Jewel-toned heads nod ferociously. Their frenzy coaxes anxiousness within me, and my heart rattles in my chest as I watch them.
“But there is hope on the horizon, my beloved sirens.” Her voice softens, and everyone leans in a little closer, chomping at the bait she dangles before them. “Soon, we shall have what we are owed. Soon, our kind will again walk above water without fear of persecution or death. Without fear of the Spell! But, before that can happen, I need your support. I need my subjects now more than ever!” My pulse beats at my throat, the steady undulation of my tail growing a little choppier. I cast a sideways look down the line of my sisters, noting Allegra’s smugness and the stern set of Sade’s brows. Dyanna has her hands clasped behind her back, her gaze lost on something above the crowd. Only Lyre returns my look, the same concern I feel reflecting back in her amethyst eyes. “Turn to your sister next to you andask yourself, are you willing to do whatever it takes to keep her safe?”
They respond with a resounding “Yes!”
“Look at your queen and ask yourself, are you willing to do whatever it takes to keepmesafe?”
Screams of agreement answer.
“You are loyal to your people. You are loyal to me, and so I know it will honor you deeply when I say that, beginning today, one siren from every family will be asked to join their legion sisters, if they have not already.”
Years of practice not reacting to my mother’s words or actions fails me in that moment, as my eyes grow wide and my head snaps to look at her, catching Allegra’s waiting glare as I do. Joining the Queen’s Legion has always been optional; never once in our history—not even during the war—has it ever been forced upon a siren. But what had the sirens in Eersten said while I was traveling to the Northern Island? That our mother had ordered that some of them be taken into the legion as payment for not having the number of offspring required? Why would she do that? And why would there be more needed beyond that?
Lyre’s shoulder gently brushes mine, a reminder to reel myself in. My eyes scan over the throne room, and while most of those gathered here seem to be exuberant at the idea of joining, I spot a few whose forced grins I recognize. If only because of how many of my own smiles I’ve had to fake as well. But they are few and far between, and as the majority of the sirens cheer and speak excitedly of what is to come, I can’t help but wonder if anyone—Allegra and Sade included—knows what the queen is truly planning.
The cave is blissfully empty when I enter, the soft light of the crystals I have tucked onto the natural stone shelves highlighting the trinkets within. The waters are cooler here, making a shiver bloom over my skin as I swim towards the shelf where the hidden note for Nia was left. It’s been replaced, and when I unfold the letter, a gold chain clasped with a purple gem unravels from it.
Nia’s letter is brief, offering the necklace as proof of a trail to follow. She tells me to say it was found on the northeastern edge of Lumen, and I can only assume it means that she has led the seamount sirens elsewhere. When I reach the final sentences, my heart skips a beat as I skim over the words.
As you can imagine, staying on the run is a costly endeavor. I’ve taken some of these treasures as penance for your inaction to help us pay for shelter and food. The longer you take to retrieve our weapons, the longer we will be forced to hide. And the longer I will keep removing and selling your little trinkets.
“No,” I whisper to myself, looking up from Nia’s letter to inspect the shelves. With so many items lining the walls, one might have assumed that I wouldn’t have a clue which ones have gone missing. But as I look around, I spot the newly empty spaces. A jeweled bracelet that had been stored next to the lion’s head pin is now gone. Some daggers I had laid side by side are absent, the empty space between a bundle of rings and a small mirror showcasing their absence. More gaps between items become obvious to me, and I slump onto the cave floor, crushing Nia’s note in my hand.
I shouldn’t care. These items were never mine, just odds and ends I pulled from the ocean floor. Old things that belonged to someone who once lived and was now nothing more than bone and decay in our waters. I shouldn’t have cared, but I did.I do. Because collecting these things has always been about morethan just displaying them. It was my way to pay tribute. To try and absolve myself, in a way, for the cruelty of my kind. Of my mother and sisters. Nia had taken something precious and reduced it to its weight in coins, and while I understand that they are desperate, I’m angry that she decided onthis. That she stole my cave and then stole the memories in it.
