The Siren and the Deep Blue Sea - Kerrelyn Sparks Page 0,1

barons who claim to be smitten with her,” Luciana continued.

“Oh, my!” Brigitta clasped her hands together. “A duke would be perfect!”

Maeve sighed. She didn’t want a duke. She wanted a dog.

Luciana chuckled. “I wonder if the duke will be dressed in purple or green?”

Maeve stiffened at the reference to the Telling Stones. The number three; the colors purple and green. Those were the stones that had predicted her future.

And she hated it. She hadn’t wanted to play the Game of Stones. In fact, the stones had only fallen out of the chalice because of her refusal to play. So maybe they didn’t count?

But the pebble marked with the number three seemed too fitting to discount. There were only three members left in the Circle of Five, a murderous group intent on taking over the world. No one knew who the first two members were, but no doubt the Chameleon was the third. And three also matched the number of kings the evil shifter had killed: Frederic of Eberon, Gunther of Tourin, and Petras of Norveshka.

The Chameleon had caused trouble in Woodwyn, too, shifting into a dragon to kidnap their sister Sorcha. Whoever he was, he had proven impossible to catch since no one knew what he really looked like. Only Brody could identify him by his scent.

But what had happened to Brody?

“Excuse me.” Maeve headed toward the door. “I think I’ll take a turn on the deck.”

“No doubt the fresh air will do you good,” Luciana said as Maeve slipped out the door on the barge’s port side.

Closing her eyes, she lifted her face to the warm sun and took a deep breath. A summer breeze feathered her cheeks and brought several scents to her nose: the sweat of hardworking sailors, the earthy smell of nearby farmland, and most importantly, the familiar scent of the Ebe River.

All her life, she’d felt a strange connection to bodies of water. She’d always known whenever a storm was brewing over the Great Western Ocean. And she’d been able to communicate with seals and other creatures of the sea.

Now that she was able to actually shift into a seal, she was even more attuned to water. With just a sniff, she knew which ocean, which river, which lake, even which well a sample of water came from. More than that, water had become a second home to her, as comforting as her bedchamber at Ebton Palace.

The river called to her, inviting her to jump in and shift. Let the water carry her weight, buoy her burdens, and wash away her worries. Not now. She opened her eyes and glanced up at the sun. It was high in the sky, so it had to be almost noon.

She wandered toward the bow of the barge, passing by the sailors who stood at the railing, using poles to keep the vessel floating down the deepest channel of the Ebe River. Eberoni soldiers, under the command of Colonel Nevis Harden, stood watch every few feet. Nevis and his troop had met the women and children this morning in Vorushka and would see them safely down the river. Once they arrived at Ebton, a troop of Tourinian soldiers would be waiting to escort Brigitta north to the capital of Tourin, where she ruled with her husband.

For the last three years, Maeve had been living at Ebton Palace. Although she was happy to be with her eldest sister, she always missed the other three something terrible. And so, she’d been delighted when they had all been reunited for three weeks at Wyndelas Palace in the elfin kingdom of Woodwyn. There, the fourth sister, Sorcha, had married Brennan the elfin king and become his queen. The three elder sisters had stayed for the entire three weeks, but their husbands had returned to their countries and royal duties after a few days. It hadn’t taken long for Luciana, Brigitta, and Gwennore to complain about how much they missed their mates.

But did no one miss Brody? Maeve stopped at the bow of the barge and searched the sky. Sometimes, Brody took the shape of an eagle. But not today. The sky was clear.

She shifted her gaze to the river to see if she could spot any otters. While living at Ebton Palace, she’d used this river as her place to shift into a seal, and every month on the night of the full moons, a river otter had come to play with her. It was Brody, of course, although the fool had never