by Bonnie Lamer
“Yes.”
“You know a lot about Irena and her clan. How is this possible if you lived apart from them?” Kallen asks. Good question. If Zyrene was supposedly apart from Irena and her minions, how could she know the plan?
“I still have friends among Irena’s clan.”
Which means we still have no idea where the Siren’s loyalty truly lies. If she has friends and family amongst Irena’s clan, her motives for coming here are certainly suspect. Another thought hits me. “Why did you show up in the village?” I ask. “Why not come directly to the palace?”
A faint blush touches Zyrene’s cheeks. “I got lost.”
“Lost?”
She nods. “Yes. After coming through the passageway, I found myself in the woods. I did not know which direction to go and I ended up walking in the direction of the village. I had no idea where the palace was.”
It does seem reasonable she didn’t have a map of the Fairy realm. “Okay, but you had to know you would not be a welcome sight.”
Again, she nods. “What choice did I have? My time to warn you was at a minimum as tonight will mark the third night the others will sing. You will lose a great many lives unless you can find a way to stop them from reaching the sea.”
“We have that covered,” Kallen growls.
Zyrene’s eyes open wide in surprise. “You do?”
Proud of myself, I say, “We have not lost a single soul to Irena as of yet.” I hope I didn’t just tempt the universe again.
Confused, Zyrene asks, “How is that possible?”
“You let us worry about that,” Dagda informs her curtly. “Nor do we plan to lose lives tonight. Irena has no idea what she is up against.” I can almost hear his brain churning out ideas for preventing war and annihilation at the hands of the Sirens.
“Is there anything more specific you can tell us?” Kallen asks the Siren.
“You are Prince Kallen?” Kallen nods. “Then it is you who Irena seeks to satisfy part of her revenge.” She glances in my direction. “She wants to weaken you.”
“Old news,” I inform her.
“May I go home now?” Zyrene asks.
“No,” Kallen and Dagda say at the same time.
“You will remain here until Irena is no longer a threat to this realm,” Dagda informs her. “You will be given comfortable accommodations in the meantime.” Lucky her. I expected him to put her in a cell until he can determine if she’s actually on our side or not.
Not in the least surprised by Dagda’s refusal, Zyrene asks, “Could I at least send word to my husband?”
Dagda’s nod is curt. “I will ask Queen Arie to relay a brief message in regards to your safety but that is it.” He’s afraid she will try to send a coded message. Smart guy my father is. “I will have someone escort you to your room and you will be kept there under guard.”
Resigned to her fate, Zyrene nods. “I understand.” She tries to stand up but her legs will not hold her. “I am afraid I am still quite weak. Although I forsook my magic, I am still a nocturnal creature at heart.”
I certainly hope she doesn’t expect Kallen to be her walking taxi service. “Which room?” I ask Dagda. “I’ll bring her.” I get a raised eyebrow from Kallen. So sue me. I don’t want my husband exposed any longer than necessary to a Siren.
“No,” Dagda says. “I will have Naja escort her. We have things to discuss. Kallen, send Naja a message.”
Zyrene stares at Kallen. “Are you telepathic?”
“Only partially,” he answers truthfully. I don’t miss the relief on Zyrene’s face. It’s only there for a second but it was definitely there.
We stand in an awkward silence for a few minutes while we wait for Naja. None of us want to leave the Siren alone. Who knows what she is capable of doing. When I have Kallen alone, I need to ask him if there’s a spell to make it seem like someone’s magic is gone. I know there are cloaking spells, but this would be something more powerful.
“This is tedious,” Taz says. He waddles to the Siren and begins to sniff her.
Zyrene shrinks back against the chaise lounge. “Does he bite?” she asks.
Taz snorts. “Tell her she’s not enough fish to make it worth the effort.” I am not going to tell her that. Taz continues to sniff at Zyrene and Felix has joined him. “Smell that?” Taz asks his brother.
“She smells like putrid seaweed,” Felix remarks, getting closer and taking a big whiff. He stops and backs up a few feet, teeth bared. “Forsook her magic, my ass,” he growls.
