After everything I’d done, she’d paid more than half my price? My stomach swirled, and my head shook. “Why? I wasn’t worthy of salvation.”
Her gaze fell. “Mythalzen told me everything. You only ever shared nightmares with my mother to prepare her or keep her from my grandfather when he would have killed her. You gave up your hands so no one could call her a faerie even though you already planned to kill the man testing her. Saving your people motivated you to do awful things, but even in them, you went out of your way to be as kind as you could.” She ran her thumb across my cheekbone. “You were willing to give up everything even when it broke your heart. I’ve never met anyone more worthy.”
“Mabilia…”
She smiled. “This is love. Admit it.”
My eyes closed, and my lips lifted. “I don’t know what else to call it. Though unhealthy obsession comes to mind.”
Laughing, she shook her head. “Our soul may be one, but we aren’t the same person.” Her hand settled against my heart. “I love who you are, not just the magnetic pull. You’re strong and kind and so devious, but that thrills me. I’ve missed you like air.”
I cupped her hand with my own. “I decided long ago even if you didn’t have half my soul, I couldn’t bear being without you. You are my air. I’m so sorry I didn’t—”
“Hush,” she murmured. “Everything only worked because of how you set the stage. You did what you knew for the people you loved. I accept your mistakes since we’ve made it here. I wouldn’t change anything and risk that.”
My chest ached to be closer to her. She was a miracle.
Excitement blinked on in her gaze, so familiar. “There’s so much you’ve missed. Your sister court exists, the summer fae; they’re here. The tensions are still a bit fragile, but I’m pretty certain it’s because it can get so dull without some form of mischief or rivalry.” She pressed her lips together. “The world you saw in your dreams happened. Each day, the humans discover more they can do with science and metal. We check on them, from the shadows like you’d once said. Some still believe. Some always will. My great-great nephew rules New Dale…”
“It sounds like I’ve missed an entire novel.” I chuckled, toying with her straight, dark hair.
She scoffed. “You’ve missed an entire series.”
“Well then…” I dropped my lips to her forehead, brushing away the ice gems resting there. “Just like always, my princess. I guess it’s your turn to tell me a story. And start at the beginning.”
Acknowledgments
To my forever cheerleaders; Alex, Boriana, Bree, Fatimah, and Noee; thank you for seeing me through yet another story. Your strength and encouragement have helped me survive the most stressful deadlines I’ve had to face yet.
To Enchanted Quill Press, thank you for the stressful deadlines; they have pushed me beyond my limits. Thank you for working with me on my marketing and brand; you have helped me turn straw into gold. Thank you for featuring both Gold & Glacier in your Kingdom of Light and Darkness box sets. I have had a wonderfully villainous time. I look forward to continuing adventures with you in the coming years.
Boriana, as always, your outstanding editing has made this work worth reading, but this time you contributed another ever-vital piece: the title. Thank you so much for coming up with the word I was missing, so I didn’t have to. It’s perfect.
Noee, I expect by the time this is out I will have your debut on my desk, and I can not wait to see how all your hard work has come together. I hope you know that you carry Mabilia’s magic. The worlds you spin in your mind flow into something real and beautiful at your fingertips. They are filled with the incredible, and if mere mortals are not careful, they will find themselves lost in them. My journey continues, and yours begins. As dear Rumpel said, it’s your turn to tell me a story.
With love and lore,
~~Anne
Also by Anne Stryker
Escapism: A Novella Collection
Lurking in the Woods (Beyond the Veil #1)
Waiting in the Water (Beyond the Veil #2)
A note from the author
Thank you!
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Siren’s Call by Cassidy Taylor
Untitled
SIREN'S CALL
by Cassidy Taylor
"Suddenly they heard a musical voice like no other, and it was the most melancholy in the world: a mermaid calling out to the full pale moon." - J.M. Barrie
Chapter 1
Jae Darlington did not know how to swim.
She could sew a dress fit for a queen. She could wield a sword as well as some of the best fighters she’d seen in Astanrog. She could even fly if Bell loaned her a bit of fairy dust.
But the water terrified her.
This was a problem since her sister was a renowned pirate captain who spent most of her time on the open ocean. Jae wanted desperately to accompany her, but Wren—known to the crew of the Jolly Roger as their captain—forbade it. If Jae couldn’t swim, she couldn’t sail. And she couldn’t swim because her traitorous lungs wouldn’t let her.
It had been a problem since she was a young child playing in the yard with her brothers. One minute she’d be running, and the next, she’d be drowning in open air, or that’s what it felt like. Unable to catch her breath, her lungs seizing, an iron band closing around her chest. Her lungs were sick, and she didn’t have the ability to hold her breath long enough to even learn how to swim.
“I can’t keep constant watch over you,” Wren had said. “You have to be able to fend for yourself, and you just can’t.”
