Chapter 22:

  The basin was full of bloody water, but at least her hands were clean. Ael was stripping off her armour when the door opened. She was slightly surprised to see Nereida, since she had not followed immediately. The siren was beautiful, dressed in red and bck and looking every inch a woman of power and privilege. Best of all, the dress was a touch too tight, putting all of her marvellous curves on dispy. Ael expected tears from her lover. The dispy, the execution, had been brutal. Instead it was concern she saw burning in Nereida’s eyes.

  “Are you alright?” Nereida asked softly, stepping toward Ael.

  “Mutineers have to die.”

  “That’s not an answer,” Nereida replied, coming close enough to touch her. The princess hesitated, her hand outstretched but not closing the full distance. Ael took a step toward her, dropping her scale chest piece to the ground as she moved. It cttered to the ground noisily.

  “I will be.” Ael took Nereida’s hand in hers. She stopped to admire it, realizing the princess had calluses on her cwed hands. She looked up into stormy eyes and smiled sadly. “I’m sorry you had to see it.”

  “Don’t be,” Nereida leaned into her. “But…”

  Ah.

  There was always a “but”.

  Ael steeled herself against the oncoming rebuke. The “it’s not you it’s me” that she had heard time and again between others (what did that even mean?). She knew she wasn’t worthy of this beautiful woman, this princess. She armoured her heart as best she could. It was not what she had expected.

  “I wore your colours,” Nereida said. Ael blinked at her, feeling a little slow.

  “You wore my clothes.” Her tone came out ftter than she had meant to, but her mind was still struggling to understand why this was a thing.

  “That too,” Nereida giggled nervously. She brought her other hand to Ael’s, holding her tightly. A blush had crept up the siren’s neck and now her face was a soft vender. “In my homend, when someone of rank chooses to wear colours from another noble house… it’s a decration.” She swallowed. “I… I basically just said to any who knew, that I intended to join your house.”

  “I… what?”

  “That we are intended to be married, and that I would give up my house for yours.”

  Ael stared at the woman. She could not make her mouth move. Her blood rushed and she couldn’t hear anything except the pounding of her own heart. She recalled, dimly, seeing Basiano at the execution. Her mouth went dry. The Samander was going to kill her.

  “I wouldn’t hold you to it,” Nereida was still talking and Ael had to force herself to hear the words through her panic. “And neither will my brother. He understood we had to provide a united front for your crew.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” The words came out strangled.

  “Because we had to do it anyway,” Neireda sighed. She squeezed tightly, and kept talking. “I’m not trying to trap you, I swear it.”

  “You trap me?” Ael repeated in disbelief. “I’m not the princess here. Take my house, my name? It would be… my life is harder than yours has to be.” She leaned in until their foreheads touched. “There’s going to be complications no matter how we approach this, aren’t there?” Nereida ughed sharply.

  “Yes.”

  Ael brought her over to the bed, to sit on. She had nowhere else comfortable to be, and wished she had a sitting area. It had never been a priority.

  “What do you want this to be?” She gently took Nereida’s hand. Her heart fluttered pleasantly when the noblewoman squeezed back.

  “I…” she flushed again, and then leaned her head onto Ael’s shoulder. Ael used her free hand to pull a bnket over them both. Nereida was shivering. “I don’t do things by half,” Nereida whispered. “If we are going to do this… if we are going to deal with my father and your people and the crew and everything… then I want.. I want the end goal to be marriage. A life together. This isn’t just a physical attraction, Ael.” Ael felt a shiver, one that had nothing to do with the cold. She pced a kiss on Nereida’s forehead.

  “And if it doesn’t work out?” Ael asked, fearing the answer. Nereida looked up at her and smiled a soft, sad smile.

  “Then when you bring me to my father, you won’t have to see me ever again. Sometimes love doesn’t st. But we… we owe it to ourselves to try.”

  Ael leaned into her lover, feeling her breaths, feeling her heart racing.

  “What do we do next?” She licked her lips, trying to drown the nervousness. “I know the forms my family would have me follow, but none of them involve the other party already having slept in my bed.” Nereida chuckled at that.

  “Next, I get back into clothing that fits me… my own clothing, so that Alejo doesn’t jump to conclusions.” She snuggled in, clearly having no intention of moving. “But… I need to know, Ael, when I asked you to do my hair… what were the implications there?” Ael felt heat rise to her cheeks. She had been trying not to think about that.

  “I… if lovers do each other’s hair it’s… it’s not quite marriage but it implies we have… we have… that we have been intimate. If anyone on the crew realized, they would assume a bracelet was coming.” She tried, very hard, to not picture the scene when Evander found out. If he found out. “If” was good. “Or that I had… taken you as a mistress, cimed you.”

  “Cimed me?” Nereida’s voice was deadly quiet and cold.

  “I wouldn’t dare,” Ael replied softly. She found herself smiling at the fury in Nereida’s face. This was no soft Princess, but a wild siren. She was both. It was perfect. She felt slightly bold, and leaned in so that she brought her lips to Nereida’s ear. “If anything, love, I think it will end up the other way around…” she whispered, kissing the tip of Nereida’s ear as she spoke. Nereida shivered, the fury leaking off her face to be repced by something else. It took Ael a moment to pce what it was. Desire.

  “Maybe,” Nereida whispered, her hands slowly moving up and down Ael’s arms, “maybe I wouldn’t mind being… cimed by you.” Her expression was teasing and lustful. There was a part of Ael that wanted to pull the pins from Nereida’s hair right then and there, but she restrained herself. The princess was still healing, and after killing the mutineer, Ael was not herself.

  “Another night,” she whispered, pcing a chaste kiss on the princess’s cheek. “Not after today.” Nereida ughed a little, a nervous chuckle, before she let out an adorable little sigh.

  “Then I’m going to kick you out of your cabin so I can change…this dress is much too tight.”