She flushed at his approval and her smile grew wider.
“When we have company you may wear your bikini.”
She stared at him, puzzled. She always wore her bikini. Is he saying I can’t wear it when we’re alone?
The assured smile on his face told her that was exactly what he was saying. Oh God!
“Go get washed and dressed. We’re going to see Aitan and Ligia.”
She shot to her feet and made her way into the bedroom.
* * * *
“I forgot your twig-brush, I’m so sorry.” Kalliope blushed as she spoke to Ligia. That sort of thing had never bothered her before, but somehow it seemed like a big deal today.
“Keep it, I’ll make her another.” Aitan grinned as he handed round a plateful of flatbread.
“Thanks, bro.” Rechavia nodded and grinned at Aitan. They seemed to have some sort of silent conversation going on, Kalliope thought.
“How did you get on?” Ligia was excited, though surprised, at the sudden change in her friend.
Kalliope opened her mouth to answer, then looked over at Rechavia, who sat opposite her on the ground. How had she got on? He hadn’t said whether he approved or not.
“She did a great job.” Rechavia grinned, nodding to her. Kalliope flushed again and sighed with relief. She looked down, unable to keep her hold on his gorgeous stare. He chuckled. She loved that sound, deep in his throat.
“That’s good.” Ligia chirped on, a little taken aback at the exchange between the couple, but very glad that they seemed to have worked things out. “I’ll show you how to cook later, if you like.”
Kalliope never thought she would be so grateful, but she was. “That would be wonderful.” She found herself looking up at Rechavia for—what—approval? Maybe. She was pleased when he nodded anyway.
“What did Eban say?” Aitan turned to Rechavia as Ligia poured the green tea.
“Some asshole has applied to the People’s Government of Eastland to buy this island.” Rechavia’s good mood seemed to dwindle as he recalled their conversation.
“Can they do that?” Aitan asked, astounded.
“Eban’s Dad’s looking into it for us. Apparently it made front page news, even on Westland.”
“So the press already know about it? How the hell did that happen?” Aitan’s eyes widened.
“I’ve no idea. There were photographs all over the paper, and an article about the changes we’ve been making to the island.”
“They’re recent photographs then? Not the ones they took last time?”
Rechavia hadn’t realized that. “Yep, someone’s taken some very recent pictures, including the fields, the whole landscape and the flowers. They’ve been very thorough.”
Ligia and Kalliope exchanged a look of horror.
“D-do they know who put the application in?” Kalliope asked timidly.
“Eban’s going to find out, we hope.” Rechavia sounded calm but angry. “The paper just said it was some rich businessman with enterprising new ideas for the place. Eban reckons if someone’s buying up the whole island it will be to make money on, not to live on. We’ll all be out of a home soon.”
“That won’t happen,” Aitan assured them, seeing the girls’ looks of dismay. He shot a look to Rechavia. Scaremonger!
“You’re right there, bro,” Rechavia concurred. “We’ll fight this tooth and nail.”
Kalliope wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but it sure didn’t sound good. A feeling of dread was already building up in her stomach. It didn’t take a genius to guess who was taking photographs of the island recently, and the wealthy businessman could only be one person. Rechavia would go mad when he found out!
Ligia got up to clear away the breakfast things, and Kalliope was suddenly aware of Rechavia’s eyes burning into her. She looked over. He looked expectantly at her. What?
He looked at Ligia then back at her. Oh!
“Let me help.” She got to her feet and took the rest of the dishes from the table. Ligia looked at her, amazed, and then grinned. “Thanks,” she said, and showed her where to put the pots.
Kalliope glanced over at Rechavia and got a nod of approval. Yes!
“Will you show me how to make flatbread?” Kalliope asked Ligia, loud enough for the others to hear.
Maybe if I keep him happy he won’t be too mad when he finds out who’s behind the takeover!
While the girls were washing the dishes and clearing up, the men set off to work.
