Here, underground, the only wind was our breaths. The only beating was our hearts. It was too quiet. Even the tiny flame of the candle burned in silence.
“When was the last time you saw your brother?” I asked.
Pheolix exhaled. “Really saw him? The day after your transition, I suppose. Do you remember it?”
“Yes,” I said quietly. I did.
I remembered waking on a ship in the middle of the ocean. I’d always wanted to board one just to see what it was like. I hadn’t expected the tight berths, the low walls, the feeling of sleeping both under and on top of others. The other sirens hadn’t enjoyed it, either. But Thaan couldn’t travel alongside his colony any other way.
They’d woken us, Cebrinne and me, to lead us down to the galley on the other side of the ship. Crossing the deck, I’d locked eyes with Pheolix. His hands were tied as he sat in a rowboat, awaiting a fate in the mines.
I’d stopped there, in the middle of the sea-drenched plank boards. And wondered what would become of him.
Then continued to wonder. For ten years.
“We used to dream of escape.” Pheolix smiled at nothing, the flicker of candlelight threading a warm glow around his edges. “Of freeing him from Thaan and running. Finding our way back to Rivea, where we were born.Or swimming across the world to one of the other continents. Cookingklobásaon a beach somewhere, learning a trade, dancing with women too beautiful for us. He’s the one that taught me how to dance. I’d practice in my room every night in the inbetween. It was the only thing that took my mind off it.”
My shoulders slumped. I traced a stitch across the hem of my dress. “We did, too. Dream of escape. We said we’d run north. Somewhere where we could watch the Polaris Lights dance across the frozen tundra. Sometimes we see them in cold Calder winters, little veils of green and violet. In the north, they’re said to take up the entire sky, and they’ll dance all night.”
“I’ve seen them as a boy. You’d love them.” He slid his knife open. “You wouldn’t try to find your mother?”
I sighed. “I’d worry Thaan would come looking for us. He knows where her house is. For all I know, he has Naiads in Cypria. He’d probably beat me to her door then wait for me to appear. What about you? Would you try to find your mother?”
“I found her a few years ago.”
“You did?” I sat a little higher. “Where is she?”
The candlelight wavered sadly in his eyes.“Ohen.”
My heart sank.Ohenwas once a town close to the mountain border. Caught in the drought that ravaged Rivea some years ago, it had burned to the ground, leaving all of its people dead. “I’m sorry, Pheolix. What was her name?”
“Isme,” he said softly. “What was your mother’s name?”
“Maren.”
I felt his heavy gaze, but he didn’t say a word. Listening to the quiet burn of the wick, a thought occurred to me. I suddenly frowned. “Wait—you dreamt of freeing yourbrotherfrom Thaan?”
Pheolix rubbed the side of his face. “Yes.”
“Pheolix.” Air became scarce. My eyes widened, my mouth parted. “You’re not vowed to Thaan?”
“No.”
“You’re free?”
“Technically, yes. I suppose.”
“Why are you here?” I gestured widely around me.
“Why areyouhere?” he answered calmly.
Of course. Cebrinne.
He sank a fist into his side, standing a bit straighter. “Thaan took us from our home when we were young. My brother was sixteen, but I was seven. It made sense that Thaan would only ask for a vow from him. He didn’t need one from me. I had nowhere else to go. I used to wait for him to demand it from me. Spent years expecting him to. But he never did.”
“I did the same,” I said. “But then I grew up and realized why. Thaan will always choose to dangle one person over another than to keep them both as puppets. If he hasn’t forced a vow from you by now, he never intended to. Why control your blood when he can control your heart instead?”
The candlelight played with the shadows of his face, hiding in the cleft under his throat. “I waited for ten years for him to call me back. Kept my head down. Mined during the day. Trained at night. Not every drone can do what I can do. Eclipse a Naiad for hours while I fight him like a human. Naiads don’t train to fight that way. They don’t need to learn how to throw a punch. Drones do. That’s why Aegir kept his distance that first day in the Venusian Sea.” He ran his finger against the open blade in thought. “For ten years, I trained the hardest, hoping Thaan would call me back. Need me for some purpose that would reunite me with my brother. And he did. He needed someone to protect his two covetedPrizivac Vodeswhile he sent them to his enemy. So, he called me, and I came.” He swallowed hard. “But wherever he is, my brother isn’t here.”
