Gabriella, who was sitting beside him at the table, laid a hand over his. “We don’t know that it would have made a difference.” She pitched her voice low, her tone and her touch a soothing balm.
The guilt that had been beating him up since the news about Ari suddenly lost its power to injure. Her help wasn’t necessary. He would have handled it. Warriors were trained from youth to compartmentalize their feelings and focus on the mission at hand. But it was nice that he didn’t have to, nicer still that she loved him enough to save him that small hurt. He spread his fingers so that hers fell between them, and gave a gentle squeeze of thanks.
Their eyes met in a moment of silent understanding. Then she pulled her hand back and turned to the rest of the table. Her voice became brisk and authoritative. “And it doesn’t matter one way or the other. Right now, the only thing we need to be thinking about is how to get Ari back.”
Ryll’s eyes widened a little, and he gave Dilys a look that was part admiration, part indulgent amusement, the sort you might express after watching a child display a new skill. Dilys realized Ryll had never seen Gabriella drop her Sweet Summer mask. Despite her considerable Siren’s power, Ryll still thought she was that kind, shy flower who naturally faded into the background beside her bolder, brighter sisters. Amusement flickered through Dilys. Poor Ryll. He was in for a shock.
“What I want to know is why Nemuan would turn traitor?” That came from Anat Popolo, captain of the Mermaid. He and Nemuan had sailed together in their youth.
“I don’t know,” Dilys bit out, “and to be honest, I don’t really care. For now, we just need to get Ari back and put an end to Nemuan’s treason. He knows I’ll be coming for him. That’s why he took Ari: to make me come after him. And there’s only one place the Shark would go: to his base of power in the Olemas. No doubt he thinks that will gain him the upper hand.”
“Forgive me for saying so, moa Myerielua,” Narun, captain of the Windrunner, pointed out, “but in the Olemas, he does have the upper hand. His pirates have already proven their ability to fight and defeat us. That’s how they wrested control of that ocean from Calberna to begin with.”
“Now we know why,” Ryll put in bitterly, “a farking traitorous prince of the Isles has been teaching them how to beat us!”
“It’s not just that,” Narun said. “According to our last estimates, he has at least two hundred pirates sailing his flag. He’s built an armada. We should at least gather the rest of the fleet before we go after him.”
“Ono,” Dilys said. “If we wait, we lose any chance of getting Ari back alive. You all know what happened to Fyerin.” Poor, bright, trusting Fyerin. His brutally tortured remains “discovered” and brought home by Nemuan. Discovered? Ha! How that krillo must have laughed, accepting the weeping thanks of Fyerin’s mother for bringing her son’s body home.
“We’re just ten ships.”
“Nine,” Dilys corrected. “I’m sending Gabriella and the Dolphin back to Calberna, to inform the Myerial of Nemuan’s treason and let her know what’s going on.”
“What?” Gabriella sat up straight. “I’m not going to Calberna. I’m going with you.”
He’d expected an argument. That’s why he hadn’t brought it up to her last night. “You are the first Siren born in two thousand five hundred years. Ensuring your safety has to be our first priority.”
“Your akua is right, Myerialanna,” Ryll said. “You should listen to him.”
Her brows snapped together. “Was I speaking to you, Ryllian Ocea?”
Ryll gaped at her for a moment, then clamped his mouth shut.
Gabriella turned back to Dilys. Her eyes were now snapping with golden sparks. “I’m not asking for your permission, Dilys. I’m telling you I will be sailing with you to the Olemas and assisting in the rescue of Arilon Calmyria. That’s not up for debate.”
The captains around the table shifted in their chairs and looked to Dilys, as if he could dissuade her. He scowled at them. Really. What did they expect him to say? She was a Siren and his mate and had just made her intentions perfectly clear. He couldn’t very well Command her to return to Calberna.
“Fine. You’re coming with me, but I will be the commander of the battle, and once it begins you will follow my orders.”
“Agreed.” She beamed at him. “You won’t regret it. Nemuan may have eaten my magic, but—”
“What?” The captains regarded her in shock. “Nemuan ate your magic?”
