Siren Song (The Fated #1)

41 | Sacrifice

For a moment, the world seemed to stop.

Iliana's fingers clutched the downy feather to her palm. Heat seared her skin. It burned hotter than boiling water, yet duller than the sharp memory of death.

Gods, she'd forgotten the feathers were death.

Something foreign rolled through her. It started at her neck, sparking beneath the skin, before consuming her like a fever. And then, the song.

The melody spoke of everything, and nothing.

It consumed her, tearing out the pieces that mattered, and feeding them to magic flooding her soul.

The melody was everything that suffocated her. The need to protect, the need to run. The desire to live, the hatred of even the idea of a life lived without those she could have protected. The fear of a future guided by the gods, the desperate, all-consuming need for a life with meaning. A life where she was seen. Grief. Gods, a grief so strong she'd buried it beneath everything.

Her fear.

Iliana trembled, and the world she knew trembled with her.

Words left her lips. Instinctively, she knew it was a language not meant for humans. It was old, unfamiliar. Her throat burned as the ethereal song stole her voice piercing the silence that had fallen around her.

No, not silence.

Their voices were there, behind hers. Dull calls that trailed off as her voice reached them. A certain, foreign awareness, mixed with numbness and disinterest, swept through her. She saw their faces, felt what she was giving them with this song, but it was all... set apart. As if she were watching strangers, not her friends and kidnappers.

Even the beast's roar felt lifeless in her ears.

The wyvern lowered its wings, claws digging into the stone. Its gaze met hers, and she knew. The song would work, but not for long. Sirens weren't meant to bewitch nightmares as legendary as this. Provoke emotions in them, certainly, but not control them. She had no evidence for this conclusion. But, every part of her recognized the warning in the wyvern's eyes.

The moment this song ended, and the world returned to as it should be, Iliana would die.

For a moment, just a moment, she considered that a fair trade. As long as the others didn't try to be heroic--she knew Kain would, but the rest might actually use their brains--they could escape while the wyvern was focused on her. Her life for theirs felt insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

What was one newly born siren weighed against Rhode, who led them all, Melitta who had a heart of gold, Abiel who was too young to have really experienced life, or Natia who had just won her freedom? What of Eumelia and her power to heal? Or Kain, who she had already risked everything for once before? Fates, there was even Lykos who--for all his faults--made a life of rescuing slaves.

She could see them all from her perch.

Kain had run halfway up the path, Melitta at his side. Rhode was a few feet behind them, bow drawn, but not aimed, given Iliana's song. Callias was closer to them, than Iliana. A faint vein of relief flooded through her as she realized she was right--he had chosen his sister over chasing her.

From the way the group stood, Iliana could only guess that when the last bit of lightning struck, Kain had sheltered Melitta against the wall of the pass; the other two had been far enough away to be somewhat safe. The back of Kain's armor and what little skin she could see was charred, but he stood strong. When she'd begun to sing, they, like others, had been distracted by her. They stared with awestruck eyes, Kain still standing somewhat in front of Melitta.