A Duet with the Siren Duke (Married to Magic) by Elise Kova

Author:Elise Kova [Kova, Elise]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781949694413
Publisher: Silver Wing Press
Published: 2023-08-09T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

The ships are all tucked in for the night. As we swim between them, avoiding their barnacles and sea moss, I can’t help but wonder how my last six months might have been spent if my ship hadn’t been attacked.

I would’ve had six more months with my sister and parents. Maybe I could’ve negotiated again with the council after Charles had left for his lighthouse. They called it a “final judgment,” but Mother taught me there’s always the possibility of squeezing in one more word before the negotiation ends. Perhaps I might have realized I wasn’t on my own—that I didn’t have to bear the sole responsibility for caring for everyone around me to make up for things I didn’t actually lack—sooner. Maybe, once I realized that, Emily could’ve helped me win over the council.

What if…could’ve…what might have been… The words that bookend my entire existence. The wondering that will follow me to my grave.

“Will here—” Ilryth is interrupted by a sharp, deafening chime that ripples through the water. He winces, reeling, clutching his chest as though he were stabbed through the heart.

The sound is trying to tear me apart. The magical contours of my body vibrate and distort. I struggle to keep myself together, as though my sheer willpower is the only thing binding me together. Though it’s hard to keep my thoughts clear amid the resonant noise of the bell.

The sound fades and Ilryth takes a moment to collect himself. I do the same.

“That was a lighthouse, wasn’t it?” I manage to ask, even though I already know the answer.

“It was.”

“Well, they work,” I mutter. Not just against siren song, but the wraiths as well. If only there were a way I could tell the humans that. The sirens aren’t our enemies, not in the way we thought. The notion almost makes me feel guilty for ringing the bell so often. But the emotion is fleeting when I think of a wraith-possessed siren coming to claim Emily as they tried to claim me.

Hopefully, when this is over, when I succeed, the bells and cotton-stuffed ears will become a thing of the past. Humans, not knowing why, will realize the seas aren’t as dangerous as they once thought. It might take decades, but maybe there would even come a day where families would willingly sit along the beach and admire the horizons I took for granted every time I went out on a ship.

If Ilryth hears my muttering, he says nothing in response, instead continuing to swim along the wharf, underneath the shadows of the docks and pylons. The sensation of it is akin to falling into a mirror and landing in the world on the other side—somewhere that looks so similar to all you know, but different. Reversed. For the first time in weeks, I’m aware of every kick of my legs, each turn to glide nimbly through the water. This was once my home, I walked these docks countless times, and now I’m a shadow beneath them.

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