by Meg Xuemei X
Her panic made it hard to breathe. Throwing on an overcoat and wrapping the whip around her wrist, Lucienne pulled the door open. Jonas was positioned outside.
“Jonas?” she asked, blood still pounding in her ears.
“Miss Lam, you’ll have to stay in your room.” Jonas blocked her. “Please.”
“What’s going on?” she demanded. “What are those noises?”
“Nothing you need to worry about. Just go back to sleep.”
“How dare you talk to me that way!” Lucienne looked icily at the guard. “I’ll have your head on a plate.”
“Forgive me if I offended you, Miss Lam.” Jonas bowed his head. “My job is to keep you safe.”
“And part of keeping me safe is to inform me of what you know to the best of your ability when I demand it.”
“Master Lam was injured. They’re taking him to the operating room.”
Part of her felt relieved—Vladimir was okay—but the other part sank at the sad tidings. “Where’s Kian?”
“Mr. McQuillen is with Master Lam. He wants me to guard you here.”
“I’m going to see my grandfather, and you’ll accompany me.” There was undeniable supremacy in her voice.
“Yes, Miss Lam.”
Lucienne broke into a run down the corridor and shot downstairs. Jonas was at her heels, trying to keep up. Soon Lucienne was out of the mansion and past the exotic plants of the surrounding garden.
When Lucienne entered the courtyard, she saw a grim-looking Kian and a medic carrying a stretcher. Jed lay on it, hooked to an oxygen tank, blood staining his cashmere coat.
A tight grief and anger crammed Lucienne’s throat. Ever since she was crowned Siren, Jed had given all he had to smooth her transition. He put the family’s future in her hands when almost everyone resisted. He never faltered and never showed weakness. This was the first time she had seen the old man so fragile. Lucienne’s fury burned. Whoever did this to her grandfather would pay!
The men pushed the gurney into an armored ambulance. Lucienne shot into the back before it closed. Kian snapped his head to her. “You should stay in your room. It’s safer.”
“Stop treating me like I’m a little girl, Kian McQuillen! You can’t protect me that way. No one can,” Lucienne said, “I’m the Siren.” She matched her mentor’s glare with a fierce, icy stare. “Next time, remember to inform me first. From now on, I’m in command. Jed Lam’s state warrants it.”
“Yes, Master Lam,” Kian said. He looked weary, but there was unmistakable pride in his eyes. A sad tenderness rose in Lucienne. “You’re going to call me Lucia, like you always have,” she said, settling on a bench beside Kian and leaning her head on his hard, broad shoulder. He wrapped his callused hand around her shoulder, letting the silence settle over them until they reached the Lams’ infirmary.
* * *
Lucienne waited in the hall outside the surgery room with Kian and five guards, including Jonas. She looked haunted from the faint bluish shadows and smeared mascara in the hollow under her eyes. Her brown eyes lingered momentarily on Kian’s wet shoulder. She had been sobbing.
Jed would never expose vulnerability like that. Jed once said that she was more human than any other Siren during tea one afternoon. Being ‘too human’ wasn’t a compliment in Jed’s book.
“I don’t hide how I feel in front of my friends,” Lucienne had said.
“Sirens don’t have friends,” Jed said. “We can’t afford to have them.”
“I’ll continue to cherish loyalty and friendship.”
“That’s your hot Russian blood talking,” Jed said.
Her hair bristled on the back of her neck. The Russian part of her heritage had always earned her the name Russian Wretch or White Trash. “Did you mean that as an insult?” she asked coldly.
“You’re one of a kind. That’s what I meant,” Jed said. “You’re the first female Siren.”
“I can be cold and calculating. You know I excel at that, even though my blood runs hotter than former Sirens’,” Lucienne said. “There’s no need to bring up my mother. I’m not ashamed of my Russian heritage, just as I’m not ashamed of being part of yours. I didn’t choose either.”
“Do things your way. You’re the Siren now.” Jed pushed aside the supreme tea served in Jingdezhen teacups and left abruptly.
That was before he left for the relic site in Egypt.
