Chapter 17 #2
“Yes.” Using a small set of forceps, Nerissa pulled one of them out.
Raana gaped. She’d never seen a siren. Their isles—for when they dwelled on land—were located in the far west of the world, their ocean kingdom likely just below it, though she wasn't sure if it ever had truly been charted. “How did you get them?”
“I plucked one out of the ocean myself.” It was said with such conviction that Raana had nearly been convinced, but then she amended, “A merchant was peddling them, and you know they’re authentic because…
” She tapped the scale on the lip of the cauldron, a metallic clang reverberating in the room.
“They’re like plated armor.” She dropped the scale into the vat.
The liquid shone, then bubbled and steamed.
“Sirens are the closest relative to the fae that we have in this realm. It’s said the fae who didn’t want to leave the mortal lands jumped into the ocean, became it, to evade our persecution after the War, and now they call mortals to the sea with song and promises of power to devour us in retribution.
I’m sure the walls of their kingdom are lined with the bones of the gullible.
” Nerissa took hold of the large wooden ladle and stirred the brew, the air filling with a scent of sweetness.
“You’ve never been curious to learn about your father?
About where that shadowed blood comes from? ”
Raana took a few steps away and turned, glancing into the endless forest and the beasts stalking around them. “According to Helene, he got my mother pregnant and left her. He wanted nothing to do with me, so why would I want to know anything about him?”
“Because you’re smarter than that,” Nerissa said. “He gave you power unlike anything else. If you could learn exactly where that ends, you would be an unstoppable force.”
“And if I don’t want to be?”
Nerissa sighed. “I understand your fear; I understand that you have been broken, but if you do not reforge yourself, it will be a tragedy like no other.” The words were almost soft, matronly. They rattled in her skull.
I understand… I understand.
It was likely the words were Nerissa’s persuasion, but Raana still tucked them close, packing them into her wounded heart.
“You and I are similar, child. Too powerful for our own good.”
“If you’re so powerful, how were you captured by the King?”
It was an honest question. Maybe one that didn’t need to be delivered as snippily as it was. This woman was a murderer, so she should tread more carefully.
“Because greater forces than I conspire.”
Spirits, did she ever stop speaking in riddles?
Raana folded her arms and spun to face her. “You know, you told me that there was someone I needed to meet and that there was work we needed to do before the dark moon that’s supposed to screw the mortal realm to hell. But I’ve done nothing but wander these halls and play with my shadows for days.”
Nerissa wafted her brew. “Because you’re not ready. We can’t trust you yet. I know what you’ll do when you learn the truth, and we can’t risk things not falling the way they’re meant to.”
We, we, we.
Raana felt her shadows rise. “So, what do I have to do to prove myself, then?”
Nerissa smiled as if that was exactly what she’d wanted Raana to ask.
As if she were a rat just dropped into her cage.
She tipped what appeared to be ground bone into her brew.
“The coronation of the Luna of Deimos is coming soon, and during the ceremony, both she and the alpha will cut their palms and mix their blood with ashes and oil in a call to their Goddess to complete their union and their sharing of her power—wolves can have animosities towards us, but they have their own magic in their rituals. I’ll need at least a vial full before the combined blood is brought to the temple and locked away where you’ll never be able to get it. ”
“No.”
The answer was immediate, assured. Blood magic of any kind, whether the blood of the caster or the blood of others, was dangerous and absolute. Whatever spell, all its force, would be for Kai and Isla and them alone. A wolf’s immunity may not even matter. Raana wanted no part of that.
“Very well.”
Raana blinked. That was too easy. “What do you need it for?”
“You aren’t ready to know.”
She growled under her breath. “Are you going to hurt them?”
A foolish question because… murderer.
An exasperated breath left her lips. “Never intentionally.”
Raana’s shadows coiled around her arms, snaked up her legs, and draped over her head like a cloak, settling like a crown. She could kill her and stop all of this.
“You could try to kill me, but you won’t.
Even if you’re fae, it’s not in your nature.
Not yet. Sacrificing those wolves doesn’t count.
” Nerissa met her widened eyes. “I don’t need the ability to read minds to see you, girl.
You wear your emotions clear as day, and I know how desperately you want to redeem yourself to him. ”
Him.
She spat the word.
Him… the Prince of Wolves. Spirits, Adrien probably hated her. She’d left him with hell to deal with and was responsible for the death of his friends.
“You’re better than that, Raana.” It felt strange to hear her name out of Nerissa’s mouth. “Smarter. Surely, you know where your story ends. He would sooner drive a blade through your traitorous heart than take you as his queen. You wouldn’t even be his mistress.”
Raana could barely swallow. She remembered that aura of spring within him—his fated mate.
But then she remembered how he kissed her, the way he touched her.
He’d seen every dark, broken, and monstrous part of her, and he’d been the only one who had never walked away. He ran towards her, and that mattered far too much.
So, she’d left him before he could break her heart.
“There is no fairytale for any of us,” Nerissa finished, taking another rat from the cage. “The sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be.”
She watched as Nerissa went through her routine again. The dropper, the control.
“If I don’t go, will you send one of your…” Raana trailed off, unsure what to call the wolves Nerissa kept hidden away within these walls. All under her manipulation and control—as Isla’s mother had been. “Soldiers?”
She didn’t know exactly how many she had. All she remembered was the man who’d carried her here in her magic-driven stupor—half awake, half alive. She’d searched for him, for some type of dungeon, but with the moving hallways, there wasn’t much hope.
“Yes.” Nerissa dropped the rat, allowing it to scurry away.
Then it froze and cried out. Its skin seemed to bubble, expand.
The creature grew and grew, its eyes flaring red, and then it died.
More notes. Raana was going to be sick. “If you don’t go, I will need to use other means, and with those, harm is much more likely.
You’re quicker, quieter, and can inflict minimal damage. ”
Raana was out of options. If she didn’t help, Kai and Isla could be hurt, but if she did…
“Whatever you’re doing with their blood won’t hurt them or anyone they care about.” Raana pointed to a small blade on the ground by Nerissa’s folded legs. “Swear it to me right now by your own blood, and I’ll go.”
A small smile slid across Nerissa’s lips as she reached for the knife. “It’s not wise to make a bargain with the fae. They never truly give what they promise.”
“Then you’re lucky I’m half-witch.”