Page 169 of Song of Her Siren

Her expression turned sympathetic. “Exactly.”

“Can either of us do it,” Tari asked, “or does it have to be Shiri?”

“A siren isn’t needed,” she answered. “Just a witch with powerful magic.”

I shared a look with Tari, wondering which one of us would have to do it. I didn’t want my sister near that portal, though I feared it would have to be her, since her magic was now much stronger than mine.

“Can we do it from here?” Helian’s question was more a plea than anything.

“No.” Cassandra frowned while tapping the book’s leather surface. “You must have the portal in your sights.”

Helian and Ash swore.

“I doubt Fachnan’s dungeon is accessible after the flood caused by the blast,” Ash said. “The castle dungeon is deep underground. It has to be filled with mud and debris.”

I’d almost forgotten about that flood. Though it had only been a few weeks ago, it felt like a lifetime since Tari and I had met on that battlefield, and the northern waves had breached Peloponese’s seawall. Still, we couldn’t take the chance that the portal was buried. What if the demons had already uncovered it? “Are you going to teach us the spell?” I asked Cassandra.

Her eyes lit up like starbursts as she leaned toward me. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Flora

Thebes

The next day

Anxiously pacing the ramparts, I squinted against the waning sun. No signs of this demon army and no signs of my daughter and the dragons. What if something had happened to them?

“Any sign of the dragons?” I asked Marius for at least the tenth time while he scanned the skies.

“No, not yet.”

I nervously chewed my nails. “Where could she be?”

I worried for Tarianya more so than I worried for Shirina. Not because I loved her more, but because she’d always been more fragile than her sister. It wasn’t long ago Tari had forgone eating and let herself waste away while obsessing over plotting revenge because she’d thought her mates had been killed by Fachnan. Even if she survived this war, I feared it would crush her spirit, especially if one of her mates perished.

Grasping Marius’s hand, I squeezed, for I knew far too well the feeling of trying to survive with a shattered heart. My heart did a backflip when he squeezed my hand back, a sparkle in his eye. I should’ve been happy Marius was alive, but my dark thoughts took me to Derrick, whose soul still hadn’t recovered after being demon-possessed for over a week. He was alive, and he seemed well, but the mate who returned to me was a different Fae, so subdued and serious, rarely smiling. Even now, he remained in our bedchamber, refusing to come with us to the ramparts to watch for Tari. I wondered if I’d angered the goddess by my treatment of Shirina, and this was my punishment, cursed to have only one mate love me at a time.

“Don’t worry.” Marius kissed the top of my head, his lips lingering long enough to make me melt into him. “They will be here soon.”

I rested my head against his shoulder as he wrapped a wing around me. “How do you know?”

“The gray witches,” he whispered, nodding in the direction of the witches. “They’re calm.”

I surreptitiously glanced at the witch called Lady Veronica, who stood apart from a cluster of gray witches, as if she’d been touched by the plague. My sister had banished Veronica until recently, though Malvolia still treated her like a pariah and forbade her from attending court. Opposite the gray witches, Lady Cassandra, Gadea, and Lady Arabella stayed close to the queen. The four of them bent their heads together, murmuring.

“Or else, they’re good at hiding their panic,” I said. I didn’t trust gray witches. Supposedly, they saw the future, yet most of the time, they kept their visions to themselves. Something about them being afraid of causing chaos if they manipulated the future. It was all dragonshit. The gray witches could’ve prevented the Black and Crimson Tides had they only spoken up.

I gave a start when a horn sounded. One blast, meaning to be on alert. Usually, it signified an approaching courier. It could even mean the dragons had been spotted, though I saw nothing in the horizon, except for one winged figure flying erratically toward us.

I quickly strode over to my sister. “Who is it?”

She scowled at the figure as it drew near. “It appears to be Lord Geoffrey Frensia.”

“Our cousin Felicity’s mate?”

“Yes.” Her scowl deepened as black smoke leached from her fingertips. “He wouldn’t dare return here after he’s been banished!” She motioned toward her archers. “Shoot him down.”

I tensed when the line of archers raised their bows, aiming for the firemage. “You would kill our cousin’s mate?”

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