Page 7

“Nice to meet you, Evelyn. Thank you for saving me. My name is Kai.” He holds out one of his large hands, the ones that wrapped around my waist only hours ago and held me tightly.

Slowly, I reach for it, placing my small hand in his grasp. Something electric sparks between us at the contact and he must feel it too because he cocks his head and squints his eyes at me. I quickly pull away, the shock of the connection dying as soon as my hand leaves his.

“Would it be okay if I had my spectacles back now?” He asks, and my heart jumps into my throat. I’m not ready for him to see me, to know who—what I am.

“No!” I practically shout, and he jumps slightly in response. “I mean, I haven’t gotten a chance to ask any of my questions yet.”

He huffs, grimacing and touching the seaweed that's still over the healed gash on his head, “Alright, what do you want to ask me?”

“Where are you from?”

“I’m from a small province in the Kingdom of Halvendor, called Renyir.”

My brows shoot up, many of the men in the village come from the large mainland kingdom of Halvendor, even the first of the men, Mathius, came from there centuries ago.

“Why did you sail into the storms?”

He grows quiet before saying, “I’m looking for my brother.

One of his crew told me his ship got caught in those storms, and I…

” He brings a hand up and pinches the bridge of his nose, letting out a small, humorless laugh.

“Well, I’m not sure what I was doing, but now it all seems like the most foolish idea I’ve ever had. ”

He closes his eyes, and I reach for his hand, knowing what the contact will do to my senses, but wanting to offer some form of comfort to him.

“You wanted to save your brother. That doesn’t sound foolish to me.

It sounds noble. I know I would do the same if it were my sister. How long ago did he go missing?”

“Nearly one month now.”

I almost choke on my own saliva. There was a storm almost one full moon ago, and there was only one survivor from it. Could Katarina’s current conquest be this man’s missing brother? I hope for his sake that it is, but I don’t want to offer him false hope, so I stay silent.

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? It isn’t like you cast the storms that caught us both.”

I could laugh at that because no, I did not cast the storms, but Kafigda, my home, did. If only we could find out how to end them, but none of my siren sisters seem to care.

They’ve never asked questions or searched for answers.

Maybe it was time to change that.

“Are you out of questions?” Kai’s voice shifts my focus, and I realize that my hand is still holding his. I pull back quickly.

“For now,” I say. “But before I give you this…thingamabob…”

He laughs, and my entire body seems to come alive. I bit my lip against the sensation.

“You mean my spectacles?”

“Yes, your spec-ta-cles.” The word feels strange on my tongue and it’s hard for me to say. “Before I give them to you, I want to prepare you.”

He shifts himself into a more comfortable seated position, and I can tell he’s trying to hide the pain. There is a curiosity in his gaze and he does that thing with his eyes that he won’t stop doing.

“Does squinting your eyes like that help you see better?”

His lips shift into a smile. “A little, but not enough to see your features. All I know is that your dress is purple.” He pauses and cocks his head to the side, “but also sometimes…green.”

A lump forms in my throat, and I try to swallow against it with little luck. “Well, yes. That’s right, but it’s…well you see, it’s not actually a dress.”

“What is it then?” He raises a single brow and leans forward looking like he might reach out to touch me. I notice then that his shirt has come further unbuttoned. His muscles shift with his movements, and heat pools in me at the sight.

I swallow hard and say, “It—it’s my skin, actually.”

His frown is deep creating a large crease between his brows, “What do you mean?”

With a sigh, I pick up his spectacles and hold them close enough to his face for him to see them, as well as my purple and green scales.

His jaw clenches, outlining the harsh angles of his face, and he looks down at my hand, up my wrist, and to my face.

I watch his lips as they part slightly, and he snatches the spectacles from me, quickly putting them on.

One of the round sides has a crack, spider webbing from the very center, and I wonder if it affects how well he can actually see.

He’s looking at me very differently now.

No longer is he the flirtatious, kind man I saw last night. His face has transformed to one I’ve seen too many times. It’s the same face of every man who finds themselves marooned on our island. A look of disbelief and possibly horror.

Sirens have been legends, rumors, bedtime stories told to children on the mainland for many moons.

I hate this part.

“I’m a siren.” I say, leaning back on my heels, trying to give him as much space as I can. It looks like he might pass out again, but then he says the one thing I would never expect.

“Beautiful.”

He keeps staring at me like he can’t quite believe his eyes, and his features shift into something that might be awe. He lets his heated gaze roam over the purple and green scales covering the curves of my legs up my hips and across my torso.

The way he clenches his jaw and is looking at me like I’m a puzzle he’s trying to solve, is so distracting. I can see that he is still struggling to fully believe any of this is actually happening. It is always this way with newcomers.

Normally, when I tell them the truth, they don’t believe me, they run in a panic, or try something far more violent.

The only way to finally convince them is by using the powers of persuasion—a siren’s call, something a man could never resist. While I’m not as skilled in that aspect as some of my sisters, I still possess the skills to lull a man into submission.

Normally, I like assisting my siren sisters in that task when newcomers arrive, but with this man, Kai, I feel a need to help him understand, to make him understand, and accept his fate. It’s an unusual feeling that sends a thrill through me.

I glance back at his face, and I’m entranced. His eyes are so captivating, green like the deepest caverns of the sea. They pull me in like a strong current, and I can’t break away. Suddenly, I realize I don’t want to have to persuade him with my song. I need him to believe me all on his own.

Who is this man and why do I feel like I will do anything to protect him?

"Thank you," I finally say, and embarrassment spreads through me, because it really has been a while since a man has complimented me. Resisting the urge to get lost in the pools of his emerald gaze, I decide if he’s feeling well enough, it might be time to head to the village and see how the others are faring.

But this impossibly beautiful man is just sitting there, staring at me, with a sliver of what looks like hope in his eyes. I practically melt beneath his gaze and smile softly at him.

To my surprise, he returns the smile and I think maybe we can spend just a few more hours alone before I tell him his new fate.