Page 38

I chuckle darkly at her words, no humor in my tone. “No, you have it all wrong. It means that you have enslaved me, ensorcelled me, captivated me, ma serpente. Accidentally, if you are to be believed, but you have done it all the same. You are now the most powerful creature in New Orleans. With but a whisper of your voice, I will do what you ask. Kill a friend? Done. Burn down the city? Without a thought. Dissolve the brotherhood that I have worked centuries to build? You’d have but to ask. That makes you dangerous.”

“I wouldn’t do that! I would never want to do any of those things!”

Wryly, I say, “Never is a long time, Andi. You may not now, but someday in the future you might, and if I am still enthralled by you, I’d be helpless to say no.”

“Helpless, my ass,” she mutters peevishly, “I can’t even get you to let me go.”

That rankles. “Did I not say that I would let you go? I will. I must. The idea of your displeasure drives me to borderline insanity. What I should do is kill you, so that you cannot control me, force me to go against my self-interest, destroy my kingdom, but I would destroy anyone who touched you to harm you right now, even myself. So, another contract will be made. You will swear, under magical oath, to never ask me to do anything I would not otherwise want to do and to never, ever, share your blood with anyone else.”

“I’ve already signed an exclusivity contract with you. I wouldn't feed anyone else.”

“This is different,” I tell her. “This contract will have no end. You’ll be mine alone to feed on. Forever.”

“Until I die?” Andi looks terrified.

I snort. “You won’t die, Andi. You can be killed, true, but sirens are like vampires: immortal. You will never age or die the mortal way. You have likely already stopped aging. If legend is to be believed, you can’t even die from blood loss. You have an unlimited amount, ready to feed an army and keep them bound to you.”

She looks shell-shocked. Merde. Perhaps I should have been more tactful. I suppose it is an adjustment, if she’s thought she was mortal her whole life. But I don’t have time to coddle her through every bit of shocking news.

Andi recovers a little, still looking rattled, but asks, “Why do you want to keep feeding from me, anyway? Isn't it dangerous for you?”

“With certain magic guardrails in place, I believe I should be able to feed safely from you.” My mouth already waters at the thought, a deep yearning in the pit of my stomach. I’ll need to feed again from her. Soon. How I managed to stay away from her for even a day, I’ll never know.

“And if I don’t want to be your blood slave forever?” she asks challengingly, that little bit of spirit I see in her sometimes shining through.

“If we are tired of each other in a century or so, we’ll revisit it,” I hedge. With how strong this feeling is and the stories from legend, I doubt it will fade. I have never experienced anything like it.

The singer looks at me warily. “And if I do that, how will you be any different from Colton? He wants to possess me forever as well, never let me leave.”

I growl at the name of my enemy and the comparison, then stop. Colton Haynes. He must know. Why else would he have cursed her blood before, disguising its taste and effects? Why else would he be chasing her like a madman, unable to let her go? Calling a meeting of the families to negotiate for her? He could be under her spell, just as I am.

“Did you ever give Colton your blood?” I ask, ignoring her question from before.

She frowns, the expression doing strange things to my insides. I hate seeing her frown, just as I hated seeing her tears when I first entered the holding cell. I was a fool to think that I could resist her. But she does not need to see the extent of her power over me.

“Colton tried to get me to donate blood a few times, at his company,” she says slowly, as if just remembering. “But Granny Jean always told me that I must never donate blood. She said I had a latent heart condition that could flare up if I donated, so I never did. He was pretty insistent the last time, wanted to take me to the doctor to get tested for the condition, to prove that I could donate. He said . . .”

She looks up in alarm. “Are you saying that Colton thinks that I am an Other, like you do? A siren?”

I smile grimly. “I do not think you are a siren. You are one. You need to adjust your mindset, and quickly. As for Colton, I think he must know. Or at least suspects. Siren blood would be a potent ingredient for a dark warlock like him. He could use it to take over the city, easily.”

Andi looks away, fear in her eyes, as there always is at the mention of Colton. “That’s when he hit me,” she murmurs to herself, “when I wouldn’t sign up for the latest blood drive.”

“Likely, he lost patience with you and wanted your blood. Perhaps donating it willingly is important. You must never give it to him.” The things that a warlock like Colton Haynes could do with siren blood are too egregious to even think about. I don’t know enough about magic to know what specific spells he could cast, but they would be bad for the city, I’m sure. I’ll have to talk to my lawyer. She would know more than I do about the matter.

I stare down at Andi. If I had known before I had fed on her what she is, I would have killed her, attraction to her be damned. She was right earlier to compare herself to a bomb. She is dangerous and, in the wrong hands, could end civilization as we know it. But I have fed from her, and so I cannot hurt her. A paradox.

“Let’s get that contract signed,” I say. I hold out a hand, but Andi doesn't take it. She still stares at me with distrust. I hold back a sigh of frustration.

“What is it?” I ask impatiently.

“You never answered,” she says stubbornly, her eyes flicking away and avoiding my gaze. “How are you different from Colton with this forever contract thing?”

I glare at the siren at my feet, but she won’t look at me. “I am different because I am not locking you away in a tower, where I can feed on you as often as I like and do with you what I will. I am letting you go. You can go back to your job, keep me as your bodyguard, live a life, sing your songs. Be happy. But I cannot let you do those things if you don’t sign the contract. I need to be able to prove to my brothers that you aren’t a threat to us, to our empire.”

Finally, she looks at me. I can see that she is overwhelmed and apprehensive, but hesitantly she reaches out her hand and puts it in mine.

“Okay,” she replies, resignation in her tone, as she lets me pull her upright. “Let’s sign this stupid thing.