“We’ll be in the woodland for a couple of hours, darlin’,” Aitan announced, giving Ligia a big hug. “We’ll come back for lunch.”
“OK,” Ligia promised with a smile. “I’ll have it ready.”
Rechavia kissed Kalliope and gave her a big squeeze before gathering up some tools and marching off toward the woods.
“Oh my God!” Ligia exclaimed as soon as the men were out of earshot. “Benat must have taken those pictures. He asked all sorts of questions about the island. I never thought, I just told him everything!”
Kalliope, who had automatically felt responsible for the fiasco, suddenly realized that perhaps she wasn’t solely to blame.
“What did he ask you?”
“He was mainly interested in the flowers. He asked how much they were worth. I told him I didn’t know exactly, but I knew it was a lot. Do you think that’s what they want it for? The flowers? He did say it was a shame we’d planted so much fruit and vegetables. I don’t know what they expect us to eat!”
“That makes sense if they don’t want us living here. If they just want to grow the flowers and sell them they could make a lot more room by tearing down our huts. And if no one lived here they wouldn’t need to grow food, so they could go back to growing nothing but the flowers here.” Kalliope’s mind was in a whirl.
“Is Zigor rich?” Ligia asked.
Kalliope thought for a moment. She knew damn well he was loaded from his smart clothes, quality beer, lovely food. Just the fact that he had managed to take the journey to the island and back two days in a row suggested that he was rich enough to own his own ship. And what about the things he had told her? He had a big house. He was willing to take care of her if she wanted to join him on the mainland…
“Kally?” Ligia’s voice pulled her from her thoughts.
“Umm, I dunno. We never really discussed it,” she lied.
“Well what did you discuss? He seems to know enough about the island to want to buy it.”
“We…er…didn’t really spend much time talking, if you know what I mean.” Sometimes it was handy that everyone knew you were a slut!
Ligia rolled her eyes. “Aitan’s going to kill me when he finds out.”
“He’ll be a lot softer on you than Rech would be if it was me.”
Ligia stared at her friend, horrified. Solidarity had no place in survival, in Kalliope’s book.
“We’re in this together.” Ligia was adamant.
“Of course we are. You know I’ll always stand by you.” Kalliope gave her friend a big hug.
Ligia wasn’t so sure.
They spent the morning cooking flatbread and griddle scones, which were still warm when the men returned for their lunch.
“Rech’s just fetching the computer,” Aitan announced as he gave Ligia a cuddle.
“I want to show him what I’ve made.” Kalliope sounded very proud of herself.
Ligia rolled her eyes.
They took the food and went to sit in their usual spot overlooking the bay.
“Eban’s on.” Rechavia joined them, carrying the computer. He gave Kalliope a squeeze. “Had a good morning, pretty maid?”
“Yes. Look, I’ve made these.” She handed him a plate of rather dark griddle scones.
“Very nice,” he said, taking a bite out of one.
She beamed.
“Any news?” Aitan asked into the machine.
They all leaned in to see Eban’s face on the screen. He didn’t look happy.
�
��Dad and I have been on it all morning. Both governments were in agreement that neither owns the island, but this guy’s got some pretty clever legal friends. They’re contesting that the agreement about the island is now void because of all the changes. The legal position is that Refrainia is governed by its people. However, this guy claims that the original agreement was that there were Six Elders in charge of the day-to-day running and they would be held responsible for any decisions made. His argument is that the Elders are no longer taking charge, and therefore the agreement is revoked. He’s saying that as they don’t run it, they can’t claim ownership of it. His legal agents have proposed to the People’s Government of Eastland that, as the nearest mainland, they should own the island, and therefore they have the rights to sell it to him. This guy’s absolutely loaded. He’s also got good connections in the Eastland Government. Dad reckons there’s a lot of backhanders being passed around but we’ll never prove it.”
“So what the fuck do we do now? Can we fight this thing?” Rechavia’s anger was palpable.