Uh oh. “What do you mean?” I ask, trying not to let the building anxiety within me show on my face.
“Circaea,” Felix responds, moving closer to Zyrene with, it appears, every intention of tearing her to shreds.
“Felix, wait. Tell me more.”
Reluctantly, the Tasmanian devil stops but his eyes never leave the Siren. From the fear on Zyrene’s face, she knows she’s in trouble. “Enchanter’s nightshade. Sirens can use it to mask their magic so they can walk among other races unnoticed.”
“Um, I didn’t read anything about that.” If Kegan or Alita did, it seems they would have mentioned it. “How do you know about it?”
“Because, my Witch Fairy,” he pauses, letting the distaste in his mouth simmer down, “would supply them with it. Even she could not sense them once the spell began.”
Wow, the other me really sucked ass as a defender of the universe. “How long does it last?” I ask, ignoring the penetrating gazes of Dagda and Kallen. They seem to believe if they stare at me hard enough, they’ll be able to understand the conversation.
“Not long. Only a few hours.” He and Taz are now on either side of the chaise lounge. The Siren is not getting up without one of them biting her. Or worse. It has been an hour or so since Taz ate anything. He’s probably starving.
“Xandra,” Kallen grinds out, his patience quickly ebbing. “What is going on?”
With my eyes on the Siren, I answer, “The lying Siren is about to become a Tasmanian devil chew toy.”
Kallen swears loudly and with great imagination. “Does she still have her magic?”
I nod. “She does. It’ll be active again soon.”
Dagda’s turn to swear. “How?” he demands.
“Enchanter’s nightshade. It can be used in a spell to hide a Siren’s magic for a short period of time.”
Zyrene’s eyes open so wide, her brain is going to start oozing out soon. “How do you know that? No one outside of our race knows that.”
I shrug. “I guess your secret’s out.”
Kallen and Dagda move into flanking positions alongside my Familiars. “Why did you really come here?” Kallen growls.
While they’re all ganging up on her, my mind is wandering. I can detect lies. All kinds of lies. It makes me feel like I have bugs crawling all over me. Is this nightshade stuff powerful enough to fool my internal lie detector? I find that hard to believe. I think back to what Zyrene said. She forsook her magic. Okay, she did that by using the circaea. She lived apart from Irena’s clan. Maybe she was lucky enough to escape when they were tricked into imprisonment. The one sticky point I can figure out is her husband. She said she met him after she forsook her magic. Maybe she didn’t mean it literally. Irena didn’t use her Siren magic on Dagda when she was hot for him. At least, I don’t think she did.
“I came to warn you about Irena,” Zyrene is sputtering. “That is all.” Okay, now I’m getting the creepy crawlies.
“Hold on,” I say to my husband and father. “I think most of what she said was true.” Zyrene is as shocked as they are at my words.
“Xandra,” Felix growls, “there is powerful magic at work here. Do not be fooled.”
“Could she detect lies?” I ask him, meaning my doppelganger.
“What?” Zyrene asks in confusion.
I wave her off. “Not you.”
Felix shakes his head. “No.”
That power must not have evolved in her yet. “Then I need
to test my theory.” I move closer to Zyrene making everyone in the room nervous, including her.
“Xandra, what are you doing?” Kallen hisses. I know he hates it when I don’t explain myself, but I want to see if this works first.
I reach out and grasp Zyrene’s arm. I can feel the spell now. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It’s also trying to keep me out of her mind. I pull magic and push it inside her. The spell crumbles and I am tearing down a tunnel into her psyche. Thoughts and ideas and magic are swirling around me as I delve into her mind. I am vaguely aware of screaming. I am hurting her by pushing the magic of the nightshade aside but I can’t help that. It is too important to know why she is here. Finally, I reach the end of the tunnel and there, in the farthest reaches of her mind, is her deep, dark secret. She’s not a spy. She’s a traitor. Or, at least, she thinks she is. She is also Irena’s cousin.
