“Stay here for a moment,” I tell Navin as I untangle my hand from the strap and climb down the dragon’s extended front leg. Lan growls, his hot breath blasting my side and earning him a scowl in return. My brother chuckles, patting his dragon’s head fondly.
Planting my boots in the sand, I watch as the siren shifts into her mortal form, the action more fluid than I would have thought. Within a few steps she stands in front of me, her eyes glowing more orange than hazel, and a hand gripping the strap of the bag across her bare chest. The wind stirs her ruby-red hair, but most of it hangs damp over her shoulders, covering a decent portion of the front of her body.
“Hello, beautiful!” Navin yells, a ridiculous amount of amusement in his voice. The siren’s gaze lingers on him for a few seconds before it makes its way back to me. She swallows roughly.
“Where were you last week?”
“I couldn’t—” She sighs and drops her gaze to the sand. “I will not miss another meeting.”
Despite my annoyance, curiosity flickers at what might have kept her before I push the thought away. It isn’t important, onlyfulfilling this oath as quickly as possible is. Turning, I shout over my shoulder to Navin. “Come back in an hour.”
“I was thinking Lan and I could watch you two—” He stops at the look I send him, rolling his eyes before winking at the siren. “Fine. Play nice, Sister.” It takes no time at all for Lan to leap into the air, wings beating against the wind as he and Navin soar high into the sky before crossing the Spell and heading back towards home.
I catch the awe on the siren’s face before she notices my stare and abruptly flattens her features. The sea sprays water around her ankles, and upon a closer look, I make out the faint green scales there. They shimmer in the sunlight as they rise to her knees and the outsides of her thighs, the green slowly transitioning to golden yellow and then orange. A patch of scales graces her hips and peeks out from in between the strands of her hair, the orange changing to the same ruby red as her hair. She shifts her weight onto one leg, her expression unsure as she takes in my own appearance.
“Let’s get this over with.” The sun is warm on my back, penetrating through my black cloak and the flying leathers I wear beneath them. Because the days are still warm, I’ve chosen a lace-up flight vest, black fingerless leather gloves covering my forearms. It’s much easier to hide blood against dark colors than it is on my own pale skin. The sand of this beach is softer than the ones that line the Continent to the east, and the finer granules make trudging through them annoying as I lead us beneath the cover of the cavern. The stone that juts out above us is dark, only broken by the holes that let the sunlight in and the occasional striation of white. “We’ll meet here next time to ensure we avoid being spotted from above,” I tell her, the shimmer of the Spell painting the farthest back wall in iridescent white. We come to a stop in front of some large boulders, and I lead the way, climbing up to where the stone is smooth, a naturalplatform. Behind it, a pool of water made from underground channels connecting to the ocean ripples, and surrounding us dark green vines creep up the walls, small flowers in tight buds clinging to them.
Going to the far wall, I turn and lean my back against the rock, folding my arms over my chest. The siren climbs up a few seconds later, hissing a breath when she bears weight on one of her legs. She takes in our surroundings, noting the thick green vines that climb the stone towards the ceiling and then the dark water that waits beyond the platform.
“I may not know much about training,” she starts after an uncomfortable silence stretches between us, “but I’m pretty sure we should be doing more than just standing here.”
I drag the tip of my boot along the ground, tracing a line of light that pours in from a crack in the ceiling. “If I’m being honest, Little Siren, I’m trying to figure out how I am supposed to teach you to defend yourself when my gut instinct is screaming for me to cut you open and see what color you bleed.” Tipping my head up, I watch her work to swallow, her fingers intertwining in front of her nervously.
“How would killing me affect the life debt?” she rasps.
“There would be adverse effects—ones I’m not too keen on exploring.” The magic that bound us together when the siren saved my life is sentient in a way I’ve never understood but that our history gives lengthy warnings on. If I act in bad faith with the siren, including harming her or not ensuring her safety in our time together, the magic will respond in equal measure and retaliate by mirroring those actions againstme. “You are safe from that brand of torture.” My eyes meet hers, and her chest rises with a quick inhale. “At least for now.” Once I fulfill the terms of the deal and my life is once again my own, then what I do to the siren will be of no consequence.
Quiet settles around us once more, the sounds of wind and water only broken up by my booted steps as I begin to pace around the length of the platform. The siren keeps her eyes pinned to my movements, turning her body to follow me. “If our paths had crossed and you weren’t bound by the life debt, would you have killed me that day?”
“Yes,” I answer without hesitation, noting the way her shoulders flinch towards her ears. “I would say it isn’t personal, but that’s not exactly true.”
“Seems unfair for it to be personal, considering we’ve never met before this.”
I stop in front of her, my fingers idly dancing over the hilt of the blade strapped to my thigh. “You know the history of your own kind. Thebrutality. The feral way you all behave.” I expect her to balk at that—to attempt to defend, if not her people, at least herself—but instead, her chin dips as her gaze falls. “Why do you want me to teach you how to fight?”
Looking up through her dark lashes, she releases a rough breath. “Does it matter why?”
“No, though it might help me gauge the style of training. Are you needing to learn how to defend yourself? How to fight off an enemy? Perhaps you’re planning to lead a revolution within your queendom.” At that, her eyes widen. “Though I’m less confident about that one.”
She runs her fingers through her hair, brushing the tightly curled strands away from her face as her eyes fall closed. “Has there ever been a moment where you wanted something but you knew that you couldn’t claim it as you were? That you weren’t quite yet strong enough, bold enough, justenough, to have it?”
I don’t respond, even as her question tugs roughly at my chest. I know, more than she will ever understand, what that feeling is like. My very existence is tied to accomplishing something that seems undoubtedly impossible, no matter howhard I try. But I keep my stare unforgiving, and eventually, the siren gives a shake of her head as she looks away from me.
“Exactly.Youhave never felt that, so you would never understand my reasoning.” Clearing her throat, she lifts her bag over her shoulder and sets it at her feet, something clinking against the rock as she does. “Now, please, I know we would both rather be anywhere else withanyoneelse, but since we are stuck here, we might as well begin.”
I smirk but she isn’t wrong. So I push my feelings down until they’re buried with every other part of myself I don’t care to deal with and instruct her to stand with her feet shoulder width apart as I appraise her.
“Why are you just staring at me?”
“I’m not staring; I’m assessing. Your balance is horrible, and you keep shifting weight onto your right foot. Does that injury bother you?” I ask, pointing with my chin to the jagged scar that cuts deeply into the top of her foot, the edges of it still swollen.
“It aches from time to time,” she answers after a moment, flexing her toes before relaxing them.
The scar is a different texture, its pigment lighter than the skin that surrounds it.What sort of weapon would cause a mark like that?In any case, it’s hindering her ability to form a solid stance, which is essential to her learning how to fight at all.
“You need to build your strength up, especially those muscles. Right now, you are too weak to learn useful moves. Everything requires balance, and you have none.”
Parallel lines form on her brow. “How do I do that?”
