My nostrils flare. “I don’t give a fuck if she thinks that of herself. You will watch it—as everyone else will when speaking about her.”
If Xeraphine wants to call herself that, fine, but that’s it.
“Okay, overprotective much? My bad. But seriously, couldn’t you guess what she gave me? I’m not here to fight, that’s not what this is about.”
“Her heart,” Alaric provides.
When my shoulders drop, I feel Sydni wrap an arm around my waist and hold onto me. That’s right. Sirens survive on the hearts of other living creatures; Mundane and Dylox being the most potent for them to consume.
Sinnix’s eyes are on me now, her expression shifting from playful to one of sympathy.
“I’m a runt, as I told her. My father tried to kill me because I wouldn’t conform with his desires of the future of our kingdom, and our people. The poison he injected me with was slowly taking my life, and I was desperate. I had no strength to make it to the surface, let alone to land, where I could seduce and drag down a fisherman. When I saw her…” She fiddles with her fingers, picking at her nails while keeping her eyes solely on me. “I knew it was my chance to survive. I figured she’d be willing to give me what I wanted for quite literallyanything,because, you know… her predicament. She was suffocating to death over and over again. It should’ve been easy.”
Swallowing, my mind races to Xeraphine coming back to life, to just drown again.
Oh… fucking Vayl above…
“But fuck Thaldris himself, was I wrong. She denied me, stubborn Succubus. It wasn’t like her heart wouldn’t grow back.” She never tears her gaze away from me, not even for a second. “Because of you.”
My eyebrows pull together as I roll my lips, holding them between my teeth.“Your skin, your heart, your fucking brilliant brain, your psychotic tendencies. It is all mine. All of you is mine.”
“It wasn’t until I offered to kill the fetus, that?—”
“What?!” Both Sydni and I scream in unison. She’s sitting upright, while I’m on my feet.
Sinnix looks worried. “Oh, right… Shit, you wouldn’t know.”
“That’s impossible,” Niyla says, but even I can tell that she is doubtfulof her statement. “She hasn’t hit her hundredth year of life, unless she is older than we believe. Right, Alaric?”
I look to him, but he doesn’t comment. Honestly, he doesn’t seem fazed by the revelation which is… odd.
I want to be upset that they, once again, know more about her kind than I do—or Sydni—but I’m not surprised. However, that’s not what’s important right now… She was pregnant?
“I can confirm very much so she was. I tore it from her and ate it. Not as delicious as her heart was, but still sustenance.”
Niyla fake-gags. “Disgusting. You ate it?! Do you have no respect? It was still a child.”
The Siren narrows her eyes, a snarl crawling across her lips. “She told me to eat it. I would have done it regardless, but with her permission it made it sweeter.”
My eyes flick to Sydni who has her hands over her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“How far along was she?” I ask, truthfully scared of the answer.
“If you are concerned it was yours, it wasn’t.”
I’m not entirely sure if that revelation hurts more or less.
“Wait…”
“It was only about four weeks old… I truly don’t think I’m in the position to tell you.”She was pregnant… not by me… that means someone—“She didn’t give me much, and what she did give me will only make you ask more questions I don’t have answers to.”
My entire body jerks as a sharp pain of understanding shoots through my body. I’m too close to Sydni, and I fear that I may lose control and destroy this entire boat.
“No…” NotmyXeraphine. My little demon. Myfucking woman.
“Rhyse…”
“Kairhyse.” Sinnix clears her throat, and I slowly turn my head to her. I can see my chest rising and falling in my peripherals.