Lucienne averted her eyes from the wet spot on Kian’s coat. When she stopped weeping, she became the unbreakable Lucienne Lam again.
“Go to bed.” Kian regarded her. “There’s nothing you can do here. If there’s any update, I’ll send news.”
“Why don’t you go rest for a change?” Lucienne said. “When was the last time you slept?”
“I sleep when I can.” Kian pulled her up from the chair. “I’m walking you back to your room. One day is enough for you. There will be more on your plate tomorrow. You’re in command now.”
Lucienne let Kian lead her down the corridor as Jonas trailed behind. When Lucienne and Kian were out of earshot of the guards, Lucienne asked in a hushed but determined voice, “Is Vladimir here, too? I want to see him before I go back to my room.”
“Last I saw him, he was sleeping like a doped monkey in one of the guest rooms,” Kian said.
Lucienne raised an eyebrow.
“He turned out to be fine after he stayed . . . a certain distance from you,” Kian said carefully. “Your nanny gave him a mug of sedating tea that put him to sleep.”
“Why did you wake up Aida?”
“You knew how she is. She never goes to bed before you do, expecting you’ll need her.”
“I’m not a kid anymore,” Lucienne grunted. “And Aida isn’t young—”
“Don’t let her hear that.” Kian chuckled. “She won’t be pleased.”
Frosty air assaulted them as they walked out of the infirmary. Lucienne shuddered and Jonas cursed the coldness. Kian, as always, remained untouched.
“You’re right,” he said. “I should stop protecting you like you are a little girl. You’re the Siren, more now than ever. Just don’t grow up too fast for me to catch up.”
“Nothing is too fast for you to catch, Kian. Nothing will ever be too fast for you,” Lucienne said. “But you know a shielded life is never meant for me.” She halted as she caught sight of the Red Mansion a few blocks away with its red tiles. The dawn’s pale light gave the tiles a shadowy look, but soon the sun would rise high, and the roof would shine the color of blood.
“Who did this to my grandfather?” she asked.
“It was an ambush,” Kian said.
“Bring me the assailants. I’ll skin them!”
“The attack was an indirect hit on you.”
Lucienne took a moment to digest that. “They believe once Jed’s out of the way,” she said coldly, “they can all come get me.”
“As the Blazek boy said, they’ll have to crawl over my dead body to get to you.” Kian’s voice was even colder than Lucienne’s. “And I plan to live a long life.”
At Kian’s promise, Lucienne’s blood warmed in her veins. “A bloodbath is not my way, but let them come.”
“They’ll come,” Kian said. “Jed won’t hang in there long. Your rule has begun. They’ll seize the opportunity to try to push your half-brother back into the Siren’s seat.”
“Any news on Hauk?”
“That coward hides deep.”
“He’s twenty-two now, isn’t he?”
“You should have taken him out when he placed a bounty on your head years ago. You had the right.”
“He has Jed’s blood, too. Killing him then would have turned even more of the family against me. And I wanted to give him a chance to walk away from this.”
“Rumor has it he vowed never to rest until he erases you from the face of the earth.”
“Then he’ll continue living a sad, disappointed life.”
“The attack will come sooner. Perhaps sooner than we e
xpected,” Kian said. “Before it comes, we’ll remove you to Sphinxes.”
Sphinxes was an uncharted Pacific Island that a former Siren bought centuries ago. For years, Kian and their loyal team had been secretly building their future headquarters on the island.
“No, I’ll stay for the war.”
“Not this time,” Kian said. “As your security chief, I overrule you on this matter. You’ll follow my plan.”
Lucienne pouted, but Kian wasn’t compromising. In the end, she sighed, “What’s the progress in Sphinxes?”
“Labs and military bases are all complete, but there’s still too much to do.”
“The work never ends. How are the soldiers?”
“Watchful and loyal,” Kian said. “An elite team is on their way here. Our enemy won’t expect that, though Jed won’t approve of the warriors coming to the complex either.”
“I’ll work on Jed. He wants to keep the Lams together, but he desires to preserve the next rightful Siren even more.” Speaking of her grandfather, Lucienne dropped her gaze, staring at the ground. “Will he wake up?”
