Page 11 of The Sirin Sisterhood (The Sons of Echidna #2)

Lucy

“I’m not even related to you. How can I lead your family?

”Lucy tried to fill the silence with refusal, shaking her head.

She was balancing on the edge of a glass cliff.

Lai had propped her up in the face of impending doom, and the seemingly inevitable failure would fall squarely on her shoulders.

It felt like he was punishing her, setting her up for humiliation.

She wanted to trust Lai, but he was a wild-card at the best of times.

If he had a plan, it revolved around his whims; he was the only one with a handful of aces while everyone else was trying to figure out how to play the game.

Would Aris even let it happen? Sure, it seemed like a democratic vote, but Aris could choose dictatorship, and no one would be able to protest. He could snap any of them in half, and if the human Aris couldn’t, the dog form would devour them all, even the dragon, who grinned from the other side of the couch, basking in the fireworks from lighting the fuse.

“You don’t have to be blood to be family,”Lai commented, keeping a wary distance from his father as Aris turned a deep shade of red with apoplectic rage.

“I’m not married to any of you either,”Lucy muttered.

“Your scent is all over my father. Marked territory.”Lai took on a more serious tone, sounding genuinely thoughtful for a moment.

“I think in your pursuit of control, you accidentally performed something binding, and now all we have to do is return the favor.”He walked over to his father and stuck out his hand in demand. Aris sneered at him.

Lucy looked over at Xim in panic. Things were escalating too fast. Yes, she loved those idiots, but she didn’t want to be bound to them forever just yet! Xim looked back at her, unsure of what to do or say.

“Hey, let’s not be too hasty.”Lucy swallowed as she watched Aris slide off his belt.

If she hadn’t been terrified before, she sure as hell was now.

What did Lai mean by returning the favor?

Was she going to be marked somehow? With his scent, in front of the whole family?

She felt sick at the thought of being claimed in the same way she had claimed him.

With a belt? Surely not. She had been marked with a belt once before by her southern grandfather, who didn’t know any other parenting methods, and now, seeing the thick leather strap in Aris’s hand, she could recall exactly how much it stung.

Begrudgingly, still glaring at Lai, Aris removed the belt buckle from the leather strip and handed it to his son. Lucy was close enough to catch a glimpse of it.

She had seen it before but had never bothered to examine it. It was a filigree belt buckle with the family crest on it, an ugly metal tree with human arms and hands instead of branches, and a knot of snakes in place of the roots.

Lai took the buckle and walked over to the gas stove, turning on the heat and holding the metal up with a pair of tongs. The expensive stove burned hot, and the buckle darkened over the flame, heating slowly to a dull, angry red.

Lucy didn’t understand what was happening at first. As she watched, confused and frightened, Lai bent forward just enough for his jeans to slip below his hips, his bare flesh flashing, and an old scar revealing itself.

The color ran from Lucy’s face as she finally understood what the belt buckle truly was.

It was the same size as Lai’s brand.

Lucy looked over at Louis. The young boy who had voted for her and sealed her fate had turned around to watch the sober ritual.

She met the faces of the others, one by one: Aris, dark and furious.

Ryan, calm, resigned. Klein, who couldn’t return her gaze.

Xim. Her best friend had already worked out what was happening and had her phone in her hand; Lucy could see the number for the security team on the screen, and Xim’s finger was hovering above the ‘call’button.

What was she waiting for? Lucy shot her a questioning look, and Xim moved tocall,as she suddenly realized her friend had been waiting for her signal to see if she was consenting to this or if she needed to be saved.

In that split second, she felt a swell of appreciation for Xim. She had started this whole endeavor trying to prove to Xim and her family that she could go from nothing to something.

The head of an ancient family, no matter how dysfunctional, was something.

“Don’t, Xim,”she called, and Xim stopped, looking at Lucy like she had lost her mind.

Maybe she had. Lucy didn’t have anything left to prove: she was in control of her powers, she was strong, she was unafraid. Yet still, she wanted more.

Lucy squared her shoulders, lifted her chin, and took a step towards Aris. He glared at her, only looking away as Lai offered his father the tongs holding the cherry-red buckle.

