The Siren's Eyes (The Siren Legacy Book 2)

by Helen Scott

  “I know you’re scared, but we will figure it out. I’m not letting you face this alone.”

  She pulled away from him enough so she could look at him. Her hand came up and brushed the curls out of his eyes. The blond ringlets that made up the shield he used with the rest of the world weren’t necessary with her.

  Thad let her see him completely, let the emotion he was feeling bleed into his eyes. He wanted her to know how much she meant to him, how much her death had scared him. The fact of the matter was that he had lost his heart to her, but he didn’t want to scare her by admitting it yet. It was still too early for something like that, right?

  “Thad . . . I . . .” Cin sighed, and her eyes became shuttered. “I’m really hungry.”

  “Then let’s go get you some food.”

  He smiled at her, carefully threading an arm over her shoulders but behind her wings as they walked out to the kitchen. Cin wrapped an arm around his waist, tucking a hand into the back pocket of his jeans.

  The action made his heartbeat race. Her touch made him crazy. If circumstances were different, then he would be taking her back to bed right now and tormenting her with his tongue.

  Now was not the time for that, though. Cin had been through so much that he knew he would have to be patient. Besides, there was no rush now if she was what he thought she was.

  “Hey, little sister!” Dem smiled wide as they entered the kitchen, relief evident in his features that Cin was back to normal.

  “Hey, Dem. Sorry if I scared you earlier . . .” Cin trailed off and wrapped her arms around herself again.

  “No worries. I’m just glad you’re okay.” He wrapped her in a bear hug. “So, wings, huh?” he asked as he pulled away.

  Thad sidestepped the conversation, letting Cin handle it the way she wanted to, while he got some food together. He listened as Cin and Dem talked, letting the sound of her voice wash over him. The reassurance that she was real and here was more potent than he could stand to admit, even to himself.

  “So you mainly control your wings with your back, and if I want to hide them, I glamour them. I think I’ve got it.” Cin paused, and he could hear her shimmy back and forth, her leathery wings making a shooshing noise. “Are they hidden?”

  “Um . . . not quite.” The laughter in Dem’s voice pulled Thad away from the stove to see how they were doing.

  Cin’s wings were somewhat glamoured, but it was splotchy. He’d never seen anything like it, and try as he might, he couldn’t stop the smile that spread over his face. She shot a glare in his direction, which would have wiped the smile from his face any other day. In that moment, he was too happy. Nothing could change that.

  Thad watched as she shimmied again, her movements tight and stiff, making it look almost painful. Her wings stubbornly remained visible, even as she repeated the effort. Frustration radiated out of her.

  She needed to relax.

  He walked over and hooked one hand around her waist, pulling her close. She let out a squeak of surprise, which made him even hungrier for her. Staring into her eyes, he kissed her, pressing his lips to hers, gently at first, but then he couldn’t quite leash the hunger that the kiss raised within him. He ravaged her mouth, exploring every inch of it as she sank into him. The heat from her body took away the chill that had been residing in his bones ever since the fire.

  Pulling away, Thad gently nipped at her bottom lip. He knew they had rubbed Dem’s nose in it, but he could feel how relaxed Cin was now. Her eyes fluttered open to meet his. He stared intently into them and placed his hands on her shoulders.

  “Think about them being hidden,” he said as he gently rolled her shoulders back and forth.

  Cin felt the pop and a slight squishing sensation as Thad continued to move her shoulders. Sure, she’d focused on hiding them, but she was mainly focused on him and that kiss. Her mouth tingled from his touch. Every fiber of her being felt alive and yearned for more of his touch. He had started a fire within her that wasn’t going to go out anytime soon.

  There was something else that burned inside her. Something dark. Something demanding. It was getting harder and harder to avoid the call. Cin knew she would have to leave soon to follow this, but for now, she basked in the glory that was Thad’s smile.

  “See, completely hidden. You needed to relax.”

  “Good thing I didn’t try that method with her, huh, Brother?”

