Page 14 of Leviathan's Song
Sidney slid a happy, glassy glance to Sabine. Okay, maybe that drink had hit her a little harder than she’d expected, too. I wondered what was in it—she usually had a pretty high tolerance. I half listened as they gushed about the rumors that the rivals were planning to wed now that the secret was out in the open, and watched as the next spectral began a piece detailing an attack on one of the sprite strongholds, a city named The Deep.
I placed my hand on one of Sidney’s hoping to quiet her so I could listen as images of kelpies ransacking the underwater city and journalists detailing decimated family lineages flickered and swam in the air in front of us. The numbers of dead and injured were high, mostly young and elderly sprites. They had the hardest time fleeing, and youth were often drawn to kelpies before they attacked, lying in wait in one of their various harmless-looking forms.
Silence fell around us as people listened with interest, and we learned that the attacks were still ongoing. Kelpies had a reputation for treachery, and speculation was rife that they were after the sprite’s stores of heartstones.
The problem was that, even if the surface governments wanted to help, the oceanic pressure was so great at the depths the city was located that even the mer people couldn’t venture down that far.
Well, if I hadn’t already made the decision to stay out of the golem trade, this would have been the decision made for me. I couldn’t imagine the prices of heartstones would recover from something like this during my lifetime.
Chapter 5
Friday morning hadn’t been kindto Sidney. She’d spent most of it bleary-eyed and grouchy after indulging in a few more drinks the night before. She swore she was never drinking anything with the word ‘evil’ in the name ever again.
I wasn’t sure I believed that, but I was more concerned with clarifying our plans.
“What are we going to do about Harrington?”
“Gonna head over to the Salty Wench and deal with him,” she answered, obviously dodging my real question.
I frowned, not sure what “deal with him” entailed. “We’re just going to waltz in and yell at him or what?” I asked as I finished connecting the silver filament to the heartstone of a new wasp and clipped it off. When she didn’t answer, I set aside my tool and glanced at her.
Sidney rubbed her forehead with a sigh. “We’renot going anywhere, El. I’m gonna go find that windbag, and you need to stay here and close up the shop.”
My jaw clenched. I turned to face her as I felt the heat rising in the back of my neck. “This has nothing to do with me needing to close up the shop and everything to do with me being the ‘damsel in distress’,” I said, keeping my voice as calm as I could in my irritation. “I’m not going to sit here and have you go risk yourself for me.Again.”
Sidney pursed her lips and gave me a considering look before sighing again and redoing her braid. “You know I don’t see you that way, but we have to be reasonable here. The Wench is back down in the warehouse district, and we have no idea who’s gonna be in there. Nobody’s after me,” she continued, tugging her braid over her shoulder to reach the bottom. “I can be in and out of there and no one’s gonna bat an eye. You’re the one they want, and if a bunch of guys caught wind you were over there and tried to haul you out, I’m not strong enough to take more than one or two at a time. I am realistic about my limitations. Why make this more difficult than it needs to be?”
She finished her plait and wrapped the hair tie around the end, fixing me with a meaningful stare. “And you know as well as anyone that Iutterly despiseadmitting when I’m wrong, but that siren was right the other day. I shouldn’t have been so reckless with you over there,” she said softly. “I knew the place was seedy, and I didn’t think it through.” Sidney tossed her braid back over her shoulder. “Things like this can’t be about your pride, Elara. They need to be about being realistic and knowing when you’re out of your depth and being safe. You don’t have theyearsof training I do.”
I chewed on my lip, knowing she was right and still hating it.
“Plus, this goes back to what we were talking about the other night, right?” she asked, cajoling. “You have your ways of taking care of me, and this is my way of taking care of you. Sometimes that means I gotta kill a guy,” she joked with a little shrug.
At least I hoped she was joking.Was that another quote?“Is that from a movie?”
Sidney’s eyes narrowed, and she slid them to me, looking decidedly shifty. “Of course.”
While releasing a large breath, I slid my hand down my face, trying to figure out where my patience had gone today. “Sidney”—I tried to keep my voice reasonable—“you can’t kill Harrington.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, mom.”
“Sid—”
“Good grief, Elara, I’m not going tokillhim.”
I stared at her.
“Yet,” she muttered.
There it is.
I frowned at her, but she didn’t notice, busily tucking knives into her boots and various places about her person. A small handgun went into a holster under her sweatshirt. “Are you going to need all that? Should we call one of your brothers to go with you? Why are you going so early?” It was only two-thirty in the afternoon.
Sidney adjusted a strap on her side and checked the mirror to make sure everything was inconspicuous. I walked around her, double checking, but even so, I couldn’t help wringing my hands a bit. She rolled her eyes as I readjusted her equipment, but waited patiently for me to finish.
“No, I’m not going to need it all, but I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it,” she said. “Josh has to work today, and the other two are doing who knows what. I’ll let them know if I need them, which I won’t. Don’t worry so much, okay?” Sidney gave me a quick hug and pulled back to look me in the eye. “And I’m going early since I’m only allowed totalkto him. I’d rather have this conversation early before he gets too sloshed to remember any of it.” She trudged into the back room to grab an apple and took a huge bite on her way back, chewing for a second before continuing to talk with her mouth full.
“It’ll be fine. I’m just gonna go find out if he’s working with the Phantoms and tell him, in no uncertain terms, that we are not making golems. Then I’m going to tell him that, if he can’t watch his tongue, I’ll cut it out.” She said it so lightly and offhandedly that I was pretty sure she was joking.
