Siren Song (The Fated #1)

06 | The Crew

The tattoo unsettled her.

After Eumelia had finished, she ushered Iliana back to her room with the promise of someone dropping by later that evening. Seeing no sense in arguing, Iliana had complied. The moment she was alone, however, she'd peeled away the bandage to stare at the black ink that decorated the outside of her upper arm. The skin around it was red and puffy, but the design was clear as could be. She bit her lip and replaced the bandage.

How is that possible? she wondered. Did Eumelia choose that on purpose? Or was it a coincidence?

The design was simple, but familiar. Four circles settled inside a diamond, each filling one of the corners. All of the circles held a single 'x' inside. When she'd questioned Eumelia about the design, the witch doctor had said it was an ancient character that meant 'silence' in her native language. Iliana might have asked more questions, but she'd been distracted by the realization that she'd seen the symbol before.

Her fingers played with the charm in question, her mind turning to her anklet for the first time in awhile. Each of the four charms was of a different design. When she was younger, she'd been enamored by the idea of discovering what they meant, but over time she'd lost interest. At some point, she'd decided that perhaps they were just random and meant to look pretty. Now, though...

Fear froze her in place. Leaving home at this time of night had seemed like a brilliant idea at the time, but now, face-to-face with a slaver, she knew better. It'd been stupid.

Still, instead of showing how scared she was, she drew her foot back and nailed the man in his privates. Mara'd said that was the best place to hit a bad man. The slaver drew in a sharp breath, falling to his knee. She turned to run, but found herself face to face with another man. A knot formed in the pit of her stomach.

Suddenly, the man collapsed. She stared, blankly, at the arrow buried deep in the slaver's back. Blood seeped from the wound, staining his already dirty clothing a dark crimson.

"That was a pretty brave thing you did, Iliana Katrakis."

She shook her head, forcing away the errant memory. No matter how many times she thought back on the day she'd been given the anklet, the stranger's face escaped her recollection. They'd rescued her, showed her back to her house, then... nothing. She couldn't remember what happened after that. But, suddenly that anklet had been there and it was impossible to remove.

I don't like this. She released the charm, dropping her head back on a pillow. Something about the matching symbols bothered her. Eumelia hadn't had the chance to see the charm. Unless she'd snuck in while Iliana was sleeping, there was no way for her to have picked it just because it was on the anklet. A coincidence? It seems unlikely.

She sighed, throwing her arms out in frustration. It made no sense, but there it was. That wasn't the only problem, though, and perhaps it wasn't what she should be focusing her thoughts on. She was now blood bound to the crew. Singing to them would be useless, and she could only hope that was the sole magic Eumelia'd put into the tattoo. The idea that there could be something else made her skin crawl. But, it wasn't as if she could do anything about it. Even if she'd put up more of a fight, she'd've gotten the tattoo either way.

Then there were her hands.

She raised them above her head, staring at the flawless skin in wonder. She'd glance over the rest of her body soon, but she had the feeling that the rest of it would be the same. Perhaps she'd been wrong to think that all of the changes that came with being a siren would occur right away. It wasn't as if she'd had a chance to talk to Rhode and the others about what was going to happen. Perhaps it was a gradual thing. That would explain why she'd felt so unsettled by her naked body when she'd changed.