62. In Which Birds of a Feather Roost Together
Chapter 62
In Which Birds of a Feather Roost Together
L ooking out the tower window, watching the sunset burst into a cotton candy sky, Callassa hugged herself. She was dumbstruck by the appearance of Liam’s mark. He stood in the doorway, leaning against the jamb, unable to come in, as she stared, unable to speak. Camulos had interrupted him. That was hours ago, and he still hadn’t returned. The protection shield Ellie put into place kept her in but everyone out. She would have welcomed it in any other prison she had been in, but now, Liam was resigned to the hall, and they couldn’t speak as freely.
A throat cleared behind her. She already knew who it was. With the weak mate bond in place, she could feel him throughout the house. Comforted by his presence outside her door, she turned to face him.
“May I?” Liam arched a brow, a hint of his boyish charm returning.
“Ellie locked everyone out.”
He shook his head. “I asked her to remove it.”
She waved her hand in acceptance, and he crossed the threshold. The second he was in her makeshift prison, her pulse sped up. She backed up to the far wall, giving him a wide berth. He said nothing. Picking up the little chair by her table, he returned to the door and, closing it, placed the chair in front and sat, folding his wings.
“Please sit.” He motioned to the bed. Gentle as if he were taming a scared animal. In a way, she was. Afraid of the mark, scared of what it meant. She shook her head.
“I prefer to stand.”
“I won’t try anything, love.”
She pinched her eyebrows together.
“I can hear your heart racing. Feel it fluttering in your chest like a scared hare.” He shrugged. “Mated.”
“When?” She flicked her chin at his chest.
“Shortly after yours, I assume. I awoke to it.” He ran his hand through the mess of curls on his head. The neat rows of braids had pieces pulled out, breaking free.
“How?” Turning her palms up, she looked at them, bewildered. “How?”
“I didn’t understand it initially, but my mum warned me. When I found my mate, she would be exceptional, and she was right.”
“Your mother?”
“Aye, love. My mother was siren; my father was human.”
Callassa stumbled backward, clutching the wall for support. He rushed to her side.
“Come, sit on the bed.” He led her to the little bed, and she plopped down on the top. “Head between your knees, lass. Sure look as though you could faint.”
“Your mother was siren?”
“Aye, lass.”
She eyed him. “Your mother?”
“Yes.”
She shook her head.
“Aye.”
“How? How?” She gestured with her hands for no particular reason.
“Well, I assume it had something to do with shaggin’ my father.”
Snapping her mouth closed, a ghost of a smile hinted on her lips, the first in days. Liam took her hand in his, holding it to his chest right over his mark. It forced her to look at him, to see him. Those hazel eyes dancing with mischief, his coiled hair and brawny arms; all she had explored. But as she studied him, she saw subtle differences she hadn’t examined. His wings held no horn; they sloped softly like hers. He was shorter than the others, his structure finer.
“That afternoon, in the corridor, it wasn’t your song I heard, Callassa; it was your scent. I could smell you long before I heard you. Forces pulled me to you that I didn’t understand. I couldn’t explain it, but I knew what you were.”
Her mouth fell open. “You knew?”
“Not that you were siren, no. But I knew you were my mate. I thought you were human, so I tried to resist, pulling back when every cell in my body screamed at me to claim you.”
A quick gasp escaped her. “Your eyes. Your eyes glowed.”
He nodded. “I was trying to resist. I didn’t want to scare you with the force of my attraction to you. I meant what I said, love, I need a willing partner.”
Her cheeks warmed. “You got one.”
He patted her hand, which still rested over his mark. “Aye. Except you scared the shit out of me screaming like a banshee. I thought for sure you were dying. Or splitting apart. I had never made a woman make that sound. Plenty of others, but never that.”
She huffed out a laugh. “What can I say? But I put you under my spell. I seduced you. I told you to accept Evander and Ellie.” She searched his face as she spoke.
“I have a confession to make.” Liam twisted his lips and wrinkled his nose. “I lied.”
“You lied?” Callassa balked.
Shrugging one shoulder, he screwed up his face. “I wasn’t under your spell. You can’t glamour a siren. That night in the lounge wasn’t the earplugs, love, it was you. It wasn’t your magic. You called me. I lied because I didn’t know what to do. Once the mark appeared, I had to find out if you were like me. Human or siren. At first, I thought it was a coincidence, a happy accident. But that night, before Evander and Ellie came back from the cabin, you tried to glamour me, and I knew. I knew what you were, but I had to find out why you were really here. Siren don’t come to the mainland, and only one I knew went to the human realm. I didn’t know your real name until Ellie said it outside your door that first night. Then I put the pieces together.”
“How did you know?”
“My mum was siren, Callassa.”
Her heart swelled at her name on his lips.
