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Chapter Five: Aria

The crowd collectively murmurs as bodies move to give the middle aisle a wide berth, letting the supposed traitor through. A siren with dark green braids matching her emerald-colored eyes is led to the bottom of the dais, held up by two legionaries. Purple and blue mottles the light brown skin around one of her eyes, and blue-tinted blood trails from the corner of her lips.

Zahra.

She keeps her gaze down, but I’m not sure if it’s out of respect or because she is too injured to fully tilt her head up.

With a tap of her garish trident, my mother silences the soft mumbling of onlookers. “My subjects, you know as your queen that I do everything possible to keep you safe.” The crowd voices their agreement, some even clapping and cheering as they praise my mother. “And part of keeping you safe—of keeping this queendom thriving despite the limitations those on land have forced us to live with—is what we do with the males we capture.”

My stomach revolts, my last meal threatening to come up before I squash the sensation down. The way of the sirens has always been to lure males of all species to us with our seductive song. Before the war, the custom was to release them after we used them for our purposes—to make offspring. Some would even forego their song altogether and simply ask the males if they wanted to have sex.

As an all-female race, we were created to be dependent on the other beings in this world to sustain our kind. Luring males had been easy before the Spell descended—or so I had heard—but things have changed since then. With the Spell in place, it limits the overall amount of people on the water. Along with that, our magic has grown weaker over time, taking more females to lure in a ship than ever before. There are even some who have lost their voice altogether. Those unlucky few have been forced to join the females that live in the seamounts, my mother deeming them all unworthy.

“Zahra is being accused of releasing a male instead of killing him, as the decree I have given states .” Sounds of condemnation ring out in the throne room, tiny bubbles lifting into the water from the crowd’s energetic tail movements. Queen Amari smiles from where she’s once more seated at her throne, her pointed canines glinting in the glow of the crystals. My gaze is drawn back to Zahra, her arms pulled tautly behind her. “I am a fair queen, am I not?”

Fair. Hardly a word I would ever use to describe the queendom I live in— definitely not one I would ever choose when referring to its ruler. The queen’s decree forces all sirens to use our magic in horrifying ways.

Our eerie song immediately captures the mind of any male that hears the notes, and once under our influence, they are ours to command. Most draw their victims into the water, the magic within us giving the males the ability to survive under the surface when our lips seal with theirs. Holding them captive, we are told to sink until we reach a reasonable depth without the pressure killing them. There, we partially shift, our lower halves morphing into our mortal forms while our gills remain in place. Once the act is complete, we are supposed to break the kiss and watch as our magic fades. They can attempt to swim back to the surface, but none have ever survived the distance before they begin to drown. It’s a cruel and barbaric tactic, and I’ve never truly understood why my mother has put it into place since crossing through the Spell equals their death anyway.

“Though I know many of you would disagree and opt that I kill Zahra right now for her indiscretions, I will instead offer her the chance to defend herself. To explain to her fellow sirens and her queen why she would defy my orders and risk our safety.”

Zahra tries to straighten her spine as she half-heartedly attempts to tread the water. Gods below—her tail. My eyes hone in on the puncture wound near her hips that I hadn’t noticed before. Blue blood trickles out of it at a steady pace, mixing with the water as it does. Siren magic has a small healing ability, enough to scab a cut quickly, but her wound must be large to still ooze with blood as it does.

I force my palms flat against my own scaled hips, my sharpened nails gently scraping them. Lyre settles in close to me, and from the corner of my eye, I can see her own mask frozen in place. Her lips are in a firm line, a bored expression shaping her lavender-colored eyes and brows.

Zahra bares her teeth, more blood spewing from her mouth as she speaks. “It is not true,” she rasps slightly, her voice giving evidence to the pain she must be in. “I have not let a mortal man go.”

A deep, sinister laugh booms from Queen Amari as she rises from the throne. Her voice trails off before she looks down her nose at Zahra. “I have another who says you have. Bring her in!” All of our heads turn to the back just as another female is led through the middle aisle though she remains free of any legionary’s hold.

“Darya?” Zahra says quietly, shock widening her eyes as she stares at the female. Her sister . “What are you doing? What did you say?”

“I told Her Majesty the truth of what I saw last month. You, fucking that mortal man on the edge of the beach and then letting him go!”

