Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
Kas raised a hand, gesturing to an attendant towards the far wall, who peeled away from a group and crossed the floor in their direction.
His irritation vanished into softness, and Kas smiled charmingly at Eli.
“Rumour has it that an upstart from the pits cheated and scammed several people to steal for themselves an advantageous position. I wonder what would happen if word of such fraudulent activity were to reach Prince Hal’s ears? ”
Eli blanched.
Kas gazed down at him with a look of perfect, beautiful innocence.
“I wonder.” Austin’s voice did more than sting. He turned his glare on Tristan, whose brows rose in surprise at suddenly becoming the focus of his ire. “I’m sure your brother knows better than to think he can bring my attendant to trial.”
Austin recalled Kas’s trial. How despite being besotted, Hal had remained loyal to his beloved justice. And if he tried to take Eli from him? A growl rose in Austin’s throat.
“I’m sure he does,” Tristan agreed. “May I point out I’m not the one who said that?”
Austin’s attention shifted away from Tristan.
The attendant Kas had gestured to delivered a heavy-looking brown leather book with yellowed pages into his hands.
“I did not mean to make threats,” Kas said calmly.
“I apologise if it came across that way. Prince Tristan, this is the book you requested Hal find. It was among my late mother’s collection.
” Kas handed it to Tristan in a peculiar manner, the front of the book and its title pointed towards Austin.
The words translated automatically: A Treatise on Sirens: Encounters Throughout the Ages.
Tristan accepted the book with a wry look at Kas. He immediately passed it to Austin with a bemused expression. “I thought you might like this.”
“You got your siren partner a book about sirens?” Kas asked, his disapproval clear in his tone.
Austin took the book and immediately opened it.
“And he likes it. Right,” Kas said. “I’m going back to Hal. If you want me, please don’t say my name over and over again like that. It’s exceptionally irritating.”
Austin raised his head from the book. “Does being in a crowded room like this not bother you? All the sounds?”
“It’s annoying, but I’ve largely learned to tune out everything except whatever I’m focusing on.
I usually take painkillers before I go somewhere with a lot of noise.
” Kas hesitated, an unsure look crossing his face, followed by a resolved one.
“I’m sorry if my listening in bothered you.
Your voice is very soothing. I keep focusing on it without meaning to. ”
Austin pursed his lips as Kas walked away. Eli chanted Kas, Kas, Kas, until Kas twisted to glare at him, and Eli returned a not-so-innocent look.
“Soothing,” Austin repeated flatly.
“It is,” Tristan said.
“Mhm.” Eli hummed agreement. “I think I could happily listen to one of Prince Hal’s treatises on justice if you were the one reading it.”
A scowl formed. Tristan cupped Austin’s chin and pressed a soft kiss between his brows, softening the lines there.
Austin put aside their annoying remarks and moved his focus to the book.
Loopy handwriting that challenged even his innate ability to comprehend all language filled the pages.
After he got through the introduction, in which the author described his academic experience studying history and aquatic phenomena, it became easier to decipher.
Austin flicked his gaze up as he turned the page, feeling Tristan’s attention. The merman was watching his wrists, then his fingers as they slid down the page. “Do you want me to read it out loud?”
Immediate interest filled Tristan’s eyes. “I would enjoy that.”
Eli scooted closer.
“Have you read it?” Austin asked.
Tristan shook his head.
“Was it really a gift for me, or did Kas just catch you out?”
Tristan smiled wanly. “I intended to give it to you the moment it was in my possession. You said Liam used to get you textbooks detailing things you’ve experienced, and you liked getting to understand them.
I don’t know any other siren alive, so I had to settle for books.
I have a few others requested from the academy, though they are slow to agree to send out their texts.
I’ve sent men to retrieve them, one way or another. ”
“You’re very talkative,” Austin said.
For some reason, Eli laughed.
Tristan stretched out his legs, which were already close to Austin’s, and pressed them in so they bracketed Austin’s. His eyes were predator bright.
“I’ll just read a bit.” Austin returned his attention to the book.
It started immediately into a loose description of what distinguished sirens from other merfolk.
Sirens, according to the text, possessed a hypnotic, irresistible song that could lure and enchant any who heard it.
