Page 82 of From the Myths of Kings

But Saoirse wasn’t afraid.

She was the storm.

34

ROOK

“Do you still want to play?”

Rook was forced to look at his older sister as she moved in front of the carriage window, blocking his view of the mysterious Mer woman who stood just outside. Raven blinked at him expectantly. Moonlight poured over her inky hair, the same hue as his own dark curls.

“It’s your turn again.”

He looked down as Raven wrapped her scarred fingers around his and squeezed gently. Her skin was still pink and healing, shining like a mollusk’s soft flesh. At first, the uneven terrain of her once-smooth skin had scared him. Not because the twisting scars were ugly, but because she had returned from the Tournament as a different person than who she’d been before. Every time Rook looked at those scars, he was reminded that Raven had changed. Sometimes he wondered if the old Raven had been replaced by an imposter, like one of those shapeshifters from the Myths of Old, blessed with the ability of metamorphosis. He stared at the ridges of scar tissue snaking up her wrists, wondering if this version of Raven loved him as much as the old one had.

He wasn’t sure anymore.

His eyes flicked back over to the blocked window. He couldn’t see the Mer woman, but he could still hear her voice. He couldn’t stop himself from listening to the hushed words.

“There is a secret. A prophecy. The sirens were betrayed by the Four Kinsmen during the first war when our mortal ancestors rose up against the Titans to free our world.”

“Eleyera, you can’t be serious,” his mother’s voice cut in. “The Myths have been told for generations. We know them to be true. The Elders have studied every text and mapped out the truth of our origins in the stars. The sirens were the ones who betrayed our ancestors. They went extinct for their treachery.”

“No,” the Mer woman replied firmly. “We have all been deceived. The Myths are a lie. I found Queen Cira’s secret scrolls, where she detailed the truth about what the Four Kinsmen did to secure victory over the Titans. What they did to Cira’s mother, Basilia.”

“Go on,” his father whispered after a beat of silence. “What does this mean for us?”

“In Revelore’s darkest hour, the Four Kinsmen sought an alliance with the sirens, the first beings that the Titans ever created when they wove our world together from dust. With their abilities to draw magic from the air with their voices alone, the sirens were the only ones with the power to stop the Titans once and for all. The tide of war had turned against our ancestors and the end was near. Out of desperation, they traveled to the siren kingdom Anthemoessa in secret, forming an alliance with the sirens. The Four Kinsmen defeated the mother of sirens, Queen Selussa Apate, as a trial to see if their plan would work. But something went wrong. And we will pay the price.”

“Anthemoessa? Selussa? I’ve never heard of a fifth kingdom nor of a fifth Titan. Such a queen does not exist in the records of history and the constellations do not speak of this siren kingdom.”

“Her existence was scrubbed from the Myths of Old, along with the memory of Anthemoessa itself. After they succeeded in defeating Queen Selussa, thus proving that their binding spell worked against immortals, the Four Kinsmen turned on the sirens and used their own blood magic against them. They stole their magical voices and sacrificed the entire kingdom of Anthemoessa in order to create a weapon that would banish the Titans’ souls from this plane of existence. When they realized that they’d been betrayed, the sirens cursed the Four Kinsmen, bestowing upon their offspring a prophecy that would?”

“Rook!”

Raven squeezed his hands tighter, azure eyes shining bright with fear. Her fingers were trembling, nails digging into the soft skin of his wrists. A seed of unease rooted itself in the back of his mind.

His older sister was never afraid.

Outside, a muffled thump made the carriage rock. A muted scream pierced the night, making Rook jump. Raven whipped her head toward the door, nails biting even harder into his flesh as the carriage jolted. Rook whimpered and she quickly let go, noticing for the first time that she’d been squeezing too hard.

“I’m sorry,” she began, horrified to see the crescents of her nails scored into his skin. “I?”

“Rook!” Their mother abruptly burst into the carriage, blood spilling from the corners of her mouth.

Rook was suddenly thrust backward, wind rushing in his ears. Time warped around him, the night sky blurring into liquid trails of light that shot out in every direction. The carriage was gone, his mother’s terrified voice a mere echo against the void, growing more and more distant as reality buckled around him like ripples of water. He was weightless, his stomach dropping to his toes as he fell through the sky. The dark pool of night ebbed and flowed, pulsing with palpable energy. Tendrils of stardust faded into sea foam and Rook could feel waves lapping at his feet.

A warm sunrise leaked across the darkness like paint dripping down a blank canvas. The world lit up around him. He was standing on a pebbled shoreline dusted with fine sand. His stomach lurched when he saw the smoke that smudged the golden horizon like smears of charcoal.

In the ocean, a city was burning. Bright blue eternal flames licked up the sides of ancient buildings and magnificent marble turrets collapsed, falling into the sea like shattered cliff sides. Smoke billowed into the sky as the city sunk into a whirlpool of flames. Then he heard the screaming. Thousands of agonized voices carried through the smoke-choked breeze, song-like and melodious despite the obvious terror. The sound was haunting as it mingled with the crash of waves and the cries of gulls.

Rook looked down at his booted feet as another swell of seawater rolled over the beach. He nearly vomited when he saw the gore-flecked waves, tinged pink with blood. He was rooted to the spot, helpless as the blood-stained ocean soaked through his leathers.

“For your treachery, your descendants will never know peace,” a voice called from behind him. “My sisters and I fulfilled the bargain and did as you asked. We created your Relics with our power as agreed. Why have you done this?”

Rook turned around and inhaled sharply, taking in the mystifying scene before him. The body of a woman lay limp against the sand, turquoise eyes unseeing and glassy. Her bright red hair fanned out across the beach, threaded with strands of seaweed and pearl beads. Her hair blended into the crimson pool of blood that gushed from a slit across her pale throat.

A wave of nausea welled up in Rook’s mouth, but he forced it back down as he took in the rest of her lifeless form. Her armored torso looked like any other woman’s, but where her hips and thighs should’ve begun, a shimmering tail lay against the sand. Multi-dimensional purple scales glinted in the morning sun. Pelvic fins as delicate as frills of silk flowed from her hips and drifted gently in the receding tide. At the end of her opalescent tail, her fins split into two triangular lobes. A veil-like membrane fanned out between the two lobes, tipped with pearlescent barbs that shimmered in the dawn.

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