Beside me, Walder had gone completely still, though not in tension or alarm, but in a way that felt far more calculated. His posture unchanged, his presence just as solid as it had been moments before. Yet instead of being focused on me, it was now entirely focused on the other Enforcer in the room. His attention locked onto the man standing across the room as though he were questioning his arrival but not put out by it. Although something in his gaze shifted then, especially when Oblivion’s eyes locked onto me, and in them Walder saw more than just simple recognition… he saw possessive ownership.
I froze when I felt Walder look down at me over the side of his shoulder. Swallowing hard, I looked at him, my eyes wide and far too honest as he simply said,
“I see.”
However, Oblivion did not, as we all heard the growl of anger, as my attention had shifted to another man, something he clearly didn’t like. Something he made known when coming to stand in front of us.
“Wyedari,” Walder said in acknowledgement.
“Tarik,” Oblivion replied, with a curt nod of his head.
“You say I have something that belongs to you, but I know this can’t be true, for she is mortal and therefore, forbidden,” Walder stated, leaning back casually, and I swear he must have had a death wish with what came next. As he reached out and took a strand of my loose hair between his thumb and finger, playing with it whilst saying,
“It’s undeniable she is a beauty, but you know as well as I do the punishment for taking a bite out of that apple, my friend, and I do not wish to be the one to deliver that to our King.”
“Nor do I wish to be the one to explain to him why I killed one of his Enforcers, should you not remove your hand from my Fated,” Oblivion replied calmly, yet the obvious threat threaded through it was anything but.
“Fated?” Walder repeated, his hand dropping as he leaned forward, resting his forearm on his knee, his focus now entirely on Oblivion.
“She is my Siren,” he stated without hesitation, making me gasp as Walder’s breath hitched sharply. He straightened, his gaze snapping to mine,
“Siren,”he whispered as if he had just found out he was sitting next to some holy grail. Then his gaze lowered to my neck, seeing for himself the mark Oblivion had made there.
“One you have already claimed, I see,” he noted, and my eyes found Oblivion’s automatically, as if waiting for what he would say, holding my breath as I waited. Which didn’t take long, as he too held my gaze whilst giving his answer,
“I did.”
“Well then, that does change things,” Walder commented, making Bo snap,
“You made a deal to grant…” At this, Oblivion snarled at the same time Walder held up his hand to stop Bo from speaking.
“I did, where one should not have been made, for you weren’t exactly forthcoming now, were you, Boruta?” Walder argued steadily, making Bo hiss,
“It shouldn’t matter. She is mortal and therefore has the right of free will to leave him. Even the Fates have no authority over that,” Bo argued in return, and I sucked in a quick breath, especially as Oblivion snarled, baring his fangs at him. Fangs that grew dangerously, no doubt wanting to tear into Bo the first chance he got. Something I couldn’t allow to happen.
“That may be so, but regardless, I would never stand in the way of an Enforcer and their fated Siren, as I know what I would do to anyone who foolishly tried to stand in my way,” Walder said, gaining a respectful nod from Oblivion. As clearly, he had an ally and that didn’t exactly scream good things for Bo and me.
Which is why I blurted out,
“He’s wrong… I’m…”
“I’m not his Siren.”
24
MORE THAN FATE
As soon as the words left me, I felt it. The immediate shift in him. The way Oblivion’s eyes closed briefly as though the sound of my denial had struck deeper than I had intended. Something in his expression tightened for the smallest fraction of a second before it was gone again. Locked away behind that same impenetrable control, though it hadn’t gone unnoticed, and the guilt in that reaction hit harder than anything else.
“So, you see, the claim is void, and she needed somewhere safe, away from him,” Bo pushed, getting to his feet and standing closer to me. Something Oblivion really didn’t like, as he warned with a growl of words,
“The girl is mine, cretin!”
“You don’t own her!” Bo snapped back, and the temperature seemed to drop. Enough that it settled beneath the skin, as if my body was telling me something was seriously wrong. And I was right, because Oblivion moved then, just a single step, yet enough to shift the balance entirely.
“Careful,”he said, the word so threatening, I felt the fear roll off Bo. Yet despite it, he still held his ground, though Isaw it, that flicker of hesitation. That brief fracture that hadn’t been there before, and Oblivion saw it too, his focus sharpening instantly as his gaze narrowed with dangerous precision.
“The girl will come with me,” he said, and this time there was no mistaking it. It wasn’t a warning…
