Chapter 13
Elva
Screams surrounded us as a song erupted from my throat. The viciousness of my siren’s song was enough to send people fleeing, even with no additional magic from me. Baldr, Ingvar, and Njall all leaped away from me at once, finally giving me the air to breathe.
“I warned you,” Leifur said. One guard holding him moved to punch him, but I roared in his direction, and the man went white.
I turned toward the princes, and all three stiffened.
My loose hair fell in my face, and I brushed it back with a taloned hand.
The dull, brown dye that Leifur had worked so hard to put on it was gone, and the vibrant hues of blue and green were back.
Somehow, my siren form had removed all attempts to hide her.
My eyes were black now, even if I couldn't feel that change; the slightly darker way I saw the world now told me.
The other shifts, I could feel. The fangs that sprouted in my mouth were enough to strike fear into the surrounding men.
It seems this part of Torian had never learned that sirens were more than seductresses.
We could also be monsters that kill without mercy.
I was terrifying enough that even my kind had feared me.
“Keep your hands to yourselves,” I hissed. “And I won’t have to hurt you. My brothers and I can walk ourselves to wherever you're taking us.”
The guard closest to me swallowed hard, and I felt a smirk spread across my lips.
I closed my eyes, breathed in, and pictured the Sieden Sea.
The slower my heartbeat, the calmer I felt, and soon all the rage rushing through me was gone.
When I opened my eyes, Leifur and Sindri stood at my side, and the guards were inching away cautiously.
“Ready?” Sindri asked so softly I doubted anyone besides me heard him. I nodded, and he slung an arm around my shoulders and led me after the guards who were now giving us a wide, wary berth.
We walked past gawking citizens who were waiting for the festivities to start.
I wondered if our discovery would delay the events of the day.
Once we entered the inner walls of the castle grounds, the crowds thinned, and the group of guards escorting us grew larger.
Ahead, the pale stone of the castle gleamed in the sunlight.
Immediately, I thought of the limestone that made up the Siren Island in the Konvern Territory.
But if humans had ripped this from the seafloor and brought it up here, that left me with more questions than answers.
Ingvar was arguing with the lead guard marching beside him.
Baldr seemed in good spirits, but from what I’d heard about Satyrs, it took a lot to upset them.
I caught Njall staring at me. It was hard to read his expression, and he turned away from me before I could try to decipher it.
The idiot probably thought I orchestrated this whole mess, as if I'd known he was a prince after meeting him in a run-down tavern bar.
We entered the castle from one side, through narrow, unobtrusive metal doors.
The cramped entranceway opened into a beautifully decorated hall, whose walls were draped in tapestries and paintings that told stories of battles won and lost. My fingers twitched as I stopped to study one depiction of the sea.
The intricate stitching made it seem to come to life.
I reached my hand out to touch it, but Leifur tugged me away, steering me toward a pair of ornately carved wooden doors at the far end of the hall.
Their fasteners and nails were made of a gold alloy, so they sparkled in the light, and the polished wood reflected our images like a mirror.
The guards parted, leaving the princes, Leifur, and me in front of the doors.
Ingvar pounded his fist three times on the door and waited. When a deep voice responded with enter, two tall guards reached around Baldr and Njall and pulled the doors open. Leifur and I followed the princes into the room.
If the hall tapestries had been beautiful, they didn’t hold a candle to the ones in the throne room.
Gigantic stone columns stretched from the floor to the arched ceiling.
Our footsteps echoed, and I heard a grunt beside me.
It was Njall. He was watching Leifur like a wolf eyeing prey.
I grabbed my brother-in-law’s arm and pulled him to my other side as they ushered us toward the back of the room.
A large, empty throne rested on a raised dais.
Leifur leaned toward me. “What are we doing here? There’s no one here.”
Before I could respond, a vicious bang echoed through the entire space, startling him.
From an entrance behind the throne, a giant of a man stalked toward us.
When he got closer, I saw the glint of his crown and realized it was King Hilmir.
I grabbed Leifur’s hand, and he must have realized too, because he squeezed it back.
Despite his advanced years, the king was still muscular, especially compared to the other royals of Torian.
His head was covered with thick and lush, gray and black hair that matched his beard.
He was dressed resplendently for his only daughter's wedding.
The teal velvet made his brown eyes seem darker, and the accents of coral made me think of home.
“What is the meaning of this, Ingvar?” the king barked, his voice echoing off the stone walls. “You dare to interrupt your sister’s wedding celebrations? And for what, some petty thieves? Chop their hands off. Throw them in the dungeon. I don’t care what you do, but be done with it.”
