Night fell over Aethel like a heavy velvet curtain, turning the surrounding ocean into a sea of liquid ink.
Saira sat comfortably by her roaring, god-given campfire, her legs crossed and a sticky, perfectly roasted fish stick in her hand.
The outer skin was charred to a crisp, and the flaky white meat was shockingly delicious for something cooked on a twig by a broke gambling addict.
“Mmm,” she hummed approvingly, taking an unnecessarily loud, theatrical bite.
“Exquisite.
Ten out of ten for the chef.
A true culinary masterpiece born of divine light.” SPLASH!
The ocean exploded fifty feet away.
Eagre emerged from the dark waves like a vengeful sea deity, dripping wet, his luminous emerald eyes practically burning in the dark.
Clutched in his webbed, clawed hands was a creature that had no business being in a shallow waters-a massive, ugly, razor-toothed deep-sea beast nearly half his size.
It was still twitching.
He didn’t say a word.
He didn’t even look at her face.
Instead, he dragged his heavy tail onto the damp sand, sat down directly in her line of sight-just outside the warmth of the campfire light-and aggressively bit a huge chunk out of the raw, squirming deep-sea monster.
He chewed loudly, aggressively.
Maintaining unblinking, terrifying eye contact with her the entire time.
Saira paused mid-chew, holding her grilled fish stick in air.
She stared at him.
He stared at her, raw fish blood dripping down his sharp, pointed fangs, his fins flared in absolute, childish defiance.
Look at what a real apex predator eats, his posture screamed.
Look at what you missed out on, human.
“You know, fish-boy,” she said as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
“eating raw meat right before bed gives you terrible heartburn.
But please, carry on.
I love dinner and show.” Eagre choked slightly, his eyes widening in pure outrage, before slamming the rest of his catch onto the sand with a dramatic THUD.
“I am showing you!” Eagre growled, his voice a low, rumbling resonance that vibrated in the sand beneath them.
” I am showing you what I am capable of!
I hunt leviathans!
I tear away the terrors of the trench!
I do not eat barbecued sticks like a terrestrial peasant!” “And yet,” Saira observed serenely, taking another delicate bite of her meal, “you look like a grumpy cat eating a rat in the dark because nobody gave you a seat at the warm table.” Eagre opened his mouth to unleash a volley of ancient, sea-cursing fury, but before he could squeeze out a single syllable, Saira cut him off with a pointed finger.
“What did your fish-mother call you?” She demanded, interrupting his majestic rage entirely.
Eagre’s jaw snapped shut, his gills puffing out in shock.
The question hit him like a rogue wave- sudden and unexpected.
No one lived for too long to ask him about his name.
But here she is unaffected by his siren voice, breathing and munching on fish like it was any other Tuesday.
“You don’t have a name?” She asked him when he didn’t answer her right away.
Eagre jaw tightened.
She actually thought he didn’t have one.
Like sirens were nameless sea monsters, wandering the ocean without identities or history-like she could just keep calling him “fish-boy” or “salmon-boy.” Finally Eagre puffed out his chest, drawing himself up as tall as his sleek, tail-bound posture would allow.
He let his voice drop into a deep, booming, resonant echo that rattled the rocks along the shoreline.
“I am Eagre!” He declared dramatically, his voice carrying ominous weight of a crashing tidal wave.
“The scourge of the tides!
The silent undertow!
The Dread of-” “Eagre?” Saira interrupted again, tilting her head.
She blinked once.
Twice.
Then, a slow, wicked grin spread across her soot-stained face.
“Eagre,” she repeated, tasting the word on her tongue before letting out a sharp, delighted snort.
“Like…eager?” Eagre’s majestic posture faltered.
“It is an ancient word for a violent tidal bore!
It means-” “It means you’re eager to please your master, which is me!” Saira crowed, clapping her hands together in absolute delight.
“Oh that is poetic!
The universe truly provides!
Eagre the Eager!
It fits you perfectly, considering how quickly you swam off to go fetch me dinner!” Eagre’s eye twitched.
She’d compared his name-his ancient, powerful siren name, passed down through generations of predators-to the word eager, like some eager-to-please pet dog waiting for scrapes.
This wasn’t just insulting anymore-this was psychological warfare disguised as a compliment.
She was nodding at him like she’d made some profound discovery, eyes bright with approval…and all because his name sounded like “eager.” Like he was born to be obedient.
Like loyalty and servitude were written into his very identity.
And then she laughed loudly.
Like it was the funniest joke in existence-boubled over slightly, shoulders shaking with amusement at her own pun about submission.
“I am NOT eager to please you!” Eagre shrieked, his voice cracking violently on the high note.
He slammed his tail on the sand.
“I am a nightmare!
I am the dark embrace of the deep!” ” Sure you are, Eager.” Saira said soothingly, waving her half-eaten fish stick at him as if soothing a cranky toddler.
Eagre collapsed onto his back in the wet sand, staring up at the stars and letting out a long, tragic groan-wishing with all his heart that he had just left her to sink.
The firelight caught her grin-the wide, shameless smile of a human who had zero fear and too much audacity.
“I can do whatever I want in this island!
You as my loyal servant and me as the conqueror of this island!” She declared out of the blue, stood up and outstretched her arms towards the night sky with a cackle.
Eagre’s jaw dropped.
Loyal servant?
Conqueror of the island?!
She-tiny, gambling-addicted human girl who survived by sheer dumb luck and his mercy-had just declared herself the ruler of the entire island like she’d won some divine throne.
And not only that- she pointed at him.
At him.
The siren.
Killer of sailors.
Devourer of ships.
And called him…her loyal servant.
The firelight danced across her dramatic pose-arms wide, head thrown back, cackling like a deranged pirate queen claiming her kingdom.