Sister of the Sea

by Lena Mae Hill

  “The bond is gone,” Raina admitted. “But Shaneesha will always be a sister to me.”

  “You risked a lot for her,” Guthrie said, rubbing salt from the back of his hand. “She’s lucky to have such an exceptional woman as a friend.”

  “I’ve made a lot of mistakes,” Raina said, flipping her tail against the deck. “It’s the least I can do.”

  “Going up against a goddess isn’t a small risk.”

  “No,” she admitted. “And I’m afraid it’s going to cost me.”

  Guthrie’s thick eyebrows drew low on his forehead. “Did she threaten you?”

  “Kind of,” Raina said slowly. “She…banished me.”

  Guthrie’s frown deepened. “You’re leaving?”

  Raina nodded. “After the battle. I have to. I’m sorry. Please don’t tell the others. I don’t want anything to ruin Shaneesha’s concentration.”

  Guthrie was quiet for a long moment. “That’s too bad,” he said at last. “I was hoping it would be our turn for that.” His eyes darted to where Sagely, Quill, and Fox were running in and out of the waves at the shore, laughing and splashing each other.

  Raina gazed out to sea, at the endless horizon of water. She was finally in her element. “I was, too,” she said at last. “But maybe some people aren’t meant for that kind of happiness.”

  “Everyone deserves to be happy,” Guthrie said quietly. But she knew he would understand. Just because someone deserved something, that didn’t mean they would get it.

  “Maybe,” she said, nodding at the playful lovers on shore. “But some people have to work a lot harder than others to get it.”

  *

  Later, when she caught River alone for a moment, she called him over to have the talk she needed to have. As she suspected, he told her he couldn’t do much to help her, since he was devoid of all magical powers, and therefore not much more than a cabin boy.

  “What happened?” she asked. “When we were kids. You disappeared.” The words seemed to pierce her heart as she spoke them, the old wound as fresh as if just stabbed in the back with that dagger of realization. He hadn’t waited. He’d left her.

  For a moment, she thought he’d deny it. That he’d tell her he wanted all the beauty of that moment to himself, when he’d ridden off in that magical sleigh with the queen. Instead, he sighed. “I tried to hold her back,” he said after a short silence. “I thought you’d run home and tell our mother and then come back. When she started off, I was desperate to stop her. I kept telling her to wait, but she didn’t listen.” He leaned on the ship’s railing, crossing his feet at the ankles, and rested his palms on either side of his hips.

  “Did you try to slow her down?” Raina asked, wanting so much to believe in him, to believe he’d tried to take her along.

  “I tried to jump out,” he said. “But she only whipped the horses faster. And somehow, she’d pinned me with a spell so I couldn’t move. And then…her glamour flickered out and I saw her true self.”

  “So you knew she was a goddess?”

  He nodded, squinting out at the horizon. “Her powers don’t extend far beyond the sea,” he said. “She can transform herself and walk on land, but most of her powers are tied to the sea. It was using all her powers to keep up the illusion we saw, to lure us in like a siren, and to bind me from escape. She was using so much concentration she’d misunderstood us. She thought you were going home to get help from our mother.”

  “So she would have waited if you’d told her I was coming?” Raina asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach. All these years, she’d convinced herself that River had tried his hardest. That he hadn’t betrayed his promise to her. But he had. A knife twisted in Raina’s scarred heart.

  “When I realized she wasn’t what she appeared, I knew that she’d enchanted us,” River said. “She’s a goddess of the sea, Raina. She shares many traits with sirens. Beguiling beauty, the ability and desire to lure us in and take our magic. When I understood I’d been kidnapped, I knew I had to protect you from her. So I stopped fighting. I never told her to wait for you. If I had, you’d have ended up like me.”

  “Instead, I ended up like her,” Raina whispered.

  “That was your choice,” River said. “I didn’t give up my magic voluntarily.”

