Sacrifices of the Siren [Sirens and Sailors 6] (Siren Publishing Allure) (4 page)

“Ah, you’re awake.” Dr. Jay came out of his surgery and took his seat as Ademia served him his tea. “I expect you’re feeling quite groggy now, aren’t you? Don’t worry. It was just a panic attack. It’s all over now. You’re here with us and this is where you’re going to stay so there’s nothing to fret about, OK?”

Melantho took a sip of her tea as her mind tried to piece together the mushy puzzle in her head. She suddenly remembered Hermandine and she gasped. “Hermandine was here?”

“Shh, it’s all right. She’s gone now, love,” Blandon assured her.

Melantho stared at him. “Gone? Gone where?”

He smiled kindly at her and stroked her hot cheek. “Back where she came from. She’s left the island. It’s OK. You don’t have to worry about her.”

“But she wants me to go. They need me.” Melantho felt herself go cold inside as the panic threatened to rise again. Nothing made sense.

“We need you here, Mel,” Ademia said with a giggle. “Our need’s a lot greater than hers, I assure you.”

“Yeah
and
we’re much nicer than her,” Farris added as he took his seat on the opposite sofa. He took a long drink of his tea and sighed. “Crikey, we definitely need
you
to make the tea for us—this is horrible!” He wrinkled his nose as he laughed and Ademia gave him a friendly swat around the head.

“You can make it next time!” the blonde girl told him with a laugh.

Melantho smiled. She loved the banter between Ademia and her men. They always seemed to be having so much fun together.

Dr. Jay rolled his eyes playfully. “See what I have to put up with, Mel? I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you around for a bit of sanity.”

Melantho giggled. They were all so kind to her, they made her feel like part of their family.

Blandon gave her a hug before reaching over for his tea.

As they joked and chatted, Melantho’s mind whirled, trying to understand what had happened. She remembered that Hermandine was there and had upset her. She felt a knot in the pit of her stomach when she recalled the conversation about her going back to Eastland with her.

“Has Hermandine gone home without me?” she whispered to Blandon.

“Oh yes,” he replied with a beaming smile, and took a large bite from his scone.

“And good riddance to her!” Farris chipped in. “I can’t abide that woman. She’s always got a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp—she’s never happy. And Jay’s absolutely right about her losing her marbles!”

The girls stared at the big handsome sailor, dumbfounded. They knew he was saying something derogatory about their former leader, but didn’t have a clue what it meant. The men obviously understood as they were laughing loudly. Ademia and Melantho rolled their eyes at each other. They were used to the sailors having in-jokes. Sometimes it felt like the men spoke a whole different language.

Melantho frowned as she went through the conversation again in her head. “What did she say? Was she OK with me not going?”

The men stopped laughing and looked at her a little warily.

“Does it matter?” Dr. Jay asked tactfully. “The main thing is that she’s gone and you’re still here. You did want to stay, didn’t you?” He frowned at her uneasily.

“Yes, yes of course. I just didn’t think she’d allow it,” Mel replied quickly.

“It doesn’t matter what she will and won’t allow. She’s got no hold on you girls anymore. You don’t have to take a blind bit of notice what she says.” Blandon sounded quite firm and Melantho snuggled into him.

“She must think we’ve all got memories as short as hers, too,” Farris said with a frown. “We’re not going to forget that she tried to sell the whole island to that fucker who was prepared to make us all homeless. Funny how she suddenly thinks she’s in charge when it suits her.”

“I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t live on Refrainia,” Ademia said with a sigh.

Melantho thought about having to move to the mainland. Even if she didn’t have to live with Hermandine and Solon she knew she would hate it. On the few occasions she had gone over for a few hours she had felt miserable. It was so busy and unfriendly. The cars scared her, and the buildings were enormous. It smelled funny, too. And the noise was unbearable. The shops all had loud music pounding out, the people and the traffic in the street were horrendous, and even on the beach there were these awful white animals which flew around screeching and flapping their wings. It was all very frightening and she preferred not to go there if she could help it. The tranquillity of Refrainia, with all her friends and the sweet smell of the flowers were perfect for her.

