to control him.
Stede doesn’t seem to notice the change, because he lets out a hearty laugh. So joyful, like this fulfills every desire he’s ever had.
“This is how I will destroy you,” he tells Bluff.
Anger fills me. A rage so deep it almost scares me. But maybe I need it. Maybe this is what this whole thing is for.
“Tell him to fall.” Bluff’s mother’s whisper is full of vindictive joy. She wants him to hurt. My body trembles as I fight against the order. Because that’s what this is—a master commanding her servant. The magic in her voice compels me, it fills my mind until I can’t breathe.
I clench my jaw as a tear forms in the corner of Bluff’s eye.
A whisper rushes through me. No.
Bluff
A dark future lays before me. I can see it—feel it as it expands.
The pain of shackles bound to me by the woman I love. I’ll be living by them for the rest of time. I will cause pain by no desire of my own. I will give power and control to a monster of a mother that never loved me. She will win by using her spawn as if he never had a life or desires or hopes or dreams of his own.
I am a weapon with no control. And it hurts in every way possible.
I search the eyes of the girl I fell for despite every logical thought and see nothing beyond the monster on the surface. Red and silver magic swirls in her eyes. No emotion, no consciousness—she’s a ghost. She’s as much of an empty shell as I’ll be when she enslaves me.
For a moment I thought Whitley was still there, but I’d be foolish to believe that. Every bit of evidence tells me it’s over. She’s gone.
I don’t know why she said my name, but it wasn’t for the reason I’d immediately hoped.
“Make him fall,” my mother says again. Her control seeps through my bones, and yet—nothing happens.
Stede steps forward, his shoulders back in an aggressive stance. “Do it,” he tells Whitley. Her eyes don’t leave mine. They don’t soften. They just... are.
Stede rips a sword from his belt and points it towards her.
“Fool! Put that away,” My mother calls.
“She is mine. I was promised the chance to use his power! To control it. Now this bitch won’t do it.”
“Patience.” My mother moves forward. “She’s weak and needs time to settle into her new power.”
Stede turns to Whitley with rage, pushing the edge of the cutlass against the soft skin at the base of her neck. “You better do as you’re told, or I will make your life a living hell.”
Whitley’s gaze turns to him, eyes narrowed, head titled slightly. “Will you?”
Stede blinks like a child, confused. Then he pushes his shoulders back again and stomps over to me. I wince as he reaches me, just in time to miss his elbow slamming into my cheek with a sickening crack.
A gasp leaves Whitley’s body. I open my eyes to watch and for the first time a human emotion crosses her expression. Anger.
Then I feel the magic again, except this time it’s coming from me, not her. The buzz begins in my chest, growing and seeping out through my fingertips with a rush like the blowing wind.
It surrounds me. Fills me. This is the power I needed. This is what I could have used to destroy them. I move to take it, use it—but it slips through my grasp.
Instead, it moves to her. Whitley’s eyes still hold a violent rage, and it’s her that the power bends to. My power is only usable through her.
The rush blows over my body, pushing me up. The hands gripping me release me immediately. The pirate’s eyes grow huge as I rise higher, my toes leaving the ship floor. My breathing turns heavy, my heart racing.
“What is happening?” Stede calls.
Mother lets out a sinister chuckle. “She’s using her power.”
A crackle of thunder resounds through the sky as I float helplessly, unsure of anything at all anymore. The power builds and changes, shifting like the growing storm clouds darkening the sky.
Then the rain unleashes, pouring down on our heads.
I still don’t know what’s happening, but I do know that this feels different. The pain is gone. The control is here but lesser. I have command over my limbs, just not the power blowing from within my bones.
I try to push my body back down to the ground. For a moment the magic resists, but then allows it and I slowly drift down until my boots hit the deck with a small click.
The pirates around us search for cover from the coming storm as the gusts of wind swirl around us—Whitley and me. The sirens stand still, watching in awe.
Whitley steps towards me, her eyes softer than before but still... inhuman.
I wince as she approaches, closing my eyes, because the hope is too strong. I don’t want to see what’s really there. I don’t want to see the absence of her.
“Bluff.” I shiver at her voice. I expect her to sound like my mother, but she doesn’t. She sounds like Whitley.
And honestly, that’s worse.
“Don’t,” I beg her. She stops moving.
“What do you want?” Her hoarse voice breaks.
“To pay them back for what they took from me. To destroy them.”
“Then do it.”
I look up quickly, surprised at her response. I blink at the pain in her eyes. Sirens don’t feel emotional pain. They don’t care enough for it.
Then a power rushes me. Fills me. And for the first time, I have full control.
Whitley
The look in Bluff's eyes is harsh. Angry. It causes a lump in my stomach. But I don't stop him as he uses the power I gave him to send gusts of wind through the ship so hard they knock three pirates over.
They scramble to their feet, then run for cover. Only a few are even above board now. Most were smart enough to hide as soon as the first rain fell.
The sirens shrink from the weather, awkward chuckles simmer through their ranks. They know this comes from me. They believe
they have control over me and therefore over Bluff, so they could make this stop at any moment. But they still feel the sting of discomfort. That's the instinct they should be listening to.
Bluff plays with the new power at his fingertips. Lightning strikes into open water at the wave of his hand, at least five hundred feet from the ship. He stops to look at it, curiosity written in his eyes.
Then a laugh rumbles over the distant thunder, and we all turn our heads towards a bearded pirate. The one who tried to force me to use my power. The pirate who tried to hurt me. I tilt my head as I consider him.
"This is POWER!" he hollers through the rain. His laugh is hysterical.
He stomps up to me and my lip curls in disgust as he gently lifts a soaked bundle of blonde hair. "Send a strike of lightening into that man," Stede says, pointing, his expression shining with joy. Sick amusement.
I follow his gaze to the man still cowering against the ship railing. My father. I blink and stand straighter. In many ways I do hate him. And yet, I love him. A strange human emotion. Emotion I could shed if only I'd embrace my new life as a siren.
I look down at my hand, shimmering as I twist it, iridescent webs between each finger.
“No,” I tell him, calmly.
His hands clench into fists, muscles tensed to strike.
"Don't touch her," a voice calls. My breath catches as we both turn to face Bluff. His hands are in fists as well, power still flowing off of him.
If I lose my humanity, if I allow it to slip through my webbed fingers, I'd also lose him.
"I will touch her in any way I please." Stede shouts over the pouring rain.
"Have you met your lovely lass since we won? She's prettier this way, I think." Stede wraps an arm around my waist and my whole body goes rigid. I could kill him. Rip his head from his body right now.
Movement catches my attention around Bluff’s closed fists. Little droplets of water spin around, gaining speed.
Thunder crashes. Lightning strikes—a warning.
Sea of Treason (Pirate's Bluff Book 1) Page 21
