JULIA LAUZON

Oceans Tithe

Ireya has never questioned the love of her parents Dex and Lucinda, even if she questions her heritage. Living in an undersea world, as the only human in a family of sirens fosters questions that her caregivers are reluctant to answer. But when she turned 18, instead of being handed over to the crown to repay the debt of being permitted to live in the undersea world, her parents bargained for an alternative. 

Now she works as bait for the witches hiding at sea from persecution in the nearby continent of Xena. What the King of Heliant sea does with them after she lures the sirens to them, doesn’t concern her. Until a ships heist goes sideways, her stepfather disappearing from their practiced dance altogether. He is replaced by Kaj, the enforcer often found in the pits of the king’s undersea castle dungeon, and the siren she was supposed to marry. 

Locked into a loveless courtship, Ireya uses all the tools at hand to escape the grasp of Kaj, including the Captain that outsmarted first her. She believes if she sets Ace free, she will be able to escape the watery depths of their confinement by his side. As they work towards freedom, a passionate romance sparks between the two of them. But as release looms near, Ireya realizes that what was first disguised as love, may instead be a knife plunged into her back.