“Hello, Sunshine,” he rasps, and I think it might be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.
Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen: Rhea
“Youcame,”Isay,the words carried on a broken breath. Blurted out without thinking of the repercussions of them. Nox’s face shatters, too many emotions to identify flickering through his gaze as he stares down at me. I reach out to touch him, desperate for any evidence that this isn’t some cruel trick, and whimper again when his hand closes around mine.
Nox’s eyes soften as they somehow begin to decipher the battle in my own. He’s always been able to read me, always able to pluck out that which I could not give voice to. “What have I always told you, Rhea? You aremine.” A sob pushes past my lips as he gently draws me to him, autumn woods and salt andhimdominating my next inhale. He’s here.He’s here. He’s here. “I’m sorry it took so long,” he adds, his voice low and raw. “I’m so fuckingsorry.”
I don’t know how else to respond, afraid I might say something that will hurt him again. Afraid that the illusion will fracture.
“I have so much to tell you,” he whispers against the top of my head.So do I. I watch as Nox’s magic directs the shadows to keep moving away from us, and I remember that we aren’t alone. “So much has happened.” I don’t hear the sirens singing anymore, only the shouts of the guards. “But first, I’m taking you away from here. Away fromhim.”
There is a single pause between what Nox says and what happens next as I squeeze him more tightly to me. As I drag in another deep breath of his scent and allow myself to sink more deeply into his hold. That single pause is all I’m allowed before something stirs within me. Ancient and familiar. I stiffen, choking on the gasp that travels up my throat. The ominous presence blooms in my chest, a cover sliding off the well of my magic. It’s an awakening of that dark power, and as Nox leans back, his brows drawing together in confusion, I remember the command and the vow I then promised in blood.Vow to me that you will obliterate anyone that says they will take you away from me. Away from the Mortal Kingdom.
My eyes widen as that icy feeling seeps up my torso and spreads over my chest. “No!” I scream, pushing at Nox’s chest as I back away, my steps clumsy in the sand.
“Rhea, wha—”
“Run!” I shout as my arms lift in front of me, the motion automatic. Nox takes in the glittering black magic pooling at the center of my palms, and instead of running, instead of raising his own magic to shield, he reaches out for me. Just as he’s always done.
I try to back away, but the building magic rushes through every vein, every muscle and limb and then to my head, shadows clouding my mind until my vision is veiled in black. I know there is no stopping what happens next. Just as I know by the look in his eyes that Nox won’t leave me here. That, even if the cost is himself, he’ll stay.
I thought I knew what ruination was as I watched Alexi die. As I watched Bella collapse before the Spell. I thought I had experienced the worst this life could offer me beneath the cruel ministrations of an evil man as he tortured me. As someone of my own blood branded and abused me. But as that last imaginary string holding my power is cut and the dark magic at my palms bursts in Nox’s direction, all of those moments pale in comparison to this. To knowing I’m going to hurt Nox. That I am capable of doing so much more than just inflicting pain. My wail is lost to the wind, hidden behind the glittering onyx that partially overtakes my view of him.
Ifeelthe moment my magic hits him, the shock of his parted lips barely visible through the power that flows out of me. It takes him far too long to call his own magic up to block mine, a shield of dark purple and black shooting into the air. I’m pulled farther down into the tide of the command, pushing more and more magic from within as my throat grows raw from my screams. My fingers flex painfully, anguish coating me in sweat as I repeatedly try and fail to regain some control.Anycontrol. Bright yellow flares in front of Nox’s magic, a second person stepping up next to him, the silver sword in their hand painted in blood. Sapphire-blue eyes find mine through the congestion ofmagic, and I think he screams my name as he looks from me to Nox. But there is no responding to him, there isnothingbut the darkness of death as it’s drawn from me.
Leaning into the shield created by his magic, Nox grits his teeth, his eyes never leaving my face as he forces one step, then two, his boots sinking into the sand. But any progress he makes is undone by the brunt of my power, and I watch in utter horror as he falls to his knees, the strain turning his face red. Daje moves to stand behind him, but his magic is already flickering.
“Go! Now!” Nox shouts, and my magic pulses stronger.
“I’m not leaving y—”
“Go, Daje!” His face falls as he stares at me, and I don’t miss the betrayal in his eyes. The confusion laced within it. He stays another few heartbeats, but then his magic gives out fully, and he’s forced to stumble away, collapsing into the sand. Terror pulses through me when my magic begins to creep out to the edges of Nox’s barrier. He notices it too and surrounds himself in a dome of dark purple as my shadows encase it completely, until there is only writhing and impossibleblack.
“Rhea!”
The magic forces me to move closer to him, tears stinging my eyes and coating my cheeks as my lips part on another horrified scream.
“It’s okay,” he shouts as I get closer, my shoulders shaking from my sobs. But this—this isn’t okay. I cannot survive this. Icannotsurvive knowing that he’s gone because of me. “I love you. Do you hear me, Rhea?I love you!” My shoulders shake with my sobs, and my magic continues to surround his, a raging storm pummeling at a glass house.
And it is only a matter of time before it cracks.
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty: Aria
Onemoment,Rheaishealing Sade, her magic glowing inside my sister’s body in streaks of white, and the next, the king’s own guards rush and apprehend him. In a stilted moment of confusion, all I can do is watch as the king is wrestled to his knees, a large man holding a knife to his throat and covering his face. On the other side of the Spell, swords are drawn andclashing together, the golden guards attackingeach other. And then there is a flash of maroon, blonde hair whipping behind her as Rhea runs as fast as she can in the opposite direction.
“Your Majesty, you need to go back in the water,” Sade shouts over the chaos, standing in front of our mother, trident angled out.
“No! We cannot let anything happen to the king. He’s still needed for my plans. Sing and get the guards tostop!” Sade nods and opens her mouth, magic coating the air as she, Dyanna, and my mother sing. I try to join them, to at leastfeignthat my magic will work, but I’m still reeling over what was just exposed. As sirens, it is our destiny to never know who we were sired from. It is something my mother has drilled into us. Males are for fucking to get pregnant and nothing more. Rearing offspring—taking care of them and raising them to be just as vicious as their elders—is the siren’s lot in life. And yet… Queen Amari held on to the knowledge that I am not just a siren princess but also amortalone for my entire life.
My gaze flicks to Rhea’s back as she continues to run.Sister. I have a sister who is not a siren, our blood shared by the father neither ever knew. Another life affected by the cruelty of my kind.
“Something is wrong,” Dyanna says as she stops singing, pointing with her chin to the guards around the king. “They aren’t affected by our song.”
“Are they female?” my mother asks, stepping between her two daughters as her talons scrape against the metal of her trident. But even I can see that at leastsomeof the guards are indeed male, their size and the shapes of their jaws giving them away.
“They plotted this,” Sade guesses, watching the fighting in an assessing manner. “They must have something blocking their ears from our song. What do you want us to do?”
“What isthat?” Dyanna asks before our mother can answer, pointing a taloned finger in the direction Rhea is running, at the darkshadowsbillowing towards us.
