as difficult about following orders as Riden, then he can get dragged to the ocean’s depths and I’ll say good riddance.
Wallov comes running out of the trapdoor a second later, rushing for the mainmast. A struggle up at the top drags my attention to it. Riden wrestles in the crow’s nest with something.
Another sudden pitch and the ship veers left.
Two bodies, one large and one small, fall from the mast and flail over the edge of the ship, plummeting so quickly, if I were to blink, I’d miss them.
I’ve left the helm and made it halfway to the port side when the ship starts spinning wildly in a circle, sending me down to my hands and knees. Wallov ends up plastered against the ship where the railing connects to the deck, and the force of the spinning prevents him from standing.
Another sharp twitch and I’m flung onto my back. I crane my neck to see Kearan getting the helm under control once again. I’d leapt for Roslyn and Riden before even thinking of the consequences.
The rope is stretched taut against the lip of the ship. Wallov finally finds his feet and starts pulling at the rope. Once I reach his side, I add my strength to his. We pull little Roslyn’s form back on board. She’s conscious, but she’s groaning so loudly I can hear her over the storm.
“It’ll be one hell of a bruise,” she says as she rubs at the rope under her arms.
“You watch your language,” Wallov says, but he gathers her to him in a crushing hug.
“What happened?” I ask. I grip the side of the railing tightly as my eyes search the roiling sea for Riden.
Roslyn pushes away from her father to face me. “I told him I didn’t need his rope! But he wouldn’t listen. He untied it from his waist and put it around my own.”
“You were supposed to be belowdecks along with everyone else,” Wallov says. “What were you doing?”
“I was keeping lookout. It’s even more important to have eyes on the sea during a storm. The captain needed me!”
Wallov’s face is harder than I’ve ever seen it in front of his daughter. “Because you disobeyed orders, a man is dead.”
Roslyn shivers involuntarily, but I feel my senses clearing.
“He’s not dead yet,” I say. “Get her belowdecks.”
Roslyn hangs her head, ashamed, as Wallov leads her away.
Niridia and the rest of the riggers arrive an instant later. “I’ll go in after him,” she says as she fiddles with her own rope.
“No,” I say. “It’s too dangerous.” My mind races, knowing every second we delay brings Riden closer to death. “Tie it to me.”
“What!”
“Just do it. Use a constrictor knot around my waist. I won’t be able to untie it underwater.” I don’t have to say aloud the next part. Even in my siren state. I hand her all my weapons, everything sharp. “I’ll have no choice but to return to the ship.”
“But you won’t be lucid enough to reach him.”
“I’ve done it before.” I somehow managed to save us both from Vordan by swimming us to safety.
“How?”
“I don’t know, but this is the only way he has a chance.”
She looks at me sadly as she finishes tying the rope. I know we’re both thinking the same thing.
Riden has no chance at all.
I try to rip the rope free and find it snug. “Be ready to restrain me when I get back to the ship. Have the other men stopper their ears.”
Then I dive.
As I fall, I fill my thoughts with Riden. Don’t forget. You are going into the water to save him, nothing more. You will not lose yourself. You will not become the monster.
I close my eyes as I hit the water, as if that will somehow keep me in control.
Warmth envelops me. The sea enfolds me into the world’s most gentle caress. I am one of her own, and she missed me during my long absence. And, oh, how I missed her. I am content to let her push me down, down, down, where I can rest on the ocean’s silky bottom.
But there is a disturbance in the water.
I search through the sea’s depths. I’d see better if it weren’t so dark and the waves so unsettled. As it is, I can still make out a human man. He can’t see me; he’s too concentrated on his arms and legs. As if he can master the full weight of the ocean with his limbs alone.
I watch him for a moment. If