Lucy gulped, trying to keep her hands from shaking. The bravado that had filled her a second ago drained away like the blood from her face. She didn’t much care for pain, and that smoking chunk of iron looked like she was about to be in a lot of it.

“Where do you want this, hun?”Lai grinned at her. “You get the luxury of picking the location. I suggest your ass. You won’t be able to sit for a while, but it will heal fast.”

Lucy stripped off her shirt and pointed to a spot on the left side of her chest, about two inches below her collarbone.

If she was going to bear the barbaric initiation, she was getting the brand somewhere she could show it off, a permanent reminder of what she was prepared to endure to anyone daring to challenge her authority.

Over her heart. Because no matter how much she wanted to deny it, the family had it. She couldn’t imagine her life without them.

“Try not to flinch.”Lai held her shoulders still as Xim wrapped her arms around Lucy, supporting her, her hands trembling.

“Welcome to the circus,”Lai whispered as Aris pressed the iron into her breast.

It melted her skin with a savage hiss. As the branding iron met flesh, time itself seemed to halt, the searing pain drowning out all else.

The scent of burnt skin mingled with the metallic taste of blood as Lucy bit too hard on the inside of her cheek.

The sweat coursing down her brow betrayed the silent suffering.

The room, once poised in intense anticipation now held the silence of poignant aftermath, honoring not only the body but a stoic soul, forever changed.

“Holy fuck,”Lucy whimpered, jerking back as Aris finally snatched away the brand, her skin red and raw with gnarled black burns in the clear shape of an ugly tree.

The pain didn’t stop. It drew back for a second, then surged forward like a wave, less intense but persistent nonetheless.

“Sorry, daddy. You are now only second in command. The crew has spoken.”Lai grinned, but his smile vanished with a yelp as the belt Aris was holding connected with his ass. The now-dethroned head of the family was fuming over losing his position, but he wasn’t about to start tolerating disrespect.

“Welcome to the family, Lucy. Babysitter fantasy done; bring on the stepmom scenario.”Lai acted like the lash hadn’t hurt, but Lucy saw him wincing with each step.

“Stepmom? You are not calling me mommy.”She crossed her arms over her bare chest as Xim and Klein made a dash for the first aid kit in the kitchen.

“It’s settled then. “Aris sighed, an odd expression on his face. With the brand complete, his fury was evaporating. Lucy pushed back her pain to reach for the magical strings of his life force, gently plucking the golden threads as he grimaced. It felt invasive to touch them, and she was discreet as she examined them with her power. His threads were relaxed, humming softly. She whipped her head up to look at him in disbelief. No wonder she’d thought he looked odd.

He was relieved!

Lucy didn’t get time to delve further into the man’s complicated emotions.

Xim pushed her down onto the sofa, a tube of ointment in hand.

Klein was mirroring Xim perfectly, the same worried and slightly annoyed expression she wore copied on his face, towering over Lucy with a handful of bandages.

She allowed them to fuss. She was glad for it.

The clear gel Xim applied soothed the aching burn, numbing some of the pain.

Klein wrapped her snugly with the bandage, ignoring her nakedness entirely.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t undressed her before.

She had woken up naked only days ago, when he had treated her for far more serious injuries.

Lucy realized then that she could just heal herself. Pull the required energy from something else; there were plenty of fancy houseplants around, and Klein would probably volunteer if she asked, but...

It didn’t feel right. The brand was part of an initiation, and bearing the pain was a ritual.

All of them had gone through it. She’d spotted the same brand on Lai and felt it under her fingers as they raked down Aris’ back.

Klein must have had one, too. Ryan and Louis were probably too young, or at least she hoped so; the thought of Louis’s baby-soft skin being scorched, while he cried for mercy without understanding why his family was hurting him, made her feel queasy and ill.

As the pain took a back seat, something new in Lucy began to surface.

The way Xim and Klein fussed over her. Aris’s huffs from the corner.

Lai’s curious glances. She felt in control again.

She felt authority. Greatly inflated by the bizarre ceremony, it had burst into flame in her heart as though the brand had ignited it with its touch.

It was the confidence to do whatever she needed for her family.