I purse my lips as I use my fork to toy with the food on my plate. My own fatigue thins out my armor, the weight of all that has come to pass and the uncertainty of the future heavier than it ever has been. So much has changed in the past few months, and yet it simply feels as if I am back to square one again. A pattern, it seems, that I’m destined to repeat. “I don’t know. The Shifter Kingdom is in upheaval, and though the king did not ask me to keep the details of their current state of affairs or of the magical blight a secret, a part of me wonders what information is safe with the council.” I level my gaze back on his. “And that concern feels nearly as dangerous as knowing there were rebels who outwardly opposed King Kai in his own court.”
My father nods. “One never expects to question the integrity of the men they have chosen to be their sounding boards. I’m realizing that I’ve made an error in that way. One that Nox is now going to pay the price for, because even if there is asmallchance that Rhea left on her own accord, the council’s vehement disapproval of her as Nox’s choice of partner drove her to that decision.”
“You didn’t know,” I reply. He had told me of what the council revealed. That they had twisted his request that his children and future generations be given the choice to pick whomever they marry into something that still required their approval. Their betrayal of his trust causes me to wince, like someone has pressed on a fresh bruise.
“No, but I’ve grown too complacent. I’ve forgotten one of the most common lessons that is taught throughout history.”
“And what is that?” I ask, sitting up taller and leaning my elbows on the table.
“That men can grow fickle, none more so than those with something to lose.” A chill works its way down my spine as I draw in a slow breath. “We must balance keeping the council happy while also figuring out who betrayed us in the first place. All while hoping that we can convince your brother to act rationally when he recovers.”
I tilt my head to the side, my meal officially abandoned as I think over my father’s words. “In other words, we must pretend to give them what they want.” He nods in agreement.
“When Nox wakes, he will want to go find Rhea, and I don’t think he willcarefor the chaos doing so will cause. The council has already shown us what they are willing to do and threaten in the name of safety, and I highly doubt they will appease Nox’s urge to go searching for the woman they already didn’t like,” he continues, his voice low. “Our next steps must be made carefully. Until we can figure out who is on our side. Tell the council whatever you deem safe for them to know and nothing else.”
I nod as my father stares in the direction of the portraits of our family that line the wall behind me.
“And,by the gods, may your brother not take down the entire palace when he wakes.”
Chapter Seven: Aria
Dayshavepassedsincewe handed over the mage woman to the ship in the middle of the ocean, and my unease regarding the entire situation has only grown. I have kept to my room as much as possible, a decision that certainly isn’t wise considering I have orders from Nia, the queen, and a meeting with a fae to prepare for. I just can’t bring myself to care about those things yet, not when acknowledging them means accepting what had come to pass.
Mashaka is gone, my cave is no longer a secret place of refuge, and I’m being watched more than ever before. And now there is this.
I stare at my entwined fingers in my lap, filtered sunlight from my window reflecting red flares from the scales near my stomach onto my dark brown skin.
“Aria, did you hear me?” Lyre’s voice is soft from where she sits on my bed behind me, the silky kelp stuffing it shifting as she slides closer.
“Yes,” I answer, though I can’t bring myself to look at her yet. I had a sinking feeling when she showed up at my door this morning, her lavender eyes holding mine with something that resembled pity.Pregnant. It isn’t the first time Lyre has become so, the nature of our lives as sirens giving us frequentopportunitiesto grow our bellies with offspring. Still, this reveal by my older sister is yet another sickening twist of the imaginary blade that has taken residence in my gut lately.
Her being pregnant changeseverything.
“Does Mother know?” I ask, finally looking over my shoulder to meet her eyes. They droop in sadness, the corners of her full mouth resting in a tight line. She gives me a single nod that makes me squeeze my hands more tightly together. “She must be happy.”
“I could no longer hide it,” Lyre says, gesturing to her already growing belly. It isn’t an obvious thing, something only noticeable when specifically looking.
Siren pregnancies are short, only lasting four months. For her to already be showing even a little, she must be close to her second month. “I know this islessthan ideal, Aria, but we will figure it out. Perhaps, I can convince Mother to let me continue going on hunts for a while longer with you.”
I shake my head, swimming off of the bed as I begin to pace my room. “That’s wishful thinking, Lyre. You know that she willmake you stay within the walls of the palace until you give birth to ensure you stay protected.” Chewing on my lower lip, I let my talons dig into my arm to help ground me. “There will be no hiding my lack of magic now.”
The last time Lyre was pregnant, I was too young to go out on hunts. I haven’t yet had to navigate around my secret without her help. With our mother insisting she stay within the palace—as she has done for every other sister to get pregnant—I’ll bealoneat the whim of Allegra and all the other sirens present on those hunts.
The magic that flows in my veins is confusing.Uncharted. I am meant to luremalesunder my spell, but I recently learned that the opposite is true. My song only affectsfemales, and without Lyre’s help during hunts, without her singing next to me to make it seem like my magic is working as it is supposed to, it is only a matter of time until someone finds out the truth.
Lyre’s silence only adds to the anxiousness swirling within me. She leaves the bed, swimming until she is floating next to me. Her finger curls beneath my chin, tilting my head up until my gaze meets hers. “What if this pregnancy marks a different change?”
“What do you mean?”
Her voice drops to a whisper as her eyes scan my face before she releases her hold on me. “What if we don’t follow the rules this time? What if we decide that enough is enough and justleave?” My heart beats at my ribs as I watch Lyre gently rest her hands on her belly, the tender display lodging a rock in my throat. Her eyes turn wistful as she rubs at the skin above her womb. “Last time, I tried to detach myself from the babe that was growing within me,” she starts softly, referencing her first pregnancy. “I focused as much of my attention as I could on you while also busying myself around the palace under the guise of trying to impress our mother. But I was only fooling myself.”
“What happened?” I had assumed that Lyre actually wasn’t attached to her pregnancy. That it, like everything else, was just another part of our life beneath our mother’s rule that held no emotional value. By the devastation on her face, I can see just how wrong I was.
“It’s hard to ignore when you feel that fluttering of movement for the first time. When it grows as the weeks pass into something that demands attention. By the time I was far enough along to give birth, I became accustomed to the movement. I expected it, longed for it in a way that terrified me because I knew then, as I know now, what our mother insists become of our offspring. How we are separated from them, made strangers until they are adults.”
It had been that way for as long as records were kept. All sirens born within the royal line were raised by others, and only those born to the currently ruling queen got recognized as official princesses. There were babies born to my mother before she took rule of our queendom, sisters by blood that I had never met and likely never would. Ones that perhaps didn’t even know that the queen was their mother.
“When she was born, I didn’t get more than a glimpse at her,” she whispers, and the ache in her voice forces my hand to reach out to her. Gripping her fingers between mine, I watch as Lyre’s eyes close and her head hangs low. “It all happened so quickly. Mother was there through it all, watching as I pretended to not care that there was suddenly an emptiness where there had been life. Ensuring that I felt the same detachment about my child that she feels about us. But I wasdying,Aria.”
