Suddenly Jileana wished she had never brought him here. It would have been better if she’d just stayed in the world of humans for another month than risk him to sirens and bring him to Jalaya’s attention. Gods, what had she been thinking?
She had been trying to hold on to him at any cost, she realized with dawning comprehension. They’d had only three days before she brought him here, and she had not been ready to let him go. She had swiftly become addicted to having him in her life. She had felt changed ever since meeting him. At first she had thought it was because the Overworld was so different and new—so exciting. But now she realized he had been a key factor in that excitement. Oh, she would have found everything to be just as wondrous but her pure passion had been all Jaykun’s doing.
The understanding left her a little shaken. She had known things with Jaykun were different—exciting and more than a little bit wild—but this was the first time she had considered there might be more to it than just simple good feelings and good times. It was the first time she had considered there might be any depth to the relationship beyond what they were feeling at any given moment.
But what truly made the comprehension dreadful was the understanding that Jaykun would never want anything beyond what they were already sharing. She didn’t know why he closed himself off, but he most definitely shut down whenever it came to his emotions. Perhaps it was because of his curse, because of the limitations set upon him by Weysa. Yes, she was sure that was it. He was not free to give himself, and so he did not wish to engage in any behaviors that might bring another’s feelings into the mix, that might leave someone else vulnerable and hurting, because he was unable to give himself completely.
But Jileana did not need completeness. She did not need all of him in order to be happy. She would be content with exactly what she had right now: time with him, in his arms and in his bed. True, she knew his attention to her could not last; he had a duty to perform and he could not be swayed from it, be it for circumstance or for his honor. He would honor his bargain with Weysa until the end. Were he free of the curse tomorrow she believed he would still fight in Weysa’s name and for her cause. He was a warrior at heart and a principled one at that.
And Jileana would follow him. She knew in a heartbeat that she would leave her world, leave all of her friends and family behind, just to follow Jaykun into the world of humans. And she knew his goals might take him far from the ocean, that she might be cut off from all ocean water for long periods of time—months…maybe even years—if she followed him. Still she did not care. She would not mind. She would easily trade away the comforts of the ocean for the comfort of his arms.
But right now there was a danger far more serious than being separated from the ocean. If Jalaya formed an attachment to Jaykun, if she set her sights on him, there would be a great deal of trouble to be had. And now Jaykun was stuck within Jalaya’s reach for the next three weeks. How were they to avoid her, and avoid her attentions?
Disturbed, Jileana found herself leaning into his body, settling her weight against him, and setting her chin on his shoulder. To her pleasure, he reached up and buried a warm hand in her hair, petting her absently as he talked with the empress of the selkies. Whatever Jalaya’s intentions were, Jileana took comfort in the thought that it was very unlikely that Jaykun would go along with those intentions. Not unless he was given no choice. And maybe not even then. She simply did not know. The best idea would be to remove him from the equation as often as she could. But she didn’t see how that was possible. It was a dangerous quandary for them to be in.
“Tell me…are all human men as intelligent as you are?” Jalaya was asking him.
“No. Not all. Haven’t you ever been to the Overworld?” Jaykun asked her.
“I have…once, when I was very young. I spent a full month in the world of men. I wanted to see what it was like for myself. I also was trying to escape the demands of my family.” The empress gave Jileana a knowing wink. “But that was almost two hundred years ago and I was not impressed with men at the time.”
“In some ways men are greatly different than they were two hundred years ago; in others they are ever the same.” Jaykun was silent a moment. “I do not think you would like the Overworld much. This place is idyllic compared to the Overworld. Were I another man I might never wish to leave.”
“But you are not that man?” she asked curiously.
“No. I have too many responsibilities awaiting me in the Overworld. My brothers as well. And I am bound by my goddess to serve her. Also, I search for my lost brother.”
“Lost brother? How was he lost?”
Jaykun hesitated. His first instinct was to avoid talking about his curse and what he and his brothers had done to prompt it. But this was not the Overworld. It was a different place, a place set apart from the world of humans. In the end, he gave her a quick retelling of the tale, ending with each cursed brother’s fate.
“Each of us was consigned to punishment by a different god. Weysa thrust my brother Dethan into the bowels of the eight hells. Hella chained my brother Garreth to a frozen mountainside. Lothas chained me to a star, and Sabo buried my brother Maxum beneath the soil. Maxum is the only one who has not been freed from his curse and we search for him everywhere we go.”
“And what will you do if you find him?” Jalaya asked him, suddenly seeming less open to him, less flirtatious. Her body language had changed significantly. This hardly surprised Jaykun. It was nerve-racking, no doubt, to be close to someone who was so damned by the gods. It amazed him that Jileana did not react similarly. Perhaps it was for the best. He had not been blind to Jalaya’s flirtations and interest. He had just avoided opening a tricky can of worms.
“Bring him up out of the ground. Hope that we can free him from his curse somehow. We haven’t thought that far ahead. We must find him first before the rest can be worried about.”
