26. Siren
Siren
Though the voices in her head had begun to settle, the mysterious call from the depths of Night Sky Forest never faded. The more she listened to it, the less crazy she felt.
Finally, either out of bravery or foolishness, Flora could no longer resist the lure.
The sound again led her to the pond where she had appeared twelve years ago.
But now, did she dare go deeper into the woods rather than run away?
The sound was growing so close. She could almost make out what it was saying, but not quite, like a horrible itch.
Her steps gentler now than before, she continued past the pond of glowing lilies. Never did she think she could care so little for her safety while walking into the den of her enemy. The Forest was quiet, quieter and quieter as she drew closer to the sound.
“I hoped you might pay me a visit,” a smooth, mellifluous voice said.
Flora froze. Looking around, she wished she was practiced enough to will the claws to burst from her fingertips.
Still, the source of the voice was nowhere to be found.
She grumbled, angry with her own mind as she shook away her hallucinations.
The hum continued on through the darkness ahead, and she followed further.
Flora’s hands trembled, and it should have been with fear, but it wasn’t.
She had seen Noec, shaking and distraught, and she didn’t even have the courage to knock on the door and go comfort him.
Of course she didn’t; she was the reason for his suffering.
Hadn’t she been the reason for everyone’s suffering?
The village, the city, her brother. Wasn’t that all because she stepped foot in Emyre?
“Apologies, Miss Florabelle. This will be as close as you come for now.”
Flora tripped, catching herself inadvertently with a wing that sprung out beside her and latched around a tree, feathered at the edges with serrated gold. She gasped, the black and bronze wing dissolving into her as quickly as it had appeared.
“Ah. Still getting the hang of it, I see?” Flora looked ahead, but there was no one there.
“Up here, love.” She looked up, and looking back down was a gleaming set of yellow and carnelian eyes.
He leaned lazily against a tree from the branch he perched on, his midnight hair half up in a loose braid, his grin as frighteningly pleasing as she remembered it.
“I was beginning to wonder if you had ignored my invitation.”
“What do you want from me?” Flora said shortly. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“Goodness,” he said, slipping down from his perch, landing on his feet with his hands still in his pockets. “What kind of man do you take me for?”
“The one who just instigated an attack on the capital city of Asilia,” she replied.
He smiled coyly, shrugging. “Well, you’ve got me there.” He reached a hand out from his pocket and offered it to Flora. “My name is Siren. Pleased to meet you formally.”
She looked down at his calloused hand and winced.
“You’ve said you’d like to get this over with, and I prefer to do this as humanely as possible.”
“Humanely? What possessed you to suddenly start running things humanely?”
“The way I see things, you are merely a bystander in all this,” he said, dropping his hand. “I owe you no ill-will.” He turned around, beckoning her. “Come.”
“Wh—No.”
He looked back over his shoulder, with a raised brow and a slight smile. “Are we ‘getting this over with’ the easy way, or are we going to make things difficult?”
Flora took a step back, the golden claws springing from her hands. “You haven’t told me a thing about why you’ve been after me.”
He sighed. “You’re afraid. I see that, and I can’t say I blame you.”
Flora gritted her teeth and seethed, “What the hell do you expect? You’ve murdered and stolen the people I love.”
He turned again to face her, his crooked grin absent. “I’ve done no such thing,” he said sternly. Again, he turned around and beckoned her, this time beginning to walk away.
She began to lose sight of him in the shadows, cursing under her breath as she followed after him.
“What is your purpose? Why have you done so much to capture me?”
“We’ll get there,” he said. “Wouldn’t you at least like to get to know me first?”
She thought he might be joking, but she wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to be a toy for him to play with.
“Enough,” she said, her voice clouded by the hoarseness of a hybrid. She gripped his collar with one hand, pulling him down to where she could summon and press her claw into his neck with the other.
He grinned. “Now you’re getting the hang of it.” He placed a finger lightly over her hand and the claws evaporated, her resolve along with it.
Flora backed away and looked down at her hands. “How... ?”
“And now you’re getting to know me, aren’t you?” he chuckled.
She reached to her waist, squeezing her eyes shut as she remembered that her bag, along with the weapon inside, were no longer with her.
“Forgot something?”
“I…” She shook her head, then continued beside him. “I was just wondering, how do you control them?”