  Cin caught the flinty steel that entered Thad’s gaze. They both knew Dem was teasing. He clearly thought of her as a sister and nothing else, which she was totally fine with.

  “I’ll have to remember that in the future.” Cin could hear how husky her own voice was.

  She cleared her throat.

  “You do that,” Thad said. His voice was full of a promise that she couldn’t wait to take him up on.

  “So, um . . .” Cin needed to know if this yearning feeling was normal, if the two of them had something pulling at them the whole time as well. She didn’t know how they could be so calm and collected if they did. At first she’d thought she was hungry, and she’d even said that to Thad a moment ago, but now that she was really paying attention, she realized it wasn’t hunger at all.

  Okay, maybe it was a little hunger.

  Overall, though, it was something else, something that was pulling at her.

  “Cin, what’s wrong?” Thad’s face was contorted with worry. She knew he would hate that she was leaving, but if she tried to ignore this pull any longer, she wasn’t sure what would happen.

  “Do you feel a pull? Like you need to go somewhere? Is it just me?” She hated how she sounded when she spoke. The fear that laced her voice was unmistakable. She didn’t want to be afraid, especially not of herself.

  The brothers looked at each other.

  “What kind of pull?”

  “Like there is somewhere I have to go.”

  Thad shook his head. “I don’t, but I can’t speak for my brothers.”

  “Me either,” Dem chimed in.

  “Okay.” She sighed. Cin had known something was wrong. Maybe she was defective. Maybe the fire had damaged something within her.

  “Do you know where the pull is telling you to go?” Thad’s hand ran up and down her arm.

  “No. I just know that I can follow the feeling and get to wherever I’m supposed to be. I don’t know how I know that. I just do.” She laughed nervously.

  “Well, I’ll follow you if you want to go,” Thad said, taking her hand and squeezing it reassuringly.

  “I don’t think you can.”

  “No. I’m not letting you go anywhere alone. You don’t know how to control your powers at all. You’re just coming into this. There’s nowhere you have to go that I can’t go too.”

  They stood in silence for a moment, Thad clearly not willing to back down. Cin knew that it would be dangerous for him to come, though. It was like a giant alarm bell going off inside her.

  “Brother, there are places you can’t go.” Dem’s voice was quiet but sure. “You know this as well as I.”

  “Like where?” Thad’s voice was raised defensively.

  “The Underworld.”

  “She’s not going—”

  “Thaddeus, don’t be arrogant. I’m sure you’ve guessed what she is at this point. I know I have a guess, and if I’m right, then you simply cannot follow where she is going without sacrificing yourself. And I don’t think Cin would like that very much, would you, little sister?” Dem’s voice was harsh.

  “No!”

  “You don’t know that for sure.” Thad’s voice was defiant and angry.

  “Anyone care to clue me in on what I am?” She didn’t appreciate being left in the dark, especially when they knew she didn’t know anything about her biological parents.

  “I think you’re at least part fury,” Thad said, glancing at Dem, who simply nodded his agreement.

  “What’s that?”

  “They were the goddesses of vengeance. Three sisters—one was the a
venger of jealousy, one was known as the unceasing anger, and one was the avenger of murder. They live, or lived, in the Underworld, but no one I know of has seen them in a very long time. They had an affinity for snakes, often carrying at least one with them, which I think was a scare tactic for when they set out to punish people guilty of the crimes they found most offensive. Their victims, not that they weren’t undeserving, often died of madness inflicted by the fury sister pursuing them.”

  Cin gulped and sat down. She was part of this? A goddess of vengeance? She knew she’d always had a quick temper, but surely that didn’t mean anything.

  Picking up her hand to run it through her hair, she noticed the snake tattoo that was next to her thumb. People had always asked her about the snakes, and she’d never been able to explain it. She had four snake tattoos, one by her thumb, one around an ankle, and one on each thigh. If she hadn’t been about to get a fifth, she may have been able to write it off, but she couldn’t deny that she did have a fondness for snakes.