Ryll turned to Dilys for confirmation. “He’s a farking magic eater, too?”
Dilys forced his claws to stay sheathed. It was hard, whenever he let himself think of what Nemuan had done to Gabriella. “Tey. He is.”
“The steaming pile of whale shoto.”
“I knew—I mean—it’s clear he’d lost his way,” Captain Sanu, of the Star, breathed, “but this . . . to sink to such foul depths. Sweet goddess, has he no soul?”
“Not one any of us can save,” Dilys bit out. “Even death is more mercy than he deserves, but at least in death the gods can judge his crimes.”
Gabriella laid a hand on Dilys’s back, and her touch bled off the worst of his rage, as she had bled off his guilt over Ari earlier. It shamed him a little that she should be the one soothing him right now. But it also made him proud. He’d been able to give her that peace of mind. He’d been able to help her distance herself from the horrors Nemuan had inflicted upon her. He also remembered his parents, the way they’d constantly exchanged small touches. Sometimes hugs, sometimes tender caresses, sometimes just a brush of fingertips. He realized now they hadn’t just been expressing their devotion to one another—although that was certainly part of it—they’d also been sharing their strength, soothing frayed emotions, being both balm and bulwark for one another. And he loved that he and Gabriella were already instinctively doing the same.
“As I was saying,” she continued, her voice calm, “when the Shark ate my magic, I’d already been drained by Mur Balat. He suspects there’s stronger magic in me than I ever let on, but my guess is he’ll assume that was my Siren’s magic, and that I’m as weak a Siren as I supposedly am a weatherwitch. That makes me the perfect secret weapon. Besides, I have a score of my own to settle with the Shark.”
It was Dilys’s turn to sit up straight. His brows snapped together. “You’re not getting within a hundred yards of that magic-eating bastard, Gabriella. Siren and my liana you may be, but that’s not up for debate.”
She smiled. “Don’t worry, moa akua, I’m not suggesting I should fight him in hand-to-hand combat. Unlike Khamsin, I never trained with swords. I also understand that you are a male and my mate, and therefore you feel driven to avenge what he did to me. That is your right, by virtue of our bond, and I wouldn’t presume to rob you of it. But I do intend to see that it’s a fair fight. Just you and he, Sealord to Sealord.”
When she put it that way, how could Dilys refuse?
“So we’re agreed? You’ll take care of Nemuan, and I’ll take care of the armada?”
“Forgive the impertinence, Sirena,” Narun interrupted. “We all know you’re Siren’s gifts are powerful enough to Shout one ship to pieces, but are you saying you can destroy hundreds?”
Gabriella shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never tried. But what I can’t Shout away, I should be able to eliminate with my weather magic.”
“Forgive my impertinence,” Captain Popolo said, “but are you saying your weathergifts are stronger than your Siren’s magic? Strong enough to wipe out an armada two hundred strong? Forgive me, but my mother sits on the committee that researched potential brides for the Myerielua. I understood your weathermagic to be . . . er . . . my pardon, but negligible.”
She gifted Popolo with an enchanting smile and told him gently, “That’s what I meant for everyone to think, Sealord. But I come from the royal line of Summerlea, descended from the Sun God himself, and my giftname is Summer for a reason.” Sweet Summer gave way to the Siren once more. “As for your other
question, to be honest, I don’t know which of my gifts is stronger. I’ve kept my magic locked away all my life for fear of hurting people with it.”
“My friends,” Dilys said, “no one—not even Gabriella herself—has yet seen the full extent of what she can do. She holds very powerful gifts from Helos and Numahao combined. Let me put it this way: when she poured so much magic into me that I had to jump into the ocean and start a tsunami just to rid myself of the excess? That didn’t even make a dent in her stores. She was just venting what was too great for her to contain.”
“Now it’s my turn to say ‘forgive the impertinence,’” Captain Sanu ventured, “but if the Sirena has never wielded the full measure of her gifts, should the first time be in battle against an enemy who has proven himself capable of besting even strong and experienced Sealords? More to the point, if her magic is as strong as you say, will it even be safe for her to use it at all?”
