Page 14 of Song of Her Siren

When I sat up with a groan, Helian raced to my side. “Darling, don’t sit up too fast.”

“I’m fine.” I rested my head against his solid chest, relishing in his warmth.

The girls jumped up with squeals and ran toward me, though Ash scooped them up before they could climb into my lap.

“Give her a chance to wake, you wild wolves,” he said on a growl before spinning them in a circle.

They giggled when he fell into a nearby chair, climbing all over him like he was an oak tree.

“How do you feel?” a woman asked as she held a goblet toward me.

I blinked at her, instantly recognizing the dark-haired beauty’s familiar smile, alabaster skin, and silvery blue eyes. “Cassandra? You’re safe?”

She forced me to take the goblet. “I am.”

I took a slow sip of the mildly sweet and refreshing juice. Then I drank several more gulps. I’d never tasted anything so delicious. It certainly beat the stale tea Shiri and I had been forced to drink while growing up. “And what of the other priestesses?”

“All safe.” She sat beside me, patting my knee. “Thank you for asking. I see you’ve accepted your old body.”

“I have.” I repressed a grimace, remembering how I’d acted the last time I’d seen her, refusing to accept my true body while chasing after Helian like a lovesick fool. “Thank you.”

Cassandra got up as Ash took her place beside me on the sofa, the girls still attached to him like wyverns clinging to tree branches. “Aurora needs to bring Shiri, Drae, and Blaze to your family cabin and then get the dragons,” he said while detaching the girls from his back, setting them on the sofa between us. “We wanted to wait until you woke before they left.” Then he gave Aurora a dark look. “Be gentle. Remember, Mommy carries a babe in her tummy.”

I clutched my stomach when the realization hit me. I’d almost forgotten I carried Helian’s child.

Cassandra gasped, her hands flying to her face. “I’m going to be a grandmother again?”

Before I could answer, my mother cut in. “A boy with silver hair.” She triumphantly turned up her chin. “I saw him with my magic.”

Cassandra smiled at Helian, who blushed in return. “A future king,” she said, her voice taking on a more somber tone.

“I will make sure he’ll be nothing like his grandfather,” Helian mumbled, his cheeks turning even brighter. “Or his father.”

Crossing over to Helian, Cassandra took his hands in hers. “He would be lucky to be half the Fae his father is.”

Helian dropped his head, releasing a breath. “You and I both know his father is a stubborn fool.”

“It comes with youth,” she said softly. “We grow, and we learn.”

When Cassandra caressed Helian’s cheek, I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, feeling as if I was intruding on a private moment between mother and son.

Then I let out a grunt when Aurora kneed me in the side while climbing into my lap.

The wolf flashed in Ash’s eyes. “Easy, child!”

Clinging to my neck, she looked at her father as if he’d kicked a puppy. “I just wanted to say goodbye to Mommy.”

Ash instantly relented, stroking her back. “I know. Just be gentle.”

A vise squeezed my chest when Shiri, Drae, and Blaze came into the room. Blaze and Drae were shirtless, their wings tucked tightly behind them, revealing swirling tattoos on their broad, tanned chests. They wore leather pants with all kinds of straps and blades attached to the sides, and Blaze carried a pack for travel. My baby had to go. I kept telling myself I shouldn’t worry. My sister had been keeping my daughters safe these past two years. Still, the thought of parting with either of my children was a poison-tipped arrow straight into my heart.

“My precious girl.” I kissed Aurora’s cheek while clinging to her. “Listen to your auntie and your uncles. Do exactly as they say, and don’t dally for any reason.”

She pulled back, flattening her palms against my chest, appearing far too serious for a child so young. “Yes, Mommy.”

“Where is she teleporting them?” My mother walked in front of us, crossing her arms and scowling down at me. “I thought I heard Asher say the family cabin?”

“Yes,” I answered, “our old home in the Periculian Forest.”

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