Page 48 of A Reckless Indulgence

Sinoe pouts, releasing a stream of bubbles. “You know I hate the silent treatment, Lyxy. It’s been a week since I last saw you. I was starting to think the last rip current swept you away.”

Her barracuda tail flicks absently, but her fins are sharp and pointed. Turbulence ripples through the water, like something big is circling closer. Lyx wants to look behind her. Suddenly, the open ocean feels dangerous, but she knows it’s just Sinoe making her uneasy. That’s what Sinoe does best.

There’s only one way to combat it. With a shrug, Lyx forces her tentacles to unfurl and floats closer to the reef. “I get tired of listening to you all bitching.”

“No,” Sinoe hums, a smirk settling on her lips. “It’s not that.”

Lyx’s chest tightens. Sinoe scans over her, gaze flitting from her neck to her shoulders before her eyes latch onto Lyx’s hip.

Sinoe’s head tilts eerily. “What’s that?”

Lyx doesn’t look. She doesn’t have to. She remembers the burning pain, the stick alight with Cav’s fire in the grotto. The lie comes easily. “Shocked myself again. Always lose track of one tentacle or another.”

Sinoe’s nose twitches. “You haven’t stung yourself since you were a child. Do you think I don’t know my own sister?” She arches like a cat in the sun. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve been on land.”

Lyx swallows roughly. The accusation isn’t damning. It’s not unheard of for sirens to hunt on land, but her voice is trapped in her throat.

Sinoe’s scales shimmer. “Not that I can blame you, of course. I was just thinking what fun it would be to have a pirate as a pet. But where could I keep him?” She taps her chin with one long finger. “An island. A rowboat. Or perhaps you could lend me that grotto of yours.”

Lyx’s heart pulses in her gills. Sinoe knows. She’s found Cav. She’s been watching them.

Sinoe calls over her shoulder. “What do you think, Mollo? Should I go hunting for my next meal?”

A shape appears behind her, long tail swishing like a ribbon. Mollo’s foggy green eyes land on Lyx. When she smiles, her branching teeth curve back into her mouth like a frilled shark’s. A baby siren babbles in her arms.

Sinoe looks over the child. “Where’d you find this one?”

“When I was hopping islands.” Mollo balances the baby on her hip, toying with the spiral shell hanging from her necklace. “It washed up right next to my other strange treasures.”

Sinoe’s nose wrinkles with distaste. “How come you always seem to find the little urchins first?”

Mollo sighs. “Maternal instinct.” Then she deposits the hapless creature on the ground and settles onto a branch of coral. “But we should go hunting. I’m starving for something fresh.”

Overhead, the sky suddenly rumbles with thunder. Lyx’s skin crawls. A gathering of two sirens was bad enough, but four… She needs to get out of here. She needs to get back to Cav.

Sinoe rests on her stomach, tail swishing behind her like a pendulum. “Come sit with us, Lyxy.” She extends her taloned hand. “Just for a minute. Just like old times.”

Lyx’s spinal fin grows tight and rigid. Even the urchin seems to sense something, its haunting eyes honed on Lyx’s face. Panic claws at her throat. Does Mollo know about Cav, too? Has she had her way with him?

That is a threat far worse than Sinoe, but Lyx can’t give anything away. She can’t be sure how much they know. She has to put them at ease so she can slip away. Slowly, Lyx eases toward the reef, but Sinoe and Mollo both reach for her, pulling her onto the grooved coral between them.

“Was that so bad?” Sinoe teases. “You act like you have somewhere else to be.”

“She’s ready to go hunting,” Mollo purrs, brushing a hand through Lyx’s hair. Her fingers snag in the tentacles, but Lyx refuses to wince. “Those pirates really are so easy to catch. They still haven’t realized we’re both the lure and the net.”

Sinoe winds a strand of Lyx’s hair around her finger. “What do you think, sister?” Her scalp twinges like Sinoe is rooting around in her mind, playing with her secrets like a dolphin toying with dinner. “Or have they begun to bore you?”

Lyx’s head radiates with pain. The baby begins to cry.

Mollo’s tongue drags over her lips. “They’re not so different from us, you know. That’s why we go together. They don’t love anything but themselves. They plunder. They pillage. They ravage.”

The wailing baby crawls toward the drop-off, its tail fluttering as it tries to swim. There’s no use saving it. In a week, this urchin will be lost to the tides or a passing shark. Sirens have to learn to fend for themselves.

“It’s a perfect circle,” Sinoe murmurs. “We hunt them, and they hunt us. We feed their appetites, and they feed ours.”

“If you’re lucky, you’ll find a real pirate.” Mollo tugs on Lyx’s tentacles. “One whose cruelty matches yours. One that can capture and trap you. That’s when you know. That’s the pirate you want.”

Lyx’s head pounds.