#acofar
Sorry about the wait and the short chapter, but I hope you enjoy.
Land, when she came to it, was welcome. Nesta climbed from the water on two legs and collapsed onto the sand until the tides rose and threatened to take her again. Then, under the cover of night, she slipped into the nearest village, snatching clothes from some poor woman’s home. She also managed to find some stale bread and sweaty cheese, gnawing on the food as she tried to figure out where she was.
And so her journey began.
Traveling across Asia, then Europe, it was months before she heard word of the Velaris.
“It was rescued by Hybern’s men,” a man said, wiping grease from his hands. “But that was months ago. No one has heard anything since.”
So she went to Hybern.
He was a busy man, living at the tip of Italy. It took her a week of pestering to get an audience.
Nesta didn’t bother to straighten her ragged clothes, to make herself look anything more than a beggar on the streets as she entered the ostentatious office.
“Where are they?” she demanded.
“Where are who?”
“They people of the Velaris. There had to be survivors.”
“Ah. I was wondering when someone would come asking about that.” He scribbled something on a paper before folding it and handing it off to a trembling servant. “Most survived. Casualties were few and far between thanks to my men.”
“What happened?” she breathed, trying not to let her relief show.
“Ship caught fire. Tragic, really. But… you don’t believe that, do you?” His cold eyes finally lifted to hers. “If I tell you where they are, what will you give me, little siren?”
“What do you want?”
He rubbed a hand across his beard, a smirk playing on his lips. “Would you give up that last hope? That last chance of being human? What about your memories? Would you give me those?” He leaned back in his chair. “You know, sirens only remember when they have given up their heart. A heart for a mind. Who has your heart, little siren? I want it.”
She didn’t answer and, carefully, pushed Cassian from her mind.
“I will tell you where your friends are if you will meet me on the cove at midnight tonight. I have an experiment I’d like to perform.”
“Done.”
“Brilliant.” His wicked smile gleamed. “The people you are looking for have been imprisoned by the Navy for piracy. They were granted pardon on the condition that they work their sentences building houses for the homeless. Their workshop is three blocks to the East.”
She didn’t thank him as she rushed from the room.
Those three blocks were the furthest she’d traveled. She ran as fast as she could, finding the building instantly amongst the others. It was a large warehouse, nearly falling apart at the seams. From inside, she could hear the sound of hammers and drills.
Many men heaved and sweated the day away, driving cars to the build sites, stacked full of lumber. Nesta found Rhysand first, wiping moisture from his brow as he fed a length of wood through a saw, a black P branded onto his wrists.
He looked up when he felt her gaze, eyes widening as he realized just who stood before him.
Nesta could bring herself to say anything.
Rhys roared and launched himself at her.
She braced herself for the beating, but Feyre was there first, her arms thrown around her sister. Then it was Elain. Nesta thought her legs might have given out, but their embrace held her up.
Distantly, she heard Rhys yelling, but it was muffled, as if she were underwater. Elain pulled back, cradling her face like she was a child. “I can’t believe you’re okay. We didn’t know what to think when you both disappeared.”
“Where’s Cassian?” Azriela asked cooly from behind her. “If he’s dead, tell us now.”
Nesta wiped at her face, detangling herself from her sisters. “He’s alive.”
“Then where is he?” Rhysand snarled.
She swallowed. “I… I think we should all sit down.”
*****
Nesta stared at her hands in the silence.
Rhys was the first to speak up, his voice breaking. “This is all your fault. You did—”
“Shut the fuck up,” Azriel snapped. “We just… we need to find a way to fix this.”
“There’s no way,” Nesta whispered. “There’s no way to reverse the curse.”
“No way that anyone has found.” Elain glanced at her, eyes wide with hope. “According to the books, sirens have been around for hundreds of years. I’m sure… I’m sure we could find something.”
Nesta’s eyes burned, but she swallowed thickly as she said, “We can look.”
Feyre shook her head. “We’re not allowed to leave.”
“What? Why?”
She turned her wrist, revealing the dark P branded there. “It’s the law. It was either this or death row.”
Nesta’s upper lip curled and a bit of the siren surfaced. “I’m going to kill them all. Slowly.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
She turned, finding Amren wiping her dirty hands on a rag as she approached.
“Why not?”
“Because we’re leaving. Today. And we’re going to find him.”
*****
Nesta couldn’t help but gape.
Because before her, balancing between beams thicker than her, was a pirate ship.
“This… you built this?” She looked at them all, caught a hint of pride on Rhysand’s face beneath all the fury.
“At night, when everyone was asleep.” Amren was dwarfed by the ship. “That’s what we’ve been doing all these months.”
“How… how did you hide it?”
“Nobody comes into this part of the warehouse. And those that wandered in, we offered a seat. Everyone wants out of here.”
The fact that such a large section of the building could go empty this long was astonishing in and of itself. “How do we get it into the water?”
“Connections,” Azriel said and that was all.
She didn’t dare to ask if she’d be welcome on the ship. She’d swim beside it if need be. “What did you name her?”
“Dreamer,” Feyre said, reaching up to run her hand across the boards. “We’ll leave tomorrow night if everything goes as planned.”
Nesta nodded even as her heart sank a bit. How long had it already been? Weeks? Months? Could they even convince him to come with them, or had he already… had he…
She pushed the thought away. She’d already crossed continents for him.
The ocean would be nothing.
*****
He stared at the girl beneath him as he ripped her heart from her chest. It was warm in his hand, a slight weight that he’d grown used to.
He left the corpse just above the drop off, strings of blood still drifting up from her body. The animals would get to her if the sea didn’t sweep her to shore first.
He didn’t know her name.
But his… What was it again? He’s heard it once, lifetimes ago, but it had been swallowed by the sea as all things were.
He backed away from the drop off, the endless ocean opening up beneath him.
And prayed it would swallow him whole.
*****
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Uncle Cass is time to wake up!
