Read Sea God's Siren (The Brother's Keep) for Free Online

yawn.
    “No, not easy. There exist many dangers. We will have to avoid detection at all times, even in our journey, even now.”
    “What are the dangers, Dagon? If we’re together, is that not worth it all?”
    He caressed her. “Worth it all, yes, of course. That’s why we’re here, together. But we need to be careful. My mother knows I’ve left her.”
    Syrena lifted her head and stared blankly at him.
    “Please, Syrena, do not fret. I regret saying anything that would cause you to worry.” He gently pressed her head down against the giant sponge pillow, against him. “Try to sleep.”
    And she did slumber, until the heat from the sun grew too intense. She sat up, wiping perspiration from her hairline. Dagon lay still beneath the surface. For a moment, she flattened underwater so she could see him. What a strange phenomenon, that she could experience perfect vision in the water. She examined his emerald-hued hair, his green and scaly tail, his upper torso like that of a man. After another admiring touch, she rose.
    Dagon slept. And she didn’t want to disturb him because their upcoming journey might prove taxing for him as well.
    Syrena’s feet found the ocean floor as she stood, with water rising only to the level of her knees. Shallow indeed! She sweltered in the heat of the sun and what reflected off the still water. She wavered some from languor, and the fact that she’d had nothing to eat for some time.
    She took a few steps, but seashells embedded in the Shallow Sea’s floor lacerated her heels and toes. Reality dawned on her that she was completely dependant on Dagon now. If not for him, she would die out there. A surge of panic, of the unknown, of doubt, crossed her bosom as seaweed wrapped around her ankles, threatening to drag her down. And the Shallow Sea stank of rotting fish.
    Syrena started to speak, but her words fell away to nothing. “Dagon!”
    There erupted a loud series of splashes, like something wriggling out of the water. “My love?” Dagon’s arms reached her. “I have not legs while wet, Syrena, come down to me.” He engulfed her, enclosing her in his embrace. “You’re frightened,” he said.
    She didn’t want to admit it, but replied, “Yes.”
    “Do not fear. We are destined for each other. It’ll work. We’ll make it so, together. Syrena?” He gently tipped her head to him. “I love you.”
    She nodded, exhaling, “And I you.”
    He brushed his lips over her brow, and then leaned back to study her. “What else troubles you?”
    Bowing her head, she nibbled her lower lip. A different kind of heat flooded her cheeks.
    “Ah, you’re hungry,” Dagon said. “Of course. My apologies, love. Come, I will take you to a safe food source for your kind.” He started to lean them both back into the water to swim when far in the distance, a faint, yet unsettling, noise began.
    “What is that?”
    Dagon didn’t answer, instead tightening his hold on her.
    “It sounds like a serpent’s hiss,” she said, alarmed.
    The hissing turned to gurgles. Voluminous, heated bubbles erupted from the floor’s surface.
    Dagon’s tail unraveled from Syrena’s body as he began to swim, but the faster he sped the quicker the sea simmered. Molten rock, orange and bright, surfaced like a pot of porridge boiling over. Fire erupted from water. A wall of flames licked the air and trapped them, keeping Dagon and Syrena from forging to the open sea.
    “What’s happening?” she begged Dagon.
    “My brother, Firebringer. He rises from the bottom. Our father, the serpent, has sent him to block us.”
    Though Syrena couldn’t see the flames, she felt the heat, knew the fires rose.
    Tumultuous claps broke behind her, and spray like that from a mammoth whale pelted her with rain.
    “Dagon!” Firebringer called. “What have you done? You disobedient fool! What’re you thinking, taking a mortal woman as your own? You are to lead astray, to destroy, not love,” he sneered.
    At that, Dagon,