To Kill a Kingdom(69)

I WAIT FOR DEATH to come.

There’s a chance that when I die, I’ll return to my siren form. The corpse of the mighty Princes’ Bane, stuck inside a pirate’s ship. Perhaps, a sunken ship. Perhaps, where nobody but the mermaids will find me. My mother might even feign mourning at the loss of her heir, or simply command the Flesh-Eater to help make her a new one.

I’m feeling a bit too sorry for myself when Tallis Rycroft bursts through the door. His eyes scratch over the cold and empty cabin, and he rips a wooden plank masquerading as a shelf from the wall, its rusted nails snapping with the force.

His trousers are stained red from where Elian’s knife went in. Through the tear I can see thick black stitches crisscrossing his skin back into place. A rush job, but it seems to have done the trick. Elian must have missed any arteries.

Tallis’s knuckles are raw and scratched pink. When he charges across the room, it’s in a jagged limp. He spots the broken beam where Elian was and snarls, kicking the splinters at me.

I don’t flinch.

“Where is he?” he barks.

I cross one leg over the other and slump my shoulders indifferently. “You are going to have to be a little more specific.”

In two strides, Rycroft crosses the room and wraps his thick hands around my neck. He pulls me to my feet and growls.

“You tell me where he is,” Tallis hisses. “Or I’ll snap your pretty little neck.”

The weight of his hands around my throat reminds me of my mother’s hold. I want to cough and splutter, but there doesn’t seem to be enough air. There’s a fury without measure in my veins, pushing and pulling my insides until all that’s left is a deep pit of loathing.

I twist my lips into a snarl of my own. “You seem upset,” I say.

Tallis wrenches his hands from me. “They’re ripping my ship to shreds,” he seethes. “When I find that bastard, there aren’t words for what I’ll do. He’s declared war.”

“I think you did that when you attacked the Midasan prince and took him prisoner. If you think this is bad, imagine the entire might of the golden army devoted to hunting you down.”

Tallis narrows his eyes.

“What do they call it when someone attacks a member of one of the royal families? Ah, yes.” My smile could cut through flesh. “Treason of Humanity. Is it still the drowning they go for?”

Tallis’s face goes slack at the mention of it.

The last punishment was long before my time, but sirens still tell stories. Humans who took arms against royalty, breaking the pact of peace among the kingdoms. They were anchored into the ocean and left for my kind. But no siren attacked. Instead they watched the traitors lose their breath and clutch at their throats. Then, in their final moments, approached so that the humans could drown in fear. According to my mother, it was only when the humans’ hearts pumped for the final time that the sirens ripped them from their chests.

From the look on Tallis’s face, he’s heard the same nightmarish tales.

He draws his sword in a clumsy arc and presses the blade to my cheek. “What do you care?” Tallis whispers. “He left you here, didn’t he?”

He says it like I should feel betrayed, but nothing in the accusation stings. Elian left because I told him to and he would have stayed if I had asked. He would have died, perhaps, if I would have let him. But I didn’t. I salvaged some small part of myself that I forgot existed – a part I was so sure my mother had gutted from me – and I let him go.

“Could we continue this conversation after you kill me?” I ask.

Tallis strokes my cheek with his blade. Then, before I have time to flinch, he lifts the sword into the air and brings it swiftly down.

I look at my freed hands and the cleanly sliced rope falls to my feet.

“I like my women with a little fight,” Tallis purrs. “Let’s see how much of one you put up.”

I don’t waste time on a smile before I bear my nails to claws.

Whatever Tallis expects, it’s not for me to try to tear his heart out. Like a vulture, I swoop down and scratch until my arms feel heavy. His chest. His eyes. Anything I can get my hands on. When he pushes me off, I barely stay on the ground for a second before I’m on him again.

I’m an animal, slicing my teeth into his delicate human flesh. I can taste him in my mouth. Acrid. A strange mix of metal and water. I bite harder, until he tears me from his arm and a slice of his skin goes with me.

“You filthy whore!” he screams.

I wonder how much I resemble the Flesh-Eater now, with a piece of Rycroft inking the corner of my lips and a smile like the devil goddess who made us all. I swipe my tongue across my lips, snarling as his filthy blood clots in the edges of my teeth.

Tallis strides over to me, each footstep like thunder against the decrepit floorboards. When he reaches me, he hoists me up by the ruffles of my dress and smashes me into the wall. His legs pin mine in place, knees digging into my thighs.

He slams my face to the side with the heel of his palm and my cheek scrapes against a twisted nail. “I’m going to make you pay for that,” he says, breath warm in my ear.

“Sure you are.” I shift my hips into place, keeping my hands steady as I reach under the fabric of his cloak. “But first, I would appreciate it if you didn’t get your blood all over me.”