Page 10 of Mud

“They did,” I told her. “And did they teach you inyourschools that you can’t come to land without a special permit, and you can’t pretend to be a human, and you can’t use your compulsion magic to make butlers and maids out of them—and you most certainly cannot force humans to eat seaweed and think it’s the best food they’ve ever had in their lives?” I said all of this slowly, surely, and by the middle of it, she was already playing with her blueish nails.

“Nope,” she then said. “They never said that in school that I remember.” And she shrugged.

“Really. They didn’t tell you that it’s illegal to force people to serve you and pay you insane amounts of money for weeds.” She knew—of course she did. There weren’t alot of sirens in the seas, but those who existed lived a really long life—close to five hundred years, if our research was to be trusted. They knew the rules perfectly well.

“Mhmm. Really. Nobody said a word,” she insisted.

I sighed. “Look, Miss Tritoness,” I started again. That’s the name she’d chosen for herself while she hid here in Baltimore for the past two months—Natalie Tritoness. “It is against the law to use compulsion—or any other kind of magic, for that matter—against humans. It is illegal for sirens to live on land without a special IDD permit. It is illegal?—”

“And who putyouin charge around here, huh?” she said, hands against the tabletop again, her hair rising up in the air just slightly, some strands here and there pretending they were under water.

Not going to lie, I was scared shitless. I had no idea how powerful this siren was and if my control slipped, there was no telling what she could make me do. There was a reason why they needed a special permit to be up here in the first place.

“The fact that we are the most powerful species in the world did,” I said, then willed my hands to stop sweating so much. Didn’t work.

The siren flinched as if the sound of my voice irritated her. “Nothing gets to you, does it,” she said, then proceeded to slam her hands on the table, hard. The sound made my heart just about break my ribcage, but my face remained expressionless, my eyes never blinking. I even forced a half smile on my face just to piss her off more.

“Are you done?”

She leaned back on her chair, folding her arms in front of her chest. “So what that I used my compulsion magic? We were given it for a reason,” she told me.

“You forced innocent humans to do your bidding against their will.”

“I did no such thing. They all wanted to serve me willingly,” she lied.

“I have proof and eyewitnesses that you used a great amount of magic to kick out the owner of the mansion you lived in, and then forced the staff to serve you. I have footage of you—” I was going over the files as I spoke, and I indeed had everything I was talking about. Cassie had been very thorough in gathering evidence for her file.

The thing was, the siren refused to let me speak.

“Why are you so agitated, dear? I can see it in your eyes, even if your face doesn’t show it,” she cut me off, putting her elbows on the table again as she slowly leaned in to rest her chin on the heels of her hands.

“I am not agitated,” I spit, and in the tiny moment, I didn’t notice how my focus wasnoton my magic at all, but on how infuriating she was.

Just one teeny tiny moment, and her magic had a hold of me the next time she spoke. “Tell me how you really feel, mage.Tell me.”

We’d been exposed to compulsion magic both in school and in training at the IDD. The purpose then had been to be able to recognize it in case of an attack, but this was different. This was so fucking powerful that it took my breath away, and before I knew it, I was speaking.

“I feel filthy, unworthy, and afraid. I feel excited. I feel I’m going to die soon and I deserve to.”

Both my hands were in front of my mouth in the next second, to stop whatever else I was trying to say while the siren laughed.

Never before had I hit a suspect during interrogation, even though it wasn’t specifically forbidden—and evenencouraged in certain cases—but Ireally,really wanted to slap the hell out of this woman right now. The bitch had gotten right into my head and pulled those words out of my mouth with ease.

Instead, I closed my eyes and I focused on my magic, put my back into my shield and I didn’t bring my hands down until I was a hundred percent sure that I was in control of my mind and body.

“You must be so proud of yourself,” I finally said.

“I certainly am. That was way too easy!” More laughter.

Unfortunately, she was right.

But my slip-up reminded me of the reason why I was so distracted, so frustrated so…filthy-unworthy-afraid.And now my hands were sweating for a whole different reason again.

Leaning back on the chair, I rubbed my eyes and welcomed the headache that had just been waiting to be born between my temples.

“Let’s try this again, shall we?” I said, and I didn’t allow myself a second in which I wasn’t focused on my magic. I kept it wrapped tightly around me like my favorite sweater. Then I looked at the siren, who was still shaking a bit with laughter. “My name is Agent La Rouge, and I am here to find out where you hid the treasures that the humans stole for you under the influence of your magic—the gold, the paintings, and the weapons.” I put the pictures in front of her, and even though she refused to look, I left them there. “Now, I have enough evidence here to lock you up for a lifetime, but if you can tell me where you hid what you stole?—”

“I didn’t steal anything, those were mine!”

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