“You miss being a part of it,” she finished for me, and I nodded as a sadness overcame me.
“Why did you leave your house?” she asked softly.
I stared down at the human who had begun to haunt my thoughts. I was used to monsters asking me the question because they wanted to try to exploit or ridicule me, but I didn’t get that feeling from Raine. It was as if she genuinely wanted to know the answer simply to satisfy her own curiosity. She wasn’t planning on using the information to her benefit but was merely interested inme.Not in my power, not because of my looks, but because she wanted to know my story. That knowledge was equally as alluring as her pouty pink lips and fiery amber eyes.
My chest fell as I let out a sigh. “Different monsters have their strengths and weaknesses, and for sirens, they covet beauty and power above all else. Honesty and love are things long forgotten, as is loyalty. On the eve of the night I was to take my place as alpha for the House of Saceris, I was betrayed by the female who was to be my second and, I had hoped, my mate.” I tried to keep my face neutral, to not let the hurt I always buried deep inside me show, but Raine was able to see it.
“You really loved her,” she said.
Swallowing back my anger, I lifted my head higher and shrugged a muscled shoulder. “I thought they all loved me as much as I loved them, and Cordelia, my second-to-be, most of all.” The image of the siren’s delicate face drifted across my mind, but I forced it away. “But I soon learned that the high house of water monsters is truly a house of lies. Going behind my back, Cordelia gained the favor of many of those within the house in an effort to make herself alpha. None of my so-called friends told me of this, though some had been part of the plans.
“Everything came to light when I caught Cordelia conspiring with another male, Hersondal. Only the strongest of the house can be the alpha, but from what I gathered, she had hoped to drug me and let the siren Hersondal take care of the rest. It was a laughable plan, and one I could have easily squashed, but from that moment, I wanted nothing more to do with that house or its inhabitants. From then, I spent weeks drifting through the city, content to drink myself into a stupor, and it was on one of those fateful nights that I met Asher.”
My gaze finally went back to Raine then, and I could see the apology on the tip of her tongue. Before she could speak it, I added, “I come here when I want to feel connected to that world again. I enjoy being with Asher and the others, but at times, I do feel as though something is missing.” I paused then, and as I stared at the female in my arms, I started to wonder whether it was not a thing but a “who” that was missing.
A slight flush pulled across Raine’s cheeks as I stared at her, the red tinge spreading all the way to her slender neck.
“But, as to why you’re here,” I continued, “I believe all music has a form of magic weaved between the notes. A siren’s power has no effect unless it is directed at a specific individual, so listening to their song will have no detriment to you. I thought after you’d endured Kade’s barbaric methods of training to try to get you to change, we could try a different approach. One more emotional rather than physical.”
“Emotional?”
“Dance with me, my lovely Raine. And let the music fill you.”
“What? I-I can’t dance,” she responded, her face paling, and I chuckled. It was perhaps the most frightened I’d seen her.
“To the contrary, I see you dance every time you fight,” I said as I pulled her effortlessly through the water.
“That’s different,” she said, but she didn’t try to move away from me as we glided around the lake, the voices of a hundred sirens filling the air around us. I leaned closer to her, and the bond between us hummed as the side of her face brushed against mine.
“I don’t believe it is” was my only reply. Raine’s body was stiff as I pulled her along, but as time passed, her muscles relaxed and it was as if she molded against me, the pair of us becoming a single entity as the water seemed to part for us. I tipped her backward, and her back curved as her head kissed the water. Her red hair drifted in the water above her head, and then I was lifting her back to me, pressing her chest against mine.
Sweet Toros, she was stunning. But even with the music and the power of the sirens warming the air around us, she remained human. I had hoped this different approach would unlock something inside her, but her body stayed the same.
“You know you broke free from my power when I enchanted you the other night,” I said against the shell of her ear, delight going through me when bumps prickled along her arms at the touch of my lips against her skin. “No onehas ever broken free from a siren’s power, let alonemypower. You are the most curious thing to happen in two hundred years.”
“I hadn’t meant to break free,” she said, and I could tell she was thinking back to when I’d entranced her nights ago. Apparently, she’d needed to pee so badly that she’d fought her way out of the trance, but I didn’t think that was the only reason. There was power within her. We’d already seen it when she’d turned the ceiling into sand during another trial. Whether the power was because she was already turning into a monster or due to another reason, I wasn’t sure, but she was stronger than she believed herself to be.
I wasn’t confident that trying this would get her to turn, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it another go. “I’m going to add my song to that of the other sirens’ now, and I’m going to use my power on you.”
At my words, her jaw hardened and her muscles tightened, but she nodded. “All right.”
Keeping my gaze fixed on her, I parted my lips and my song began filling the cavern, my power like a bubble that surrounded her, being absorbed into every fiber of her being. Her eyes glazed slightly, and she smiled, desire evident on her face as she began to grind against my body, her nails digging into my arms as she became desperate to be even closer to me.
When she’d been like this the other night, I’d enjoyed the way my power affected her, but this time, it made me feel ill. I’d always told myself that I enjoyed the look of adoration in their eyes as my song gripped them, but not now. Now I’d give anything to see Raine’s eyes light up as they had when I’d tipped her head back to touch the water. I didn’t care if she was a monster or not. The female was already perfect.
Her tongue licked at my bottom lip, her breasts rubbing against my chest, and while I couldn’t deny my own desire that ignited from having her against me, her hard nipples dragging against my skin, it wasn’t what I wanted. I wantedher.The real her. But I kept singing, my song an endless stream of sound as it filled every part of her mind.
Jumping, she wrapped her legs around me, and I held her as my power drove her mad. As time went on, I began to doubt whether she would be able to break free again.Had her physical need to relieve herself truly been the only reason she’d been strong enough? I didn’t want to believe it.You can do this, Raine.I wasn’t sure why I was so desperate for her to resist me. Maybe because no one else could. Or maybe because I wanted to know that Raine was different from all the others. Different from Cordelia. When I’d found Cordelia conspiring against me, I had used my power until she was again fawning over me, but I’d known then that it wasn’t real. I didn’t want the little human to be like that.
The slightest spark lit Raine’s eyes for the briefest moment, and hope shot through me. She blinked, and I continued to sing, not sure if I’d been imagining things. Flicking out her tongue, she wet her lips, still under my spell.No, there.Another spark. Another blink.
Come back to me..
She shook her head, and then, as though it was a miracle from when we used to believe in the gods, her eyes cleared, the amber a vivid golden red. Those eyes were the most beautiful things I’d seen in a century.
“Please tell me I didn’t try to do nasty things to your tail,” she said, quickly untangling her body from mine.
Coldness spread through me as she moved away, but I couldn’t stop the smile that dominated my face. No one else had ever broken free from my power, and now she had done it twice. My magic was strong enough that I could even overpower other sirens if I wanted to, but not Raine. She was real, and that idea was more intoxicating than anything I’d tasted before.
