Chapter 38

  The ship was searched, and two actual Seliniakos were found, tied up. The Admiral sent the crew down to take them back to the Tooth, with an offer to join a pirate crew or stay. They chose to board the ship, even as the remaining demons nattered on about the short-haired siren. They saw the dead, drowned on the deck of a ship, and the stormy-eyed, short-haired, round, soft looking noblewoman, and they chose to join the pirates anyway. She pulled Dymion aside and asked him to get them to Evander, to hear their bloodlines or their service records. She would not be tricked twice.

  They left the four that surrendered on the ship. They did not scuttle her. She needed a crew of at least twelve. These four might die before any found them, but they had food enough for months. And if they did die, that was no longer her concern. Ael had given them a chance. It was all she felt inclined to give.

  Nereida had not spoken since she had taken the lives of the demons. She stood, her back stiff and strong, and waited silently at Ael's side. It was as if she had gone away, even though she was still physically there. Her magic still buzzed and hummed beneath Ael's touch, so she knew her beloved was in there somewhere. Once the gangpnk was restored, she led the silent siren back to the ship, back to their cabin. She made eye contact with Evander as she passed, and he gave a curt nod of understanding. He was in charge until dawn. He gave her a crisp salute and then hurried to his husband, who was behind them, muttering about idiot demons who didn't know when they had lost. He seemed no worse for wear despite his participation in Nereida's murders. And if he was hiding it behind a grumpy facade, all the better. He was Evander's to help.

  Nereida allowed herself to be led, put up no fight as Ael helped her to a chair. The siren's clothing was soaked, and she had started to shiver. She carefully removed one boot: the other had been lost to the sea. She would have to buy Nereida another pair.

  “Love, I need to get you out of these clothes. You'll get a chill.” Nereida didn't answer at first, and so Ael stood, bringing her eyes up to the stormy ones that seemed more cloudy than usual. “I can do it, or your brother can, but you are not doing this alone.” She gently touched the siren's cheek, stroking it, repeating words that her lover had said once in a far, far easier situation. “I've got you.”

  The tears began at that, and Nereida began to sob again. Sobbing was good, it meant it was Nereida, that she was coming back to herself.

  “You,” she managed in between sobs. “I don't want him to see.” Ael kissed the wet hair, making Nereida sob again, before she began to undress the siren. She wished she had a warm bath to pce her in, but once she was dried, she would put her in bed. She stripped the wet clothing from her beloved's body, all of it. She was the Admiral, protecting a crewmate, not Ael undressing her love. She put walls up in her mind, looked as little as possible. She could not help but see the burn scars on both Nereida's lower legs, the scars on her back from taking too many shes. The demons had been careful not to spoil anything they considered beautiful.

  Maybe sending those men to hell had been justified.

  Ael grabbed a dry bnket and used it as a towel, rubbing Nereida dry, before she led her to the bed and covered her up.

  “Please don't leave,” Nereida begged softly.

  “I'm not leaving, love. I'm getting you dry clothing before you catch your death.” She pced a kiss on Nereida's head, soft and chaste.

  “I'm a monster.” The words were broken up by quiet sniffles. Ael sighed and sat beside her, pying her fingers through the short hair. It was intimacy, but by the way Nereida leaned into the touch, Ael didn't think she minded.

  “No more than I am, love. I left the four to die. They might catch luck's eye, but she's a fickle sort.” The hair was still damp. “You scuttled a ship and killed their crew, or let the dolphins do it. This was the same as that.”

  “I hated that too,” Nereida replied softly. “But I can't... I can't let them hurt me and mine ever again.”

  They sat in silence for a bit, Nereida huddled under the covers, still naked, Ael pying with her hair, until the sobs stopped, and Nereida moved herself to pce her head on Ael's p.

  “Tell me what really happened to Epelda.” Ael's hand stilled. Nereida pushed her head into the hand like a cat, and so Ael continued to let her fingers wander through the remains of Nereida's hair.

  “It was eight years ago, and my first commission as an Admiral. I was young for an Admiral, but well connected politically and driven. I knew the courts weren't for me by the time I was twelve. But the sea... she's beautiful.” Ael smiled a sad little smile. “We took a ship, a demon ship, big as the Tooth. It was called The Nightmare. It lived up to its name. We managed to board it, kill their shadowcasters. We were too far out to tow it back, and pnned to scuttle it once we found out what they were moving.” She closed her eyes. “They were moving children.” She swallowed, feeling sick even remembering the day. “They were a sve ship, they had nearly two hundred children of all races but theirs chained up, forced to row...” She closed her eyes, forced herself to breathe. “We'd had prisoners. Forty seven men, all demons. I... that was the day I chose to be a monster. I ordered the forty seven to be keelhauled. Told the crew I would bear responsibility for the crime. To kill a man is one thing, to drown them, to cast their souls into hell without thought of the gods' judgment, well, that is another matter entirely. Technically, it is a war crime. I expected to be demoted at best. We took the children aboard our ship, headed straight to port, not even bothering to scuttle the Nightmare. Everyone took a hit to their rations, and it was only because we had Dymion on board that he was able to stretch our rations beyond what should have been reasonable by secretly growing extra food, mostly carrots and potatoes.”

  “We reached port in record time, and I... I had not thought to ask why. The winds were just always with us. I know now that Epelda sang the winds for us every day. We took the children to the magistrate and I confessed my crime. I was tried, and found to be not guilty due to extenuating circumstances. Every child would have spoken in my defense... but all of them had had their tongues removed or mutited. The magistrate saw to pcing them or returning them, and I returned to my ship and crew like nothing had happened.”

  “Except that three days out from port, Dymion reported food had gone missing, and that his counts were off from what they should have been. The ship was searched, and we found a stowaway. It was Epelda. She seemed terrified that we would throw her from the ship, but she kept signing, pointing at herself, and then making a fist and lifting it.”

  “Help,” Nereida whispered, closing her eyes as a tear slipped down. “She wanted to help.”

  “So I lied, and added her to the crew. She was an orphan we picked up at the next port according to any paperwork. Officially... the only dragonblooded I have on the ship is Dymion. And she... she sang for us that first day, filled the sails with a short ditty. She couldn't do it for as long as she does now but... I was impressed, and when I realized she had nowhere else to go... she just ... became mine.”

  “And now she's ours,” Nereida whispered. She sounded terribly tired. Ael took Nereida's hand, lifted it to her lips to kiss it.

  “And now she's ours,” Ael repeated. “You need to sleep, love. You had a day.”

  “The children,” she protested softly.

  “I will see to them tonight. And when you wake, you can kiss them good morning if you like.”

  “Need nightclothes,” Nereida said, lifting her head stubbornly. She sat up, and Ael turned away. “What?”

  “Just giving you... what modesty I can.”

  There was a beat of silence, and then Nereida was suddenly at her side, kissing her cheek with the bnket wrapped around her body tightly.

  “Thank you, love. I can... I can manage to get dressed. I'm more myself, if exhausted beyond measure. If you put the clothes on the bed, I'll pull the curtains and dress in here.” She kissed Ael one more time, as if it was in her mind to go further. Ael did as her beloved asked, finding the softest nightclothes that Nereida owned, and pcing them beside her on the bed.

  “I'll be at my desk if you need me.”

  “Oh I always need you, Ael.” Ael felt heat rise to her cheeks and she looked at her shoes, unsure of how to answer to that. “But you've been clear about not being used to sooth my hurt, so I will have to save this energy for another day.”