Some could enchant entire crowds of men with their voice, while others seeded lifelong desire when their voice was heard just once.
Despite prevalent rumours, sirens were less ship wreckers and more kingdom disruptors, time and time again choosing to beguile those who ruled rather than sailors.
They often partnered with kings and queens, princes and princesses, rather than their own kind, favouring opulent lifestyles that most merfolk weren’t drawn to.
Austin stopped talking, rereading the first sentence. Lure and enchant. Seed desire.
“Command is missing,” Austin said, displeased.
“I don’t think that is something other sirens can do,” Tristan said. “I’ve studied the previous monarch’s bloodline extensively, and you’re the first siren anywhere in that line. You can do far more than what you’ll find in that book.”
Austin accepted that answer and continued reading.
The rest of the page listed sirens—five known in the last three hundred years, another five suspected—and gave a brief overview of where their territories had been.
The next page began an account of the earliest siren from the last three hundred years.
Austin looked up again. “There’s hardly any.”
“Sirens have always been rare. Nobody really knows what influences whether a merperson is born one,” Tristan explained.
“It’s indiscriminate across family lines, north or south, powerful or not.
My line has always been exceptionally physically strong, but we have never had a siren.
Adonis’s line has always been healers, though one of his ancestors is in that book, born a siren instead. ”
“Hm.” Austin returned to the text, reading quietly now. Tristan turned his gaze back to their surroundings, keeping quiet watch. Eli peeked over Austin’s shoulder, declared it unreadable, and left to “find some gossip” for Austin. He muttered Kas, Kas, Kas, as he stalked away. Kas ignored him.
Tristan kept everyone away, leaving Austin to read his book in peace, until Hal approached.
Austin purposefully did not look up from his book and let out a soft growl.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hal’s distressed look—and the fire in his eyes—as he whirled on his heel and tracked away.
Embarrassment followed quickly. He flicked his gaze up to Tristan, finding a smug, superior look directed at his brother across the room.
Again. Austin had been mean to Hal again.
“I don’t want him to hate me.”
“He doesn’t.”
“But I’m always awful to him.” He hesitated. “I’m not doing it on purpose.”
“He’s a dominant male,” Tristan said. “It’s natural to want him to keep his distance. Particularly if you’re favouring me.”
The easy explanation had Austin folding his book shut.
Tristan’s amusement returned, and his eyes picked out Hal, once more mingling with party guests.
“Most try to earn his favour, so it’s quite funny seeing him ignored for a change.
Not that it will dissuade him from trying to be close to you.
When—if—we mate, then your instinct to warn him off might lessen. ”
“If? I thought we were? We’re court, aren’t we? You can feel me?”
“Yes, we are. Though…we haven’t technically met all the requirements,” Tristan said.
“What’s left?”
A somewhat uncomfortable look crossed Tristan’s face. Austin sat up straighter, eyes sharp. “Something you don’t want to do? It’s not sex, then.”
Tristan shifted in place. He met Austin’s eyes, so he didn’t avoid him, but there was a look in his eyes like he wanted to. “I’m not sure I can bring myself to—”
Rusty-red hair snagged Austin’s full attention before he could learn what Tristan didn’t want to do. Walking alone through the main hall doors was the fisherman Sam, a loathsome, horrible boy. Duplicitous. Rotten. Filled with lies and hidden cruelty.
Heat spread across Austin’s cheeks, and bladed power crept to a spot just behind his sternum, where it ballooned, pressing out so hard he swore his ribs creaked.
Tristan gently squeezed his hand. Austin ripped it away.
Awareness of their touching legs bolted through him, and Austin spared a second to silently snarl at Tristan.
The merman calmly slid his legs back, severing all physical contact between them.
Tristan sat rigidly upright as his gaze swept the floor, landing on Sam as he approached them.
Sam smiled nervously at Austin. “Hey.”
“Leave.”
Austin didn’t need to see a single wince to know that his voice hurt.
Even Tristan flinched. The floor of dancers turned toward the nearest doors, and everyone still sitting got quickly to their feet, making for the exit.
Hal watched his party guests flood out past him, then cast a curious look toward Austin.
Sam remained exactly where he’d been, his smile gone.