Snickers of disgust and hissing sounds ring out, the mob moving closer to Zahra before the legionaries push them back with their spears. Commanders in the legion have smaller tridents fashioned after my mother’s, while everyone else carries spears, both are made of different colored sea glass.

“What do you have to say to that, Zahra?” At the queen’s words, everyone’s eyes shift to the green-haired siren, waiting for her to confirm or deny. I’m not sure either answer will change her fate.

“It is true,” she growls, hanging her head low as her body struggles to maintain its floating.

“You think the life of this mortal man is equal to ours?” my mother asks, her head tilting to the side. When her question goes unanswered, the legionaries pull back Zahra’s arms more harshly, her grunt of pain causing a ringing in my ears.

“I think it’s unfair to punish him for the crime of two hundred years ago. I think he did not ask to be a victim to our song, and therefore, he does not deserve to die for it.” Faster than Zahra—let alone those holding her—can react, my mother darts down the dais and backhands her so severely that her head snaps to the side, the sound echoing out over the room.

“We are trapped down here, unable to enjoy the land we were promised, because of his kind. His ancestors, whether they be blood to that wretched king or not, started the war when they denied us what should have rightfully been ours. You dishonor our own past queens with your self-righteous pity on those who deserve none.”

“ You dishonor our ancestors by pursuing vengeance that you are not owed,” Zahra says quietly—though the words might as well have been a scream with how they echo in the following silence. If there were any chance that my mother would let Zahra go with only a warning, something I have never seen happen, then those words changed the trajectory of her fate. The queen stares at Zahra, her hardened gaze relentless before she softens her features. Backing up, she turns to those gathered.

“Do you see the delusions she is under? To think that we should show mercy to the men who attacked us all those years ago? I was there! Where was our mercy?” Her voice booms off of the palace pillars and walls.

Zahra slumps between the guards, unable to hold herself up anymore.

“One day, this Spell will fall, and when it does, we will take what is ours. What should have always been ours. For we are beings of two worlds, something no other creature can say in Olymazi!” The crowd cheers, pumping their fists in the air and swimming around each other in chaotic swirls that temporarily cloud the space in bubbles. My mother revels in the way they lap up her words, in how they believe without a doubt that they are owed more than what they have. I don’t know what to believe.

According to our history books, The War Of Five Kingdoms started when the Mortal Kingdom betrayed my grandmother and tricked her into thinking that they would make her daughter—my mother—their future queen, wed to their crown prince. Princess Amari Malika was only twenty-seven when the resulting war started, young by our standards with a siren’s lifespan averaging three hundred and fifty years. Our aging slows down at twenty-two years, which means my mother was barely on the cusp of adulthood when she was forced to fight in the war caused by the Mortal Kingdom.

Queen Amari bangs her trident on the dais, the clanging sound resonating in the air and causing me to wince. The congregation stops their wild movements immediately, vicious eyes all turning to face the throne.

“Zahra, you are accused of treason by disobeying a direct order from your queen. You put this queendom at risk for your own selfish and misguided morals. You have been turned in by a witness to your crime, and thus, we have evidence to proceed with your punishment.”

I count to ten, willing ice to fill my veins and begging with the gods to help keep my face neutral in the wake of what is to come.

“I am a fair queen, my dear subjects. I do not want to hinder you as they do above. I do not want to take from anyone that does not deserve it. I simply want what I was promised—what you beautiful beings and your ancestors were promised! ” she bellows, her voice taking on a magical cadence though our abilities don’t work on other sirens. I can feel the power of the queen as she delivers her final remarks. “And this betrayer”—she points to Zahra with her trident—“would risk you all in the name of saving a mortal man . Does that seem like someone we want in our midst?” The question is rhetorical, yet the crowd shouts out their answer all the same.

“No!”

“Is this someone we want near our precious offspring?”

“No!” their screams grow more frenzied. Though my gills draw water in for oxygen, I still feel my throat constrict.

“Is she someone who deserves to stay alive after her treachery?”

“No!”

“Allegra, come here.” My sister moves down the dais and to our mother’s side quickly, her delphinidae, Mashaka, right behind her. “As the future queen, I believe you should show everyone what we do to those who betray their own kind.” Allegra’s hungry smile somehow transforms to one of begrudging pity. She almost looks convincing too, like she really doesn’t want to do this but knows she has to. As I struggle to keep my composure flat and unresponsive, Allegra battles to keep the murderous glee inside her from showing. Her only tell is the grip she has on her silver trident. The weapon, smaller than my mother’s but larger than any of the commanders’, seems to vibrate with her energy. Three opal gemstones lay flat across the front, while dark blue eelgrass is wrapped around the trident’s long body, trailing off like fluttering ribbons at the end. An addition Allegra added on herself.