Kian sighed. “He’d better.”
Kian accompanied Lucienne into the Red Mansion. When they stopped before her room, Jonas was right behind them. Kian eyed the guard, and Jonas darted inside for a security sweep. When Jonas came out and resumed his station at the door, Kian kissed the top of Lucienne’s head. “Good night, Princess.”
Lucienne grinned. “You should shave more often, Kian McQuillen. Hygiene is required.”
Kian shook his head. “Stop talking like that peacock you fancy too much.”
Her smile dimmed. She was sure that beautiful peacock was going to dump her at the first opportunity he got when he woke up in the morning.
CHAPTER 6
As soon as Lucienne heard Jed Lam was asking for her, she went directly to the medical facility at the west side of the complex. Standing in the doorway of the room, Lucienne watched a nurse adjust fluids flowing into Jed’s vein as Kian and Jed spoke.
“I should have gone with you,” Kian said. “I failed you.”
“No, you did right.” Jed’s voice was feeble. “Lucienne is your responsibility. Her day has come; mine has passed. I don’t matter. Protect her.”
Without Lucienne’s control, her throat made a sobbing sound. She approached Jed, whose eyes were now riveted on her. “Leave us,” he said to the nurse.
She greeted Lucienne and quickly departed. Kian followed the nurse out and closed the door behind them.
“Lucienne,” Jed said. “You’ll move to the island after I’m gone.”
Jump right down my throat, Lucienne thought. The worst fight she had ever had with Jed was over the Sphinxes project. “Grandfather, we can talk about that later. I have something more important to show you.”
“A secured island is safer for you,” Jed continued, “but I want you to remember the Red Mansion is home to all Sirens.”
“Red Mansion will always be my home, Grandfather,” Lucienne said. “I’ll not abandon it, and I’ll not tear the family apart, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Jed sighed. “I deeply regret that none of my sons or grandsons was destined to be Siren. But selecting the true Siren is bigger than my preference. You’ve proved no less than any of us. Stronger, in fact.” Jed’s eyes locked with Lucienne’s. “I know what you need to do to secure your rule. But when you clean house, promise me you’ll show mercy.”
“I’m not heartless. You know that.”
“You’re never heartless to your friends, but to your enemies, you’re merciless.”
“I’ll give them a second chance if they repent.” Lucienne looked miserable. Her grandfather wasn’t dead yet, and here they were, discussing how she’d run things after he was gone. Lucienne pulled her chair closer to Jed’s bed. She inserted her hand into her coat and took out a scroll holder. She retrieved the content, flattened the scalp map, and held it for Jed to see.
“Feel this, Grandfather,” she whispered. “The second scroll. Through this map, we’ll find the Eye of Time.”
Jed’s aging, shaking fingers traced the map. Lucienne could see that Jed knew the artifact was authentic. All the Sirens had the uncanny ability to recognize the three ancient scrolls.
“You secured it, Lucienne Lam, my heir, my Siren,” Jed said. Tears of tremendous joy gathered in his eyes. Lucienne felt her own tears welling behind her eyelids. Wasn’t that what she always wanted—to make him proud? Make him never regret his impossibly difficult decision to choose her as his heir? She was the chosen one, through and through. Even the I-Ching 易經, the oldest oracle on Earth, had validated her.
Eight years ago, when the Siren candidates failed to grasp the concept of I-Ching—an imperative for the Siren—she had begun to establish herself as the brightest. In the packed classroom, the contest turned out to be an I-Ching tête-à-tête between Dr. Hsi—the I-Ching master—and an eight-year-old Lucienne Lam. Lucienne tossed a few questions out on the eight primal forces of the universe and the moves of the sixty-four hexagrams. The male candidates and their supporters looked as if they believed she and Dr. Hsi were conspiring in a coded language.
“I consider the I-Ching more of a spiritual guide than a device to predict the future.” Lucienne smiled confidently as all eyes were on her, especially Jed’s hard, distrustful ones.
