Page 11 of Taken By the Alien Siren King

I crushed my mouth to hers, flooding her lungs with air. Then I shoved her toward the surface, hard enough to send her rocketing upward. Away from the raiders. Toward the ships where she at least had a chance.

Emme’s betrayed expression as she spiraled away from me felt like a knife to the gut. But there was no time for regret.

I dove deep, pushing my body to its limits. Down where pressure squeezed my lungs. Down until my bones creaked in protest. Down where the darkness swallowed all light and ancient things slumbered.

I centered myself in the crushing darkness, and began to hum.

Come, I sang. This wasn’t the gentle song I used to shape air bubbles or calm troubled waters. This was older, wilder, a vibration that traveled through the ocean floor itself.Come and show these fools who truly rules these seas.

The effort drained me, left me vulnerable to the raiders closing in from all sides. I didn’t fight as rough hands seized me, dragging me upward. My work was done. Now I just had to stay alive long enough for it to matter.

They hauled me onto the deck of a ship, tossing me down like a landed fish. My tail melted away as I gasped in the air, scales receding until I was fully human again. Boots surrounded me, but I had eyes for only one person.

Emme.

She stood off to the side, flanked by guards. Relief at seeing her alive curdled to rage at the sight of the bruise forming on her jaw.

“Who hit her?” I demanded, my voice a deadly rasp.

No one answered. Instead, the circle of Knights parted to reveal a familiar figure. Nedaris stepped forward, resplendent in formal Khadian garments, his expression a mask of snide disapproval.

“Brother,” he said, his voice carrying across the deck. “How disappointing to find you still breathing.”

I pushed myself to my knees, fighting the weakness that threatened to drag me back down. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

Nedaris’s mouth twisted. “Always so flippant. Even now, when you’ve lost everything.”

“Have I?” I glanced around the ship, counting Knights, noting positions, cataloging weapons. And beyond them, scanning the horizon for the first ripples of approach. “Seemspremature to declare victory when I’m, as you said, still breathing.”

“A temporary condition.” Nedaris turned to the Knight captain at his side. “Execute all the guards in the drycave who aided his escape. And their families. We must root out all traces of disloyalty.”

Horror washed through me. “Nedaris, no. You can’t?—”

“I can’t what, brother?” He stepped closer, looming over me. “Can’t rid our kingdom of traitors? You’ve betrayed our people by bringing these humans here. You’ve made us weak.” He spat the word like poison. “I will return us to our true glory.”

“Is that what the Knights told you?” I pushed myself to my knees, ignoring the spears pointed at my throat. “Or did you come up with that bullshit on your own?”

“No, brother. They’ve opened my eyes.” Nedaris paced the deck, his movements tight with barely contained excitement. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for this moment? How many years I’ve spent planning, gathering allies, biding my time while you fucked and drank your way through the kingdom?”

“And the human ship?” I asked, playing for time as I tracked the minutes in my head. The beast would come. It had to. “They come in peace.”

“Peace.” He sneered the word. “We are Khadians. We were meant to rule these seas, not share them.” His eyes gleamed with fervor. “The Knights of the Depths understand this. Together, we will restore our people to their rightful place. Beginning with ensuring this human threat never materializes.”

His gaze flicked to Emme, who stood silent and watchful. “Once we’ve dealt with this one, we’ll find the rest. And then the ship they came from.”

“The Legacy carries thousands of innocents,” Emme said, her voice steady despite the fear I could smell on her. “Children. Families.”

“Invaders,” Nedaris corrected. “And they will meet the same fate as all who threaten our waters.”

I felt the first tremor beneath the ship—a subtle shift in the current that none of the others seemed to notice. Not yet.

“You’ll start a war you can’t win,” I warned.

“Perhaps.” Nedaris shrugged. “But better to die fighting than live on our knees.”

Nedaris stepped forward and ripped the crown from my belt with enough force to tear the loops. Shark teeth gleamed in the sunlight as he placed it on his own head.

“The reign of Lairos ends today,” he declared. “Long live King Nedaris, true ruler of Delovia Ridge and all its waters.”

---