Chapter A Monster #2
“What is going on here?” my father asks as he throws the doors to the adjoining room wide open. They slam off the walls, the sound thundering through the now silent ballroom.
“You will not interfere, King Morcant. This is between my bride-to-be and me. She should know her place, and eavesdropping on me is a crime in my books,” Lord Vaan’s icy voice comes. “I no longer wish to marry this scum.”
“That is my eldest daughter, Lord Vaan. She is precious to me. To insult her-”
“Your eldest daughter? I don’t think so. From what I know, your eldest daughter is the one standing behind you,” Lord Vaan says as a layer of ice spreads across the floor. “I have changed my mind; I shall marry her.”
Father almost splutters. “She is cursed, Lord Vaan. I assure you, I gave you the most precious jewel in the ocean!”
“The most precious?” Lord Vaan’s eyes flicker to Father’s crown, and the unease I have felt since getting here increases tenfold, and not hearing a word from Kai is making me even more worried. Is he ok? If something has happened to him, I would have felt it, but then why isn’t he here?
“Very well, if marrying my eldest daughter, Siralaine, is your wish, then so be it.” Father grabs my arm and shoves me towards Lord Vaan. “Have her.” He’s angry, his nostrils flaring as Maerina starts crying and rushes to him.
“She’s stealing my husband!”
“Everyone get out,” Lord Vaan commands, his eyes on me.
“Father-”
“You belong to him. He can do as he wishes.”
Father’s tone is as cold as the deep. No emotion, no hesitation, no compassion.
Pain flashes through me, sharp and cruel, dragging with it memories I’ve long buried, trying to ignore them.
He was the one who took my mother to those monsters.
I remember how he turned his back as those monsters took my mother.
How he didn’t care when she was screaming.
I swallow hard, tasting blood in my mouth.
I watch as he wraps an arm around Maerina’s trembling shoulders, leading her out while she weeps into his chest. He only cares for them…
The doors slam behind him as two of Vaan’s men pull them shut, leaving me alone with the man himself.
The silence seems to be alive; it’s too tense.
“I have no wish to marry you,” I say evenly. My voice doesn’t shake, though the fury under my skin simmers hot enough to burn.
Vaan smirks, all arrogance.
“You don’t have a choice. You’re the eldest daughter. When we’re married, I will inherit the ocean through you. It’s simple.”
I stare at him. “And what will you inherit when I kill you?”
The smirk fades. His eyes darken, like a storm gathering over calm seas.
“What did you just say?” he hisses. Before I can answer, he backhands me across the face before hauling me up by the arm and throwing me to the ground.
I gasp when my back hits the ground, where his ice cuts into me like thousands of little knives.
I let out a scream, hating to give him the satisfaction. As I sit up, my world spins.
“You sea siren scum are all the same,” he spits, his words dripping venom. “Useless and still pretending you’re worth more than the filth you are.”
“Then why marry one?” I hiss, forcing myself upright, anger burning brighter than the pain. “Is power worth that much to you?”
His hand cracks across my face again, snapping my head to the side.
The taste of blood floods my mouth. He catches my jaw, forcing me to look at him, his grip bruising.
“I know exactly who you are,” he whispers, eyes glittering with sick pleasure as he crouches before me.
“The little sea siren who thought she could play hero. You have been planning with the sky siren to overthrow your father, right? You’ve been a nuisance long enough. You could have ruined my plans.”
My stomach twists. “What do you mean?”
He grins, that awful knowing sneer. “Oh, you’ll see. But first, let’s seal our union.” He holds out a hand, mockingly gentle. “With a ring and a kiss, and then your freedom ends.”
I wipe the blood from my lips and stand, refusing to take his hand. The look in his eyes hardens into rage. He moves towards me, raising his hand again, but something inside of me snaps.
The ice morphs to water as it rises from the ground. My chest heaves as the power that has been forced down within me begins to rise, singing beneath my skin.