“She told me about you when I was a lad—stories of her island and people. She told me of a queen who saved her on the worst night of her life. How you helped my mum escape over the walls of the four towers. And how you told her to run to safety. To run and never look back.”
“Your mother?”
“My mother is Rainise.”
For the second time in a few minutes, Callassa felt as though she would faint. Rainise? Rainise had been one of her court maidens. The only siren she ever helped escape. She had found her half-beaten, assaulted, and terrified, and took her to her chambers, hiding her until she was well enough to run. She remembered the night so well. The smell of the grass and Rainise begging her to run, too. But she hadn’t. She hadn’t because she chose to stay to protect her people. It was because of Rainise that she became who she was, what she was. A shield so that her people didn’t suffer. Her eyes filled with tears as she studied him again. That’s why he looked the way he did: his hazel eyes, his delicate long fingers, his brandy-colored wings.
“You look just like her.”
He smiled weakly. “Aye, I do. She spoke highly of you. Of your courage. Of your bravery.” He touched her cheek, rubbing away tears as she leaned into his hand.
“How did they meet? Your mother and father?”
Liam pulled her to him, and she welcomed the embrace. Wrapping her arms around him, she tucked her feet up, her head in his lap. Raven hair fell over his thighs, sliding off the side as he dug his fingers in, massaging her scalp. Her skin tingled under his expert movements.
“I don’t rightly know it, but they met, and it was instant for the both of them. My parents loved each other deeply. My father worshipped her and would do anything for her. But it wasn’t always easy. During that time, humans who looked like us were being sold. Horrible atrocities were done to them. My father shielded us as best he could, but we weren’t very popular amongst the village. We lived further out, and while I was a lonely lad, love surrounded me daily.”
Callassa listened, his fingers making circles on her scalp, easing away the tension. Smiling, awash in the glow of knowing that Rainise had escaped. She had run just as she told her to. She had run to safety and found someone who loved her. And Liam was a product of that love.
“When I awoke to find you gone, I was crazed. I felt it the moment you tried to use magic to release me. I could feel the fear, the anger, the guilt, but I couldn’t tell the others. Everything in me was screaming, knowing you were in pain. You were surrounded by darkness and alone, and I couldn’t get to you. I didn’t know where you were. I tried to tell you and speak to you through the bond that I was coming. Then, as I was fighting for my life against the warriors, fighting with Evander, I felt you. The anger searing through you. I was wrecked, panting and snorting like a caged animal. Gutted and frantic. Knowing I couldn’t tell them what I was. Knowing I couldn’t reach you. I was in agony. My mate bond screamed for you. You are everything to me.”
She wiggled closer, squeezing, and he leaned back, pulling her further onto the bed until they were both comfortable. Picking her hand up, he kissed her knuckles. They stayed like that for several moments, letting the silence speak for them.
“You never responded.”
He tilted his head so he could look at her, his lips in a frown. “Pardon?”
“I tried to call to you through the bond. When we first came, I wanted to believe we could have a future and I tried to call to you. You never responded.”
He was shaking his head. “I never heard you. Callassa, had I, I would have responded. I would have come to you. Did you hear me?”
She shook her head.
He pulled her closer. Callassa sighed.
“When did you—? Did you—change?”
“Yes, and no. I don’t know if it was because I am half-human and half-siren, but I wasn’t born with my wings. For most of my life, I was a human. I changed at twenty-one. One evening, I came down with a fever that got worse. My father and mother were worried, calling for the doctor, but there was nothing anyone could do. It was excruciating; the pain lasted for days, but in the end, I had my wings. My mother helped me learn to conceal myself from the village, but it was all too much. I was already an outcast because of how I looked; I couldn’t have wings as well. Camulos found me years later and I joined the company.”
“But the elixir? It turns you into a nymph.”
“Not all of me. It allowed me to hide in plain sight. My company, my deartháir , would never know.”
Liam had wiggled them as he spoke, so they lay lengthwise on the bed. Her cheek rested on his chest. Her dark wings flowed over the side of the bed, mixing with one of his deep brown ones. She lifted her head and placed her chin on her hand.
“Your company doesn’t know?”
He shook his head.
“Evander?”
He shook his head again. “I didn’t know how to tell them at first. It wasn’t till I came to Olympus that I learned of the hatred of the siren. At first, I stayed silent out of fear; I didn’t want Maximus to kick me out. But the longer I stayed, the less it mattered. They saw me as equal, and I didn’t need to explain myself. But seeing Maximus today reminds me why I’ve kept silent.”
He paused to breathe and released it, her chin rising and falling as he did. Touching her cheek, he rubbed his calloused thumb over the rise of her cheekbone, and she closed her eyes, relishing the contact. It felt like home. Like heaven. Like hers.
“Only a chuisle knows my secret.”
Liam lifted her chin, kissing her forehead. She breathed him in, his scent calming her heart, feeling protected for the first time.
