I pushed the warm water away, hurtling toward her back as I drew Apollo’s gift from my boot. I slammed the dagger through her shoulder blades. She writhed, howling. Crimson currents took up my hair as I twisted the blade, feeling the crunch of her severed vertebrae. She snarled again, throwing her head back and hitting me in the nose. My head lurched, and I ripped the knife out of her back, intending to jam it into her heart this time. But the siren spun to face me, snapping her fangs at my bleeding face. The retribution etched in her snarl vanished when she spotted my dagger.

She recoiled from the diamond and ruby encrusted hilt, straight into Rylander’s waiting hands. He broke her neck and, with a surge of demi-god strength that bulged his biceps, twisted her head right off her body. He tossed it aside. The dangling innards tangling with her red hair reminded me of a jellyfish. Then he stabbed her heart as the final blow and pushed her headless body down toward the sandy bottom, where the skeletons of doomed men had collected in chaotic piles.

Her curled hand, reaching out in death, caught the quiver. Dragged down by her weight, Rylander wiggled free of the quiver and let it fall as we resurfaced together, taking in gulps of air. I carefully sheathed my weapon back in my boot, wondering if perhaps Apollo’s gift possessed more than a sharp edge.

“Are you okay?” Rylander asked through panting breaths.

I nodded, pulse galloping.

We swam to the ledge and lifted ourselves up. My breath wheezed. The Siren Queen balanced on her fin, clapping, her smile keen and cunning. Rylander ignored her and focused on me. He wiped the crimson-stained skin under my nose and neck and brushed the wet hair out of my eyes. He cupped my face with a smile that ignited my heart.

“You’re always coming after me,” he whispered with awe in his voice. He kissed my forehead, then offered a hand to help me stand with him.

“You’re always in need of saving.” I clasped his palm and allowed his strength to guide me upright.

When I looked over his shoulder, his mother watched us carefully, eyes magnetized to our exchange. She shook her head, but I wasn’t sure why. Maybe she denounced her son’s involvement with a human, or maybe her disappointment lay deeper within herself. But whatever her issues, they were her own.

I almost turned away when I caught her finger gesturing at her side, repeatedly flicking downward, into the pool. When she saw me notice, she made a swiping motion, as if wiping a surface clean, and mouthed, Erase the rune.

Chapter thirty-one

Rylander