Page 192 of The Throne Seeker

His hesitant eyes shifted hesitantly to the mirror. “See for yourself.”

She got off the bed and went to stand in front of the mirror.

She inhaled sharply.

Her muscles froze at the sight of the striking stranger staring back at her. She’d never thought of herself as vain, but she was a great deal more attractive than she could’ve ever imagined herself being.

The most drastic change was her hair—the once cool-brown color was now a thick, pearl mane. It matched the snawfus’s fur precisely. If it was a coincidence, she didn’t know, though the change had left her lashes and brows dark.

Her eyes were the most striking thing, though—practically bewitching. A light sea-green color filled them, radiating the magic within. But upon closer inspection, she discovered the tiniest bit of gold dust in them, like sand on a beach. They were intended to be a weapon, to lure anyone who so much as glanced in her direction.

Her olive-tanned skin was clear, not a blemish in sight, and the scars on her neck and wrists were now gone. Her lips were still the same large pink ones, glowing with a newly hydrated plumpness.

There was no denying it.

Her beauty was ethereal.

She spun back to Roman, who was still staring at her. “What happened?” she asked, touching her cheek in disbelief.

“I could ask you the same thing. I was walking downstream when I saw a flash of white light. I came as soon as I could to find you passed out on the ground, looking like… like this.” He gestured to all of her.

She searched her memories again, trying to remember any detail of what had happened after the snawfus touched her. But all she had seen was a flash of bright white light, and then… nothing.

She faced the mirror again in disbelief. “Do you not like it?” she asked in a concerned voice, the pride of her siren slipping from her lips.

Before he even spoke, she knew the answer. She could feel his desire seep from him like a thick fog. It was powerful—his want for her. His need. How he worshiped her.

Itfueledher.

A prickly shiver shot up her spine.

“Of course I do. It’s still you, isn’t it?” he stated, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Her eyes fell. “Partly.”

His face contorted. “What do you mean? What the hell happened out there?”

Even though she was terrified he might run like hell, she told him everything that had happened in the forest, right down to the last detail, leaving nothing out.

“So you see… I’m a siren, Roman,” she whispered, ending her story.

His eyes flooded with understanding. “It all makes sense now. The way you could tell the arrow was laced with Dragonshade poison, how you could see the invisible rope in the Snorri. How you could train and move so quickly. How you escaped the sea beast. How you were able to run on the water with Onyx. How you can breathe underwater. Talk to the phoenix. Why I was in physical pain without you next to me—all of it.”

She clamped her hands together. “I believe so,” she whispered.

He tore his gaze from her to the window as he folded his arms, brooding as he thought.

She left him to absorb the information as she faced the mirror again, trying to familiarize herself with the face staring back at her.

A cold drip sunk deep into her bones as she looked at Roman through the mirror’s reflection, still peering out the window.

What if nothing he felt for her was real? What if it was her siren’s powers luring him to her? And what if it wasn’t just Roman? What if Tristan, Grant, Moretti—all of them had fallen victim to her unknown siren powers?

A new fear planted itself inside her.

What if… what if every love in her life had been fabricated?

The thought cracked each rib inward, causing the debris to stab her heart.