Page 45 of Siren’s Mark (The Siren’s Mark Duology #1)

“We thought it was likely,” she says. “But she was engaged again when we first met her, to Count Krisztian Schauberg. An arrogant bastard twice her age who just so happened to be a nobleman.”

“She got engaged again? Even though people thought she was killing her future husbands?”

“Yep. Ilen—that’s her name by the way—was considered the prettiest girl in the city, and apparently that’s all it takes for men to risk death.”

How pretty?

Don’t be that insecure chick, just be cool.

“So she was really pretty?” I ask.

Nailed it.

“She was fine,” Kami says. “She was a bit bland looking. She was brunette with delicate features and big eyes, bushy eyebrows—very forgettable. But the beauty standards back then were very different than they are today, and very white.”

“Hmm,” I say, trying not to come off too pleased at the idea that this girl was boring-looking.

Suck it, Ilen.

“Anyway, Zane decided he wanted her and he didn’t care if it put him on Asmodeus’s radar.

He was young and reckless and I think he enjoyed the danger a little too much.

Ilen pretty quickly fell for him and they had an affair behind her fiancé’s back.

It was particularly egregious because she was living in an outbuilding of the Count’s estate. ”

“They were… doing that… in the guy’s own house?”

“Yep,” she says. “Men are idiots, Ava. Teenage men are basically one rung on the brain ladder above mosquitos.”

I let forth a little burst of laughter.

“So, yeah, they were sneaking around right under her fiancé’s nose, on top of Zane knowing very well that he could attract the wrath of a jealous demon. And Zane started developing feelings for Ilen.”

I try not to look as insecure about that as I feel.

Where is this going?

“It was puppy love,” Kami says, possibly to comfort me.

“It was that young infatuation of sorts. She was ready to run away and get married to him instead of Count Schauberg, but Zane always deflected those ideas and insisted she marry the Count. He liked her a lot, but he knew he wasn’t interested in marrying her himself and her fiancé was incredibly wealthy and would be able to give her a good life. ”

I nod in silence. There’s so much going on in this story that I’m not sure how it’s going to unravel, but it seems obvious that it will.

“So one day, we’re on the way to the town center where we’d run our daily errands,” Kami says with a soft, serious voice, “and we hear a big commotion and see a large crowd gathered outside the Schauberg estate.”

Kami’s body language has shifted and she looks pained just telling the story.

“They um,” she says, pausing to clear her throat.

“They were gathered around these big steps in front of the house. So of course we walk over to see what everyone’s making such a fuss about.

People are gasping and screaming and shouting, which in that town could have been over any local gossip.

But then we get closer and we both notice it: the smell of death. ”

“Oh no.”

“Zane realized it first and he took off running through the crowd. Ilen was-” Kami pauses a moment, her expression is somber and she almost seems to be choking on the words as they leave her throat.

“Her body was covered in bruises and blood and she was sprawled naked on the steps. Her face was so swollen you could hardly recognize her, but Zane knew by her scent.”

Kami takes in a deep breath before continuing.

“Everyone was just standing around. No one covered her, they just gawked. Maybe they feared getting on the bad side of Count Schauberg, who everyone suspected had done it. We knew he was making a point—he practically put her body on display. He wanted to prove he couldn’t be messed with.”

“Zane was devastated. He picked her up and held her. He shook her and rocked her, begging her to wake up. He couldn’t stop crying.”

“Oh my god,” I say. No other words cover it.

“Schauberg had found out about the affair,” she says in a solemn tone. “He beat her and he killed her because of it.”

Kami stares down at her hands and takes a deep breath in.

“Something shifted in Zane that day. He blamed himself for seducing her. He truly believed he was evil and his powers were there to tempt humans to their death. He adopted this stoic persona and became obsessed over keeping himself in control. Zane decided he was a loaded gun and no one around him was safe unless he was in perfect control.”

“Wow,” I say. I’m at a loss for any other words.

“When he met you, he started acting like that na?ve kid again,” she says.

“An old friend of mine is a Seer, which means she can see the future. She thought Zane needed to leave you—I disagree but that’s a topic for another day.

When he heard that, his worst fear became real: that something was going to happen to you because he got too close.

He’s terrified of losing you and he did the only thing he could think of to stop history from repeating itself. ”

“Does he know you’re telling me this?” I ask.

“No. I know he’d be okay with you knowing, though, if it means you understand better why he did what he did.

He doesn’t even realize how much everything with Ilen affected him, but I see it in everything he does.

You are the love of his life, Ava. You’re it for him, he knows that.

Which is why it scared him that much more that he might be harming you. ”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. If you don’t want to be with Zane because he hurt your feelings or acted like an idiot in a million other ways, then you do what you gotta do. But don’t give up because you think he doesn’t love you. Nothing could be further from the truth.”