Page 132 of Song of Her Siren

I’m sorry, darling, I projected while rubbing his arm, not knowing what else to say. I thought of all the towns between the shifter stronghold and Cyrene and wished I could hide them all, but we couldn’t teleport to towns that Aurora hadn’t visited.

He swiped tears from his eyes and looked away.It’s not your fault.

So why did I feel to blame?Maybe they got away in time, I said, though my confidence faltered. I’d seen how fast and lethal those spiders could be. They’d nearly overpowered my family. It had taken two white witches and Radnor to defeat them. What chance did a pack of injured shifters have against them?

We need to go to Fallax, Finn projected to me, the agony in his voice a blade to my soul,and protect the satyrs there.

“Can you take us to Fallax?” I whispered to Aurora.

“Yes, Mommy,” she said with a sniffle.

In the next moment, we were situated in front of the big pyramid. Triss let out a squeal of delight, running circles around her mother as satyrs ran toward us with bleating shouts of joy.

The satyrs were already outside, as if they’d been expecting us. Perhaps they had been. They also had seers, after all.

High Priestess Esther, an elderly satyr with tawny skin and a long, silver braid, bowed low before us. “Goddesses, Isa and Triss, and Prince Lykaios, it is so nice to see you.”

The satyrs helped us down from Isa’s back, and I couldn’t contain my relief when Priestess Kaida approached me with two familiar pairs of rabbit ears poking from the sack around her neck.

“Demon and Angel!” the girls squealed, taking the sack from Kaida as if they held fragile eggs.

We sat on the ground in front of Isa while the rabbits happily hopped across my lap. They each stopped to give me several butterfly kisses while I rubbed their long, silky ears. How I’d missed them. They quickly forgot about us when I grew them a lush carpet of flowers and grass, their little ears and butts twitching as they moved from flower to flower. The girls giggled while crawling after them, directing them toward the brightest flowers.

I swiped tears from my eyes, taking Finn’s hand when he sat by me.How are you?I projected to him.

Numb, he answered.

I squeezed his hand when I felt his sorrow radiating from him like a fog. I feared he wouldn’t get time to grieve until this war was over.

Triss and I must go find food and water. We will return shortly, Isa said to me.

Of course, I answered while squinting up at my dragon, the setting sun casting her winged form in shadows.

She and Triss jumped into the sky, the wind from their wings blowing the hair off my back. When they flew toward the ocean, thousands of wyverns jumped from the trees, following them with a thunderous cacophony of excited squawks.

The girls shielded their ears and hunched next to us until the wyverns had left. Then they resumed playing with the rabbits.

“I’m happy to see the girls are safe.” Esther wiped moisture from her eyes as she sat across from me, stretching out her fawn legs, her hooves poking from beneath her silver robe. “Our seers believed you’d find them in time.” She smiled at the girls. “What news do you bring from the mainland?”

I wondered why she asked, since she seemed to know everything else. “So much has happened,” I answered while plucking a pink flower from the grass and twirling it between my fingers. I patted Demon’s forehead when he snatched it from me, glaring at me while munching. There was the bunnitude I’d been missing. “I don’t know where to begin,” I said on a sigh. “The demon mistress is getting ready to attack. That’s why we’re here, to conceal your island, so her menacing spiders can’t find you.” Though I wondered if they’d be able to traverse the ocean to reach them. Still, it wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.

“We’re not worried about the demons finding us,” she said as her fawn ears rotated like hands on top of her head. “Our race has been preparing for the return of the demons for four hundred years. We are ready to fly to the mainland and fight.”

I shared a shocked look with Finn. They were willing to leave their sanctuary? “The satyrsandthe wyverns?”

“Of course.” She motioned toward the wyverns circling Isa and Triss in the sky. “Our army is yours however you need us.”

“It’s not safe,” Finn said, frowning. “The dragons ate the wyverns you sent with us. Nikkos and I barely escaped with our lives.”

“Yes,” she said, her voice taking on a somber tone. “Our priestesses saw it in our mists.”

Wow. The satyr priestesses saw more than Malvolia’s seers. Or maybe they just divulged more.

“We have mourned our sisters and brothers,” Esther added, “but they knew the risks. There are more than ten thousand wyverns here. The dragons know many of them will die if they attack our numbers.” Her features hardened. “Tell us where to go.”

I nodded, my stomach twisting and pitching. “We fear the demon mistress will attack Thebes.”

She arched a bushy brow. “Have you reconciled with your aunt?”

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