Page 69 of Rise of the Siren Queen
“Yeah, I noticed.” I nodded.
Her eyes flicked briefly to Ronan’s retreating form, then back to me. “Just be ready for tomorrow. Kieran won’t hold back.”
Great,I thought, feeling a wave of apprehension. As if sparring with Ronan wasn’t bad enough.
As I mulled over Elora’s words, I felt Sienna’s gaze on me, her eyes gleaming in the light. Her voice was soft, yet it carried a weight that seemed to cut through everything around us.
“You sense it, don’t you?” she said, her tone eerily calm, like she already knew my thoughts. “That your powers are more than what you showed today.”
I frowned, my curiosity piqued. “What do you mean?”
Sienna’s eyes seemed to cloud over with a translucid white light, her usual calm replaced by something distant, almost prophetic. “Your power is tied to something older, something greater. And when thetime comes, you’ll have to face the truth about yourself.”
I swallowed hard, unsure if I liked where this conversation was going. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
She blinked, and just like that, the strange intensity in her gaze vanished, leaving her eyes their usual lavender hue. It was as if the eerie, prophetic trance had never happened. Her voice, though calm, carried a trace of strain, as if the effort of seeing whatever she saw had taken its toll.
“I’m not sure,” Sienna said, her tone softer now. “And even if I was, I’m not allowed to answer you.”
That last part hit me like a splash of cold water.Not allowed?There it was again, the ever-present distrust of humans, lingering beneath their words and actions.
I was sick of it. I wasn’t human, not anymore, at least.
I was one of them, whether they accepted or not.
15
Control
Adrian
The morning came heavy with silence, the kind that settled in your bones and coiled like a wolf in the brush, eyes locked and unmoving. Even the ocean felt different, still, expectant. Like it knew blood was about to spill.
I stood at the edge of the moon pond, a gush of wind slicing through my skin, carrying the sharp bite of salt and something colder. My fists curled unconsciously at my sides.
He won’t hold back.
Elora’s warning from yesterday echoed in my mind, a ghost of a threat, a challenge I wasn’t sure I could afford to ignore.
A part of mewantedthis fight. Needed it. The quiet, seething part that had been drowning under too many unanswered questions, too much restraint. But there was another part of me, the rational, calculating part, that knew this wouldn’t be anything like sparring with Ronan.
Kieran wasn’t just strong, he was lethal. And heknew it.
The water stirred, breaking the surface like a blade slicing through flesh. I didn’t need to turn. Ifeltthem before I saw them, their energypressing against the air, thick and suffocating. Their presence sent something irrational through me, something dark, something thatwantedto bare its teeth and fight its way out.
Kieran stood in front, unbothered, unaffected. A storm wrapped in skin.
“Ready?”His voice cut through the silence, steady, unshaken.
I exhaled. Today would be different. Today, I’d carve my place into this world or get torn apart trying.
Ronan leaned against a jagged rock, arms crossed, his ever-present smirk making my blood simmer.
“Let’s see what you’ve got, hybrid,” he taunted.
My jaw tightened. I didn’t rise to the bait. Not yet.
I clenched my fists, feeling the familiar surge of power beneath my skin, ready to unleash. This wasn’t just about sparring, it was about claiming my place among them, about showing I was more than just the human they’d so often looked down upon.
