“I fucked up, Lena. I’m sorry.”
I fucked up, Lena. I’m sorry.
Those words. I’d heard them before. From my ex-husband. Standing in my kitchen next to a woman in her underwear.
I froze.
Images from the night at South Beach shot into my mind like a cannonball. My ex-husband. Elias singing. His arm around a woman as they whispered into each other’s ears and laughed. The look on Niko’s face when he saw me. The women at the coffee shop. The tales of sirens.
A surge of adrenaline ripped through my body and collected in my stomach. I felt dizzy and nauseated from the rush, but the flood lifted my brain fog and replaced it with cold clarity.
Confusion morphed into outrage, and I jerked out of his arms, my face contorting in horror. “Did you just sing to me?”
His mouth fell open. “Wha—What?”
“Did. You. Just. Sing. To. Me.”
His eyes widened and darted across my face. “Yes. I—” His throat bobbed through a labored swallow. “You know I love to sing.”
I narrowed my eyes, anger rising. “That’s not what I mean, and I think you know it. You tried to manipulate me, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”
He stared at me in shock and shoved a hand into his hair. “I just wanted a chance to talk. To explain.”
“So, you used your voice—your—your powers—to trap me? To make me listen?”
His face paled in distress. “Lena. It’s not like that. I?—”
“I think it’s exactly like that!” Tears brimmed my eyes, frustration, anger, and hurt swirling in my chest even as the last vestiges of his song pulled me toward him. But I fought it. I fought it with every ounce of anger coursing through my blood.
My nails cut into my palms, fists balled tight from the effort of my restraint. I ground my teeth trying to contain the heated words begging for escape, but the look on his face—his sad eyes and worried mouth, as if I was hurting him—tipped me over the edge.
“How dare you!” I pushed him away with both hands. He barely budged, adding to my frustration. Hot tears streamed down my face. “How could you!” My fists landed on his chest, pounding against the immovable wall until I turned my back to him so he couldn’t see me cry.
My shoulders shook trying to contain the anger and hurt. I wanted to storm off, but my legs wobbled with outrage.
“Lena. Please. Let me explain.”
A gentle hand landed on my shoulder. I shook it off and spun around to face him. “No! You don’t get to explain. You fucked up and tried to fix it by entrancing me. You tried to manipulate me!” I held up a staying hand, closed my eyes, and took deep breaths to rein in the anger.
“Lena—”
I opened my eyes, and my hand fell to my side. “I believed in you. I thought you were different.” I shook my head. “But you just made this so much worse.”
Before he could respond, I walked away, and under a riot of hurt and anger, my determined walk turned into a run. I didn’t stop until I reached my house. Away from betrayal. Away from the siren. Away from Elias.
Chapter Fourteen
ELIAS
I fell to my knees, the pain in my head overwhelming the pain in my heart when Lena ran. I pressed my palms against my temples, and a strangled noise escaped my chest as the headache pierced my skull, the pain of my failed song punishing. And it would only get worse.
The compulsion to run after her and sing again, to ensnare her and never let her go, had me crawling on my hands and knees toward the dunes.
Tears formed in my eyes from the searing pain. Nausea rippled through my body in waves. I forced myself to fall to my side, holding my head until the worst of the initial shock dissipated. My stomach emptied itself onto the sand, over and over, each retch sending a white-hot spear into my already splitting skull.
Minutes morphed into hours, my body shaking and heaving through the worst of the rejection, holding on for reprieve.
Finally, the backlash ended, leaving behind a dull throb and vertigo that kept the world spinning. The pain would return, each subsequent surge worse than the last until my song was answered or my body gave out.