And Jae believed her. She couldn't fend for herself, had never had to. Her parents and her siblings had always treated her delicately because of her sickness. It was why she hadn’t left Starlake since arriving two years ago. The estate that their grandmother had left to the Darlington girls had become her sanctuary and her jail cell. It kept her safe from the people who would hurt her, like the prince of Astanrog, or the people who would try to control her, like her father—but it also kept her trapped and isolated. She was used to playing it safe, to following orders and always doing what she was told. Eat this, sleep here, marry this prince, stay quiet, stay here, stay behind.
But now she was facing another few months alone and her heart ached at the idea even more than her lungs. The winter had been bad this year and had grounded the crew of the Jolly Roger. For a few months, Jae had felt what it was to have companionship, to walk the halls and know that there were sleeping bodies behind each door. And now that the spring had thawed the frost and the crew was getting ready to leave, Jae had decided she was done being left behind.
The sky was still dark when she reached the edge of the lake, determined to prove to her sister that she was able to take care of herself. Behind her and up the small hill, Starlake was still quiet, its windows dark, its inhabitants lost in their dreams for another hour or so still. Only the stars winked down at her from their posts in the early-morning sky. The dark waters of the lake reflected the stars back at themselves, and it was like she lived in some kind of in-between world.
Having the sky above and below her made the idea of the water a little less scary. Maybe she could convince herself that swimming was really just another form of fl
ying.
She dropped the cloak from her shoulders and stood shivering in her slip. There was a wooden dock that jutted out into the water. At the end, a rowboat bobbed, knocking against the dock with quiet thuds. Jae walked the length of the dock and sat when she reached the end, dangling her feet into the water. She drew figure-eights with her toes, and then reached down, testing the water with her fingers. This wasn’t so bad.
It would have been simple to stay like that. No one knew she’d come out there, so no one would know she’d failed. She could turn around, go back inside, climb under the covers, and not get up again until the Jolly Roger had left. Then, she’d wander the empty halls like a ghost for the next few months—alone again.
That thought in mind, she forced herself off the dock and into the water, though she kept a firm grip on the wooden piling. She resisted the panic that threatened to crawl up into her throat and instead made herself relax.
“Before you can swim, you have to float,” Wren had told her the one time she’d tried to give Jae a swimming lesson. It hadn’t gone well, ending in tears and frustrated shouts, but some of what her sister said had at least stuck with her.
With one hand still on the dock, she leaned her head back and kept her stomach tight and her breathing regular. Her legs drifted up of their own accord, her toes pointing to the lightening sky. The stars, seemingly satisfied with her performance, began to wink out of existence. Smiling to herself, she closed her eyes. Water lapped around her ears and her chin. This, also, wasn’t so bad.
Finally, she let go of the dock, slowly letting her arm fall into the water beside her. She kept her eyes squeezed shut and did her very best not to panic. She had to think of something else, anything else . . .
Never Island.
It came immediately into her mind, another place between worlds. Somewhere Jae had never been but had dreamed of incessantly ever since Wren had returned and told her of her adventures on the island. Of the mermaids and the Lost Boys and the pirates and the castle in the sky. Of Pan, who could crow like a rooster, and the captain, who had a hook for a hand and a dark gaze that haunted Jae’s dreams, though she had never seen it in person. She felt drawn to the island. It had been created by her grandmother, so it was, in a way, part of her legacy. A part she would never know, if Wren had any say in the matter, and she always did. Wren had made enemies there—lots of them, if she was to be believed. Returning was certainly not an option for Wren, and going alone had never even crossed Jae’s mind.
But if she could fly . . .
And she could swim . . .
And she could fight . . .
What was to stop her?
Only that she had never done anything on her own, ever.
Except for this—swimming. Or floating, really. Maybe it didn’t seem like much, but it was a first step, a smell rebellion in a life of obedience. Proof that she could do what others told her she couldn’t. It felt radical and exciting and absolutely terrifying. If she could do this, maybe she could do anything.
A sound cut through the thick silence of the water and reached her ears, something she couldn’t quite make out. She lifted her head at the same time she reached for the dock. It wasn’t until her hand met empty air that she realized just how far she’d drifted.
In some logical part of her brain, she knew she wasn’t supposed to panic. She knew that panic was the enemy of relaxation. She knew that panic would make her lungs constrict and send her under the water, where she would no doubt drown. But the bad part was that logic and panic rarely appeared together.
Her whole body went rigid and suddenly she was sinking like a thousand-pound boulder rolled into the middle of the lake. There was no air in her lungs, no ground beneath her feet. She thrashed her arms wildly, trying to pull herself up, but there was nothing to grab onto. Where before, the water had cradled her and buoyed her, now it clawed at her, slipping between her fingers, dragging her into its depths.
She opened her mouth to scream, realizing her mistake too late as lake water flooded her already useless lungs. She kicked, surfaced once, coughed out a scream, and was pulled back under. Murky darkness surrounded her. Her head grew light, and her eyes heavy. Was this it, then? Would Wren ever know what had happened to her? Would they even find her body?