  His words cut deep as only the blade of truth could. He’d never been a mer, frolicking in his element. He didn’t even have an element. Unlike Raina, he had never had the choice between mer and witch. He’d never been offered either life. He lived as a hardened pirate, bitter at his loss. And that was something that Raina understood all too well, even if he’d never understand her in return.

  Though it was a disappointment that they wouldn’t be mer together, spending their life in the sea, she understood his reasons. He’d wanted to protect her, and she couldn’t fault him for that. She now understood his chosen profession, too. If she had lost all magic of every sort, she probably would have found something as close to water as possible, as he had.

  “I hope we can get to know each other a little before I have to go into the sea,” she said. “I know it’s where I belong, but…”

  “You can stay with us a while,” he said gruffly. “I’ll fill the boat and keep it on deck until you’re ready to go.”

  Relieved that he’d anticipated her needs, Raina accepted his offer gratefully and helped him lower the boat and then lift it back, now filled with water. Once it was on deck, she slipped into it gratefully, though she felt rather pathetic, like a goldfish in a tiny bowl.

  “Thanks,” she breathed, giving River a tentative smile.

  “That’s what brothers are for,” he said with a shrug, turning back to his work. But it made Raina feel warm all the way to the tip of her tail. At last, she had found her brother.

  For a moment, at least, she had all she could ask for.

  thirty-nine

  Sagely

  The Winslow witches arrived two nights later. The Coastline Coven had done all the preparation they could, though they were a rag-tag bunch. For the last day, the magic had begun to call to its like, contained in Sagely, Quill, Shaneesha, Eli, and Yvonne. It made them restless and set everyone on edge. They could feel the familiar magic, the darkness of it disturbing their own magic.

  The last time they’d fought the coven, Viziri had disguised their magic somehow, so they couldn’t sense it. The fact that he didn’t take the same precaution this time made Sagely sure that something terrible was going to happen. She could feel them drawing closer and closer, until the night they arrived.

  The Coastline Coven was waiting for them on the beach. The larger Winslow Coven came over the dunes, in formation like a small army. Gale gasped and took Sagely’s hand. Sagely squeezed, thankful both to be Gale’s comfort and to take comfort from her.

  “How do we fight them?” Gale asked. They expected earth magic. After all, the Winslow Coven was still made of earth workers. But they didn’t appear interested in that kind of fight, or any kind at all. Their eyes blank, their faces set in grim determination, they marched down the dunes and straight into the Coastline Coven. They didn’t even seem to see them.

  Gale’s seagull squawked and swooped down to the sand. That’s when Sagely noticed that the Winslow witches didn’t have their familiars. Was that how Viziri was controlling them—through their bond with their animal familiars?

  Guthrie put his arm up and shoved back one of the Winslow witches, and Sagely saw that it was Yordine. She wanted to grab the woman and shake her, wake her up from her eerie comatose state.

  “Come away,” Fox said, tugging at Sagely’s free hand. “You’re too close.”

  She was supposed to stand aside and wait until the coven started throwing void magic, but now that she saw them, she didn’t think that was going to happen. They had pushed past most of the Coastline coven, either plowing them down or stepping past them. Some of the wind witches seemed unsure of whether to stop them or let them pass, since they weren’t attacking.

&
nbsp; The ones that made it to the water’s edge waded in and stopped when the water reached their thighs. One kid was knocked down by a wave and tumbled up to shore, only to stand and wade back out. They stood there, staring blankly at the sea.

  “They’re waiting for the sirens,” Sagely whispered. The sirens had fallen silent, though. They didn’t care about the coven. They wanted Viziri.

  Suddenly, Majori Romero’s huge form turned and zoned in on Sagely. She shivered and crossed her arms over her chest. She hadn’t wanted to hide while everyone else fought, but now, when it looked like someone could see her despite her invisibility spell, she felt exposed.

  She reached for her gun and took a step back as he advanced, but Fox didn’t. He dropped into a crouch, baring his sharp teeth.

  “You have void magic,” Romero rumbled, his voice deep and threatening.

