Siren

A Slaver's Fate

---Orion's POV---

"So you're telling me that we can stretch our fins and at the same time, I can have my usual meals?" Elijah purred, making me sigh as I nodded once again. I had already explained it multiple times but restated my previous idea.

Waving towards Cain, who was observing us closely, and the ocean in the distance I repeated once more. "The pirates dealing in human merchandise will always be suspicious if a certain ship always attacks them and frees the slaves."

Elijah hummed, lifting his leg to place his ass on the desk behind him. "Go on..." He murmured, eyes gleeful yet intense.

"While Cain's hands are tied to avoid suspicion and thus, an almost guaranteed attempted assassination if the smugglers suspect something, we're not tied to the same dangers."

The merman smirked at that, baring unusually sharp teeth. "Are you suggesting that we should attack slave trader ships from the bottom up?"

I shrugged, motioning a hand between us and the village of slaves and pirates around us. "None of the humans would ever consider an attack from below. Yes, there are plenty of myths and stories about both of our kin, but most think they're just that; myths."

Elijah's eyes glowed, his movements jittery with excitement though he tried his best to tamper it down. Yet he couldn't suppress the massive grin on his face.

"You say both of our kin." Elijah suddenly stated with a scowl, taking a few steps forwards before poking me in the forehead with his finger. "Has it occurred to you that, if you make so much as a squeak out in the ocean, you might put a target on your back? Again."

It was a thought that had occurred to me before. If I were to help Elijah with these slave raids by stunning the slavers with my song, I would risk getting spotted by a different pod of merfolk.

But I also realized that, even if I never sang again and always kept quiet, all it took was a single of the merfolk to approach our boat.

They already had a habit of tracking down ships when they were hungry. All it took was a single curious individual with a keen set of ears. A single person to pop their head above water and spot me.

And as I relayed this to Elijah, it became clear that the merman already knew this.

"I'm not going to shut myself inside for all of eternity." I growled in annoyance. "I've spent my entire life in the ocean while avoiding hostile contacts. Hell, I've had my blood spilled on multiple occasions and never got spotted."

"Uh huh. And what do you call this." Elijah asked rhetorically, tapping his finger on his mark embedded in my skin. I flushed angrily at that, feeling frustrated at having that pointed out.

"Don't get me wrong princess, I'm happy that you avoided any contact with mers for this long." Elijah soothed, stepping back to reclaim his seat on the desk, much to Archer's amusement, as he sighed pointedly while eying the papers he had been writing on, now stuck under Elijah's ass.

The merman ignored it when Archer tugged at the paper, even went as far as to lean his weight further on the papers. "You do have to realize that your situation has gravely changed."

"You're on a vessel, something that will innately attract any hungry Merpeople to them." Elijah started, pointing up a finger per statement he made. "If you're going to swim, you're jumping off said vessel while being blind of what lurks beneath. The usual sailing routes will go straight through Merfolk territory instead of avoid it. And lastly, even if you were to never take a dip in the water, the second your water bucket gets disposed of, your scent is out in the ocean waiting to be discovered."