Knocking Jesper out will at least give me a chance to explore, and if the door to the balcony or the interior door is locked once I’m in that room, I’ll just go alert the guards that he passed out.
I’ll gaslight the shit out of this man that it wasn’t my massage, and I definitely don’t know any siren songs; he clearly was hallucinating as he passed out. It’s not as if they can read me, anyway.
Massaging him through his clothes as I tap into my magic, I feel there’s an incredible amount of tension in his shoulders.With every knead into his muscles, I channel my powers, very gently, to help loosen and relax.
Meanwhile, my heart races so much it’s making me dizzy.
“Aren’t I supposed to not have clothes on where you touch, to make it more effective?” he asks.
Leaning down slightly into his ear, adrenaline saturating my veins with each rapid beat of my heart, I say, “Sure, if you’d like.”
Before he can even reply, my magic morphs as sedation becomes my focus. I slide my hands to his neck, singing the song of the sirens so gently in his ears it’s like a whisper.
“What are you…” food sputters out of his mouth, his body stiffening, but only for just long enough to almost rise from his seat as I hold him there, my magic flooding his body, the words of the siren so quiet in his ear the others won’t hear through the wall.
As his body goes limp, so much faster than Soren’s, I try to lean him over his food so he lies in it, finishing the song as I do so, trying to keep an even rhythm with my voice as I lay him down.
He breathes deeply, the muscles in his face so slack that I know this will work. For at least an hour. If not longer.I never asked Soren how long it worked on him for, but I also poured way more magic into him than Jesper.
The enraged part of me sees Jesper lying there, completely open for a nice stabbing. It would be so easy to slit his throat, but killing him might be the genuine death of me. I nearly grab the steak knife, thinking of the game from the Undercroft, but injuring him, even at all, would be the reckless part of tonight.
I may need his confusion when he wakes up.
Free the sirens.
I need to free these sirens.
J A N E
Ipeer around as if the walls have eyes. I inspect every painting for holes, but I see nothing, careful not to touch a single thing. Rushing to the double doors, I peer through the keyhole—it’s covered.
I don’t even hear anyone outside.
No, shit.
I near the open doors to the balcony while Jesper sleeps in his steak, leaning out to peer around. It’s so dark on this side of the castle, like it is every night when I peer out the window.
If I were up there, right now, I’d be able to see myself sneaking out. Well, perhaps not rightnow. The shadows are so dense… Will anyone else see me who could be watching?Go. Time is wasting.
My gut tells me that Jesper is having us meet in averyunofficial manner, which means very few eyes on us, even if he said otherwise. My gaze lands on the balcony that’s—no fucking way.
They’re connected.
Through a very narrow pathway, they’re connected in a spot I couldn’t see from high above. Moving as quickly as possible, I beat at the dress that flutters in the wind. This is why I wearpants. Creeping around the wall, I peer over, only for a moment, to see it’s a straight drop down into the ocean.
Nothing I haven’t faced before.
My lips part, the cooler air of night filling my lungs. And just as I saw earlier today, this side of the ocean is completely empty of people, the cliffs below a natural safeguard. Does that mean the sirens can escape there? Surely, it does.
If the timing is right, then maybe Tempestwillcome—I bet that’s what Cypress wants. My heart is beating against my ribcage as I reach the other balcony. Misery might flee after this, seeing as it’s almost time to leave, anyway. And if Tempest greets them in the open ocean…
The ocean god.
Cypress said Misery is weak to that energy.
That’s how we’ll trap him.
Ithasto be.
