Page 51 of A Sea So Cruel
Queen Arielle smiled. “Accelerated healing. Now that you’re a siren, you’ll find that healing comes faster in water. You’re also stronger, so please take care when touching breakables in my castle until you adjust.”
Asta laughed, until the realization that she was in Naltania—the siren kingdom—overtook her.
“The headache is from your bloodlust. All newly turned sirens experience it. We need you to feed before we can continue.”
The blonde princess started. She knew this was part of becoming a siren, but she hadn’t actually thought through her need to feed. It wasn’t going to be like eating food or drinkingwine. This was entirely different and the thought made Asta’s stomach turn.
They want to give you their life. They want you to feast on them. Sing to them and they will tell you as such.
The empress continued, “That is why Annika is here. We’re in agreement with the selkie population that we may feed from them so long as we offer them protection from the finfolk.” She smiled at the golden-eyed seal lying across the blankets. “Many vow to work as messengers to help repay the favor, like Annika does for me. Now, whenever you’re ready, your royal highness.”
Asta knew she shouldn’t be surprised that selkies were real, but she had really hoped that her growing list of not-so-mythical creatures had ended with Gyrial’s fae reveal. She stared deeply into the seal’s eyes and saw a familiar gold within. Not Gyrial’s gold, but the gold from the woman who had brought her to meet Queen Arielle for the first time. The woman she had watched wrap herself in a seal’s skin before walking straight into the ocean and disappearing. She didn’t quite understand the magic behind selkie transformations, but her headache was too strong to care. She needed blood before she burst.
There is a ship just above, filled with men and women. Their pulses are bounding, blood warm from a hard day’s work. Drink, siren. Drink.
Before she even realized what she was doing, Asta lunged forward and bit into the seal’s side. It gave a quick huff ofdiscomfort but settled soon after. The warm blood coated Asta’s mouth and, to her shock, was not revolting. The more she drank, the more she seemed to crave the metallic taste as it smoothly ran down her throat.
Something sharp dug into Asta’s temples and forehead, breaking her concentration on her feeding. She pulled her mouth away from the seal to find Queen Arielle gripping her head with her sharp siren nails. The seal swam off the bed and through the door, a faint trail of blood dancing through the water but dissipating quickly.
The empress released her grip. “The first few feeds are the hardest. You must always have someone who can stop you until you know you can control yourself.”
Shame roiled over Asta. Had she been about to kill Annika if Queen Arielle hadn’t been here? Would she have enjoyed it? Maybe turning wasn’t such a good idea, if all she would be able to think about was feeding. She needed to focus on why she had come here in the first place—to save Kaid.
“So, I sneak in and find the royal suites. And you think Kaid is there? It can’t be that simple,” Asta signed, her brows furrowing.
Queen Arielle’s mouth formed a flat line, avoiding Asta’s stare. “He is likely chained in iron, which is the difficult part. If he isn’t chained, he can easily use his royal magic to escape. But since he hasn’t, I can only assume they have him restrained with that blasted metal.”
“I’ll break the chain. I’ll snap the hinge and he can get us out from there.”
The empress shook her head and sighed. “It’s not that simple. Once iron is placed on a magical being, it can only beremoved with a key, all of which haven’t been seen in centuries. We’ve never found another way to break the iron since magic courses through our veins and the metal naturally deflects it. You can likely free him from whatever he’s held down by, but the iron cuff will be stuck on him, rendering his magic useless.”
Magic was stupid and had too many rules. But Asta would figure all of this out to get Kaid back. Did Kaid even know he had magic?
Every time she looked at the empress, she saw Kaid’s eyes staring back at her. It helped her stay grounded and fight off the longing need to drag a human to the deepest depths of the ocean and turn them into her personal puppet. Though, for some reason, that actually sounded fun.
Asta shuddered. “I’ll get him back.”
The violet-finned princess pushed into an upright position and threw the strap of her bag over her head so it crossed her torso. She reached in and dug out her mother’s signet ring, placing it on her forefinger. If she died while trying to save Kaid, she would not go down without a piece of Salendron on her.
Asta fastened her sword sheath at her hip and swam past the empress, stopping to gently squeeze her fingers before she exited by tapping the threshold. Annika, who was waiting in the hall, guided her through the castle and directly out the front gates. The seal continued swimming forward, but Asta turned to fully observe the kingdom of Naltania.
The sun shining through the reflective surface above illuminated the opalescent walls of the castle, the bright colors reflecting off the coral reefs surrounding the structure. Fish, seals, crustaceans, and other sea animals swam carefree around the fortress, an emblem of Queen Arielle’s accomplishment of imbuing humanity into the sirens.
When Asta turned back toward Annika, she was swimming alongside an enormous, green sea dragon, followed by two sirens completely covered in blades of various shapes and sizes.
“Are you my rescue crew?” Asta asked, her gaze catching on the sea dragon in curiosity of which twin this one was, though she suspected it to be Tova based on its playful nature.
The male siren with a deep orange fin and a large scar cutting diagonally through his face bowed his head, his brown hair lagging behind his movements. “We’re at your service, land princess. My name is Soren and this is Revna.” He gestured to the pastel blue-haired female siren at his side and she stared Asta down with her icy gaze. “We’re in the empress’s highest ranks and swear our blades to you for this journey.”
Asta observed the warriors and took in their various scars. “Have you been to Ryktarva before?” she asked.
Revna scoffed. “Of course we have. We wouldn’t be accompanying you if we didn’t know where we were going. Do you land princesses have working brain cells or do you just hire other humans to think for you instead?”
Soren threw a hand in front of Revna, pushing her back. “Please excuse her. We haven’t had a newcomer in quite some time,” he turned and spoke through gritted teeth while glaring at Revna, “especially one of such importance. Revna would do well to remember her place.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” Asta waved a hand and her elongated fingers still shocked her as they passed, “I don’t expect respect nor trust simply from having a title. But I will earn it.”
The group suddenly parted as a flash of emerald and white darted behind the crew and stopped next to Asta. A large, emerald horse was beside her with a fin in place of its tail. The mare swished the fin, causing a small current to jostle Asta’s hair. She looked closely into the horse's gaze and her eyes widened.