“True,” she murmured. Then suddenly she was rising to her feet, forcing her courtiers to stand hastily in deference to her. “Jaykun, I will have you come to midday meal again tomorrow. I think it will be interesting to see how you take Horgon’s measure and how he takes yours.”
“I will be honored to do so, Majesty,” Jaykun said with a deferential nod.
The empress left, and those at the table sat down and finished their meals. But it quickly became apparent to Jaykun that Jileana had lost her appetite as well as her usual vivacity.
“Are you well?” he asked her after a few minutes of watching her.
“I…I will be better once we have seen my mother and I know you are protected from the sirens’ call.”
“Then let’s go to her now. I won’t have you worrying,” he said, rising to his feet and holding his hand out to her. She took it immediately and rose as well. They walked out of the dining area and onto the open ledge. It was a short dive to the water and they prepared to make it.
“Leaving so quickly? And before I have had time to make your acquaintance?”
They turned together at the address, which was followed by a musical little laugh. There she stood, the siren herself, her green hair flowing all around the slim planes of her nearly boyish body. Unlike Jileana, she lacked the curves that would make her markedly a female. She had small, nearly nonexistent breasts, but her features were everything fey and feminine. Other than the hair on her head, she had no other hair on her body, except eyelashes that were green as well. She had no eyebrows to speak of. There were swirls of tiny white spots on patches of her skin, almost as though they were there in place of the hair that was missing from her body, and her nails, on both her hands and her feet, had a purplish tinge to them.
“We have somewhere to be,” Jileana said with poorly veiled hostility as she stepped protectively between Jaykun and the siren.
“Please, little one,” the ambassador said with a lightly scoffing laugh. “If I want him, the placement of your body will do nothing to protect his ears.”
She turned her attention to Jaykun. “I
am Falin,” she introduced herself, holding up a palm in respectful greeting. “Do not be afraid I will enrapture you. It is clear you are the empress’s favored companion and I will not risk war between the sirens and the selkies simply to win the attentions of a man.”
Jaykun took her measure for a moment and then realized she was telling the truth. Clearly the siren leader had chosen well when she had chosen her ambassador.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Falin,” Jaykun said, holding out a hand to her. She looked at him with ice-blue eyes a moment, then took his hand in hers. Her skin was smooth and cool under his touch. “I am glad you will not attempt to enthrall me. You might make me love you, but I would kill you for it.”
“You would love me too much to want to kill me.”
“I have killed things I loved in the past,” he said quietly. “And in any event, it would not be true love, merely an illusion. Illusions can be broken.”
“No one can break the lure of a siren’s call,” she said almost apologetically. “But it might surprise you to know that many sirens do not use their song to call a mate to them. We prefer to know we can obtain the affections of a man without thrall. There is more of a victory to it that way. The thrall is often a measure of last resort. It can be as hollow for us as it is for the subject. Although, the subject does not feel hollow.”
“No, just abandoned by love once you are through with him and discard him.”
“Mmm. True. We have little use for men outside of breeding partners. All the more reason we do not like to use the thrall. We are not cruel, you know. We are not all selfish. No more than those of any other culture.”
Jileana released a snort, the sound making it clear she didn’t believe the siren in the least. It was a sentiment of pure prejudice and the first time Jaykun had seen a behavior like it from her. She was so open and warm and inviting in all other ways, it was almost alien on her, to see her acting so caustically.
“Well, I am comforted by your assurances,” he said amiably.
“I have never seen a man in the selkie court before. I am sure there have been men brought across the portal before, but none have made it into the empress’s purview during my stint in her court, and I have been here for several decades. Indeed I have been here so long I am accused by my people of being more selkie than siren.”
That made Jileana frown. “The sirens act with prejudice against you even though you are here on their behalf?”
“Some see me more as a traitor than as an ambassador. We have very narrow-minded peoples on both sides of the island. You see, I am not entirely welcome here, and I am no longer entirely welcome amongst the sirens. So I find myself without a homeland.”
“And yet you are supposed to negotiate between our peoples?”
“The selkie queen and the siren queen view me as useful, and in the end, that is all that matters. As long as I can relate the truth of their words without prejudice to cloud the issue, then I am still of use to them both.”
“Spoken like a true diplomat. Both courts are fortunate to have you,” Jaykun said.
“I hope so. As long as I can be useful, I will continue to serve. The day I no longer feel that I am is the day I will return home and try to find my place back amongst my people. Perhaps I will then mate with a man and have a daughter.”
“It is a wonder you don’t do that now,” Jileana said. “Couldn’t you have a child even while in service?”
“And raise her where she would be despised just for being a siren? Do you think that wise?” Falin asked knowingly.
The grim set to Jileana’s mouth was all the reply that was needed.
“Well, perhaps things in the future will change,” Jaykun said. He did not elaborate since he wasn’t sure if the empress had told the siren ambassador of her plans yet. It was not his place to do so. Nor did he want any of the credit for the idea. It would have more value if it was perceived as having come from the empress’s own mind. He only hoped that a new accord with the sirens would mean a positive future between selkies and sirens. Perhaps, with time, prejudices could be set aside and a trust could be established between the two peoples.
