Siren Song (The Fated #1)

40 | Desire

The sound of her name stopped her heart.

Even as ice splintered, rocks rumbled, and trees trembled as a roar of legend assaulted the pass, her entire being clung to that voice.

"Kain?"

She jerked around, even as Callias seized her arm and bodily pressed her against the wall of the pass. Rock fell, and shattered where they'd been standing. Her eyes zero'd in on where Kain had stopped dead over a dozen yards behind them. Gods, he looked rough.

Kain's black skin felt duller, his frame thinner. That familiar gray cap looked to be simply shoved on, snowy locks peeking out beneath the weathered fabric. The hair, especially, came as a shock given how strict he was about showing it.

Callias jerked her to the side again, startling her into attention. Kain or no Kain, if she didn't start focusing she'd die.

A massive shadow stretched across the pass, before climbing the wall and disappearing. She chanced a look to the sky as Callias dragged her backwards, and found the origin to be a beast the size of a merchant ship flying overhead. Its shadowed underbelly was a thick pale green. The rest of the wyvern's body shimmering, dark forest green scales that resembled diamond in the growing sunlight.

Iliana's heart hammered as the crew scattered. She and Callias, among others, darted for the path behind them as the stone walls seemed to shudder. Ice shattered, raining on their heads. The shadow was back--and this time it didn't move.

The wyvern roared, and Iliana swore her ear-drums shattered from the sudden, stabbing pain that gripped her head.

Callias stumbled and Iliana barely saved herself from falling. Seconds after the roar, lightning cracked across the sky and Callias let out a colorful swear. Her heart dropped. Either the wyvern had been accompanied by a sudden storm, or--

The smell of ozone was their only warning. Iliana jerked to a stop, and this time it was her turn to shove Callias flat against the wall as blinding light struck the path feet in front of them. Heat seared her skin, the sheer force of it reverberating through her bones.

They were going to die.

Kain had finally reached them, they finally had a chance to escape.

And they were going to die.

No. Iliana spun around, facing the scorched path, as she tore her bow from her back in a single, smooth action. An arrow laid between her fingers before the stupidity of her stubborn choice fully registered, and it flew through the air before she could curse herself. The ease of it all unsettled her, even as she grabbed Callias's arm with her free hand and dragged him forward, continuing their useless flight. She had no desire to see her arrow land.

And land it did. Whether it was the unfamiliar intuition that had guided her hands, or the fact her target nearly covered the width of the pass with its torso alone, the arrow met its mark with an ear-piercing snarl.

"Iliana, watch out!"

At the sourceless cry, Callias yanked his hand from her grasp, hands landing on her shoulders as he shoved them down. Dust and rocks rained down on them as a clawed wing slammed into the rock above their heads. Cracks climbed the wall her face had narrowly missed. Fates.

In the heartbeat following the impact, Iliana looked up. And she knew that what she saw would never be forgotten.

Heron was sprawled on the ground only a half-dozen feet behind them. The majority of his body was covered by the blackish-brown colored wolf standing over him--Natia, no doubt. In that second, she spotted the crimson-stained chunk of stone laying beside them, and the bloody mess that was his right leg. Their cart laid overturned a dozen feet further along.

The wyvern's clawed wing tore through the pass.

Natia and Heron flew through the air, slamming into the rock as Iliana scrambled to her feet. Despite the chaos, she could hear the breathless, animalistic whine Natia released as she fell.

Heron was silent.

"Iliana--"

Stupid. She knew it was stupid. It thrummed through her mind, and echoed in the warning way Callias said her name.

She could hear the calls behind her, the footfall of Kain's party approaching. If she turned, if she ran... They might make it. The pass narrowed closer to the base. It would be harder to reach them, there, and if the beast was feeling territorial, if this attack was because they'd trespassed some invisible line, they might live. It might leave.

All she could see was Heron tucking a blanket around Abiel and Natia, warning them in a warm voice that they needed to snuggle together or they'd lose their toes. He'd pinched Abiel's for effect, and the boy's musical laughter had filled the air.

She saw Natia's attempt at a smile. She saw the moment the wolf had finally removed her collar, and pressed a scarred hand to her neck with such wonder that Iliana could feel cracks in the ice walls of her heart.

She dodged Callias' hand, grabbed an arrow, and ran.

Iliana didn't run for Kain, or the lower pass. She didn't run to the wolf and the mercenary.

She ran up.

If there were footsteps to be heard following her, they didn't reach her ears. She could only hope that Callias had listened to his own reason and continued for Melitta. She was his sister, after all, and Iliana an acquaintance of circumstance.

Don't let me die here. Don't let me die for people I hate.

The second she finished her prayer, the time for thoughts were over. The wyvern roared, lightning crashing into the pass behind her. Knowing looking back would only waste time, she continued. She reached the cart within the minute and a quick glance revealed that wherever Abiel had gone, it wasn't deeper into the wreckage. Which meant it was the perfect stepping stone.

With grace she didn't know she had, Iliana caught the edge and pulled herself on top. She balanced on the wobbling perch as the terror in her heart hit a numbing calm.

"Hey! Hey, you... overgrown lizard! Look at this fucking idiot!"

The idiot was her, of course.

She waved her bow like a maniac, before losing an arrow with an instinctive speed that felt both unsettling, and welcome. Voices raised behind her and in front of her; the voices of allies and enemies, both crying her name. She narrowed her attention on the nightmare, tuning out everything that didn't matter.

The wyvern shrieked as her arrow buried itself in the thick hide of its leathery wing. A thump of its tail shattered stone. Lightning struck the ground behind her, closer this time. She'd pissed it off. The wyvern stared at her with death in its black eyes. Good.

Did singing affect wyverns? Was Kain still wearing a charm? Was a downy feather good enough?

For once in her gods' damned life, would fate be on her side, letting her blindly pluck what she needed?

Gods she hoped so.

Iliana tore the feather of desire from her neck and sang.