Chapter 73: Deals
The rescued Sirens needed time to recover, and Nacho needed answers.
He spent the next few hours at the Copper Kettle, helping the innkeeper distribute food and blankets while his mind worked through everything Thorne had told him. The woman’s confession had been thorough, almost clinical in its detail.
Names of buyers. Shipping schedules. Safe houses scattered throughout the city. And most importantly, the chain of communication that led from the docks of Valdris all the way up to the Elder Council in Lumen.
Korith wasn’t just taking bribes. She was actively coordinating the kidnappings, providing lists of vulnerable settlements, and ensuring that Siren patrols conveniently missed the slavers’ ships. The scope of her betrayal made Nacho’s stomach turn, and he’d thought he was past being shocked by human cruelty.
Siren cruelty, in this case. Same difference.
The young woman who’d first spoken to him in the cells approached his corner, a bowl of soup clutched in her trembling hands. Her name was Mira, he’d learned. Daughter of a fisherman from a settlement called Coral Point. She’d been taken three weeks ago, along with her mother and younger sister.
"They’re not here," she said quietly, reading the question in his eyes. "The other two. They were shipped out last week. I don’t know where."
"I’ll find them."
The words came out before he could stop them, a promise he had no business making. But Mira’s eyes widened with something that looked dangerously close to hope, and he found he couldn’t take it back.
"How? They could be anywhere by now. The Empire is huge."
"I have resources." He stood up, rolling his shoulders to work out the tension that had been building since dawn. "The woman who ran that operation told me everything she knew. Including which buyers purchased Sirens in the last month. Your mother and sister will be on that list."
Mira stared at him for a long moment, her expression cycling through disbelief to cautious optimism to something harder. Something that looked like the first stirrings of vengeance.
"I want to help. Whatever you’re doing, whatever you’re planning, I want in."
"You need to recover first. Eat. Sleep. Get your strength back."
"I’ve had three weeks of being treated like cargo." Her voice didn’t waver. "I’ll sleep when my family is safe."
Nacho studied her face, seeing the steel beneath the exhaustion. She reminded him of someone. Sera, maybe. Or the version of himself that had crawled out of the ocean two weeks ago, hungry for power and willing to do whatever it took to survive.
"Fine. But you follow my lead. No arguments, no heroics. You do exactly what I say, when I say it. Deal?"
"Deal."
He left her with instructions to gather any information the other prisoners might have about their captors, then slipped out of the inn through a back window. The sun was climbing toward noon, painting the city in shades of gold and shadow.
Somewhere in the merchant district, Vance was probably tearing her hair out waiting for his report. Somewhere beneath the ocean, Sera was preparing for a council meeting that would determine the fate of her entire species.
And somewhere in this city, Lady Vex was watching. Waiting. Planning her next move.
Too many players. Too many angles. I need more information before I can figure out how all the pieces fit together.
He made his way toward the Velvet House, sticking to side streets and back alleys where his Phantom Talent could keep him invisible to casual observers. His Apex Senses swept the area constantly, cataloging threats and opportunities with equal attention.
A patrol of city guards passed within twenty feet of his position, their conversation drifting to him on the morning breeze.
"—heard they found bodies in the warehouse district. Some kind of gang war."
"That’s the third this month. City’s going to hell."
"At least it’s not our sector. Let the docks deal with their own problems."
Nacho filed the information away and kept moving. The guards’ indifference worked in his favor for now, but it wouldn’t last. Vex would be mobilizing her people soon, trying to assess the damage and identify the source of her problems. He needed to be long gone before anyone thought to connect the mysterious Siren at the Velvet House with the chaos at Thorne Shipping.
Madame Corsica was waiting for him in the common room, her silver hair loose around her shoulders and a glass of something amber in her hand. She looked up as he entered, her eyes narrowing with that particular expression she got when she was reading his scent.
"You smell like blood and fear and something else I can’t identify." She took a slow sip of her drink. "Should I be worried?"
"Probably."
"Wonderful." She set the glass down and stood, her silk robe whispering against the floor as she moved. "There’s a woman waiting for you in your room. Dark hair, pale eyes, the kind of face that says she’s killed more people than I’ve slept with. She arrived about an hour ago and hasn’t moved since."
Sera. Has to be.
"Did she say what she wanted?"
"She said you’d know." Corsica’s lips curved into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. "I don’t like surprises, Siren. Whatever business you’re conducting under my roof, I expect to be informed before it brings trouble to my door."
"Fair enough. I’ll explain everything tonight. For now, I need to have this conversation."
He climbed the stairs two at a time, his tentacles coiling invisibly around his torso as he approached his room. The door was closed, but his enhanced hearing picked up a steady heartbeat on the other side. Slow and controlled, with the particular rhythm of someone who’d been trained to stay calm under any circumstances.
Definitely Sera.
He opened the door and stepped inside.
She was sitting on his bed, legs crossed, hands resting on her knees in a pose that managed to look both relaxed and ready for violence. Her civilian clothes had been replaced by something closer to combat gear, dark leather and flexible armor that wouldn’t restrict her movement. A sword lay across her lap, the blade sheathed but within easy reach.
"You used the communication stone," she said without preamble. "I wasn’t expecting that."