“They aren’t thieves,” Baldr replied. I flinched when his hand brushed my shoulder. “Well, she isn’t.”
“She is,” Njall replied. He followed Ingvar toward their father. “She robbed me after we slept together.”
Baldr leaned closer to me. “You robbed my brother? Impressive.” He left us behind as he followed his brothers.
“Robbed you? I still don’t understand why you brought them here—” King Hilmir stopped abruptly, and I felt his eyes on me.
I knew that look he had—a scowl on his lips, slightly widened eyes, and a darkening of his cheeks signaled disgust, surprise, and lust. These were the three emotions my kind were known for bringing out in people.
“A siren,” Hilmir muttered, as if the word explained everything.
“They all are,” Njall said, pointing at Leifur and Sindri as though they were specimens on display.
“Male sirens? I thought they were a myth,” the king said, his voice barely above a whisper as he patted Ingvar on the shoulder. “All the accounts I’ve collected over the years tell of them being vicious monsters. But these ... they could pass for humans.”
“We are not in our siren form,” Leifur said.
“He’s right,” Ingvar said, following his father as he circled us. “In the market, she certainly became a monster.”
I snarled at him, and his eyes flashed. He growled back with an intensity that made even me step back. Leifur went white as a ghost.
Hilmir rubbed his hands together and came closer to us. I could smell the ale and pickled eggs on his breath, and I couldn’t help but step back.
“What to do with a group of thieves who are known monsters?” he mused aloud.
“We aren’t monsters,” Leifur snapped. “We’re sirens, and we can’t help what we are any more than your sons can.”
The king’s eyes narrowed at my brother, and I moved forward to grab Leifur’s hand, but the king backhanded me across the face. Before I could stop myself, I lunged for him, fangs and claws out. Ingvar and the general had me in seconds and pinned me to the ground.
Blood trickled down the king's cheek from where I’d managed to nick him, and one of his sleeves had been slashed to ribbons.
The general pressed his knee into my back, making it hard to breathe, and I winced as pain shot through me.
My cheek was pressed against the cold stone floor, bits of grit digging into my flesh.
I couldn't turn to face the king, but his boots clunked against the ground and then entered my field of vision.
He squatted and stared at me as I struggled against the general's hold.
I wanted more than anything to free myself and show him exactly what I was made of.
The king laughed, a deep and ominous sound that sent a chill down my spine.
“I’ve been searching for a siren for decades, and you just come walking into my kingdom.
How fortunate for me.” He looked away from me and shouted triumphantly, “Lock her in the dungeon. The bitch will need to be taught some manners, but she’ll be useful to me, eventually. ”
The implication that I would be trained like some pet filled me with rage and ignited a fierce determination. I fought against the general's hold, ignoring the pain.
The king laughed again. “Use the cell with the chains. I don’t trust her not to escape before I have the time to play with her. And gag her—just as a precaution.”
Behind me, a scuffle broke out. Sindri's snarl was unmistakable, and I suspected my brother was doing something stupid.
Leifur cried out, and the sound of two bodies hitting the ground made my stomach twist with worry.
Ropes ripped at my flesh as my hands were bound behind me, and I was pulled to my feet as a cloth was forced into my mouth.
Leifur and Sindri were on their knees. The guards were binding their hands behind their backs.
The general shoved me at Ingvar and went to deal with my brothers.
Ingvar backhanded me across the face before turning me to face the chaos happening around us.
I found Baldr and tried to plead my case to him with my eyes, but he was too focused on Njall.
They were having their silent conversation across that room with each other, so I turned my focus on my brothers.
“What do you want me to do with them?” the general asked as he tied them.
“Throw them in the dungeon, too. We’ll find something to do with them.”
“We didn’t come here to hurt anyone,” Leifur shouted.
“You call robbing my brother innocent?” Ingvar snapped, digging his fingers into my arm hard enough that I tried to shake him off me. “And now, this one attacked my father!”
“We only take what we need to survive,” Sindri retorted. “We came here to earn money and find a home, to live in peace.”
“So, you expect us to believe that you came here with no ill will and simply wanted a quiet life?” Njall asked. He turned to look at me for a second before turning his gaze to Baldr.
“Don’t let prejudices against our kind cloud your judgment,” Leifur said. “You all know what it’s like to be different.”
The king's voice boomed through the hall. “My children are powerful! I hand selected each of their mothers to ensure they'd have gifts beyond human capabilities!”
“Couldn’t find a siren, though,” Sindri snapped. His words hung in the air as the king's eyes widened in rage. Hilmir raised his hand to strike, but before he could, a deafening bang echoed through the hall, and the entire castle shook.