Page 28 of Lured By the Siren

“What’s wrong?” She says, brows drawn together in concern, and she places a hand on my face.

“Nothing,” I say, covering her hand on my cheek with my own hand. “I can breathe underwater. How is that possible?”

Her brows scrunch like she’s holding in a laugh, “Did I forget to mention that?”

Frowning, I think back to everything that happened since yesterday. We hadn’t eaten anything, in fact the only thing Evie and I had done was let our lust consume us. Then I realize it's the Elixir. That was the only bit of food or drink, the only substance I have ingested since coming to this island. It truly must be magic.

My mind wanders back to the feeling that moved through my chest as the drink spread within me. Something in it made me capable of breathing underwater.

Reaching into my pocket, I pull one of the damp petals I plucked from the Elder flower and inspect it. It is no longer an array of colors, but only pink, just like the petals I saw the sirens put into the Elixir before I drank it. Had the effects of the drink already begun to wear off?

“Extraordinary,” I muse, tucking the petal back securely in my pocket.

“I almost forgot about that part,” Evelyn says, looking away from me. “I don’t interact with the others as often as I used to,I’ve kept to myself in recent years. Sometimes I forget the perks of the ceremony.”

My face softens at that, “Why did you choose me, then?”

Our eyes lock, and I feel her tail wrap around my legs, pulling me closer to her.

“You’re different from the others. I don’t know why, but when I touched you for the first time, I felt something. It was like a spark that ignited a flame inside me. Something that has been dormant my entire life. And I didn’t want to let that flame go out. So, I’m keeping you all for myself for as long as I can,” She says that last bit in a whispered tone, drawing closer still.

“I like the sound of that,” I whisper back, our lips so close I can practically taste their sweetness already.

When her lips finally meet mine, it is like a restraint inside of me snaps free, and I explore her in every way I want to. I let my tongue trace over the soft curves of her mouth, savoring the taste. My hands roam down her waist and down to the smoothness of her tail. She lets out a moan, sending a shiver through me, and I pull her closer, wanting more of her, to feel all of her.

I break the kiss momentarily, reaching around to untie her top when she puts a finger to my lips, drawing my attention back to her eyes.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask, did you find your brother among the men? Did you see Dru?”

I frown, searching through the fog still hovering in my mind, “Who?”

12

Evelyn

“Dru, your brother.” I frown, “Kai, are you alright?” I grip his face in my hands, forcing him to make eye contact. His lids are heavy and hooded with lust, “Focus, Kai.”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” he leans in to kiss me, but I push him away.

Just a few moments ago he was tumbling through a tidal wave of emotions during the ceremony. I saw it in his face while he inspected all of the men on the beach. I assumed we wouldn’t be running off to this cave together if he had found his brother.

I know everyone deals with grief in different ways, but this feels different. Wrong somehow.

This island is full of mysteries, one being the Elder flower that allows mere mortals to breathe underwater. But this feels too strange, forgetting an entire person, his brother, nonetheless.

We can’t just stay here exploring each other’s bodies further. I have to figure out what’s going on.

“Kai, you have a brother. His name was Dru, remember? You sailed into the storms looking for him. Your ship wrecked, I saved you. We…had a moment. There was a boulder. And a forest. And another few moments in a bedroom. Does any of this ring a bell?” I look at him for any signs that he might be joking. A hysterical laugh caught in my throat threatens to escape.

“Oh, I remember the beach. And you. And the forest. And my room.” He says, grinning like a cat who just caught the canary. “But I don’t know anything about this brother you’re talking about.”

“Dru, your brother, the man who’s in line to take over your father's company,” I practically shout, the noise reverberating off the glowing walls. “Yesterday. Do you remember yesterday?”

“Sure, we were on the beach.” He swims closer to me, locking his arms around my waist and pulling me into his chest. “And I remember tasting every ounce of your pleasure.”

The memory of our very public moment on the beach has heat throbbing in my core. My mouth begins to water at the thought of his wicked one and all the things he can do with it. Get an actual grip, Evelyn, this is serious.

“There will be time for more of that later,” I shake off the daydream and any thoughts of letting this man have his way with me on the cave floor. “Do you remember anything before that? The day before? Last week? Last month? Kai, where are you from? Can you at least tell me that?”

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