Something wrapped around Jae’s upper arm. She didn’t even have the energy to fight off whatever it was—a snake, maybe, or an eel. Did eels live in lakes? But then, it was dragging her up instead of down. The water grew lighter and then suddenly she was breaking the surface, coughing, spewing water into her sister’s angry face.
Before Wren had left the nursery, she’d been kind and lighthearted, docile, even. None of those words could be used to describe her anymore, not since her return from Never Island. The island had changed her—or maybe revealed her, who she always was on the inside. She was fierce, strong . . . angry. And now Jae was staring all that pent up rage in the face.
“Stop struggling,” Wren bit out before wrapping an arm around Jae’s shoulders and dragging her backward to the shore.
Archer was waiting for them. He was Wren’s—what? Second-in-command, guard, best friend, lover, all of the above? Whatever he was, he was always nearby, much to Jae’s dismay at times. Like now, when he would bear witness to Jae’s shame and whatever reprimand was sure to come. Archer took Jae from Wren, supporting her weight entirely, and pressed her portable nebulizer into her hand. Jae wheezed twice, trying to catch her breath, before bringing the mouthpiece to her lips and squeezing the bulb. The vapor flooded her lungs, opening her airway, and within seconds, she was able to take a long, deep breath.
She bent over, then, breathing heavily. Archer wrapped a blanket around her bare shoulders and stood behind her, patting and rubbing her back. A few yards away, Wren was wringing out her shirt and glaring at Jae.
“What were you thinking?” Wren hissed when Jae’s breathing had calmed.
Jae couldn’t talk. Her throat burned. Instead, she collapsed onto the grass, leaning her arms on her knees, dropping her head to her hands. The nebulizer fell to the ground beside her and rolled away. She’d been stupid not to bring it with her. Wren would use that as one more point against her.
Wren wasn’t having Jae’s silence. She walked over and kicked one of Jae’s feet. “Well?”
Jae looked up. What had she been thinking? She’d been thinking that she didn’t want to be left alone again. That she wanted to belong, that she wanted to have a purpose, a place in this world that wasn’t dictated to her by someone else or by her own inept body. But she couldn’t say any of that, not to Wren, and not in front of Archer. “Nothing.”
Her sister scoffed. “Nothing. Exactly.”
“Wren—” Archer started but there was no stopping her sister now.
“You’re old enough, Jae. I can’t take care of you all the time.”
“You don’t take care of me ever!” Jae objected, her shout coming out scratchy and hoarse, burning her sore throat.
Wren laughed, pacing the shoreline in front of Jae. “Don’t I? I saved you from Astanrog, I’ve kept you safe here for years. And just now!” She thrust her arm at the lake. “You could have died.”
Jae pushed herself to her shaky feet and wrapped the sheet around her shoulders, following her sister with her eyes. “I wouldn’t have gone under if you hadn’t startled me. And I wouldn’t have been in Astanrog if you hadn’t left me in the first place.”
Silence.
This was not something they really ever talked about. Wren liked to ignore that small piece of history—the fact that by leaving and following her own dreams, she essentially ruined any chance Jae had of having a life of her own. When her older sister had abandoned her betrothal to the prince of Astanrog, the great military kingdom to the west of the Frostwater, someone had to fill her shoes. Jae was next in line. It didn’t matter that Prince Nikov was insufferable or mean—Jae stepped up because that was what was expected of her.
Yes, Wren had come for her at
the last minute, whisking her away just before her wedding. Yes, Wren restored dreams to an entire nation. Yes, she was a fierce pirate captain who defended women and children who could not defend themselves. But her freedom had come at the cost of Jae’s. It wasn’t fair to put it on her like that, but it also wasn’t fair to blame Jae for not being self-sufficient when she had never had to rely on herself for anything.
“We’ll be gone by noon,” her sister finally said.
“Wren—” Archer tried, but no one was listening to him.
Wren, her head held high and her shoulders thrown back, turned and marched up the hill to the estate. Even dripping wet, she looked regal and powerful.
Jae, on the other hand, felt small and insignificant as she watched her sister go.
Archer had stayed behind, and he spoke to her now. “She loves you,” he said. “She’s just scared.”
“Of what?” Jae asked, turning to look at him.
“Losing you.”
She wanted to laugh at him but there was such sincerity on his face that she couldn’t. She looked away instead. “She has a funny way of showing it.”
He shrugged. She saw the small movement of his shoulder out of the corner of her eyes. “Why else do you think she makes you stay behind?”
Because she was useless, a burden, unworthy. All those things Jae had told herself over and over every time she watched the Jolly Roger sail away down the river that wound through the mountains, making its way to the ocean and all the adventures beyond, things she could only imagine.
Kingdom of Villains and Vengeance Page 36
