Chapter 4

My brother was only ten. He couldn't even take human form yet.

"Sister, save me!" He slammed his palms against the glass. His tears turned to tiny pearls and sank to the bottom of the tank.

Vivienne pouted, eyes full of spite.

"Oh, so he's your brother? How cute. Let's start with him, then."

Two guards hauled him out of the tank and dropped him at Vivienne's feet.

His tail seized in the dry air. The scales dulled almost instantly.

Vivienne twirled the knife between her fingers.

"I wonder what color his soul pearl is. I'm dying to find out."

I dropped to my knees. Slammed my forehead into the stone. Once. Twice. Three times.

"Please — use mine. My soul pearl is white. Please, just let him go."

Vivienne tilted her head.

"But where's the fun in that? I want to find out for myself."

The blade pressed against my brother's chest.

He thrashed with everything he had, eyes burning red, and sank his teeth into Vivienne's wrist.

"Don't you hurt my sister!"

It lasted less than a second. Lucian came rushing in and kicked him across the courtyard.

My brother slammed into a stone pillar. Two of his teeth shattered on impact. He crumpled at my feet, shaking.

Lucian pulled Vivienne close, checking her wound, barely holding back his fury.

"Seren. Your kind took my parents, and now you're going after my wife too?"

I shielded my brother behind me and looked Lucian in the eye for the first time.

"You don't know anything. You don't understand a single thing."

"I already told you — when the time comes, you'll learn the truth. So why do you keep hurting my family?"

Something in my gaze got to him.

He looked away. Let out a cold, dry laugh.

"Fine. You won't talk. Then he pays for it."

He drew a dagger.

The blade pointed straight at my brother's chest.

My body moved before my mind could catch up.

I opened my mouth and forced out a single sound from the very bottom of my throat.

A forbidden note — a mermaid's last resort. It burns through whatever life you have left and compels everyone in earshot to freeze.

That one syllable tore through my ruined vocal cords, shredding what little was left of them.

Everyone stopped.

Lucian's dagger hung in midair, his fingers locked. Vivienne's eyes went wide, her lips turning purple. The guards stood rigid, unable to move a muscle.

Three seconds.

That was all I had.

I grabbed my brother and ran.

The chain on my shackles rattled behind me, dragging and ripping at my ankles with every step.

I didn't make it ten meters before the chain pulled taut.

I went down hard in the corridor. My brother tumbled out of my arms.

Behind me — footsteps. Lucian was moving again.

I opened my mouth to scream at my brother to run.

Nothing.

Not even a whisper.

My voice was gone. Completely, permanently gone.

Lucian caught up and stood over me.

He looked down, and for once, the expression on his face was something I couldn't read.

Then he ordered the guards to lock my brother in a room with water. Alive.

He crouched down to my level.

I watched his lips move and read what he said.

"How much more are you going to sacrifice for them?"

I laughed without a sound.

What he didn't know was that the person I'd sacrificed the most for was him.

But the moment that thought crossed my mind, I froze.

Why him?

Why would I sacrifice anything for this man?

Huge gaps were opening up inside my head, swallowing everything. The tears I'd shed in those desperate seconds had hardened into a pile of pearls on the ground.

More than ever before.

The memories were pulling away, fast, all at once, and I couldn't hold on to any of them.

His name was still there. His face was still there.

But everything between us — all of it — was gone.

I stared blankly at the man in front of me.

He was handsome. His eyes were red.

But I had no idea who he was.

...

Vivienne told him to deal with me.

Lucian was quiet for a long time. Then he locked me in the storage room.

No light. No air.

I curled up in the corner and felt my body temperature drop, bit by bit.

Above me, through the floorboards, it was loud. Vivienne's makeshift delivery room was right overhead.

She screamed through a full day and night before the baby finally came.

Lucian let out a breath and leaned against the doorframe for a smoke.

His assistant rushed over.

"Mr. Voss, there's someone at the gate asking for you."

Lucian raised an eyebrow, annoyed.

"Who?"

"Your parents."

He was at the front gate before the sentence was finished.

His parents saw him — and didn't hug him, didn't cry.

His mother seized his arm, frantic.

"Is Seren here? You have to get her to the ocean — she'll die without seawater!"

Lucian frowned.

"She attacked Vivienne. I locked her up. Mom, come on — mermaids don't just die."

His father went white. Then slapped him across the face.

"Where's the storage room? Take me there. Now."

Lucian reluctantly led them down and pushed open that rotting door.

"Dad, see? She's fi—"

His voice cut off.

I was curled in the corner, eyes open, pupils unfocused.

The raw patches where my scales had been torn out were rotting. My skin had gone an unnatural grayish-white.

His mother rushed in and gathered me into her arms, sobbing so hard her whole body shook.

"Seren? Seren! Look at me — it's Auntie, you know me!"

I looked at her face.

A stranger.

I blinked slowly. My lips moved, but no sound came out.

Lucian read them anyway.

Three words.

"Who are you?"

His father buried his face in his hands. His mother's crying turned into a wail.

Lucian stood in the doorway. The color drained from his face, inch by inch.

And then he did the last thing I expected.