“Why don’t you take Mel home? She still looks tired,” Dr. Jay suggested to Blandon when they had all finished their tea.

“But I haven’t sorted out the instruments. You said you had a new order coming today,” Melantho protested.

Dr. Jay laughed. “They’ll still be there tomorrow. You can do them then if you want to,” he told her kindly.

“Come on, I’ve got to take you home, love, doctor’s orders.” Blandon grinned as he got up and helped her to her feet.

Dr. Jay got up and went over to her. “Mel, you
do
like helping out here, don’t you? I mean, you don’t have to if you’d rather not.”

Mel stared at him and she felt herself go hot all over. “But I–I love being here.” She stared at his handsome face, trying to work out if he was trying to tell her she wasn’t wanted. She was relieved when he smiled.

“Thank goodness for that. We love having you here, too, and we really do appreciate all your help, you know? I don’t want you to ever think we’re taking advantage of your good nature, or taking you for granted. You must tell us if we ever make you feel that way, OK?” Dr. Jay put an arm around her and gave her a gentle hug as she nodded. Her heart was thumping hard.

“You
do
want me to keep coming, don’t you?” she asked with big eyes as he loosened his grip.

Dr. Jay lifted her chin with one strong finger, making her look right into his beautiful blue eyes. “Yes. We want you to keep coming here.” He spoke clearly, looking right into her eyes, and she felt her stomach lurch.

The handsome doctor planted a kiss on the top of Melantho’s head and she blushed.

“Come on, let’s get you home,” Blandon said, leading her to the door.

Melantho yawned as they walked hand in hand up the path which led to her little stone hut.

“You look worn out,” he told her with a sympathetic smile.

“I feel quite odd, to be honest,” she replied with a frown.

“I won’t stay long then. You’ll need to get lots of rest, Dr. Jay said. But tomorrow we need to talk.”

She stared at him as her stomach churned again. She was hoping he had forgotten her outburst this morning. Evidently he hadn’t.
Damn!

“I did something which upset you and I need to know what it was,” he explained, obviously noticing her expression.

“Well, I…” she began as he opened her front door. She stopped speaking abruptly when she saw that Sapphire had her men over.

There was a rustle of clothes as they quickly straightened their attire, and they stopped the kissing and groping which they had been engaged in on the floor of the main room. As all cooking and washing took place outside the huts, the main room was used as a sitting room, although there weren’t all that many chairs available. Often they would sit on the floor if need be, but as all meals were eaten outside there wasn’t usually much need for sitting around in the little huts at all.

Sapphire stood up, smiling brightly as they walked in. “You’re back early.” She didn’t seem at all embarrassed. The Sirens were used to having sex in front of each other all the time when they had to seduce the sailors on Destiny Rock.

“She wasn’t too well. Dr. Jay said she needs some rest,” Blandon explained with a frown.

“Oh no, what happened?” Sapphire’s massive blue eyes shot to Melantho and she went over to put an arm around her. “Are you OK, honey?”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry,” Melantho assured her.

“She is not fine,” Blandon corrected firmly. “She had a nasty shock today and it left her feeling quite poorly.”

“Come on, we’ll get some cool water and cookies and go sit outside for a bit. You can tell me all about it,” Sapphire said gently, as she nodded to Marinos to fetch the refreshments.

They sat on the soft grass outside the hut as the afternoon sun began to set, and Marinos handed around the cups.

“Was it anything to do with that ugly old witch that came off the ship?” Delmer asked with a frown.

Blandon nodded.

“Who was it?” Sapphire frowned.

“Hermandine. And ‘witch’ is right. There’s something odd about that woman.” Blandon narrowed his eyes as he thought about her.

“Hermandine was here? What on earth did she want? She’s got no business on Refrainia anymore—especially after she tried to sell the place from under us!” Sapphire was clearly appalled.

“She wants Mel to go and look after her and her old crony over on the mainland. Expects her to go over and be their servant, she says.” Blandon was clearly angry.

Sapphire stared at Melantho. “She’s not serious, surely? Why would she think you’d want to do that?”