I let go of the Siren and step back. “You really did help the Merpeople capture Irena.” Zyrene is sobbing and has curled herself into a fetal position on the chaise lounge. She nods her head as she is crying too hard to form words. “When Irena was freed, she found you and your family. She tortured your husband until you agreed to do this.”
Finally, Zyrene can form words. “He begged me not to give in. But I had to. She would have killed him. I slipped away last night when he was finally at rest. Irena promised he would not be hurt again unless I failed.” Her sobbing washes away any other words she wanted to say. That’s okay, she’s said enough.
Dagda and Kallen are both looking at me in awe. I hate it when they do that. “She’s here to do exactly what you accused her of doing,” I tell them both. “The whole idea was for her to get inside the palace and once the circaea wears off, she is supposed to start singing up close and personal. To you both.” I should probably be angry with Zyrene since she is here to attempt the seduction of my husband, but I can’t muster it. She’s only a pawn in Irena’s sick game of power and revenge.
Kallen runs a hand through his hair in frustration. “Let me guess, her husband dies if she is not successful.” Since he wouldn’t be able to hear me over Zyrene’s growing grief, I simply nod my head.
“Please,” Zyrene chokes out. “Please help him.”
Help him? We can barely help ourselves. What does she expect us to do? Dagda is asking the same thing. “Other than committing suicide, what could we possibly do to save your husband? I am sorry, but the lives of all of my people are on the line. I will not sacrifice them for the sake of one.” That was harsh. Realistic, but harsh. As much as I would like to save her husband, I won’t do it at the expense of Kallen or Dagda.
“Zyrene, do you know where Irena and the others are?” I ask.
The Siren shakes her head. “No. After Irena came for me, she left me with her underlings while she began her attacks here.”
“Why did she wait to send you here?” I ask. The Sirens have sung two nights already.
“She knew it would be risky sending me here. She hoped it would not be necessary.”
Fair enough. “I can’t let you sing tonight,” I inform her.
Nodding, Zyrene whispers, “I know.”
“Sire,” Naja says strolling briskly into the room. She stops, trying to get a handle on the situation.
“It is about damn time,” Dagda complains. Naja isn’t fazed by his outburst. She’s too busy staring at the Siren. “Get her the hell out of here. Throw her in a cell.”
Naja heads straight for the Siren, grasps her arm and pulls her from the room with very little regard to her fragile state. I would protest, but I’m not a huge fan of Sirens at the moment. But, I do send my magic out, capturing Zyrene’s voice before she can even think about singing. I wish I could do the same thing to the rest of the Sirens, but I need to find them first.
When they are gone, Kallen asks, “Do you really believe she is telling the truth?”
“A partial truth, at best,” Dagda replies.
I raise my hand up. “Um, truth seer. Yes, she’s telling the truth. Or, at least, most of it. Is what she said possible?” I ask. “Are the Sirens strong enough to win a war with the Fairies?”
Dagda runs a hand through his already messy hair. The Fairy really needs a shower. I won’t mention that, though. “I do not know. If what Zyrene said is true, they have had centuries to train warriors.”
“Wouldn’t the Merpeople have noticed?” I ask. After all, training warriors isn’t something you could hide very well when incarcerated.
“You would think,” Kallen mutters.
Brows raised, I ask, “Are you suggesting the Merpeople may have ignored their training.”
He nods once. “If they were confident enough in the security of their imprisonment, they may not have seen the harm in letting them do as they wished.”
“We need to discuss this with the MerQueen,” Dagda says over his shoulder. He is already walking toward the door. He glances at his watch. “We are meeting in ten minutes in my office.”
“We’ll be there,” I assure him.
Chapter 13
Arie is dumbfounded. “War?”
“Indeed,” Kallen responds.
Arie dismisses the idea. “This is ridiculous. The Sirens are not strong enough to win a war.”
“What about the ones incarcerated with them?” I ask. “Are they strong enough?”
She thinks for a moment. “It was impossible to release their slaves from the Sirens’ magic.”
“Is that a yes?” Kallen prods.
Kai answers for his wife. “Yes.”
