Chapter Twenty-Eight Aria
When it comes to the actions of the siren queen, nothing is ever done without intention. My mother knows how to rile a crowd just as easily as she draws a male to his death, and she does both with the kind of flourish that sends my heart sinking to my stomach with dread.
She had gathered my sisters and I the night before last, asking for updates on the research Dyanna is helping her with—something to do with the type of magic the mages possess—and on the missing sirens.
I had no information to give her, but neither did Sade, and our mother had simply glared at my older sister long enough that her displeasure with us all was clear.
I know we can’t come back to her empty-handed again, but I have no clue how I’m supposed to pretend to find them while actively knowing where at least one of the sirens could be found.
I had gone to my cave of treasures that night to leave Nia a message, begging her to give me something that I could turn in to the queen to give the illusion that progress was being made.
I intend to head back after the address to see if she responded.
I glance to Lyre at my left, taking in the swell of her belly. So much is dependent on me learning how to protect her. To protect her babe. I need something from Nia to appease my mother for now so that I can continue meeting with Myla without fear of being watched.
Queen Amari bangs her trident on the dais once, silencing the excited sirens in front of us.
“My subjects, welcome. Welcome.” Her voice booms over the throne room, and every siren flinches from its power.
From the way it rolls through the water as strong as any current.
My mother has always commanded attention and fealty, but our people’s zealous love for her has grown.
As if they too can sense a shift happening in Olymazi, one they intend to benefit from.
“Thank you all for coming today,” she begins, looking out over the crowd.
“In my time as your queen, my goals have been simple: to keep our people from fading away beneath the surface and to make those who trapped us here pay. The War Of Five Kingdoms should have never happened, but because of the arrogance of men, we were forced to raid the land and fight to take what was rightfully ours. It resulted in our banishment by the traitorous mages, stuck behind a Spell constructed by their queen. Well, I have just learned that the mages have been keeping a secret all this time.” The crowd murmurs to each other while their eyes stay locked on my mother.
“They can pass through the Spell without losing their magic or life.”
Voices raise as the females in front of the dais lift their arms in frustration, shouting out their displeasure at this discovery.
I have no doubt that my mother has known this information long before we watched Rhea use her magic on the beach, and I’m terrified to wonder why she is choosing now to share it with everyone.
The queen taps her trident on the white stone again, and the sirens quiet once more.
“I know, it is shocking to learn that we have been lied to. That others have given themselves an advantage while we are left with only scraps. Our numbers have steadily been declining, the rate of reproduction lower than ever. We have been suppressed beneath the surface for over two hundred years, and now our kind is bearing that weight in the form of a weakening species. Just as those above wanted.”
Jewel-toned heads nod ferociously. Their frenzy coaxes anxiousness within me, and my heart rattles in my chest as I watch them.
“But there is hope on the horizon, my beloved sirens.” Her voice softens, and everyone leans in a little closer, chomping at the bait she dangles before them.
“Soon, we shall have what we are owed. Soon, our kind will again walk above water without fear of persecution or death. Without fear of the Spell! But, before that can happen, I need your support. I need my subjects now more than ever!” My pulse beats at my throat, the steady undulation of my tail growing a little choppier.
I cast a sideways look down the line of my sisters, noting Allegra’s smugness and the stern set of Sade’s brows.
Dyanna has her hands clasped behind her back, her gaze lost on something above the crowd.
Only Lyre returns my look, the same concern I feel reflecting back in her amethyst eyes.
“Turn to your sister next to you and ask yourself, are you willing to do whatever it takes to keep her safe?”
They respond with a resounding “Yes!”
“Look at your queen and ask yourself, are you willing to do whatever it takes to keep me safe?”
Screams of agreement answer.
“You are loyal to your people. You are loyal to me, and so I know it will honor you deeply when I say that, beginning today, one siren from every family will be asked to join their legion sisters, if they have not already.”
