Page 43 of The Book of Legends
But it’s not just what she’s doing that sends my stomach twisting––it’s her face.
My face.
I blink, my pulse roaring in my ears. It isn’t a trick of the light. She looks like me.
“Enjoy the show?”
A siren watches me from the water, her skin shifting from pearl to deep blue under the glow. She’s naked from the waist up, her body glistening like wet silk.
“How did––”
“We can be anything you want,” she interrupts, her tongue rolling over her lips. “We can look like anything you want.”
I shake my head, trying to make sense of it. “Is this some kind of sick joke?”
She smiles, revealing razor-sharp teeth. “There is nothing funny about the way you look right now. Be careful, Selene, beauty is dangerous. It can kill.”
Her cerulean eyes drift lower, hunger gleaming within them. Fear tightens around my chest, a cold grip against my bare skin.
Movement from my left catches her attention.
In the blink of an eye, she’s gone.
“What are you doing?”
I whip around, nearly slipping on the slick rock. Kainen’s grip catches me, his hands firm around my waist. I clutch my arms over my chest, heat searing my skin where he touches. His gaze drops, darkening.
“I heard something.”
“You could have fallen in,” he says, voice low. “It’s dangerous to be this close.”
I found more than I bargained for. But I bite my tongue. It’s not my fault I saw him like that. Not my fault he fantasizes about me.
“Where were you?” I challenge. “You disappeared.”
He watches me carefully, searching for something, before smirking. “What’s wrong, Selene? Miss me?”
I scoff. “Should I ask you the same? Afraid you might lose me? First your guards, then Finnas, and now you’re worried if I drown?”
His eyes flash. “Don’t flatter yourself. I lose interest quickly.”
He lets go of me, but his gaze lingers on my skin. Now that I know what he doesn’t want me to see.
“Good to know,” I mumble.
He turns, walking away, muscles rippling. Scars mar his back, deep, brutal, untouched by ink. Battle wounds. And something tells me they weren’t made by anything human.
I get dressedas quickly as I can, grateful that he walked away. I don’t know how much longer I could have played off the fact that I find him attractive. I shouldn’t, but I have eyes, and I see him clearly. Just like I can suddenly see without my glasses.
It must be this place. This world. A world I don’t belong to. A world I don’t even know is real. There’s no one I can ask. No one I can trust. All I know is that he’s the only one who can save me—from what, I’m still not sure.
When I step out from behind the waterfall, the air shifts. The moons shine brighter in the dark sky, swollen and full. The wind hits my skin like ice, raising goosebumps beneath my leather. I scan the tree line, but Kainen is gone. Maybe he went to get dressed where he left his armor. I tread carefully over the dark ash toward the spot where we first arrived. The wind slamsinto my back, cutting through my clothes. Something smells different. Wet fur, like an animal that’s just climbed out of the water.
The sound changes, the whining wind taking on an unnatural quality, and a cold finger of fear traces my spine. I glance left, then right, looking for Kainen. Nothing. Just shadows. The lagoon behind me remains steady, its eerie blue glow undisturbed. The waterfall hums. The wind howls.
But something is wrong.
For a split second, the thought that Kainen abandoned me flashes through my mind. I push it away. He needs me alive to lure out his brother, Therion. I hate being used as bait, but it doesn’t matter. He won’t change his mind. He’s blinded by his own rage.