  The other witches turned, as one, and blasted Fox with fifty balls of magic at once. He was lifted ten feet into the air and blasted across the beach, where he fell in a heap in the dunes. Sagely screamed and raced towards him. She hadn’t planned for this, hadn’t expected Fox to have to do anything except maybe fend off an attack or two.

  The Coastline Coven began to blast wind at the Winslow witches, knocking them into the waves. A few more balls of magic rocketed past Sagely as the covens fought. But she was staying out of this fight. She had a man to save.

  They’d tried to catch the coven with a trick, and instead, they’d been tricked.

  But that didn’t make sense. Yes, Fox could hold void magic. But Viziri wouldn’t have sent a whole coven for him.

  He didn’t send them for Fox, Sagely realized. He’d sent them for the magic the sirens had promised. But when they sensed her void magic, they had looked for it. And because she was invisible, they’d seen Fox. A faery, capable of holding void magic. They must have thought he had a parcel of magic left from when witches had entrusted fae with the bound void magic.

  It wasn’t Fox who should have taken that hit. It was her.

  She’d just reached Fox and dropped to her knees beside him when a huge form towered over her. Turning to look up at him, she saw only a giant silhouette outlined by the light of the moon. Romero. When he was her teacher, he’d pushed her hard, but she knew that under the harsh exterior, he was kind. She really didn’t want to have to kill him.

  He reached out, his movements jerky and uncoordinated. She ducked away easily, rising to her feet and delivering a front kick directly in his gut. The air whooshed from his lungs, and he doubled over. Sagely boxed him in the ear, and he tumbled to the ground. But instead of fighting her, he reached out and grabbed Fox’s limp body. His huge hands closed around Fox’s throat and flexed.

  Suddenly, a ball of glass shot from the sand and smacked against Romero’s skull. Spinning around, Sagely saw Quill standing halfway between her and the rest of the coven. She offered him a weak smile before remembering he couldn’t see her. Behind him, the pirate ship loomed huge in the water, waiting for the pirates to finish the fight and climb aboard and depart before morning. They’d given Sagely the invisibility charm, which meant the ship was now visible in the bright moonlight.

  Sagely turned away from the impressive ship and rolled Romero’s body from where it had fallen halfway over Fox’s. She cradled Fox’s head in her lap and brushed back his soft, dark hair.

  “You better not die on me,” she whispered, touching his eyelids. “You’re a fighter. A fae warrior. You told me that.”

  Nothing.

  For the first time, Sagely wished she had even more fae blood. She’d never been ashamed of it, though she’d fought the impulses that came with it. She’d never wanted more of it, though. Now, she wished she could heal Fox. That she had venom that she could give him for strength. But all she had was martial arts training, which was useless now, and magic, which might kill him as easily as heal him.

  “Come on, Fox,” she whispered, sliding down beside him in the sand. She stroked his hair back, but it kept sweeping back into his face, fluttering in the wind. Her throat tightened as she studied his still, beautiful face. He looked so fragile, she never would have believed he was stronger than her, than anyone on the beach.

  They may have gotten off to a rocky start, but he was her man, too. He’d protected her and saved her life, not just tonight, but several times on their journey. He had been a faithful guardian, everything she could have asked for. A tear slid down her cheek as she kissed his forehead.

  “I love you, Fox,” she whispered. “You’re a royal pain in the ass, but I love you, anyway.”

  A chunk of stone the size of her head hurtled by, and Sagely was glad she’d lain down. But it just reminded her that the fight was still raging down on the beach, and there were people there who needed her, too. She needed to be there, to avenge Fox. If anyone would want that, he would.

  Like he’d say, he’d lost the battle, not the war.

  When she looked back at Fox, though, his eyelids fluttered. “Fox?” she whispered, her heart stuttering in her chest.

  “So you love me?” Fox murmured, his eyes opening halfway.

  She gave his arm a gentle punch. “Right now, I hate you.”

  “Whatever it is, at least it kept you out of the fight.”

  “What?” she asked, sitting up. “Are you faking it?”