“Would you like me to show you?” he said, grinning like a threat.
“—no. I’d rather you not.”
“Suit yourself, then.”
She looked over at him, where he strolled nonchalantly, his fiery eyes almost a glow of their own against the dim luminance of the flowers.
“You’re younger than I expected,” she said.
He could barely be twenty-five at most. Was it possible that this “Siren” could really be Azura, the sorcerer banished to the Forest after the war?
But maybe his sorcery is what kept him young.
Had he been lurking in these woods for all this time, alive and well?
He scoffed. “I’m a lot of things you wouldn’t expect.”
She looked on ahead, with each dark corridor seeming exactly the same, wondering what horrors he was leading her to. The boiling beneath her skin resumed.
“What did you do to Perri?” she demanded, her lip twitching at the memory of the monster in Aria’s cage. “Why did you curse him?”
“Curse him?” he laughed. “That’s hardly a ‘thank you’.”
“And why the hell would I ever want to thank you?”
He slowed his stride, catching her eyes with the flame of his. “I don’t offer my protection to anyone who doesn’t ask for it.”
“Protection?”
He squared himself to face her. “Florabelle, my power, my blessing, is that I feel and control the emotions of whoever my skin touches.” He flicked his fingers beyond his sleeve.
“If a man such as Perri finds himself living in these woods when he is finally healthy and recovered enough to return home, he is not interested in continuing to live life as it was. He is desperate, eager to find a way to erase his suffering.”
“You tore his soul from his eyes,” Flora hissed, the prickling of fire tracing her skin.
“It’s not as though I didn’t ask what he wanted,” he said calmly, though his eyes narrowed. “He had a death wish, too ashamed to return home. And I didn’t take his soul. I’m not a reaper. I simply offered his weary mind refuge.”
Flora stuttered, then breathed through her teeth. “Perri wasn’t exactly calm when I talked to him last. You just replaced misery with anger.”
“Who you spoke to was not your friend, but my mother,” he replied, nodding as if his words made perfect sense.
Flora groaned, digging her nails into her hip.
He tilted his head and added, “She is the luminance in their eyes, the whiteness you see. She is the presence they welcome in exchange for my blessing.”
“Your... mother?”
“You’ll meet her in time,” he assured her. “She’s... not quite as tame as yours truly.” He grinned a sharp grin, and the dull light caught the ring of fiery orange in his eye.
“Why... why would I want to meet her?” Flora said, taking a step back. Why was she entertaining this man at all? In only a few hours, her rage will have passed, and she could leave these woods in peace.
“Because if you don’t, she’ll continue hunting you,” he replied. “And neither you nor I are interested in the carnage she would leave behind.”
Flora froze, her angry heart twisting with fear.
“I know,” he whispered in a buttery tone, reaching a hand to brush the falling hair from her eye. At his touch, her fear was subdued, though there was still a distant boiling at the realization of what he’d done. “Come,” he said.
The luring hum in the darkness began to fade as he led her along.
The clawing madness behind her skull had begun to subside, and for once, she looked around at the dark woods and saw that it was more than darkness and death.
There was life all around, from the glowing lilies and creaking trees to the colorful dragonflies that buzzed past. From a distance, this place always seemed like the haunted memory of a forest, but now it all seemed so enchanted, maybe even lovely.
Every so often, lightning bugs would flash, though their twinkle was unlike that of the lilies, flickering with pinks and blues and reds.
The birds sang in the trees with a conversational chatter of music against the fading call in the distance.
“I’ve never seen Night Sky Forest like this,” Flora said. “I’ve only seen it when I’m running for my life or starving to kill something.”
He laughed and replied, “Most people haven’t. It’s not unlike most things you find frightening—charming once you give them a second thought.”
She sneered, rather boldly, “I don’t suppose you’re talking about yourself.”
He cackled with a side-eyed glance and a crooked smile. “I don’t suppose I am.”
They arrived at an overgrown structure with ornate pillars at the doorway, chipped and weathered.
“Where are we?” Flora asked, looking up at the carved stone designs that trailed up to the rooftop. She could hear the gentle rush of a stream behind the structure.
“Our guess is that this was a shrine to the moon goddess, abandoned many years ago. But now, it’s just home.” He walked up to the tall white doors with chipping paint and looked back. “Are you coming?”