Siren Song (The Fated #1)

11 | Feather Songs

A/N: The posted song is what I view as Lykos' theme song~~! 

Some part of Iliana wanted to shatter the mirror.

The impulse had been common over the last few days. Every time she glanced in the mirror, she saw the same stranger Lykos had introduced her to.

The girl in the mirror's sharp features no longer felt awkward, instead adding to her newfound beauty. Her olive skin was as soft as any nobles', seeming to erase the years spent laboring away on a merchant ship. The stranger's eyelashes were longer, her eyes a rich forest green. Her hair, which seemed to be growing an inch a day, reached her shoulders in thick, voluminous waves. The color had shifted from her unassuming, mouse brown to a dark chestnut blonde.

Perhaps more concerning was the stranger's body. She had filled out in a way that was a stark change from Iliana's washboard chest. Her bust was noticeable. Now, it was uncomfortable for her to try and bind her breasts flat. Instead, she found herself binding them loose, and being distinctly female despite the male clothing she'd donned.

Iliana was no longer plain, and she had no clue how to deal with it.

She was startled from her dull thoughts by a knock on her cabin door. With a sigh, she sat up on her bed, settled the mirror beside her, and called out for whomever it was to come in. Eumelia entered, her sharp gaze flicking over Iliana's body, as if taking note of the changes Iliana had been ruminating over, before meeting her gaze and offering a smile.

"I was wondering if we could talk."

She shrugged. Seeming to take the response as an agreement, Eumelia crossed the room and settled next to Iliana on the cot.

"I'll cut straight to the chase, then," Eumelia decided. "Neither Lykos, or Aran, told me how new you were."

Iliana furrowed her brow. "New?"

"How long ago did you become a siren?"

Iliana stiffened. For a second, she studied Eumelia with a narrowed gaze, as if she could read what the witch doctor was thinking. When the woman's smile stayed the same, she eventually just offered her another, noncommittal shrug.

"I see," Eumelia mused.

Silence coated the room for a moment. Each second caused Iliana's curiosity to grow, and it wasn't until she felt that she might burst that Eumelia spoke again.

"I was wondering how much you know of your own kind."

Iliana hesitated. "Enough."

"Really? Then, there's no need for me to explain what's happening to you? Why are you changing?"

She chewed on her lip. Telling Eumelia how little she knew about sirens seemed unwise--as wouldn't it be better to come off as someone to be wary of?--but at the same time, she hated being in the dark. As she considered her answer, she raised a hand to scratch the back of her neck. Her fingers drifted over the three, small bumps that laid in a line across the otherwise flawless skin. Would Eumelia know what those were? They'd appeared within the last days, and she found it strange given the state of the rest of her body.

"It wouldn't hurt," she muttered.

Eumelia chuckled, but seemed content to leave Iliana's ignorance on the subject unspoken. Instead, she plucked the hand mirror off the bed, and turned it over in her hands.

"Have you ever looked in one of these and pictured someone else?"

Iliana furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"