Secure.
Mated.
No words passed between them, just the soft stroking of skin and fingers and wings. As if both were trying to find their way back to one another.
“But, you—why did you conceal your mark?”
For a minute, he contemplated the answer. “I wanted you to choose me, Callassa. Not out of desperation or because of the mark. I may not have known who you were, or why you were here, but I was going to make damn sure my mate chose me. I always want you to have a choice.”
“That’s why you have been so obsessed with my mark.” She smiled as he chuckled.
“Aye. I hid mine that morning after I had you in my bed. I didn’t trust my company until I knew more about you, so I hid it. But you never did. Seeing it on you fills me with pride. I am honored to be your mate. You are in my blood, and these marks are the proof.”
Her heart melted at his declaration.
“You knew about my deal with Valerius?”
His head rustled the pillow as he stroked her arm. “No. I had suspicions about who you were working for, but it wasn’t until the morning you left, I knew. I knew before Evander figured out what you were. He was so angry with me for allowing you in, but I couldn’t leave you alone on that ship any more than I could deny my feelings for you. Can I ask you something?”
“Hum?”
“What was the reason you went to Valerius? You made a deal with him. You had to know he wouldn’t honor his end of it.”
Callassa sighed. They had shared so many truths in this little room turned confessional. “Freedom.”
He stared down at her and waited for her to elaborate. She lifted her wrist. The cuff caught the sunlight that faded over the horizon. It glimmered along with her ring as she laid it across his chest.
“I made a deal with Valerius. It was my only option. He promised a Kalypso Orb to release me from these cuffs if I brought him the Serathena unharmed.” Her sigh was heavy. “My people. Aerelia has several loyalists to the crown guarded in a prison. She has killed one; she has threatened to kill others. I never should have traded Ellie for the orb. I knew deep down he would try something, but I was desperate. I need my people free. Free from prison and free from Zaphine. My punishment for my insolence is coming. Aerelia will make sure of it.”
“I won’t let that happen.” His words turned hard. “You will get your freedom from that sadistic bitch. From both of them. We need to get those cuffs off you and break your loyalists out of prison.”
“I can’t. I’ve tried. I only made things worse.”
“Alone.” Liam’s face hardened into determination, his lips in a thin line. “You tried alone. But you have me.”
“But it’s just us.”
“Right, us. Not you. Us. We must return to Valerius and demand he honor his end of the deal.”
She huffed a breath. “No. He won’t. I stole the Serathena from him. He’ll be pissed if we go back.”
“Yes, we can. I’m not afraid of Valerius and his wee minions. Callassa, your people need to be free. They need their queen.” He stopped as emotion scrawled across his face. “Our people. My people. My people need their queen.”
“Liam,” she began, but he cut her off.
“I refuse to have my mate controlled by another. Subjected to her will. You are mine, a chuisle, no one else . ”
She watched as something changed; something powerful and ancient flashed. Liam slipped out from under her and stood. He took the dagger from his side and lowered himself to one knee, offering it to her in his upturned palms and lowered his head.
“My Queen, I vow my service and allegiance; if need be, I will lay down my life for yours. I will protect you, My Queen, bringing honor to you.”
Callassa sat stunned for several breaths as he knelt before her. She took the dagger in her hand and rose to her feet. The weight of what he was saying, what he was doing, lifted her heart. No one in her Congress had ever sworn allegiance to her. They couldn’t. As a penance for their sins, they punished males by severing their wings from their bodies as infants. Liam was the only male siren of her species with wings intact. And he was mated to her. He lifted his head to meet her eyes.
“Your hand.”
Offering his palm, she sliced into it. He flinched but held her gaze. She then did something radical and sliced down her palm. Looking at it, the blood shimmering in the last remaining sunlight, she laced her fingers through his and lowered herself to her knees, bowing before him. She spoke the words she had over so many others who found their mates in her court. The binding ceremony would come later, but this would have to do for now.
“Soul of my soul. Blood of my blood. In service, I commend to you my allegiance as your mate. You are bonded with me as I am bonded with you. Blood fasted are we from this moment forward. My life for yours. I vow to you and you alone.”
Liam gripped her hand tightly. “Soul of my soul. Blood of my blood. In service, I commend my allegiance to My Queen, my mate. I will protect you at all costs, laying down my life for you and the crown. Blood fasted are we from this moment forward. I vow to you and you alone.”
As they spoke, a soft glow emanated from them. Looking down, her eyes widened as Liam’s mark grew, tattooing itself over his shoulder, his chest, up his neck, and down to his bicep. Lifting her chiton, she watched as hers crawled up her leg to her knee, covering her skin in dark, twisting vines.
He placed his forehead on hers and closed his eyes.
“I am yours. Forever mated,” he whispered.
Callassa choked on tears. “I am yours. Forever mated.”
The bond between them was complete.