Page 11 of Ballad of Sea and Sky

“Learn what?” I asked, as she nodded in approval at my hair.

She raised a brow at me as I turned to face her, smiling conspiratorially. “That danger has a way of findingyou.”

Chapter 4

WhenIwaseight,I had nearly fallen to my death climbing the sheer rock face of the cliff beneath my family’s stronghold. Two of the boys whose parents worked for my father had told me I couldn’t make it, and I was determined to prove them wrong.

My fingers slipped when a particularly strong gust of wind had caught me off guard, and the feeling of plummeting to the beach below, certain of my own demise, was eerily similar to the feeling in my stomach as I took my seat for the feast.

My father had saved me then, catching me with a wave of water propelled by his magic. The two boys had not returned, their families transferred to a different part of the archipelago, and I had been forbidden from climbing rocks.

Now, there was no one to save me from my fate.

No one believed I needed saving, after all. Vitulus was a perfect gentleman, although strangely absent from his own celebratory feast, and no one could understand my terror at the idea of being mated to him.

Even I didn’t really understand it. He was boring, but not cruel. We might in time be able to forge a friendship, or even grow to love one another. Once mated, a couple was bound for life to feel each other’s feelings and share each other’s souls. My mother told me it helped the affection, love, and eventually passion grow between the couple. But the idea of being with him, of tying my life to his so irrevocably, felt wrong somewhere deep in my bones. Like the seas themselves were telling me to run.

I looked pleadingly at Sereia as I approached the head table, and she gave me an apologetic shrug as she went to sit with her own family. The vacant fourth seat at the table must be for Vitulus.

“You look lovely, my dear,” Mother said as I took my place to her right. “The gown suits you.”

“It’s beautiful,” I said, smiling with genuine gratitude as I shrugged off the sealskin cloak I had thrown over me to ward off the cold. The bonfires were blazing already, warming the beach. “Thank you for gifting it to me.”

“It’s tradition for a bride-to-be to have a new gown,” my mother replied, unknowingly deflating my pleasure with her reminder of why I was wearing the dress. Suddenly the pearls and shells felt more like shackles than pretty decorations.

“Where is Vitulus?” I asked, looking around the feast. I saw many of the clan leaders and important selkie families, as well as some of the higher-ranking guards scattered around the feast. But Vitulus was absent, as was my father. “And Father?”

The drums began beating rhythmically as the majority of guests took their seats, and Father appeared, laughing loudly with his generals as if he had been present the whole time.

“There he is,” Mother said with relief.

I frowned as Father came to sit with us. “Is that blood on your face?”

He wiped at his cheek, grimacing and then laughing it away. “Nothing to fret over,” he boomed, patting my mother’s hand. “All will be well.”

“What’s going on?” Mother asked, concern creasing her brow.

“The seas have sent us an offering,” my father announced proudly, giving me a wink. “You will see soon enough.”

The drumbeats grew as the feast began, and my father stood with his arms out to the gathered crowd. “My people,” he cried, the crowd hushing to regard their king with reverence. “Tonight we gather to celebrate my daughter’s betrothal.” Polite clapping followed this announcement, which told me most of the court had already heard the news. I sank a little lower in my seat, trying to hide from the curious eyes of the nobles and advisors. “But we also celebrate another victory.”

Father waved his hands, gesturing for someone to come forward. Through the haze of bonfires, it was hard to make out who it was at first, but as he approached I realized it was two people. One casting a silhouette of strength and selkie pride that I knew well. Vitulus. The other…

I gasped, throwing my hands over my ears protectively. The crowd around me did the same, all covering their ears and crying out as the prisoner’s form became clear.

It was a siren. Vitulus had captured a siren.

The soldiers who patrolled the shores had their ears filled with cotton at all times as a precaution, but obviously, none of us had been expecting a siren’s presence at this feast.

The prisoner was a full head taller than the captain, but clearly injured. He limped as he moved, his wrists and ankles chained, and blood dripped from various gashes across his torso. I couldn’t see his face as his head was bowed, but his hair was a gray-white. And his wings…they hung limply and unnaturally behind him as Vitulus pushed him forward. The feathers appeared white, although they were so stained with blood it was hard to be sure, and the bones appeared to be broken at an odd angle.

“Please, my friends,” my father boomed, the only member of the party other than my betrothed not covering his ears. “He is chained in iron. You are perfectly safe.”

“By the sea,” Mother murmured, lowering her hands and clasping mine protectively, as if worried the prisoner might steal me away.

The prisoner sank to his knees before my father as Vitulus shoved him down, hanging his head to study the sand. The iron cuffs he wore must drain his magic, which was probably the only thing that spared us from his song.

Iron affected all of faekind the same way, including selkies, and it was painful to the touch. The only iron kept on was in the dungeon keep to hold prisoners. I had grasped the iron bars once in curiosity, crying out at the draining, icy-hot pain that burst through me at the touch.