Those serpentine eyes softened and blood red tears fell down her cheeks.I want you to love me the way I do you. I need you, Xia.
Xia let those words resonate as all of the pieces came together. Her Siren was not a monster. She was all of the emotions Xiarefused to feel, the mirror she couldn’t make herself look into, and the darkness she feared.
Brooks’ voice drifted through her mind as the last piece of her puzzle locked into place.
“No creature can be made only of light. There is always a flaw, or a taint. Everything is capable of being corrupt. Only those who learn to let their darkness find solace within the light can control their outcome. It’s part of us all, Xia. Embracing your chaos means finding peace in your heart and living with all parts of who you are. Even the ones you hide from.”
The Siren stroked Xia’s cheek with her thumb as she held it in her palm. Xia let out a shaky breath and nuzzled close. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t afraid of the chaos within.
Xia cradled the Siren’s hand with her own as she said, “You are the shadow to tame my light when it’s blinding, and I am the beacon to guide you through the dark when you’re lost. Apart, we are devastation, but together… we are salvation.”
Brooks stepped through the wall and fell into a sleazy tavern, but he couldn’t focus on the scene. The memory of his Siren’s face in that alley would live on for millennia in his memory.
Gone was the feminine blush of her cheeks and in its place were patches of scales shimmering off of cheekbones angled so sharply they could slice. Her eyes were a hundred shades of malevolent green with pupils slit like a serpent and her talons were sharp enough to carve the heart from Nyx’s chest.
The biggest change, though, had been her scent. Her sea salt essence bittered to something more metallic.
Like… blood.
Nyx shoved through the room until she reached the bar and dropped a few stolen coins on the top. A small glass of amber liquid slid in front of her and she gripped it with trembling hands as she threw it back. A quick wave to the daemon behindthe bar made another appear in her waiting hands.
Brooks left her to it and faced the wall he’d come through, but Xia wasn’t standing there. Where was she? Had something happened after he stepped through? Gods, if whatever that thing was in the alley returned…
“Should we go check on her?”He threw the silent thought to Chaos.
I would love to say no, but I’m getting cagey.
“You’re always fucking cagey.”
Not the point. Go back through. I need to see her.
Before Brooks could raise his foot, Xia stepped through the wall with a scowl. She stopped as if she weren’t expecting him to be there and then sidestepped.
“Xia, wait.” He followed her through the crowd. “Xia, where are you going?”
“Anywhere to be away from the two of you,” she called over her shoulder.
Xia wound through the mess of mismatched tables until she reached an empty table placed on the opposite side of the tavern.
“She wasn’t kidding. She is as far away from us as she can get.”
Speak for yourself. She said ‘the two of you’ which means you and that infant of a girl. She said nothing about me.
“Don’t you fucking dare go over there. We are a team.”
We are no such thing. You’re the one who can’t handle her Siren. This speaks nothing toward my ability.
“I didn’t say I couldn’t handle it.”
It’s nothing to be ashamed of. She is powerful and has been left untamed for too long. She needs a darkness deep enough to match her own. You and Xia are a perfect match. It is her Siren I want to dance with.
“Are they not the same?”
They are as we are, and that is why they are perfect for us.
Brooks chewed that over as he watched his Siren from afar. Her table was seated by the large fireplace off in the corner next to a single stairwell. The firelight chased the shadows from the table, but her expressions were heavy enough to carry their own.
Everything in his gut longed to join her at the table, but would she want him there?.