“Perhaps it will,” she agreed.
“But what is it you want of me?” he asked her directly. “Or is this just a desire to get to know me?” It was obvious by his tone that he did not believe that was all it was.
“I have no immediate need of you,” Falin said. “But who knows what the future holds? So it is in my best interest to get to know you a little. To find myself on your good side, as it were.”
“Ah. More marks of a good diplomat: Always keep channels open for future use. Make no enemies and make many friends.”
She smiled. “Exactly. But that does not make my friendship seem any less sincere, I hope.”
“Not at all,” he assured her.
“Good. Then will you walk with me awhile?”
Jaykun hesitated. He could feel the anxiety emanating from Jileana. She was afraid. Afraid of him being exposed and vulnerable. He didn’t know what it would take for a man to fall under the thrall of a siren. A single note? A refrain? An entire song? What did it take?
He was not inclined to find out the hard way.
“Thank you, but we have somewhere we need to be,” he said. He could feel the relief washing through Jileana. He almost chuckled. He wondered again if she realized how easily she could be read. The siren’s knowing smile only solidified that understanding. But clearly Jileana didn’t care. All she cared about was getting him away from the siren as swiftly as possible.
“Until another time, then,” Falin said before turning her back to them and walking away.
Jileana did not sigh with relief, however. She would not be content until Jaykun was out of earshot of her. To that end, she grabbed his arm and pulled him off the cliff ledge, sending him down into the water gracelessly. She didn’t give him time to get into a proper diving position, but luckily the dining cave was only a short distance from the water. Unlike her, he did not have an inborn righting mechanism that allowed him to hit the water perfectly each time, so his landing was a little rough.
Once they were beneath the water, she immediately cut a path ahead of him, swimming down toward a familiar cave: the cavern of her mother, the sea witch. It was clear that Jileana’s magic was rudimentary at best, especially compared to her mother’s. She did not have the ability to protect him from the sirens’ call.
“I’m sorry,” her mother said with a concerned little frown some minutes later. “There is no protection against the sirens’ call, save deafness. I could take away your hearing, but—”
“No!” Jaykun cut her off sharply. “That is definitely not an option.”
“Then you have no recourse other than to trust the siren at her word.”
“Trust a siren?” Jileana scoffed at the notion.
“Why do you distrust them so much? Why all this open hostility?” Jaykun had to ask her. “Is it just a general racial prejudice or have you been slighted personally in some way?”
He could hear her grinding her teeth, could see her temper simmering beneath the surface. Had he been asked a day ago he would have said she wasn’t capable of anger. Now she was literally seething with it.
“I don’t want you vulnerable to her! Is that such a crime? I would think you would want the same thing. Or do you like the idea of becoming her puppet?”
Jaykun bristled at the very notion. “I do not. I have been a puppet to love once in my life and I will never be one again.”
That seemed to cool her temper, and a wave of curiosity washed over her. “How were you a puppet to love? What happened that has closed you off to the feelings a good and natural love can provide you?”
“There is no such thing as a good and natural love. All love is like the sirens’ call: blind and weakening, and a large percentage of it is false.”
“That isn’t true! Why would you feel in such ways?”
“Why do you hate the siren?” he s
hot back at her.
She bristled and it looked for a moment like she was going to answer him, but then she turned sharply away from him and with a few quick steps dived back into the water, leaving him alone with her mother in the underwater cave.
“I don’t understand,” he said with a shake of his head. “Everything I know about her tells me she is an open and fair-minded creature. This hatred toward the sirens baffles me.”
“Then perhaps I can enlighten you. Jileana has several brothers, as you may or may not know.”
“Yes. I have met them.”
“Did she also tell you that one of them was killed while on sentry duty at the selkie-siren border?”
“No, she did not,” he said with a deflated little sigh. So that was why there were only five of them at the midday meal.
“There was a raid across the boundary…It was long ago before there was a true working peace between the two sides of the island. My son…He was a strong warrior. Proud. Unable to back down from a fight. Besides, the sirens don’t only take human lovers. They’ve been known to take selkie males prisoner and woo them into becoming the fathers of their children. At least they did in the past. My son figured he would rather die than become a siren’s plaything. And so he did.”
“And now your daughter hates the sirens.”
“ ‘Hate’ is too strong a word. She believes in peace. She knows it was a long time ago. But she does not trust the sirens. Not with the well-being of someone she loves.”
Jaykun did not rise to the bait of that observation. He chose to ignore it. Love? What love was there between Jileana and him? She knew what he felt, knew he would never let himself be distracted by fanciful notions like love. She was smart. She had to know it would be an unwise waste of time and emotion for her to fixate on him in such ways. He dismissed the idea outright.
He walked to the edge where the cavern met the water, watching the reflection of the light on the water as it danced along the top of the cavern around him.