Years of practice not reacting to my mother’s words or actions fails me in that moment, as my eyes grow wide and my head snaps to look at her, catching Allegra’s waiting glare as I do.
Joining the Queen’s Legion has always been optional; never once in our history—not even during the war—has it ever been forced upon a siren.
But what had the sirens in Eersten said while I was traveling to the Northern Island?
That our mother had ordered that some of them be taken into the legion as payment for not having the number of offspring required?
Why would she do that? And why would there be more needed beyond that?
Lyre’s shoulder gently brushes mine, a reminder to reel myself in.
My eyes scan over the throne room, and while most of those gathered here seem to be exuberant at the idea of joining, I spot a few whose forced grins I recognize.
If only because of how many of my own smiles I’ve had to fake as well.
But they are few and far between, and as the majority of the sirens cheer and speak excitedly of what is to come, I can’t help but wonder if anyone—Allegra and Sade included—knows what the queen is truly planning.
The cave is blissfully empty when I enter, the soft light of the crystals I have tucked onto the natural stone shelves highlighting the trinkets within.
The waters are cooler here, making a shiver bloom over my skin as I swim towards the shelf where the hidden note for Nia was left.
It’s been replaced, and when I unfold the letter, a gold chain clasped with a purple gem unravels from it.
Nia’s letter is brief, offering the necklace as proof of a trail to follow.
She tells me to say it was found on the northeastern edge of Lumen, and I can only assume it means that she has led the seamount sirens elsewhere.
When I reach the final sentences, my heart skips a beat as I skim over the words.
As you can imagine, staying on the run is a costly endeavor.
I’ve taken some of these treasures as penance for your inaction to help us pay for shelter and food.
The longer you take to retrieve our weapons, the longer we will be forced to hide.
And the longer I will keep removing and selling your little trinkets.
“No,” I whisper to myself, looking up from Nia’s letter to inspect the shelves.
With so many items lining the walls, one might have assumed that I wouldn’t have a clue which ones have gone missing.
But as I look around, I spot the newly empty spaces.
A jeweled bracelet that had been stored next to the lion’s head pin is now gone.
Some daggers I had laid side by side are absent, the empty space between a bundle of rings and a small mirror showcasing their absence.
More gaps between items become obvious to me, and I slump onto the cave floor, crushing Nia’s note in my hand.
I shouldn’t care. These items were never mine, just odds and ends I pulled from the ocean floor.
Old things that belonged to someone who once lived and was now nothing more than bone and decay in our waters.
I shouldn’t have cared, but I did. I do.
Because collecting these things has always been about more than just displaying them.
It was my way to pay tribute. To try and absolve myself, in a way, for the cruelty of my kind.
Of my mother and sisters. Nia had taken something precious and reduced it to its weight in coins, and while I understand that they are desperate, I’m angry that she decided on this.
That she stole my cave and then stole the memories in it.
If I can no longer ease my conscience this way, what other redemption is there for me? But then I remember Lyre and her hands on her belly, a babe she already loves enough to risk everything for. Perhaps my time trying to appease my guilt is no longer meant for the dead but for the living.
Picking up the necklace Nia left, I destroy her letter and leave the cave, eager for my next meeting with Myla—if only to be one step closer to keeping someone I love safe.
Myla’s attitude today rivals all of my previous interactions with her, a feat that feels like it should be etched on the stone walls of the cavern we are training in for future generations to read.
The fae, who I thought had already shown me what her ire looked like, had apparently unlocked a deeper level of hatred in our time apart.
Every question I ask and every time I stumble with my footwork, I’m met with a scowl that could rival a dragon’s.
If the winged beasts even do such a thing.
She’s hardly spoken a word more than necessary, nothing beyond “here” as she handed me a black button-up tunic when I first arrived.
The fabric is stiff against my skin, the length of the clothing suggesting that its owner is larger than Myla. Perhaps it belongs to a former lover. Maybe it’s that of the male who rides the blue dragon.