Page 27 of Siren Sins
Muse Again
Sarah
Iwas a muse again, but it had come at a price. I’d died and lost all my love for this world. Only the fresh memories of my mother that had been fed to me to restore a connection to the land had brought me back, but I still had nothing in me anymore. Vikki had taken it all, and although she glowed with the power it had given her, guilt painted her face. She rolled the glowing blue pearl across her palm. The mystical, ancient power known as a Tear of the Sea should have enthralled her. Instead, she seemed lost in thought as the toyed with it.
I eased back onto a sofa. My father had taken us both in, not wishing me near the sirens in my current state. I was renewed, but half of me felt missing. I struggled to remember why I cared about this world.
I sat closest to the window that overlooked the beach. The sea still called to me with promises of reprieve. I wouldn’t have to worry. If I simply went back into the water, pulled the lofty sheets of waves over my head, I could sleep, and rest in her embrace.
“Stop that,” Vikki chided. She scowled and shoved the Tear of the Sea at me. “You need this more than me. It’ll help with the call of the sea. Take it.”
Blinking with surprise, I took pearl and coddled it to my chest. A tension I hadn’t known had been there eased.
My father leaned in the doorway and gave Vikki and grin. “I knew I liked you.” He jerked his chin at me. “I believe you owe Vikki a muse’s boon.”
I frowned. I was in no condition to give up my powers for three years. Already I felt splintered and lost. My powers as a muse swirled inside me, familiar, yet foreign at the same time. It was as if I had forgotten how to be what I’d been born to be.
Looking at Vikki, I eased my magic towards her. She grinned. “If you wanted me to sit with you, all you had to do was ask.” She jumped from her seat and squished in beside me, wrapping her arms around my waist.
With an affectionate smile, my father nodded. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone. Stay as long as you like.” And then in a whisper of shadow, he was gone.
Vikki gave me a sweet kiss on my cheek. “I can wait. We can stay here until you’re yourself again.”
Looking into her ice blue eyes, I wondered if I’d ever be myself again. “You’ll stay with me?”
She nodded and ran her thumb across my lower lip. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I cupped her face and took her mouth with mine. Her kiss grounded me and gave me something to hold onto in this world.
When her magic mixed with mine and my muse’s powers told me that this was something more than lust, that Vikki cared for me, I felt something I’d never expected from a siren.
I was fulfilled.
Baby Got Wings
Sonya
The world had gone to shit. There was no way we were going to get out of Shanghai alive.
Dragons had been cooped up for far too long. Jet was their rightful king, and even if he’d slain his own brother to take his place as their leader, too many had turned. Now more than ever I wanted to be by his side. I’d finally found the third piece of my heart. It was no coincidence that he’d been the one to escort me. Destiny was bringing us all together and I hoped I would find my fourth soon. But for now, Jet had to help his dragons. Without his guidance, they were nothing short of Derek’s dogs.
Jet had his work cut out for him. Dragons streamed across the sky and I shielded my eyes against the flashes of dragonfire.
“Come on!” Luke shouted as he grabbed my wrist and jerked me along.
I had the power of a newly born Bloodstone, and it was damn chatty.
Why are we running?It complained.
I scoffed. “Because dragons are destroying this city and it’s time to get out of here.” Luke gave me a raised brow, but there wasn’t time to explain it to him. There was a Blood Stone inside my chest mixing its voice with that of my runes and both forces wanted answers. “You got a plan?” I asked Luke instead.
He gave me a wicked smile. He had those eerie kind of blue eyes that made me want to stop and watch him, just to see the shape of his soul that lingered behind such a glassy exterior. “You bet your ass I’ve got a plan.”
Luke led us to the airport. On foot, it took a while and I was sweating profusely by the time we got there. My clothes hung loose on my body and I was lucky that I still wore anything at all. I picked at the edges frayed from dragonfire that had leeched beyond the forcefield I’d erected around myself when Jet had killed his brother.
“There,” Luke pointed at a private plane off in the shadows.
The plane was barely discernible under the moonlight. Only the occasional blast of dragonfire illuminated its rusted panels. It sure wasn’t like Derek’s with all the bells and whistles. I wasn’t even sure that it had seats. I made a face.