“Dad reckons we can. He’s already got his lawyer to request a court hearing to discuss the legal ramifications. The fact that we’ve got the whole island to witness that Poseidon put us in charge of the island instead of the Elders should help. Also, we can fight for the right of the islanders to stay there. Rumour has it that this guy wants to take the whole place over to plant flowers, as they’re so lucrative on the mainlands, which means getting rid of the houses and food fields.”
“Exactly what we were afraid of.” Aitan moaned.
“Dad’s got some good contacts. Apparently, this guy’s in a big hurry to rush it all through, which means that we have to get in fast to contest it. At least it means we won’t be waiting for months for a court hearing. Dad reckons it could be a matter of days, weeks at the most, so we should get it sorted real soon.”
“Thank goodness for that,” Ligia said with a sigh.
“Yeah, the sooner we get it sorted the better.” Aitan gave Ligia a reassuring hug.
“Is this connected with that business a few months ago? You know, the rumours about Sirens being on the island killing sailors like they were going out of fashion?” Rechavia asked.
“Well, it looked like it had nothing to do with it, from a business point of view. This is just some uber-rich guy wanting to make even more money out of the island. However, the publicity from before is what got the island known for the flowers in the first place. The press, however, have made a reference to the Sirens, stating that they’re not all happy with the changes, but there’s not much detail on that. It says they’re still investigating the allegations and will keep us informed.” Eban shook his head. “I don’t know where they get this stuff!”
Kalliope felt Rechavia’s eyes burning into her. She daren’t look up at him, but kept her eyes fixed on Eban.
“Do we have a name for this rich asshole?” Rechavia asked the question slowly and deliberately.
Something told Kalliope he already knew the answer. She held her breath.
Eban shuffled through some papers on the desk in front of him. “I had it here somewhere,” he muttered as he sifted through. His eyes lit up when he found what he was looking for. “Here it is. Yes, his name is Zigor Durango. Does it ring any bells?”
Chapter 7
Shit!
Aitan lifted the laptop from Rechavia’s knee as the dark-haired sailor clambered up. He held a hand out to Kalliope. The silence was suffocating. She took his hand and pulled herself gracefully up from the ground. She followed him, trembling, as he strode toward the woodlands. She had to scurry to keep up with him, but, as he held her hand tightly, she had no choice in the matter.
He led her to a clearing to one side of the woodland. There were wooden stakes in the ground, and the large coil of rope she had seen yesterday was handing from a tree branch. Her green eyes were huge when she turned them to him. Her breath was heavy. A mixture of fear and anticipation grew inside her. She looked into his eyes. They were dark brown. He looked aroused and yet angry. His determined jaw jutted out and his mouth held a thin line. God, he looked sexy!
She toyed with asking him what he planned to do, but decided against it. She would find out soon enough.
“Hug that tree.”
At first she thought she had misheard him, but his expectant look told her not to question it. She went over to the tree that had the rope, and put her arms around it. The bark was knobbly and hard. It rubbed against her breasts through her thin bikini. Her hard nipples scraped against it.
“And your legs.”
He had to be kidding!
She tried to keep her balance as she wound her legs partway around the thick trunk. She felt stupid. Stupid and uncomfortable. He took her head and positioned it so that her left cheek leaned against the bark, and then reached up and grabbed the coil of rope. Disappearing around the opposite side of the large trunk, she felt him tie her hands with the thick rope. Then her feet. He ran his fingers between the rope and her skin, ensuring it wasn’t too tight, then he checked her position. Not until he was satisfied did he start talking. His voice was deep and low. Menacing.
“I want some answers from you.”
She gulped.
He was outside of her line of vision and she could hear a shushing sound, like wind blowing through the tall grasses. Something tickled her back and she flinched.
“Are you comfortable?”
“Not especially.”
“Are you in any pain?”
“No.”
“Kalliope, you have a safe word. The word is red. You may use it if, and only if, you find anything unbearable. If you use it I will stop and let you go. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” She almost smiled. That was a relief. She could stop him as soon as it got to be too much. This she could handle.
