"Aeryn?"
The sheets smelled of salt, but not biting. Like over chips. It was intoxicating. Something warm touched her cheek, pulling her from a sweet sleep.
"Orm? I was sleeping!"
"This will be worth it."
"It better be the secret to eternal life or some stuff like that . . ."
"It's better. Come on!"
She started to reach for a gown but Orm's pleading hands draw her scantily clad from the cabin and into the moonlight. And that's when she hears it.
It started as a tingling on her skin. Her heart started waking up, overriding the tiredness or even Orm's hand in hers. To the growing warmth spreading along her chest, making her smile.
And there at the horizon, lies a boat so glorious, so magnificent in nature that it appears the heavens themselves have opened up. And along the decks and across the sails, these strange shapes seem to pass.
"No . . ." She whispers. "Oh my god . . ."
"The sirens."
He appears just as awe struck as she. Their song is rising and falling with the waves and even though she doesn't understand the words, she understands the sentiment. And she just wants to sleep all of a sudden. To lie down. To close her eyes and give in to the gravity of this serenity . . .
"That's enough for you . . ." Orm scoops her into his arms. "Too much can be lethal you know."
"Why aren't you affected?" She remembers asking.
"I'm the King," he said as if that answered everything.
"Right . . ."
"You can go back to sleep now," Orm murmurs. "I'll watch over you."
"Freeze frame."
Oh god she's tired. Like it had no beginning and no end. Like that's the way she always was. And Orm. She swore she had let go of Orm. He's just a man. Just a man. But now it would appear she's walked into another problem and once again, she's alone to face it. I'll watch over you my ass.
"My Lord . . ."Still dark. "She is with child."
"It changes nothing. When millions will die before my whims, what is one more?"
The chattering voice seems to bustle around her. "She may have been in love with the King."
"Her love for him is not of consequence Yanda. It is already apparent to me that the King is in love with her. Isn't that right, daughter?"
When the darkness clears, she doesn't know how. Or why? Except that she has seen those grey eyes before and they were staring at her in the mirror for twenty eight years and now here they are on another man. A tall, handsome man clad in robes of emerald green, his face perfect in its scarred imperfection. And Aeryn bursts into tears. And it is not long before the tears turn into laughter. It's just so bloody funny!
"My Lord, the drugs should have worn off . . ."
"You think Orm loves me!" she carries on cackling. "Man I think I wet myself! I hope that's not what the plan relies on because if it is, damn you're screwed!"
"I am glad you are able to take amusement from your predicament," the tall man smiles. "It should lessen the discomfort . . ."
The pain snapped from zero to ten in less than a second. It was so sudden, so complete that she did not even scream.
"There are nanites being applied to the nerve endings responsible for your speech," her supposed father claims. "You will not be making a sound during the procedure." He really does have very beady little eyes. Eyes that stare. Without thinking. Without feeling. Without colour.
Hell could not compare to those few minutes. Where she can't feel her heart beating only the fire in her chest, where she can't feel her voice crying only the acid in her throat. And all the while there is nothing she Is holding to but anger. That she has come all this way, been impregnated, deserted, cast aside like a piece of crap. But she won't be murdered in cold blood either. She won't be murdered in cold blood either.
The procedure finishes. The tall man leaves. Yanda, a small bald man comes and gives her some water. And just as he leans forward to tip the cup to her lips, she tosses her weight forward, knocks him to the ground, her heel comes up. CRACK! His jugular crushes under the weight of her foot. She picks up what is left of the cup of water, drains it out.
"Maybe I'm just not a nice person," she murmurs to the corpse. "That's why he doesn't love me."
Something feels . . . odd. Like . . . extra? Something off. One thing is for sure. Maybe, one last time, Orm can help her. Maybe get the technology to get the parasite out of her, let her go back to normal. Maybe. Maybe in Atlantis, is the key to getting her life back. And if not . . . maybe Yanda won't be the last corpse that she is responsible for.