Beside him, Gabriella flinched. The movement was so slight the others would not have noticed, but Dilys was too attuned to her to miss it. He knew it was her greatest fear: that she would lose control of her magic and harm innocent people—or worse, those she loved. He slid an arm around her waist and rested a hand on her hip. His thumb slid gently back and forth in a small caress as he absorbed her fear and gave her back love and his utter faith in her in return.
“It will be safe,” he said, as much to reassure her as his gathered captains.
She smiled up at him, then nodded to the others. “It will be safe.”
That decided, the group of them settled in to hash out the details of their plan of attack. When they were done, the captains returned to their respective ships. After they departed, Dilys and Gabriella shared a quiet meal then went for a stroll above decks, stopping at the bow of the ship to look up at the stars and enjoy the feel of the wind and salt spray on their faces.
Dilys stood at Gabriella’s back, his arms wrapped loosely around her shoulders. The stars of the equatorial night sky shone bright in the moonless night sky. Dilys found the familiar constellations of Helos and Numahao and chuckled softly.
“What’s so funny?” Gabriella wanted to know.
“I’m just thinking about what a force of nature you are. All the power of the sun and the sea rolled into one.”
“And that’s amusing to you?”
“Ono.” He nuzzled her hair. “What’s amusing me is the thought of the Hel on Mystral you’re about to unleash on that bastard Nemuan.”
“Hmm.” She leaned a little more deeply into his embrace. After a few moments, her hips shifted against him, and she titled her head back to arch a brow. “That doesn’t feel like amusement to me.”
He smiled slow and wide. “I told you before. Strong women are arras leaf to me.”
“Strong women? Plural?”
“Woman,” he corrected. “Singular. You. Only you. As you know, I’m a one-force-of-nature kind of male.”
She turned to face him, looping one arm around his neck and leaning back a little as she slowly traced a finger down his chest, trailing the heat of her magic in its wake. “Mmm. And just how much of an aphrodisiac is my particular force of nature to you?” Her finger dipped below his navel and continued tracking down the thin, silky line of dark hair that disappeared into his jeweled belt.
He shuddered and snatched her up in his arms. “Oh, moa haleah. It’s like eating arras straight from the tree.”
The Kracken sailed through the Sargassi Sea, the swath of warm, tropical waters separating the continents of Ardul and Frasia, and headed into the mouth of the Olemas Ocean. Gabriella stood at Dilys’s side on the Kracken’s bow, her eyes gleaming pure gold as she tapped the vast well of her power. Ahead of their small fleet, a tropical storm whipped the seas and skies into a frenzy, a pocket of volatile weather created and guided by Summer.
With Dilys’s aid, she’d spent their voyage to the Olemas learning to unleash and use her gifts. One of the things she’d discovered was that now that her magic was unrestrained, finesse had become a thing of the past. Delicate, targeted work was difficult, if not impossible. She could set a boat on fire, but lighting a single candle? That ability escaped her. She’d had hopes, for instance, of being able to target a Shout to a particular individual and snipe them from a distance, but her Shouts didn’t work that way. The farther she was from a target, the wider the spread of her devastating magic. As for her weathergift, here in the summer, sailing already warm tropical seas, she could whip up a storm as quickly as Khamsin, but with all the energy of the sea and open sky at her fingertips, Summer’s storms had an almost unlimited potential for growth . . . and devastation.
She hadn’t come close to utilizing the full force of her gift yet. With nine ships and hundreds of Calbernan lives in such close proximity, she hadn’t dared—not even with Dilys’s help. And he had been a help. Every moment she’d practiced, he’d been by her side, offering advice and encouragement, bleeding off her magic when it threatened to surge out of her control. She’d fed him a lot of excess as she’d worked to learn what she could and couldn’t do with her magic, and he’d used that power to extend his eyes and ears in the sea. His direct network now stretched throughout the Sargassi and a full hundred miles into the Olemas.
“He’s got a hundred ships forming a blockade about fifty miles west of us. He’s trying to mask their presence with fog.”