He sensed her delight. “When I say I will let you go, I mean forever.”
Her heart fell to the floor. He would leave her. If she didn’t do what he wanted he would leave her!
“That’s blackmail,” she said quietly.
“No, it’s a safety net,” he replied calmly.
She huffed. She knew he wouldn’t really hurt her. He loved her. Whatever it was he had in mind was just to teach her a lesson. She could handle that. She really enjoyed it last time he taught her a lesson. This might be fun.
“OK. What do you want to know?” she asked.
“What was Zigor Durango doing on the island?” His voice was as thick as treacle.
“I-I thought he was just visiting. I only met him yesterday.”
Another tickle on her back, lower this time.
“What did you tell him about the island?”
“Nothing.”
Slap. There was a loud crack as he whipped her ass with the handful of grasses.
“Ouch!” It stung.
“Try again. What did you tell him about the island?”
“Um…” She tried hard to think. Her ass stung from the swipe, though the sound of it was far worse than the pain. “I-I just told him what everyone does here, you know, growing things and that.”
“What things?”
Her arms and legs were already growing tired, but she was struggling with what to say. She strained her eyes, trying to turn her head far enough around to see him, but he was just out of her eye line.
Swat! Another whip on her ass made her jump.
“Oh God! Flowers, mainly. I said you were planting vegetables but we mainly grew flowers.”
There was another tickle down her spine. It was soft and somewhat fluffy. She wriggled her shoulders.
“What did you tell him about the flowers?”
“I told him they were rare and…” In her hurry to get this over with, she had forgotten to think carefully about her reply.
“And?” He was right up close to her ear now. She could feel his hot breath on her neck. Oh God! She could feel his presence. He was so hot. His breathing was heavy.
“Li
gia took the photographer up the fields. She showed him where they grew.” It was worth a shot. He would never harm Ligia, she’d never seen him in the least irritated by her friend. Ligia would be fine, and with any luck, so would she.
He was silent for a few minutes that felt like forever. He must have been contemplating her reply. The air hung thick between them. She somehow knew he wasn’t buying it. His next question only confirmed her suspicion.
“What else did you tell Durango about the flowers?”
Shit! There was nothing else for it.
“I t-told him they were worth a lot of money on the mainland. I’m sorry.” She blurted the words out and screwed up her eyes, tensing her body ready for the whipping to start. It didn’t.
Silence.
He had taken a step away from her and she suddenly felt bereft.
She opened her eyes slowly. She couldn’t see him. She couldn’t hear him. Her mouth went dry. What if he’s left me? Panic started to well inside her and she began to feel sick. She felt her body start to tremble. She closed her eyes to try to calm herself. She wanted to shout out but her throat was too tight. Her breathing became more rapid. Fear was taking over. She had never felt afraid before in her life.
“Rechavia?” she whispered. It was all she could manage.
“Right here, baby.” At last. His voice was quiet and deep. He sounded like he was right behind her.
Thank God!
A big hand began to massage her neck. She felt her trembling lessen and she managed to swallow. When her breathing had returned to normal, he continued.
“What did you tell him about being a Siren?”
She tensed.
The light tickle up and down her back relaxed her, and reminded her that he was still with her. The idea of lying flitted through her mind for a fraction of a second. What would be the point? If he found out she had lied he would leave her and she knew now that she couldn’t bear that. She would rather take a flogging.
“I’m so sorry.” Tears flooded down her cheeks. Kalliope was surprised at herself. Until yesterday, she couldn’t remember anything making her cry. Now she couldn’t seem to stop.
“Tell me what you said to him. I need to know what we’re fighting against.” His words were calm and made perfect sense. Then it dawned on her. His words, I need to know what we’re fighting against. Not what you’re fighting against. He was in this with her. He would help her. They would get through this together. Relief swept through her.
Submission of the Siren Page 6
