A Siren's Choice (Book One in A Siren's Series)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Waiting (Part One)

Lia

Darkness stretches out before me with seemingly no end in sight.

In this place I have no body, no memories, I just simply exist.

Here, there is no pain.

The darkness wraps me up in its cool, soothing embrace.

It whispers to me.

Stay, it says. You will never know pain or heartache, only peace.

And how temping that is.

But...

If I do not know pain, I'll never know true happiness. And if I do not know heartache, how will I ever know love.

Sometimes the pain is worth it in the end.

Was he worth it? A long forgotten thought whispers to me.

He?

And then I remember.

Nathaniel.

And just like that, the darkness loses its hold on me.

And I fly away.

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I open my eyes, only for me to immediately squeeze them shut, wincing against the brightness after being in the dark for so long.

With my eyes still tightly shut, I tense, flexing my muscles, and I groan at their stiffness like I haven't used them for some time.

Curling and clenching the fingers of my right hand, I lazily drag my hand up and rub at my eyes.

"Hey there sleeping beauty".

My hand stills at the sound of the familiar deep voice coming from my left. I slide my hand away from my face, placing it on the soft surface I am lying on.

Carefully, I crack my eyes open, peaking through my eyelashes until I eventually adjust to the lighting. Opening my eyes fully, I blink repeatedly until my eyes focus on my surroundings.

A white ceiling above me, cream coloured walls across from me with a beautiful painting of a woman rising above the ocean, the water clinging to her.

The Goddess.

Titling my head down, I realise that I am on a narrow but soft bed, a plain blanket pulled up to my chest.

I know I'm in the Infirmary on Sirenuse, but I quite can't remember how or why I am here.

Feeling a presence to my right, I remember the voice that I had heard.

Rolling my head on the pillow, I see Proteus sitting beside my bed.

"You're finally awake. Took you long enough", his trademark grin comes out but I can see past that, his shoulder length hair is messy like he has run his hands through it one to many times, he is in a simple shirt and shorts that are all crumpled up, and I can also see the relief shining in his emerald eyes as the worry fades away.

"How long?" I croak out as I try shuffling myself up higher onto my pillows, ignoring the soreness in my muscles.

"Three days", Proteus answers as he hops up from his chair and helps me get into a more comfortable position on the bed. He then pours and carefully hands me a cup of water from the pitcher on a table beside my bed. I gratefully swallow the cool liquid, soothing my dry and unused throat.