Gabriella stretched out her senses. She couldn’t detect the ships themselves, but she could sense the cooler air filled with moisture hanging over the water. The fog he was using to hide his ships. There was a definite tang of magic in that fog.
“I see it. Where are the rest of his ships?”
“He’s got at least another two dozen ships sailing with him. I haven’t found the others yet, but my eyes and ears in the sea are looking for all possibilities. If they sail anywhere within reach of my network, I’ll spot them. Even if they’re using the same invisibility spells he employed to mask himself from the last time.”
They rounded the northernmost edge of the Kuinana. The Olemas lay before them. Nemuan’s unnatural fog hovered across the water like thick smoke. She could see it stretching out on either side of her rain-dark storm.
“All right, moa kiri, are you ready?”
She pulled her attention from her storm to offer him a smile. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Then do it.”
She closed her eyes, reached for the heat of the sun, and poured energy and heat into the volatile core of the storm she’d been steering ahead of them. She thought building the storm would be hard, but it wasn’t. Clouds boiled out across the sky and blackened with shocking speed. Wind gusted. The storm-tossed surface of the sea became a riot of devastating waves, forty feet from crest to trough. What had been a tropical storm intensified rapidly into a hurricane.
When she and Dilys had discussed her plan to summon a hurricane to defeat the armada, her biggest fear was that she might lose control of the storm she had created. But now, as her magic and her consciousness rode the currents of hot, moisture-laden air, she knew that fear was groundless. Khamsin had always been the one afraid of losing control of her storms, but Summer’s whole life had been dedicated to controlling the storm within. Compared to that, keeping this hurricane leashed to her will was child’s play. She thrust it into the fog bank, using her storm as a battering ram. Her gale-force wind and waves tossed the pirate ships aside like toy boats, clearing the fleet’s path of would-be attackers. Aboard the Kracken, Dilys and his men used their seagifts to calm the waves before they could batter the Calbernan fleet.
A few of the pirate ships managed to ride out the storm and get close enough to begin firing shot filled with the same unnatural, unquenchable fire that had destroyed the ships in the Kuinana. One of the shots hit the Mermaid, which was sailing forty feet to the port side of the Kracken.
Having fought the fire before in the Kuinana, Popolo’s men were prepared. They dumped buckets of sand on the blaze. As the pira
tes readied a second barrage of fire, a pod of blueback whales breeched directly off the pirate ship’s starboard side. Waves swamped the ship. One of the blueback’s heavy tails smacked the bowsprit. The blow brought the bow of the ship careening downward into the trough of a massive wave, just as another wave rose up near the stern. The ship capsized. Sailors screamed as the fire they’d been intending for the Calbernans now ignited the sinking hulk of their ship and the crew trying to swim away.
Aboard the Mermaid, Popolo’s crew gave a loud cheer. Those bluebacks had been his. The waves had been generated by his men.
Another two pirate ships approached from the starboard side of Ryll’s Narwhal. Ryll and his men capsized them before they got within firing range and sent them to the bottom of the sea.
Directly ahead of the Kracken, four ships had survived Summer’s storm and were now heading straight for them. Gabriella let out two controlled Shouts. The oncoming ships exploded into clouds of splinters. From the crew of the Kracken and the other ships of their fleet, a great, raucous cheer went up. Amid the cheers and chanting chorus of “Sirena! Sirena!” she caught snatches of awed voices. “Did you see that?” “She blasted those farking krillos right out of the water!”
“Well done, moa kiri.” Beside her, Dilys beamed with pride. “You’re getting good at that.”
She blushed a little, then grinned back at him. “I am, aren’t I?” To her surprise, she didn’t feel one ounce of horror or guilt for destroying the pirate ships or the lives aboard. Instead she felt exhilarated. She’d defended the Kracken and the Calbernan fleet with her magic. She hadn’t lost control even once, killing only the enemy and no one else. As for those enemies, they’d been bad, evil men bent on doing bad, evil deeds, and the world was a better place without them.
She wasn’t conflicted over killing them. Instead, she felt . . . right. As if, after all these years, she finally understood her purpose, understood why she’d been born with such great and terrible gifts.