Hazel’s impassive mask dissolves into a sneer, but before things can get fun, Angel steps between us.
“All right, ladies. I think that’s enough bonding for now.”Angel starts backing out of the room, pulling me along with him. “Hazel, gather everyone in the living room.”
“Of course, your majesty. Any other command for this peasant?”
Hazel follows it up with a sarcastic bow that makes me snort. She grins with pride at my reaction while poor Angel is baffled by how quickly we struck a truce.
Angel grits out, “Hazel, would you please call the others and save me from going door to door?”
Angel softens his tone and frames the question more politely this time, but the warning is clear in his eyes. Hazel sighs and mutters her agreement, gathering her daggers and stacking them in a corner.
Before Angel can get me out of Hazel’s room, I blow her a kiss to irritate her more. She quickly flips me off, but I don’t miss the twitch in her lips.
New life achievement: I made a siren smile.
“Uh, Anxo?” I ask, struggling to match his pace. Why are his legs so damn long?
Angel slows down as we reach a room surrounded by glass walls. Seriously, who approved this death trap? How is this not a safety concern?
Angel nods, signaling that he’s listening. I try to keep my excitement under wraps as I look around to make sure we’re alone.
“How the fuck did you convince a siren to be your Warriorhead? And where the fuck did you even find her?”
I’m sure my shock is written all over my face. My eyes are about to pop out, but anyone in my shoes would be just as stunned.
She’s a siren, for Fate’s sake!
An extremely rare and powerful species, we know next to nothing about. And now I’ll be in her presence, hopefully all the time. To be honest, her attitude is a bonus.
Maybe this is heaven after all.
“Do you always swear this much?” Angel asks, tilting hishead with genuine amusement. I like it when he does that. It’s cute.
“No, this is me being civil. I’m trying to make a good first impression.”
Angel rewards my honesty by throwing his head back in a booming laugh. The sound fills my chest with warmth, like I canfeelhis happiness in my soul.
“You are your father’s daughter.”
“Of course I am. Are you seriously the Horseman of Conquer because your intelligence is making me question your crown, big guy?”
Angel chuckles, brushing off the insult with ease. Yes, it was playful, but still… nothing I do or say fazes this guy, and it’s starting to freak me out.
As I settle into the smaller couch Angel picked for us, I wonder why he didn’t choose the larger one beside it. Then his thigh brushes mine, and the tingling makes my brain go blank.
Something is seriously wrong with me if I don’t care about people randomly touching me.
“Hazel is a runaway.”
A runaway siren? That can’t be right. Merfolk hate surface people and usually stick to their underwater cities, ignoring the world above.
“Trust me, I was just as surprised when I first saw her. Hazel was... lost. She needed a safe place to stay, so when I offered to bring her back to the kingdom, she said yes. I wish I could tell you more, sweetheart, but her past is not my story to tell.”
I know what it’s like to run from your demons, but where Hazel found the strength to escape and rebuild her entire life, I lost all hope and faded away for years.
I don’t know Hazel, but it doesn’t stop my Divine from stirring uncomfortably. A spark of fury ignites inside me at the thought of someone trying to hurt the dagger-loving siren.
The need to protect our own is ingrained in our bones; it’s even stronger than an instinct, so I understand the connection I feel with Angel since he’s a Horsemen descendant like me. Butwhy do I have that gut feeling for the moody siren?