My vision sharpens, my heart becomes the rhythm of the sea. Anger pours through me like a current, fierce and wild. I open my mouth as I sing with everything I have.
The sound is haunting and hypnotic, echoing through the chamber. The water shivers with it before it surges towards Vaan. His eyes widen as the force hits him, pushing him back, fracturing the runes along the walls. He falters, struggling against the pull of my voice.
I stand tall, breath burning in my throat, the taste of blood and power mixing on my tongue. For one perfect heartbeat, I feel as if I’m my mother. Remembering her song, her magic, the tide that once bent to her will. She was strong. She was unyielding, and I will be too.
I cough, tasting more blood.
The poison…
But that pause is all Vaan needs. He snarls and thrusts out his hand.
Ice bursts from his palm, forming into a sharp and deadly dagger.
The shard slams into my arm, making pain tear through me, white-hot.
I stumble, gasping as blood drips down my hand.
Before I can recover, his hand closes around my throat, slamming me back against the wall.
“Listen well,” he breathes, eyes blazing with rage. “I will marry you today, and then I’ll become the King of the Sea. And after that, I’ll kill you. And for this disrespect, I will make sure it is a slow, painful death.”
His grip tightens, choking me, I can’t breathe…
My lungs seize, and I desperately claw at his wrist, struggling for air, for anything. The ocean in my veins screams to rise, but it’s slipping through my fingers, fading under the pressure of his hand, and the poison in my system.
I hate this…
All my life… I’ve been tricked and used in one way or another. My choices were made for me…
The edges of my vision blur, whatever Vaan is saying fading away, apart from the pounding of my pulse loud in my ears.
Is this it?
“Do you hear me?!” he hisses, slamming me against the wall. The momentary loosening of his hand makes me suck in air until he tightens his grip again.
“You touched what’s mine, and for that you will pay with your life.” A voice cuts through the room, one that is laced with lethal rage.
Vaan freezes. I know that voice; I would know it anywhere. Relief floods my chest as my vision clears just enough to see him standing in one of the windows, a silent wind whipping around him, his wings unfurled in all their glory.
Kai.
He steps forward, the storm gathering behind his eyes.
“Let her go,” he says, his voice sharp as a blade.
Vaan snarls, anger flashing in his eyes. “You were supposed to be dead!”
Kai tilts his head slightly, his eyes blazing with white-hot fury.
“You think you’re capable of killing me?
” The wind howls, shattering every single window in the room, and it rises, more violent than before.
The temperature becomes colder as both men’s auras rise as they face one another.
One of Vaan’s hands is still around my throat.
“Who the fuck do you think you are to talk to me like that, Siren!” Vaan snarls.
“I am Keiran Kaldor,” Kai answers, his voice emotionless and cold, every word sending a shiver through me.
I have never seen him so angry. “Some call me the Sky Breaker, the one who reduced an army to ash single-handedly and left nothing but blood and death in my wake, and others call me Storm Slayer. Call me whatever the fuck you want, but after tonight, I’ll be known as the one who killed Vaan Frostfire. ”
Lightning flares beyond the shattered windows, illuminating the room in blinding white as all the lights go out.
Vaan roars, sending a barrage of ice daggers at Kai, but his attack is destroyed instantly.
He snarls in anger, sending another blast of ice towards Kai, but he’s unable to withstand Kai’s rage.
When Vaan manages to get to his feet, I see a flicker of fear in his eyes.
Kai takes another step forward, his eyes promising ruin, fixed on Vaan.
“You dared to strike my woman. You dared to touch her?” he hisses, his voice sinking to a sinister whisper. “Let. Her. Go. Before I send this palace seven feet under.”
He means it, and even Vaan knows it, his hand slipping from my throat, the bravado draining from his face, unsure of what Kai might do.
And as Kai moves closer, I feel a blanket of peace wrap around me, realising I’m no longer alone. I have Kai.
He isn’t just my saviour – he is my life.
And for the first time, I believe the tide might turn, not with the sea, but with the sky.