Smith jerked his head back as if surprised by Ryder’s hostility, although he recovered quickly. With twitching lips, he asked, “Would you like to bow?”
Ryder ignored him, which I guessed didn’t happen very often. “I’d like to know what’s going on.”
“They call you the musician,” Smith mused, “but it’s only coincidence that you are one. Did you know that? You could have been anything.”
Ryder’s shoulders twitched with impatience, but I found this new piece of information fascinating. “So he’s not the second coming of Orpheus?”
Smith shook his head. “It’s convenient for them to believe that. But the truth is that whenever a Siren reaches the pinnacle of her power, say she becomes strong enough to enslave an entire world of humans, another is born immune to her power.”
“So Ryder was born because of me? But he’s older than me.”
“We knew you were coming, Ivy,” Smith said solemnly. “Your father wasn’t human. He was a god. He was Pontus, the primordial sea god, and he was as ancient as anything. Unfortunately his mortality killed him… as it does sometimes. When your mother fell in love with Max, we knew that it would only be a matter of time before something like you happened. Thankfully, Calliope had already run from the mountain. She had already found Ryder’s father. The entire chain of events had been put into motion before you were ever conceived.”
“Something like me?” The words were ragged whispers torn from my throat. I had been reduced to an event or a natural disaster. I was not a person anymore. I was an apocalypse.
“Maybe I should start from the beginning,” Smith suggested.
Ryder wrapped an arm around my waist and growled, “That sounds like a good idea.”
Smith ran a hand over his face and smiled weakly at Honor before turning his attention back to me. “This has only happened once before. Usually the well of power is distributed among the gods. But the Siren’s power is unique in that when created with just the right amount of parentage, it can surpass anything those of us on Olympus wield. See, we are at the mercy of our patrons and you, my dear, are not. The original Sirens were not bound to morals or compassion. When they discovered how powerful they were, I was forced to banish them to an island. An island you recently occupied, Ivy.”
Thoughts were swirled in my head, colliding together but not making sense. I picked Tortola because I thought it was ironic to choose one of the Virgin Islands. And yet I had been told so many times that Nix couldn’t reach me there. But if my power had been amplified, why had I been able to live in peace?
Though, maybe it hadn’t only been amplified… maybe it had also been controlled. Energy pinged through my body as the thoughts took hold and became truth. “Queen of the Nesoi,” I whispered.
Smith nodded. “That is your realm, Ivy. You rule completely there. Not even Nix has power over that water.”
“But how?”
“Let me go back to the original three. I banished them to the island and there they ruled. They created all kinds of havoc. They crashed ships, they drowned sailors, and they lived with untamed power. Something had to be done about them, but they were part of the Pantheon… we couldn’t just kill them.”
“Wecouldn’t kill them,” Hermes pointed out. “So we hired someone instead.”
Smith nodded, “The Fates told us of Orpheus, the one man on earth immune to their powers. He had been born out of desperation and destiny. The world was in upheaval, the balance needed to be restored. So we sent him to the Sirens. Orpheus defeated Thelxiepeia, the queen. The other two sisters, Peisinoe and Aglaope, were allowed to live under the authority of Poseidon. We thought Poseidon would bridle their power and keep them under control.”
“You were wrong.” My heart twisted with empathy. While I could hardly feel sorry for my homicidal ancestors, I could relate to how Nix later abused and exploited them. “Why didn’t you do something about Nix?”
“We can’t kill each other,” Smith said obviously.
“I thought only a god could kill another god?” Ryder’s voice was low and gravelly. I wondered what he thought about me now… how the history of my ancestors affected his opinion of me.
“That is true,” Smith agreed. “But it is our law not to kill each other. We have rather a… sordid past. If we allowed our anger and power to rule our lives, there wouldn’t be any of us left. We’d have killed each other off thousands of years ago.”
“So what happens to a god that does kill?” I thought of Persephone. “Or a goddess?”
“They are stripped of their powers, forced to live a mortal life.”
The worst of all punishments, I thought wryly. “Is that why you chose mortality?”
Smith shook his head. “I chose mortality in addition to my immortality. While I lived mortal for a season, I always had access to my power. The same is true for Poseidon, Ares and any other god that lives among humanity. When I strip the power it is to leave them as a true mortal. They may not ever reclaim their power.”
“So Ryder is not really Greek, he’s just…”
“The balance to your power. He’s the universe’s way of keeping you in check. Should you ever choose to enslave the world as Nix wants you to, he would be the only being capable of ending you.”
Ryder and I shared a meaningful look. I realized in that moment that the universe or fate or what have you had intended for us to be enemies… at most, we were supposed to keep each other in check.
Not fall in love.