If I can no longer ease my conscience this way, what other redemption is there for me? But then I remember Lyre and her hands on her belly, a babe she already loves enough to risk everything for. Perhaps my time trying to appease my guilt is no longer meant for the dead but for the living.
Picking up the necklace Nia left, I destroy her letter and leave the cave, eager for my next meeting with Myla—if only to be one step closer to keeping someone I love safe.
Myla’s attitude today rivals all of my previous interactions with her, a feat that feels like it should be etched on the stone walls of the cavern we are training in for future generations to read. The fae, who I thought had already shown me what her ire looked like, had apparently unlocked a deeper level of hatred in our time apart. Every question I ask and every time I stumble with my footwork, I’m met with a scowl that could rival a dragon’s. If the winged beasts even do such a thing. She’s hardly spoken a word more than necessary, nothing beyond “here” as she handed me a black button-up tunic when I first arrived.
The fabric is stiff against my skin, the length of the clothing suggesting that its owner is larger than Myla. Perhaps it belongs to a former lover. Maybe it’s that of the male who rides the blue dragon.
“Focus.” Myla’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts and to where she is standing in front of me, her arms folded over her chest.
She wears her all-black uniform, the tattered cloak hanging from her shoulders pinned in place by bronze chains. A dragon insignia decorates one shoulder, and it makes me wonder if Myla has her own dragon to ride. My gaze travels down the long lines of her body, the curvature of her muscle noticeable even beneath the leathers that she wears. From the clothing to her obvious mastery of weapons, even the lithe way she moves, all points to a female who’s been turned into a predator. I might find it admirable, if her attitude didn’t thoroughly sour any feelings of admiration.
“You’re wasting my time.” Her boot gently taps the inside of my ankle, the one that works my scarred foot. “This is your weakest spot, which isn’t saying much considering the whole of you is nearly just as bad.”
My cheeks burn at her jab, even though worse has been said about me. Donetome. What was the weight of a few more words added on top of an already crumbling structure? “Can you show me how to do it again?”
With effort, she bites back whatever piercing retort she has and resumes the stance she wants me to mirror. I follow suit, the muscles in my legs and feet straining to hold the position as her eyes move over my body impassively, down and up, before she lifts her arms in front of her. “Make fists and show me your guard.”
I don’t know what exactly she means byguard, but I mimic the way her elbows bend and how her arms block from her chin down to her chest. Even with Myla’s legs bent slightly, her height still forces my chin up to make eye contact with her. But she avoids holding my gaze, instead focusing on all the parts of my body she clearly finds unsatisfactory. I can understand herhatred of my kind, even if I don’t know whyshespecifically carries it so strongly, but her disgust when she looks atmeleaves me feeling two feet tall. It’s why I can’t keep myself from asking, “Why do you hate me so much?”
Not even the length of a breath passes before she answers. “Sirens started a war that led to the death of members of my family.” Her dark eyes lift to meet mine for a moment, and they pierce through me like the cold waters of winter. “Don’t let your guard fall,” she says, dropping her gaze.
I lift my arms up again and put that small bend in my knees that Myla has. “You had family that fought in The War Of Five Kingdoms too?” I ask carefully. I can’t tell her I am a siren princess, my self-preservation warning me that if she knew, she would likely defy the rules of the life debt between us and kill me anyway, no matter the cost. I had lost Mashaka. I live in constant fear of losing Lyre. Perhaps this can be a unifying thread between us. At least enough to soften her anger towards me.
“We aren’t talking about this.”
Or maybe not.
“How are you so stiff? I assumed that one of the sirens’ only admirable qualities was that they were elegant in the way they moved. Yet you’re proving me wrong with every minute that passes in your presence.”
“I am not used to doing this”—I drop my guard to gesture at my body—“on land.” Not that I was used to doing anything like this in the water either, but voicing that doesn’t seem wise.
“This is such a fucking mistake,” she growls, prowling to the other side of the cavern. “I would have more luck trying to teach a dragon to wield a sword.” She looks over her shoulder at me. “At least then there would be some honor in that.”
