Page 27 of A Siren of Beasts

Moreth shrugged. “Suppose that might be one of the only things we agree on, which is unusual. Normally, he’s always yelling at me to stop doing things but when I stalked you through the forest he was more than willing to let me. It was refreshing not to have him bitching in the background.”

Unknowingly, he’d answered my question with that bit of information. They were two beings trapped in one body, each working separately from the other. If he did indeed end up being one of the monsters that my soul resonated with, it seemed I would be adding two instead of just one more personality to the mix.

“Moreth, would you mind letting me speak to Milin? I have some questions and I believe he’s the only one who’s going to be able to answer them for me,” I requested.

“If I let my sensitive side out, will you release us from the wall? I’ll admit I was trying to scare you, but it’s clear now that I don’t think that will happen. Should have guessed if you could be cuddled by death itself that a twisted tree wouldn’t be that scary,” Moreth grumbled, like he was actually put out about the whole situation.

Reaching out with my mind to the magic still holding him firmly, I called it back to me. Having not given him any warning, Moreth crashed to the floor. “I appreciate your apology, Moreth, but you try that shit on me again and it won’t be me just dropping you on your ass. If you intend to stick around, which I get the feeling you are, I will be treated with respect. Is that something you can do?”

Moreth started to let Milin take over but Rhun appeared and grabbed the ent by his throat. “My mate asked you a question, answer it or I’m going to turn you into kindling.”

Moreth returned full force and tried to free himself from Rhun’s grasp, until he froze and I smelled smoke coming from the ent. “Fucking hell-wolf, I thought all of you had been hunted down and skinned by the humans.” Giving up his fight Moreth let out a frustrated growl. “Put out the fire and I’ll do as you asked.”

Rhun released him, and Moreth rubbed at his neck, hissing with pain as I saw the embers still glowing in the shape of Rhun’s hand. Suddenly, water was twining itself around the wound and steam billowed and popped as the rest of the fire was put out. Peering around Imp’s arm, I discovered Hisceas was the source of the water magic. That really should have been obvious, but the fact that magic was even a thing was taking a little getting used to. Alternatively, I felt like everything was almost becoming too easy and normal.

“Kezia,” Moreth said, pulling my attention back to him, his voice a little raspy. “I give you my word on the sacred Mother Tree that created the first saplings, that I will never again try to purposely scare you so I can feed off it. As a creature made from magic and madness, right and wrong become a blurred line.”

“That is an oath made with magic, Little Siren. If he breaks it Mother Tree can call him back to her spirit and he won’t be able to do a thing about it,” Hisceas told me silently.

I was beyond grateful to have him be able to do that, along with being able to read my thoughts to know I hadn’t been willing to trust Moreth at his word. Now that I knew the stakes he’d put upon himself, I felt much more comfortable with him.

“Moreth, I accept your oath and hope it will never have to be acted upon,” I responded. “Now, may I please talk to Milin?”

He nodded sullenly. I watched the transformation of one alter to the other and just how the energy around them shifted so drastically. When Milin surfaced completely, he groaned and reached up to his neck and flinched. “What did he do? Please tell me he didn’t do anything horrible.”

“He got a little disrespectful, but we managed to straighten things out,” I shared and tugged out of Imp’s arms, who was not at all pleased at my choice, but let me go. Looking over my shoulder at him I smiled. “I’m not going far, and I promise to stay where you can see me at all times.”

That seemed to appease him enough that he wasn’t staring daggers at Milin. Imp shifted into his raven form and found a perch on the back of an armchair once he saw I was gesturing for Milin to join me over there.

“Please, I have some questions and I feel like you might be someone who can help me,” I said as I sat in the armchair Imp had picked.

I figured it was easier to follow his silent request in hopes it wouldn’t turn into a vocal one that I’d have to rescue Milin from. Crossing one leg over the other I relaxed into the soft feel of the chair with a sigh. When a massive charcoal gray wolf walked up and lay over my foot I sat up, but when his gaze met mine I realized it was Rhun.

“I didn’t know you had an alternate form,” I commented.

“I can’t use my magic in my fully animal form,” he explained. “It was far too dangerous out in the forest for me to risk not being able to protect you.”

Smiling at him I ran a hand over his head, his fur was amazingly soft to the touch. He butted his head into my hand as if to get me to pet him some more but I sat back and shifted my attention to Milin as Hisceas took a seat in the chair next to me.

“How can I be of help to you, Kezia?” Milin asked, his gaze lingering on the monsters around him before he settled it on me.

thirteen

The queen’s heir had finally returned to us and here I was sitting across from her, just as Queen Lixera had foretold. Kezia was already collecting those she would need without even realizing it. I had so many questions for her myself. How did she get here? Did she know what and who she really was? Had the queen’s spirit spoken to her like she still does to me from time to time?

My elation upon seeing her the other day was cut short when I realized one of my brethren was trying to kill her. Thankfully, they all knew who I was, the curse I held, and the fact the queen had chosen me as her ambassador with the ents. Our people were stubborn and unyielding, believing that Mother Tree was our ruler and Queen Lixera was the ruler of the rest of the monsters. It had made things tense between our two cultures until Mother Tree and Queen Lixera made me the go-between.

Since the madness has taken over and Queen Lixera was taken, Mother Tree had gone dormant, no longer speaking to her children. It was my greatest wish to help bring back the thriving world we once had before humans descended upon us. Now was my chance to fulfill my purpose and why the queen had tried to save me from the madness. While I despised Moreth and his cruel manner, I couldn’t fault the queen. She’d done all she could, but her visions had told her she wasn’t the one who would lift this curse—Kezia was.

“You told me the queen saved you from the madness,” she started, then paused almost as if she was thinking through what she wanted to ask first. “How close was that to when she was taken? I suppose I’m trying to understand when this all started, why it started, and how the queen, who was incredibly powerful, couldn’t stop it. Gods, I don’t even know if those are the right questions to ask. I know nothing about this land, monsters, magic, or what I actually am.”

My heart went out to Kezia, she’s been forced to grow up around humans with their nasty habits and logic. It pleased me greatly to see her so at home in this enchanted dwelling with some of the most wicked and fearsome monsters still alive. Her hell-wolf was one of the last, if not the last, to still be alive. The humans hunted them down once they figured out their bones would keep them warm for years without needing other fuel for fire.

The death-raven wasn’t the last, but he was one of the strongest and most powerful of his kind. This was directly translated to the amount of souls he’d eaten over the years, which told you how vicious and ruthless of a killer that raven was. Yet there he stood like a sentry on the back of her chair watching me, waiting for the slip-up that would give him another soul to feast on. What that raven didn’t realize was the curse I bore made me immune to his magic. The spell the queen used on me anchored my soul to the land and the energy it produced naturally. I won’t ever be able to leave our lands and sail off somewhere—which was the price I thought I was paying for the chance to be free of the madness. Moreth’s appearance happened a decade after the queen was gone, as the madness grew and covered our world like the mists of the forest.

“Why don’t I start by telling you about when Queen Lixera was taken and what happened after that?” I suggested. “Your guardian chose to slumber in the depths with no queen to guide him and the other two wouldn’t have interacted with her the same way I did.”

This had Kezia’s brow furrowing. “Lixera, that was her name?”