Pressure builds behind my eyes, my frustration mounting behind an already weakened façade. “Well, maybe if you were a better teacher—”
Her eyes flare, and in a movement so quick I can’t even track it, she unstraps one of the daggers sheathed at her thighs and hurls it. The dagger’s zips right past me, and my responding gasp is already seconds past the sound of the dagger hitting the stone at my back. I look down when I feel something tickling my foot to see a small collection of my ruby strands dusting the floor around me.
Mouth agape, my gaze snaps back to hers. “What are you—”
But Myla is already moving again, the look on her face so intense as she closes the distance between us that I retreat from it—fromher. “My patience is thin, Little Siren. A fragile thread that has frayed nearly to destruction, so I need you to understand that I mean it when I say that I amalreadytired of watching you flounder beneath my instruction.” Our chests heave in tandem, the small stream of sunlight coming in from a gap in the rocks above us highlighting that bronze dragon on Myla’s shoulder. I can’t help but look at it, the sight of the beast forged in metal serving as a reminder of just who this female is. Her lip peels back with a snarl as she adds, “You claim to have a reason for wanting to train, to fight, but you have given me nothing to work with beyond a doe-eyed gaze and a less than functional body.”
Beneath the shame her words conjure, the embarrassment and voice inside my head that agrees with her, a small spark of something hot and fierce ignites. Idohave something to fight for.Someoneto fight for. And as my eyes narrow in on hers, I wade into unknown waters for the first timeeveras I stand up for myself.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Aria
“Youarenottheonly one who has tosufferthrough these meetings, Myla,” I growl. I actuallygrowl, the smooth resonance of my voice echoing around me as my magic pulses at my throat. Her expression doesn’t change, the practiced way she leaves her emotions tucked beneath indifference only making that spark within glow brighter. “I am not likeyou.I was not just born with the ability to carry myself as if no one else matters, and even if I was, you havenoidea what I have gone through. What I have been forced to do, no matter how much I didn’t want to.”
She laughs, but the sound skates over me like a serrated blade. “You think I did not have to work for the abilities I have? That they just came naturally, without effort?”
I give her a pointed look. She may have needed to learn specific skill sets, but her very being was built for lethality. Whether she wants to recognize it or not, she has an advantage that I don’t. Especially here above the surface of the water.
Myla shakes her head, her hands bracing her hips as she turns to the side, once more avoiding my gaze. “I have had to fight for every single thing in my life. Every bit of freedom that is given so easily to so many who are undeserving of it. And that’s what this is—what training and learning how to fight gives.Freedom.” Her lips form a perfect line as she leans in a little closer. My nostrils flare at the scent of her, noticing for the first time that she smells like vanilla but harsher. As if the sweet plant had been thrown in the fire, tainting the ashes with its floral familiarity. “Hear me when I say this,Aria.The most dangerous person you face will always be the one willing to do whatever it takes.”
The way my name slices from her mouth prompts a shiver to work its way up my spine, and I find I can’t look away from her. Even as shadows gather in her eyes.
“What are you willing to do to get whatever it is you want? Who are you willing tobecome?” She pulls back from me, cool air rushing in as I inhale deeply. “Only when you canshowme the answers to those questions will I stop considering our lessons a waste of my fucking time. Life debt aside, I can’t make you care enough about what is motivating you. Only you can do that. Start in the first position,” she says, gesturing with her chin to my legs.
It takes me a moment to follow her instructions, my mind still trying to latch on to everything she’s said. And everything she didn’t. But I attempt to push it all away as I try to focus,except for the two questions that hit exactly where that spark inside of me glows.What are you willing to do to get whatever it is you want? What are you willing to become?I might not have known before Lyre, might not have had a concrete enough answer that was worth fighting for. Because without my sister, there is only me, and I’m certainly not worth the effort it is going to take to survive escaping from beneath my mother’s trident. But for Lyre? For her and her unborn babe? I could do it because theyareworth fighting for.
Myla climbs onto the back of the dragon, ignoring me even as the fae male with her offers a friendly smile and wave of his hand. While I had grown up fearing males—avoiding them as much as possible because of what being near one meant—I can’t help but return his friendly gesture with one of my own. I watch as the blue dragon carries him and Myla back through the shimmering Spell, its own scales reflecting light in a glittering display of iridescence. Once they are small specks against the mountainous backdrop of the Fae Kingdom, I return to the water and begin my journey back to Lumen.
It’s evening by the time I arrive, clutching my satchel with the necklace tucked firmly inside it as I make my way through the palace to find Sade. When I can’t find her in the main areas on the first floor, I swim up to the second, stopping in front of the door to her room. My knocks go unanswered, and I am in the middle of trying to scrape enough confidence together to brave visiting the garrison to see if she is there when the hair on the back of my neck lifts and dread unexpectedly pools low in my stomach. I spin around, bubbles rising from my swishing tail, and can’t contain that shriek that tumbles out of me when I come face-to-face with Lore.
