Page 10 of Siren Problems
“No.” My voice breaks a little. “It’s worse. If it comes loose without control—without the ritual—it’ll take everything with it.”
The tide pulls hard, and I step back, away from the surf, from her.
“Then let’s find a way to control it,” she says.
I stare at her. This girl with scanners and sarcasm and salt on her skin like it belongs there. She doesn’t understand what she’s offering.
Or maybe she does.
Either way, I don’t trust the way my heart stutters.
“Go to bed,” I mutter.
She rolls her eyes. “You’re such a drama queen.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I. You think I’m gonna just ignore a walking sea hazard singing ballads into the ley stream?”
She turns to leave. Pauses.
“You’ve got a good voice,” she says over her shoulder.
Then she’s gone.
And I’m left standing in the cove, afraid I’ve already said too much.
She lingers near the path, hand curled around her scanner like it might still spill answers.
I should walk away. Ineedto. But I don’t.
Instead, I stand there like an idiot, skin still humming with the remnants of song, throat raw with the echo of what slipped out. Her eyes never leave mine—steady, probing, not prying like the council used to, or ravenous like the press back when I was still royalty. This is different.
She’s watching like I’m a question shewantsto ask.
And worse... like she’s alreadystartedto care about the answer.
“You heard wrong,” I say, quieter now. Flat. Final. “It was the tide. You’re not used to the way the rocks echo.”
Luna raises a brow. “That’s your excuse?”
“It’s the truth.”
“No, it’s not.” Her voice softens. “But it’s the only one you’re willing to tell me.”
That gets under my skin. Not because she’s wrong, but because it’s too damnaccurate. She turns away finally, but not before giving me one last look—slow, searching, unreadable.
Wonder.
Not suspicion.
Not fear.
Just... wonder.
And I haven’t seen someone look at me like that in a very, very long time.
It unsettles me more than her scanner ever could.