  “If I’m part fury, what does that mean, exactly?”

  “I don’t know. Honestly, I haven’t encountered one since I met Allecto, the Unceasing, but that’s ancient history now. I didn’t even know they could procreate,” Dem said.

  “You seem to have a fury form. Do you remember being in our training area? You were attacking a man in a cage.”

  “I remember. That was when I found out I had wings.”

  “So that’s what caused your scream,” Thad said, putting the pieces together.

  “In your fury form, you have wings, yes, but you also seem to have some kind of change that happens to your skin and hands, as well as your eyes.”

  “Plus, she was wearing a red dress.”

  Cin glanced down at her flamingo T-shirt, tugging at it a little self-consciously.

  “I wasn’t sure if I just hadn’t noticed before,” Thad said, running his fingers through his curls.

  “So I change. I morph into something else. I can deal with that. When I was face to face with that . . . that man, if you can call him that, I could see all the lives he had taken. They were like shadows that he cast. The floor of the cage was practically black with them. Plus, he’s the one who killed me, so I think that may have provoked me.”

  “He what?” Thad’s voice was low and cold with anger.

  “When I left Dem at the farmhouse, I found him standing over this creature that he’d been dissecting. We fought. He stabbed me and set the room on fire. Trapped me in there. I made a break for it, but basically burned myself alive in the process. Although, if I hadn’t, I would have bled out. Neither option sounded like fun, but I didn’t really have a choice.” She tried to put some humor into her words as she saw the darkness that clouded Thad’s face.

  “I’ll kill him.”

  “Brother. We need to question him.”

  “Well, then I’ll torture him when he doesn’t answer our questions. Cause you know he’s not going to.”

  “Fine,” Dem said, seeming to agree to shut Thad up. “Plus, we can keep him there indefinitely. I’m sure eventually he’ll provide answers.”

  “If the furies live in the Underworld, does that mean I’ll have to live there too?”

  “We’ll find a way around that. I don’t care what it takes.” The determination in Thad’s voice made Cin want to smile.

  “Thad, I love you for saying that, but it’s not like I can go home. The people who took Aster know where I live. Ohmygod, Aster! Is she okay? Where is she? I can’t believe I didn’t think about her until this second!”

  Panic gripped her chest as she thought about her sister. What was wrong with her that she hadn’t thought about her again until just now?

  “Cin, it’s okay. Aster is alive and recovering. She’s staying with Hal right now.” Cin felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over her. “You had a traumatic event happen to you. There was some memory loss that you’re only just starting to deal with, so it’s understandable. You have a lot on your plate right now.” Thad kissed her temple. “She’s okay. I promise.”

  “Does she know I’m alive?” Cin’s voice was barely above a whisper.

  “I doubt it. I don’t think Hal would have told her until he knew what was going on.”

  “Okay. Promise me you won’t tell her until I get back from wherever it is I’m going. God, I hope it’s not the Underworld.”

  “On the bright side, if it is, then as a potential resident, you’ll be able to come and go as you please, whereas if Thad or I were to come with you, we would then be stuck in the Underworld groveling at Hades’ feet.”

  “So Hades really does run that whole shebang, huh?”

  “Yep.”

  Thad stared at her. She knew he wanted to help so much that it hurt. She could see it in his eyes. But this was something she was going to have to do alone.

  Chapter 28

  It took everything Cin had to leave Thad, especially since he’d pulled out the puppy dog eyes.

  She had done it, though, and now she was in the Underworld.

  The air felt wet and hot at the same time, like she was stuck in Florida in August in the worst humidity ever. The sense of urgency to get wherever she was going had doubled when she arrived. She was thankful she was starting to get the hang of teleportation.

  The pull veered left at an intersection of tunnels. She followed it dutifully, trying to ignore the screaming and groaning echoing from the other directions. When the tunnel opened up into a humongous cavern, her breath caught. The biggest structure she’d ever seen was at the back, a palace or something, and it was surrounded by smaller buildings that were still at least twice the size of her entire apartment building.

