She smiled, taking it. “I’d like that.”
We took a few steps, then she scrunched her nose as if she smelled something foul.
“Oh my Guardians, you didn’t?” she practically squealed, pink eyebrows raised.
“Didn’t what?” I asked, confused.
“Nothing.Nothing at all!” she answered too quickly, trying to continue walking.
I planted my feet. “No, tell me.”
“I haven’t told you this yet because I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, but sirens, we can—well, we can scent certain things.”
“Scent things? Like what? Does my breath smell or something?” I breathed into my palm and sniffed to check.
“Well, we can scent just one thing. Love, in all its forms. Lust, emotion, but especially …” She sheepishly averted her eyes.
“I don’t understand.”
“Elowyn, you absolutely reek of sex and if you do not bathe, we’ll be stuck listening to Morvyn make a slew of crass jokes all evening.”
After scrubbing every inch of my body and passing a sniff test from Nixie, we walked to Hylos’s study. I couldn’t believe she didn’t tell me they could smell arousal and sex. She explained that it was a part of their mating habits and the sense heightened more with every day that neared the full moon.
Mortified, I thought back to every interaction and wondered if Morvyn’s hunches about my feelings for Arlo were more than just that. I could feel my cheeks burn red when we turned into the study.
In the study, amid stacks of books, half-eaten meals, and the buzz of siren magic holding small figures in swirls upon the map, were Lumina and Hylos. Nixie and I shuffled in. Raylik and Morvyn were behind us.
“Good, you’re here. Lumina has found a portion of Oakhaven that’s essentially uninhabited, and apparently underdeveloped.” Hylos looked up at me as he brushed a tendril of blue hair out of his face. Dark-blue crescent moons hung under his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept since we last spoke.
I tried to ignore the fact that he didn’t even ask how I or Arlo were doing, but it stung.
“Elowyn, what do you know of Thornley?” he asked, not looking up to speak to me.
Thornley Forest, craft archers’ bow, forever a strong wooded home for the Guardian of all, Terragos, grant us your gifts, father of all land.The nursery rhyme rambled through my mind.
“I’ve heard of it,” I answered.
“And?” Hylos asked.
Lumina held her breath as she looked at her leader, frustration pursing her lips.
“It’s heavily wooded. Few people. And it’s freezing fucking cold.” Thornley was the northernmost point of Oakhaven and likely snowed in at this time of year. What did Hylos want with that area?
Calypstra lurked in, dressed in a black silk dress that rippled against her pallid skin, the neckline plunging deep toward her navel. Her head snapped toward me, eyes wide and unblinking. A mixture of anger and pure disgust boiled on her face.
“Cal, good, you’re here. I was explaining the plan we discussed last night,” Hylos said, not noticing the visceral reaction she was having at my mere presence.
But Nixie marked it immediately. She stepped to my side swiftly, as if to protect me. Raylik, not far from her, was watching, on edge himself.
I only stared back defiantly at Calypstra.
The room fell silent, everyone feeling the tension.
“What’s the matter? Why are you all so quiet?” Hylos said, looking up from the map.
Morvyn swirled his chalice nonchalantly. “I’massumingeveryone is just now smelling the sex Elowyn reeks of.”
“That isdisgusting.” Hylos shook his head. “We have far more important things to discuss. Like war strategy.”
