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My stomach sinks. The idea that the world was once this whole makes me feel like I am standing on the edge of something too large to mourn. This map is the world Kylian grew up in, the world he remembers as well as I remember my own home. He doesn’t look a great deal older than me, but he’s immortal. Did he witness my mother’s death the same way I did? Did he light kindling beneath mages and laugh as they screamed?

I swallow hard, pushing the thought away, and point to another mass of land, not quite as big as Kylian’s old home. “And this one?”

“That’s Iron-more.” King Xavian pulls a leather chair out from behind the desk and falls into it. He props his boots up on the table top, scattering a few scrolls. “The land was all jagged ridges and black marsh flats, like the ground itself had been chewed up and spat back out.” There’s obvious disgust in his tone.

“Whose kingdom was Iron-more?” I ask.

“It was the goblin kingdom.” Xavian’s eyes are far away as he speaks. “They didn’t build cities the way we do. They burrowed and hollowed. Whole warrens carved into the bones of the hills. You could walk past an empty slope and never know there were thousands of them breathing beneath your feet, listening, waiting to pounce.” A bitter laugh slips out of him. “They were small but clever in the worst way. They’d smile at you, offer gifts . . . and by sunrise, your throat would be slit and your boots would be on a goblin’s feet.” He exhales slowly.

A shutter runs through me as I try not to envision the world he described. I point to the next kingdom quietly, a giant mass that borders all the old kingdoms, like the rest of the land gravitated around it. “And this kingdom?”

King Xavian chuckles, his eyes darting over my shoulder to Kylian. “How very eager your little bond is.” He watches him for a moment. “Is something wrong, Kylian?”

I glance cautiously over my shoulder, and Kylian’s blood-red eyes are fixed on the pulse in my neck. His hand gently coils around my waist, utterly devoid of the violence twisting through his expression. When he doesn’t respond, Xavian smirks and looks back at the map.

“That is Coral Bay. A kingdom that never needed land. They preferred the sea. Ruled it, lived in it, breathed it like the rest of us breathe air.”

My brows draw together. “But . . . Coral Bay drowned, didn’t it? So everyone is dead now?”

King Xavian’s mouth curves. “That’s the thing. How do you drown a siren?” My brows furrow, and he lets out a soft laugh.

“Wait, you mean real sirens? I thought those were just stories to keep the little ones out of the water?”

He laughs again. “They are very real and very dangerous.”

It seems impossible that someone could live on both land and in the sea. I think of the children’s books I’d once read by candlelight in Madam Dahlia’s attic. “Sirens are . . . beautiful, though. In the books.”

“Beautiful enough to make men walk off a boat willingly to their death.”

I think of how Sable’s powers have begun to surface over the years. How her words on the farm felt so reasonable, how easily she was able to manipulate me. She tried so hard to contain it. I wonder if the sirens had similar powers and if it wasn’t about their beauty.

“There were stories of the sirens’ song and how they could manipulate minds.”

“I’m sure your bedtime stories made them seem so much better than they truly were.”

“What do you mean?”

Xavian’s eyes gleam. “Cannibalism. Humans were a specialty. Easy prey. Soft bodies. Loud hearts. Sirens were as cunning as they were beautiful.”

Eagan clears his throat timidly from the doorway, as if he knows better than to speak during a conversation involving royalty. “My king, should I hold onto the girl while you conduct business?”

Kylian’s grip tightens painfully around my midsection, and a low growl rips from his throat. “You’ll stand your post at the door, Eagan, or you may take your leave.” But he steps away from me the next moment, taking deep pulls of air and pacing between me and King Xavian. “Get on with it,” he growls.

Xavian grins and stretches back in his seat, tucking his arms leisurely behind his head. He’s enjoying Kylian’s pain immensely. “Where was I?”

Kylian’s hand rakes over the desk, inches from where Xavian’s legs are propped. The sound of his nails dragging long grooves into the table doesn’t even make the Demon King flinch.

“Most kingdoms learned to steer clear of Coral Bay’s coves.” Xavian’s speaking to me, but the two kings are staring at each other in a way that makes my stomach twist.

“Yes, but this is a very large area to avoid,” I say, trying to pull their attention back to me.

“Trade routes, fishing lanes, and supply ships all ran along the coast. Nobody wanted a war with Coral Bay and to wake up missing half their fleet.”

“But you said they lured people to the sea and ate them.”

Xavian’s grin widens. “Yes, they were notorious pirates. They used to help the elven kingdom. The dragon kingdom too. Sank ships for them. Stole cargo. Turned tides in wars. Then they would vanish into the depths before anyone could retaliate.”

Kylian swipes Xavian’s long legs off the desk before pacing back toward me. I brace for Xavian to retaliate, but he chuckles and sits forward.