“Aria,” she purrs, swimming close enough to plant her hands to either side of me on Sade’s door, her chest brushing against my own, “I’ve been looking for you.”
I swallow roughly, Lore tracking the movement of my throat. “Lore,” I rasp, pressing back against the cool glass of the door.
She tilts her head to the side, letting her eyes drift down to my mouth where they linger as she draws her tongue out to swipe her bottom lip. “Where were you? I couldn’t find you in any of your usual places. Not even the ones you try to hide in.” Her face nuzzles into the crook of my neck as she drags her tongue along my skin, cold water immediately rushing in to wash the warm touch away.
But I still feel it, even as I push her back with a hand against her chest, her lips forming a pout. “What’s the matter?”
“I— Nothing. I just— I’m looking for my sister.” My hand gestures to the door behind me. “I have something for her.”
Lore’s eyes—their golden color stark against her dark skin—shine with an all-too-familiar look, making my thoughts race back to our last interaction together. I drop my hands from her, letting my talons push out from the tips of my fingers. “Surely, you can spare a few moments for us?” she drawls, lifting a hand from the door as she takes note of my talons, letting hers show as well. She drags the dark claw down my arm slowly, watching the goosebumps that bloom behind it. “You’re always so reactive to my touch.”
“I can’t,” I manage to squeeze out from the cavity that forms in my chest, my head growing dizzy. I don’t want her to touch me. I haven’t wanted her touch in a long time, not since the day she stood in the crowd of people gathered the very first time I was forced to perform my duty as a siren daughter. Every time I look into her bright eyes, I see the moment she watched with a small smile on her face. She didn’t cheer as the other sirens in the crowd had. She didn’t glare at my mother for forcing theperson she said she loved to do something she clearly did not want to do. No, that luminous gaze stayed pinned on me while the rest of her body remained impassive. Inactive. Unwilling to risk her flesh to save my own. No one had ever done it—no one except Mashaka.
She leans in again, forcing my arm to bend beneath her strength as she grasps my chin in her hand. “We both know that fighting against this is pointless. Especially when I can see the way I affect you, Aria. Words are one thing, but our bodies…” Her lips find my neck again, just above my gills, and I squeeze my eyes shut.
The most dangerous person you will ever face is the one willing to do whatever it takes.Myla’s words taunt me, bouncing from ear to ear. It is something ruthless like my mother would say, but gods, if it doesn’t invoke a different feeling coming from that fae. I had let not just Lore, but my mother and Allegra and nearly every other siren I had come in contact with have their way with me. I hadletthem and now… Holding Lore’s gaze, I wrap my fingers around her shoulders, the tips of my talons making her release a hiss as I drive them into her skin. Strangely, my magic gathers at the base of my throat, throbbing with the quick pace of my heart as those words repeat. That spark, small but undeniable, flares again, and I open my mouth, prepared to refuse her. Totrulyrefuse her, but I’m denied the opportunity when a different voice booms down the hall.
“Please don’t fuck in front of my door.” Lore and I both turn to see my sister swimming in place, her shell armor adorning her shoulders and chest, while her helmet is tucked beneath one arm.
“We were just about to leave—”
“I found something while out on my search today,” I interrupt Lore, dropping my hands to my satchel and biting backa sigh of relief when she swims back a few paces to make room for Sade to come between us. “Belonging to the seamount sirens, I think. I can show you now if you’re ready.”
Lore’s eyes narrow, but I turn my gaze to Sade, whose own look of suspicion is much more tolerable. The three of us float in the hallway, an awkward tension pulling so tightly that for a moment, I’m afraid Sade is just going to dismiss me and leave me to Lore’s demands. But she resigns with a clenched jaw and jerk of her head towards her door, unlocking and opening it. “Show me.”
Adrenaline rushes through me as I bolt into the room, looking over my shoulder at Lore. She forces a smile to her face, giving me a look that promises I’ll be seeing her again soon, before Sade closes the door and my shoulders inadvertently sag with relief. Perhaps this is what I deserve as punishment for what I had done as a siren. Though the intention differs between what I was forced to do and what Lore has repeatedly chosen to do, does it matter? If, in the end, there is an unwilling victim, do the details of what drove the perpetrator make a difference? I don’t know. I stare at the door while Sade begins removing her armor, and it isn’t until I hear her helmet bang onto her vanity that I realize I haven’t moved since we entered.
“Aria.” Her voice—rough and tired—draws me out of myself. Reaching into my satchel, I glide through the water to her, watching her shake out her braids from the tie they were held in. Though Sade is five decades older than me, it would be impossible to tell from looks alone. Her nose is a touch more slender than mine, and I have freckles dotting my cheeks where she doesn’t. But, like all sirens, she has an inherent beauty that makes it impossible to look away.