  She expected the pull to take her to the palace so she could grovel at Hades’ feet, but as she approached, it veered right. The cavern was surprisingly well lit for its size, not that she could see any lights around. If she hadn’t had the pulling sensation to guide her, then she wouldn’t have even seen the tunnel entrance on the other side of the palace.

  Cin turned and looked at the structure once more. The huge black stone columns seemed to thrust from the ground upward, supporting the top half of the palace. The structure that rested on them was massive. She would get lost before she’d made it ten feet from the front door. The whole place was intimidating. When she had realized that wasn’t where she was heading, she was relieved. That was, at least until she saw the entrance to the tunnel.

  The craggy hole in the rock face was bordered with skulls, the white of the bone standing out against the dark gray stone. A shiver went down her spine as she stepped underneath. All the noises from the other side of the tunnel entrance stopped. Now there was complete and utter silence. It almost made her feel like she’d lost her hearing. The complete lack of noise unsettled her.

  She couldn’t even hear her own footsteps. She’d had to look down to make sure her feet were connecting with the ground. Once she’d reassured herself, she pressed on. The tunnel sloped downward slightly. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough that the sensation of being deep underground grew with every step.

  The light in the tunnel seemed to emanate from the ceiling, but there were no lights or torches. It was almost like the rocks themselves were lighting her way. Her shoes scraped on the rough surface as she stumbled. Finally, the tunnel leveled out and opened into a room that couldn’t look more out of place if it tried.

  After walking for what felt like miles in dim tunnels carved out of rock, Cin approached a fancy room. As she got closer, she could see a bar off to her left and couches and a TV off to her right. The ceiling was now an elegantly arched layer of brick, and the walls were lined with bottles and pieces of artwork.

  The lighting here had a warm glow, which came from the different lamps and lanterns scattered throughout the room. As she walked in, she could hear people talking, but she couldn’t see them. She peered around the room, and to her eyes, she was the only one there.

  Cin didn’t s
ee the edge of the table as she looked for the source of the voices, so when she smacked into the side of it, she yelped with surprise.

  “Hello?” A man’s voice came from around a pillar she had thought was part of the wall.

  “Hi,” she said meekly to whoever was there.

  They knew she was here now, so there wasn’t any point in sneaking around. She plopped down onto the scarlet couch and rubbed her knee where it had made friends with the table. A pair of black shoes and the bottoms of some jeans came into view. When she looked up, her breath caught in surprise.

  “Cin?” the man exclaimed as a big smile spread across his face.

  “Ben?” Confusion swamped her. How could he be here?

  “I can’t believe you’re finally here!”

  “Me either. Wait, what do you mean finally?”

  “Hello,” a slightly accented woman’s voice sounded behind Ben.

  As the woman’s face came into view, Cin was struck by her beauty. She looked like something from out of a Renaissance painting, all flawless skin and perfect dark wavy hair. The color of her hair was highlighted by the dark red dress she was wearing. The slight smile that curled her lips made Cin want to smile back even though she had no idea who this woman was.

  “Cin, this is Megaera, your aunt.”

  “Hyacinth, what a pleasure to meet you! I have hoped for this day to come for a long time.”

  “It’s nice to meet you too. I’m sorry, how are you related to Julie?” Cin’s brain was swimming.

  “Not Julie, dear one, Tisiphone, your real mother.”

  Anger flared inside Cin at that. “You mean the mother who gave me up?”

  “She had her reasons.” Megaera’s forehead creased in concern. “I’m sure she will explain when you meet.”

  Cin had just about reached her limit on weird for the day. “I’m sorry, but what the hell is going on?”

  “It’s a lot to take in, I know,” Ben said, coming and sitting next to her on the couch.

  “How do you know? What are you doing here? Just who on earth are you?”