“Oh she’s not bothered what Mel
wants
. She’s telling her that’s what she has to do.” Blandon sounded incredulous.

“I hope you told her to go to hell!” Delmer was fuming.

“We didn’t put it quite so eloquently but I think she got the gist,” Blandon replied with a smug grin.

Melantho stared at him and she got that awful nagging feeling in her stomach again. “What did you say to her?” Her voice was shaky and quiet.

“Nothing I can repeat in front of you ladies, love—but don’t you worry, she got the message all right.”

The men laughed, as Marinos went back inside to fetch more cookies.

Melantho felt herself go cold. “I should have just gone with her,” she whimpered. “It would have saved everyone the trouble.”

“You should not have gone anywhere, love. You’re staying right where you are. We told her that as well. I love you and I’m not letting you go, do you understand?” Blandon’s voice was firm and low. Melantho felt a warm glow inside her take the place of all the coldness. She smiled up at him. He was so gorgeous. There was no way she would ever want to leave him.

“I think you need to get some rest now,” he told her, obviously noticing her stifle a yawn. She nodded. “OK. Will I see you tomorrow?”

“Yep. Rechavia and Aitan are taking a shipment of flowers over first thing, but it’s already loaded so I’m not needed. You get a good night’s sleep and I’ll be over to walk you to the big house, OK?”

Melantho smiled and they kissed before she made her way inside. Marinos was just coming out as she went in.

“I’m going to bed now, Marinos. I’ll see you tomorrow, I expect.” She smiled.

“What? Going to bed without your supper? You must have been super bad this time, girl,” he teased.

“I really couldn’t eat anything, trust me,” she told him with a grin.

“Oh, before I forget, that old witch told me to give you this.” Marinos delved into his back pocket and pulled out a sealed envelope. Melantho stared at it. She never got letters. She’d seen a few which Dr. Jay had delivered from time to time when a ship would bring over a pile with his medication orders, but that was all.

Once she had washed and climbed into bed she decided it was time to open the letter. Her hands shook as she tore down the seam and fished out a single piece of paper. Her world stopped turning when she read the words printed there.

Melantho

You will come to our house tomorrow to begin work

as our servant girl. Solon and I live at number 12, Harbor

Grove. Ask anyone at the docks and they will direct you, it is

not far to walk.

If, for any reason you do not arrive before tomorrow night your

sordid little secret will be revealed. Rest assured, you will

no longer be welcome on Refrainia when everyone finds out

what you have done.

Hermandine

Melantho felt a chill run down her spine and the words became blurry in front of her tear-filled eyes. A painful knot formed in the pit of her stomach and she felt sick. She felt a hard lump in her throat and her mouth went dry. She laid her head down and let the tears flood her face. A cloud of despair enveloped her and she stared into space, not able to string a thought together. Once again the world became a horrible place—dark, cold, empty.

She must have drifted off to sleep eventually, as she woke to find herself shrouded in darkness. There was no sound, save the distant whooshing of waves, and a cool breeze wafted over her through the glassless window. She hadn’t put the shutters across and a pale moonlight picked out shadows around the little room.

It felt as though a hard rock had been placed on her chest, as her heart was heavy and her throat was sore. As if in a miserable trance, she rose from the bed and felt around in the dark for her few meagre possessions. She had a few bikinis and a couple of shawls as well as a pair of rubber flip-flops. She placed them on a smaller Elmwood leaf, along with her toothbrush and comb. Her hand drifted over to the nightstand where she kept her most prized possession—a bejewelled hair clip which the doctor and Farris had bought her some months ago when they returned from Eastland. She had been so astonished by their kindness, and treasured the beautiful gift, the only present she had ever received. Tears ran down her cheeks as she thought of the friends she would be leaving behind. She wouldn’t expect Blandon to understand. She felt a painful pang as she thought of the handsome sailor. She had come to love him and believed he loved her back, but it was hopeless. She let her fingers trail over the beautiful clasp one more time before leaving it where it was—she would have no need for it now. She pulled up the edges of the thick leaf, turning it into a rough dolly bag and quietly left the hut.