Aella's Song Read Online Free Page A

leaning back into his embrace.
    Damon smiled his thanks and turned his attention to the bodies. Swimming closer to them, he studied them. They’d obviously been poisoned by some means, they were pale and their soft fur was muted in color, as if the very life had been drained from them. What could cause such a thing?
    I don’t know how he did it, but it had to be Linos. You know it as well as I. Pythias met Damon’s gaze over Aella’s head.
    I know it. We have to tell her. Damon sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy.
    “We have to leave them here, Aella. I’m sorry for even suggesting such a thing, but we don’t know if the poison originated in the water or in their food. We should get out of here until we can contact your father to collect their bodies and send their spirits on.”
    She nodded, meeting his gaze briefly. Phocas approached her once more, rubbing his head against her belly. She raised one hand to run it along the side of the small seal. The other two survivors came close, pushing in to butt against her.
    With a last, longing glance, Aella motioned the seals to move forward. It was in silence that they retraced their path, coming once more to the juncture where they’d first met. Aella continued on to the opening, sliding her body through.
    Exchanging pained glances with Pythias, Damon approached the opening, squeezing his larger frame through the cave entrance. His shoulders scraped against the rock wall but he refrained from commenting. Pythias followed him out, cursing quietly.
    She did that on purpose. Pythias snarled in his mind.
    Probably.
    Damon glanced up to where she’d surfaced above them. The seals bobbed in the sea beside her, staying close. He flicked his tail, cutting powerfully through the water, emerging beside her to study the island in front of them.
    Pythias slicked back his hair, running his hands along the chestnut strands. “Is it a coincidence that you make your home at the Siren Rocks?”
    Aella smirked. Her home was in Foca, in the beautiful land of Turkey. It was once known as ancient Ionian city of Phocaea. Some of her siblings had lived here over the centuries and it made her feel closer to them.
    “What do you think? Father gets a kick out of it. Said he loved it when my cousins used to crash the ships here by singing sailors to their deaths. All except for Odysseus, but he’s another story for another day.” Aella studied them both, flicking her gaze back and forth. “Is it time for that explanation? How exactly did you just happen to appear here, now of all times? What’s going on that I don’t know about?”
    “I don’t believe we have any other option. You need to know what’s going on here.” Damon nodded to Pythias, motioning for him to swim to the small craft anchored nearby. Whirlwind was printed on the side in bold, blocky letters. He snorted, it was an apt description for the small siren beside him.
    Pythias shifted his tail into strong legs once more, lifting himself out of the water and into the boat. Reaching down to grab the hand Aella held up, he hauled her up beside him. Damon quickly shifted his own tail, surging up to land on the deck.
    Aella moved around, picking up towels and throwing them at the two men. He gazed around them, watching for nearby boats. They were alone for now, but you never knew when another craft would approach. This wasn’t exactly empty water around here. It was a miracle that Aella had never been seen by a human while in the waters before now. She took entirely too many risks swimming as a mermaid so close to shore. The residents of Foca on the mainland of Turkey were always out fishing in these parts and the tourists flocked here almost year round.
    He reluctantly wrapped the towel around his waist, sitting down on one of the bench seats. Pythias sprawled beside him, unashamedly nude, placing his own towel on the seat to his left. Aella perched across from them, wrapped shoulder to calf in a thick terry cloth robe. Damon