The sound slips out of me without clear shape, more hum than song, vibrating behind my teeth before settling into my chestand pouring out in full. It flows directly from the place where my inner siren usually stirs.
Sable stills.
I keep my eyes on the deck at first, on the way sunlight spills across the boards in pale, shifting lines. My voice curls outward, wrapping around us both, leaving a faint echo in its wake, like a rope drawn tight but still slinking around us.
His grip on my hand loosens before slipping away completely. When I finally look at him, his jaw is clenched, his eyes dark and fixed on me with an intensity that makes my pulse stumble. His hands fall at his sides, fingers flexing as if he’s fighting the pull.
I draw in more power, letting the song push harder against his resistance. Before I can decide what I want it to do, his knees hit the deck with a thud. He kneels in front of me, head bowed slightly, breath uneven, as if he has run a great distance and only now stops to catch his breath.
At the sight of him, my heart slams against my ribs, and the song dies on my tongue.
“I didn’t mean…” I don’t continue, because there are no words that seem to fit.
He doesn’t move.
The moment stretches, the echo of my song still humming through my body. When he still doesn’t move, instinct takes over. I gather my gown and drop to my knees in front of him, lifting his face carefully until his eyes meet mine.
He’s smiling.
“Darling,” he breathes, “if you wanted me on my knees, you could have just told me.”
I gasp and release a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, my hands falling away from his face, numb and shaking.
“You scared me,” I say with a shaking voice and try to stand, but his hand closes around my wrist.
“I’m messing with you,” he says, eyes lingering. “That was good.”
We stare at each other, the silence stretching between us, heavy with everything we haven’t yet said. It reminds me of this morning and the way he looked at me before he kissed me. And even though I miss his lips against mine, I am not ready for that yet, not until I know what’s behind his lack of hope.
As the silence stretches, the world seems to soften at the edges, the lines of the deck and the sea blurring just slightly as it sways beneath my feet.
I blink, and I’m not sure how long we’ve been staring at one another.
Swallowing hard, I avert my gaze. “The training is over,” I say and tear my wrist free.
“Eryse, I—”
I rise too quickly, catching on the hem of my gown before I steady myself, then turn and walk away, leaving him behind.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Wehadbarelyevenstarted!”
I keep my eyes fixed ahead, walking toward the bow with a determination that stiffens the muscles in my face into a frown. Of course, he catches up after a beat. His footsteps follow me, close enough that my pace falters before he reaches me.
A hand slides around my waist to my abdomen, stopping me mid-step and pulling me directly into his warm, solid chest. It knocks the breath out of me, caught completely off guard by how easily he does it, how confidently he touches me. His fingersspread wide over my stomach, his thumb pressing into the soft skin there, steadying and possessive. Whatever I mean to say dies in my throat.
“We could do something else instead,” he whispers, his breath warm against the side of my neck. “It might be worth taking a swim, considering you’re likely formed from the same magic that makes these waters so hard to resist.”
I swallow and close my eyes, just for a moment, just long enough to feel the heat of him seep into me before it’s gone. I take in the salt of his skin, the steady weight of his hold, the way he anchors me more securely than any chain ever could. I place my hands over his, not pushing him away yet. Just feeling him. Just this once.
“Sable,” I say, my voice thin when I finally find it. I push him back to turn around, and this time, he lets me. “Is your shadow near? Because if it’s not, please just tell me.”
He studies me, brows furrowing slightly, and it feels as though he’s looking straight through the barrier I’ve built, as if it were nothing more than clear water.
“My shadow’s with me,” he says quietly. “It feels like the light’s been following me around. I’ve never felt more like myself.”
“Oh.”