  “No,” he said, wincing. “I’m just glad you didn’t leave me lying here and run off into the fight without anyone to protect you.”

  “Quill’s down there.”

  “Eh. True.” His smile came slowly, as if it caused him pain.

  “I’ll get some help for you,” she said. “I’ll get you out to Raina. She’s a healer.” But she wasn’t sure anymore. Maybe Yvonne was the healer.

  “Don’t leave,” Fox whispered.

  Sagely bent and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “You’re in my collective, so you’re stuck with me. But I am joining the fight.”

  With that, she slipped the invisibility charm into Fox’s pocket.

  “What’s this?” Fox’s voice asked. Eerily, she could still feel him, though his body had completely disappeared into the sand. A second later, it flickered back into sight.

  “What are you doing?” she asked. “Put that back in your pocket.”

  “You need it,” Fox said.

  “You need it more,” she said. “No one will attack you if they can’t see you.”

  “Which means it will do you more good than me,” Fox said. “You’ll be fighting. I’m just lying here.”

  “Consider it repayment for the seeing stone,” she said. “I know it’s nothing in comparison. But I screwed up majorly with that one, and I’m sorry. So let me make it up to you.”

  “I must have died and gone to heaven,” Fox said. “Because I think I just heard Sagely Stubborn-Mule admit she was wrong.”

  “Hey,” she protested. “I admitted I was wrong to give her the stone before.”

  “Well, you’re not making it up to me by running into battle unarmed.”

  “I have arms,” she said, flexing dramatically. “And a pistol.”

  The corner of Fox’s mouth twitched up in a smile. “Let me give you venom.”

  “Not a chance,” she said. “You’re half dead, Fox. You need all your strength.”

  “It’s not like that,” he said with his dangerous, sharp-toothed smile. “I always have it in reserve. If I use it, my body will take a while to make more. But it’s just sitting there. It’s not like magic, where I can use it to strengthen me or give it away.”

  She thought it over and then nodded. “Fine. If you’ll keep the invisibility charm, I’ll take the venom.”

  “Deal,” he said with a sleepy, pained smile.

  She scooted down in the sand with him, taking the invisibility charm from him and wrapping her arms around him, relieved to see that they’d both disappeared inside its magic. “Someday, when I tell our kids about this, I’ll tell them your love gave m
e strength to fight again,” she said with a grin.

  “Whatever the lady wants,” he said, sliding her hair away from her neck and leaning in. His lips brushed her skin, and she shuddered in anticipation.

  Five minutes later, he’d finished the tidy transfusion, and though she’d have rather stayed in his arms, this was no time for cuddling. After the pleasure of the moment with Fox, she had to steel herself to rejoin the fight. The venom was fueling her, though, and adrenaline rushed in her veins. Blowing a kiss at the invisible Fox, she leapt over the dunes to the softer sand at the top of the beach.

  When she spotted River, she leapt towards him, her boots sinking into the soft sand as she landed on her feet in front of him. “What are you doing here? I thought you were staying on board the ship.”

  “And miss all the fun?” River asked, tackling her to the ground as a fireball flew overhead.

  “See, it’s worth it already,” River said, smiling down at her. His beard brushed her chin, his hair forming curtains on either side of their faces, and she felt that same dizzying effect she’d felt the last time they’d been that close.

  “You better get off me before Quill thinks you attacked me,” she said, bucking her hips to roll them over. But before she could, River leapt from her and held out a hand. She took it and let him pull her to her feet.

  “Martial arts?” she asked as they both dropped into ready stance and watched the nearby witches.

  “Yep.” River stepped forward and delivered a knock-out punch to a witch who ran at them.

  “Shouldn’t you be on your ship, where it’s safe? How can you fight magic?” Just then, a ball of void magic shot at them. Like when Eli had shot it, it was easy to recognize. Instead of a crackling ball of electricity, it looked like a smoldering black hole was hurtling towards them.

  “I can’t,” River said, stepping away easily. “But I can fight people, and witches are people.”