The legionaries holding Zahra swim out to her sides, extending her arms so that she resembles a cross. She manages to lift her head to look at my sister. The crowd surrounds Zahra in a crescent shape, their colorful hair floating all around them so at odds with the menacing darkness threatening this moment. Allegra casually swings her trident side to side as she stares Zahra down, her cold eyes unforgiving and calculating.

“I have no regrets about what I’ve done,” Zahra heaves out between her teeth. “And you—”

My body jerks involuntarily when her words are cut off as the trident pierces her heart. Allegra drives it farther into her, the legionaries straining to keep their hold on Zahra from the force.

“Traitorous bitch,” Allegra seethes before ripping the trident out, a squelching sound following. Blood eddies with the water, my eyes frozen on watching how slowly it blends in.

“Take her body and cast it off Tula Ledge. Let the creatures of the deep have her,” my mother commands with a flick of her wrist. The legionaries turn, dragging Zahra’s lifeless form behind them as they head to the door.

Mirth starts to sound again in the throne room, as if nothing happened at all. My mother swims back up the dais, taking her seat on her throne of bones and leaning back—completely at ease.

“Let’s go,” Lyre whispers as my other sisters who are floating next to us begin to disperse into the crowd.

A shriek cuts through the revelry, followed by a quieter grunt of pain. I scan the space, finding Allegra as she stares down at Darya, her trident pierced so deeply into the siren that none of the three prongs are visible above her body.

“What is the meaning of this?” Queen Amari asks casually, sounding bored.

“She waited weeks to tell us that her sister had betrayed us. She should have come right away, but instead, she chose a liar over the safety of her queendom. She deserves death as her sister did.” Allegra yanks the trident from Darya’s now dead body, smiling as Mashaka uses his bottle nose to poke at the dead siren’s scales.

“A fair judgment, my daughter. Come now, everyone, the time for celebration is upon us!” Two more legionaries in seashell armor swim up to grab Darya’s body, taking her quickly through the partygoers and out of the throne room.

Drums are brought out as well as conch shells and string instruments, and a band begins to play, the melody seductive and rhythmic. I shoot Lyre a quick look—one that says I’ll meet her in my room in a little bit—before I pretend to mingle with the crowd.

No one attempts to talk with me, as everyone I pass either gives me space or stares at me like I’m the next one that will be called a traitor. What they don’t understand is that I don’t want to betray my mother or this queendom. I don’t want to put anyone at risk or see anyone hurt.

Keeping my chin high as I swim towards the back of the room, I’m startled when Mashaka abruptly appears, his gray rubbery nose poking at my chest painfully as he lets out a high-pitched noise.

My heart leaps into my throat as I try, and fail, to get around the delphinidae. Panic tears at my insides knowing that if Allegra sees me trying to leave so soon, she’ll force me to do something horrific to prove my loyalty to our mother—to her. Eyeing the door, I watch as a small group of sirens swims towards it. Knowing I have to time it perfectly, I feign moving to the left just as the group reaches the door. Mashaka falls for my bluff, and I immediately take off to the right, darting between sirens as I race towards the door.

He lets out a screeching noise, but luckily , I am able to squeeze through the door before it shuts, slamming it closed in front of Mashaka and holding it there until I hear his retreating squeaks of frustration. Relaxing my shoulders, I hastily proceed to my room, propelling myself through the winding, open tunnels connecting the floors of the palace.

While only those with royal blood are able to swim past the first floor—an ancient enchantment keeping them from doing so—I don’t like being out of my room on my own at night time. I am not a beloved daughter of the queen, and Lyre is the only one of my sisters who is actively kind to me. The rest either view me as competition for the throne or ignore me completely.

I don’t want the throne, nor do I even want to stay in the palace. What would it be like to not have to be a part of this world? To not have to pretend to be something so cruel? As I reach my room, a ruby-red jewel placed in the middle of the door, I wonder how much longer I can continue on before I turn into the very thing I’m afraid of.