“I’m glad you resist the temptation and choose the higher path, Miss Lam.” Dr. Hsi nodded in appreciation.
“It wasn’t easy, Dr. Hsi, but thanks to you and the oracle I made the right choice.” She reminded herself to remain in control. “I-Ching comes from China. Its concepts are difficult for people used to the Western mode of thought. Oriental philosophy holds that absolute reality is beyond human thoughts, and that the highest form is formless and abstract. So, I translated the basic concepts of yin and yang into Western physics: each action has an equal and opposite reaction.”
“It depends on how you attune all the elements,” Dr. Hsi said. “Everything in the universe is connected in a spiral web, but very few can read the code.”
“Speaking of the code, I still have difficulty grasping the deep connection between Wu Ji, the Way, and Tai Ji, the source of time and space. Are there deeper meanings beneath the symbol of two eyes, one black and the other white, forming a circle? How can the ultimate nothingness contain the supreme ultimate?” she asked, batting her eyes, her voice innocent and sincere. “Maybe the candidates can enlighten me? They’ve been awfully quiet, and I absolutely have no intention to be rude and steal their thunder.”
“Very considerate.” Dr. Hsi clasped his hands with a knowing smile, turning to the boys in the class for the first time. “Does anyone have any idea how the ultimate nothingness contains the supreme ultimate? Boys?”
Lucienne could almost hear every candidate cursing her in his mind. An innocent, encouraging smile danced in her eyes. As she intended, she had led Dr. Hsi to ask an impossible question that elicited complete silence from the boys and their supporters.
But proving to be a prodigy invited countless attempts at her assassination. Lucienne Lam had survived, but obliterating thousands of years of Lams’ tradition and accepting a female Siren had finally brought her grandfather to his death bed.
Lucienne placed her hand on Jed’s frail one, her eyes glowing with a tender light. “I was lucky, Grandpa,” She said. “Vlad and I stumbled onto the second scroll.”
“There is never coincidence in the universe, child,” Jed said. “You were meant to find it. That part of the prophecy about you has come to light. You must find the last one. Remake history. My dear child, how I wish I could be there to see it through.”
Prophecy? What prophecy? She’d ask him later. She had a more urgent problem to solve now. “Grandpa, you’ll be there to see it all the way through,” she said, her mind working on how to introduce Vladimir to the equation.
“I won’t live forever, but I’ve seen it in a vision,” said Jed, his eagle ey
es piercing her, as if reading her mind. “Now tell me: how do you like the Czech boy?”
“Vladimir.” A sob escaped her. “His name is Vladimir Blazek.”
“Is he good to you?” Jed asked, then chuckled at his own question despite his poor condition. “I don’t think I should worry about that. My granddaughter would never allow anyone to take advantage of her.”
“I kissed him and he collapsed last night,” Lucienne blurted out.
“The kid got too excited?”
“No! It was a bad fall.” Tears came to her eyes. “He’s allergic to my kiss.”
Jed looked worried. “Did anyone else see that?”
“No. Kian took care of it.”
An appreciation smile floated to Jed’s eyes. “Good Kian. Always efficient.”
“What am I, Grandfather?” Lucienne asked. “Why can’t I kiss a boy? I can never be with a boy, can I?”
“Have you tried to kiss others before that Prague boy or after?”
“Vlad was my first kiss.” She swallowed. “But, well—”
When it came to Jed, the best strategy was to tell the truth. He expected it. He always knew if she was lying. “Two other guys after him also got poisoned,” she said reluctantly.
“I take it they wouldn’t recognize you?”
“They’d describe me as a tall blonde with a distinctive accent.”
Jed nodded in approval.
“The point is, Grandfather, I must find out why I can’t be with boys.” A sob, again, stuck in her throat. “I don’t ask too much. I want only one boy.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” said Jed.
“That I want only one boy?” Lucienne raised her head, staring down at the old man incredulously.
“There’s a reason the tradition forbids a female Siren. The implant mutates Sirens, giving us superpowers, but at a cost,” Jed said. “The mark isn’t of modern technology, but ancient, before we conceived of a female Siren. It might not be compatible with your system.”