Page 66 of Cursed By a Siren's Kiss

“Oh, shit,” Camilla said, her fingers closing around the hilt of her curved blade as she ducked the spear jabbing toward her.

I raced forward, leaping into the center of the Amazonian women and taking as much of their focus from Camilla as possible as my fingers wrapped around one of their spears and pulled it from their grasp. My feet landed in the salty water, and several of my iridescent purple scales burned through my skin as I dodged and countered. My hair whipped around my head and my eyes widened as I kept myself aware of every minuscule movement around me.

“Stop,” one of the warriors called out, holding her hands up as she watched me.

I froze. Every weapon stilled.

“You are one of them!” she said, and then she dropped to her knees. Her gaze flicked from the scales coating my legs to the golden ring I knew lined my irises. “Forgive us. We did not know who you were.”

Camilla stood, her weapon lifted toward the closest warrior, her body tensed and ready to react at a moment’s notice as her brow creased.

I lowered my stolen spear, my empty hand pressing into the fresh wound that still bled from my stomach. “I am Talia, daughter of Poseidon and the great goddess of the sea, the Queen of the Sirens. I am the true queen of Atlantis,” I declared, slowly spinning as I stared at each of the kneeling women before me.

A sudden thought occurred to me then. To break a curse, one must sacrifice. Circe had demanded my life, or Kipp’s, but as my gaze drifted to where Kipp still sat beneath the tree, the darkness thickening around him as if he absorbed the shade beneath the tree, I wondered if a different type of sacrifice would work. I remembered my promise to Scylla, which had given us the final clue we’d needed to make it here.

“I am here for Glaucus. Where is he?” I demanded, an idea slowly forming within my mind.

“Who calls for me?”

A short, stout man with plain features and a blue tinge to his skin stepped out from the forest and onto the beach. The salty wind caught at the messy strands of his green coppery hair as he dragged a confident hand through it and came to a stop close to Kipp.

“Glaucus?” I asked, puzzled by his appearance. This was the man that two powerful creatures fought over?

“Who wants to know?” he asked, his hands going to his hips as he looked me up and down.

I stepped forward, the warriors still bowed in a circle around me as I turned my full attention toward this man. “Scylla wants to know. She wants you to visit her.”

“Scylla?” he said, scoffing as he shook his head and rolled his eyes. It was a reaction that I saw through, one that covered a longingness I’d only just begun to feel myself. “She hates me and wants nothing to do with me.”

“No, you are very wrong. She needs you, Glaucus.”

He took a breath, dropping his gaze for just a moment before he lifted his attention to me again. “It doesn’t matter,” he replied. “Circe won’t let me leave.”

“You can leave if you choose to leave, if you choose Scylla,” I informed him, making my way toward Kipp. “Come with us. We can take you to her.”

The air seemed to still around us as tears formed in his eyes. He nodded once, and Camilla readied the boats to carry us back to the ship as I reached toward Kipp. Glaucus crossed the sands as the warriors stood, standing aside as they watched us make our way toward the water. I passed Kipp off to Camilla, my heart shattering at the shell of the man I loved as I turned to thank the warriors.

Something crashed through the trees, a purple, shimmering magic thickened the air and created a heavy fog that nearly stole my vision from me as I laid my gaze onto Circe. She advanced on us all with a rage that crackled within her, the electric nature of it could be felt in the air all around us as we still stood on her island.

“You will not take what is mine!” she roared as she reached for me. Blood still coated her chin, and her words were barely audible as she spoke them with only a partially healed tongue. But they dripped with rage, the same rage that burned in her blue gaze.

I stepped toward her, throwing both of my arms out toward her and throwing my power her way with a force that rocked the trees and sent sand flying in the direction of my aim. My power collided with Circe’s, creating a blast that knocked everyone off their feet.

Jumping to my feet, I staggered backward, feeling the cold kiss of the ocean as it brushed against my ankles. “You wanted me to make a sacrifice, to take my own life.” I smirked, savoring the slight flicker of disbelief within her face. “Well, you get your wish.”

My fingers sank into the sea, and I reached for the ocean, calling it to me, calling to the father who had never loved me. I let my siren power whistle through every particle of the sea as I called to one of the three most powerful beings in all the world—well, four if you counted me. I stood, feeling the wild rush ofwater as it climbed my legs, my hips, up my torso and to my fingertips. I threw my hand toward Circe, watching as water shot forward like a powerful jet until it buried itself within her throat in a steady stream that didn’t stop until her knees hit the ground and her hands closed around her drowning throat.

The roiling purple fog of her magic seeped into the ground until it disappeared as she fell to all fours and coughed the water out that I’d filled her lungs with. I wanted her to know the power I wielded, wanted her to know that I could end her with ease if I desired, and that this sacrifice I had decided to make was my choice, and not my desperation or lack of strength.

I watched as she climbed to her feet, a rage within her gaze as she glared at me. Slowly, I lifted my hands out to my sides, offering myself to her as I let it all go. I let go of the throne that I had fought for all these years. I let go of the crown that was always meant to be mine. I let it all go as I tipped my chin toward the sky, my hair drifting in the gentle breeze as I waited for her power to take it all.

“I see the binding between your souls, such a foolish price he paid to make it this far,” Circe said as I let my eyes fall closed, waiting for the blow to be struck. “So, I’ll make sure this only consumes you so that your sacrifice isn’t for nothing.”

Only, it never came.

Circe prepared a force that would claim my sacrifice, that would end my life, but as she threw her arms toward me, Kipp jumped in front of me, the blast rippling across his skin as he fell to my feet.

“No!” I screamed, dropping to my knees as realization dawned on me at what he had done. I watched as his curse lifted from him, the darkness that had coated his skin in shadows and filled his eyes with an inky void faded.

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