I frown in his direction. “How do you know? You didn’t go near them while they were in captivity, did you?” Captivity. I sound like I’m speaking of tigers or bears. I guess in reality, Sirens are just as dangerous. Maybe we could put them in a zoo for safe keeping. In soundproof cages, of course.
For some reason, Kai is offended by my question. “I did not need to see the proof personally. I have trusted underlings who reported to me on a regular basis the goings on of the Sirens.”
“A little sensitive?” I mutter under my breath.
Arie’s face has become a blank page. I suspect Kai didn’t share this information with his wife. Boy is he in trouble. “If there was need for concern at the time, I am certain Kai would have dealt with it.”
“There is going to be a fish fry tonight!” Taz exclaims from across the room where he’s trying to get to a plate of cookies on a side table. His stubby little legs keep him from being a real threat to the baked goods. “My mouth is watering already. I wonder how much meat there is in a Merman’s tail.”
I ignore Taz, but he might be right. Arie is making excuses for Kai but it’s obvious she’s stewing on the inside. I would hate to be him tonight. He may be hand-delivered to the Sirens if the emotions spurting from Arie’s pores are an indication of things to come.
“It seems there was need for concern,” Dagda points out. “I am curious why you have not shared this information since their escape.” His green eyes are riveted on Kai and it’s not difficult to read his emotions, either. He will gladly help Arie deliver Kai to the Sirens.
Kai, of course, is on the defensive now. “The Sirens have never declared war in the past.”
“Preparing warriors was a good indication they were planning to start,” Kallen observes.
“In hindsight, yes, you are correct,” Kai admits.
As much fun as putting down Kai can be, we are not accomplishing anything. “Enough with the hindsight. Can we try a little forethought now?” I push. All eyes shift from Kai to me. “We need to rally the female Fairies, let them know what they are up against. It’s going to take them a minute to wrap their heads around the idea that they are not only facing the death of their males, but they are then going to be attacked and forced into war. And who’s to say the Sirens won’t make their move when all the males are asleep tonight?” There is a stunned silence. Wow, am I really the only one to think of that?
Kallen reaches for my hand.
“You are correct.” He turns to Dagda. “We need to protect the village tonight. You, me, Kegan, we should all be there.”
Without realizing I’m doing it, I squeeze Kallen’s hand until his fingers turn white. “I don’t like that plan.”
“Squeeze any harder and I’ll have Fairy Fingers to go with my fish tail,” Taz informs me. “Maybe Tabitha will whip up a good tartar sauce for me.”
Dagda considers for a moment. Finally, he says, “I do not see another way. Xandra, Arie, you will be here to protect the palace. Tana and Isla, as well. You should be able to hold off any attackers.”
I shake my head. “No, bring everyone here. It’s not safe to have you guys in the village.”
Kallen pries his fingers from mine and touches my cheek. “There is simply not enough room to bring everyone here. Nor do I believe everyone would come. They will not want to leave their homes and businesses unprotected.”
“I don’t care about their stuff,” I say petulantly. “I care about you guys.”
“Xandra,” Arie says quietly. “Your mate loves too deeply to be taken this evening.”
“Would you risk Kai’s life?” I ask. Too late, I realize the stupidity of my question. With how pissed she is at him, I think she would gladly risk his life.
“Yes,” Arie whispers. Not the emphatic yes I expected, but still the response I knew was coming.
I want to argue more. I want to rant and rave and threaten to keep Kallen by my side with magic if I must. But, that would be selfish of me. I need to suck it up and act like I’m the Princess of this realm. I know Tana will be just as worried if Dagda goes to the village, but she will handle it with poise and grace. I don’t really have either of those, but I can at least acknowledge that it’s our job to keep the Fairies safe even if that means putting our own lives in danger. “Fine,” I grumble. “But I don’t like it.”
Kallen leans forward and kisses my cheek. “Noted,” he says softly. He adds, “I love you and I promise to be careful.”
“You better.”
“I believe it best if I make the announcement to the village myself,” Dagda says. “News like this should come from the King.”