Page 43 of Song of Her Siren

Chapter Seven

Tari

Iheld my breath untilwe escaped the throne room. Once the heavy doors shut behind us, I heaved a sigh of relief, thankful that I wasn’t a pile of ash on Malvolia’s dining table. That bitch.

Cassandra and Gadea made excuses about getting out of their restrictive gowns and wigs, heading in the other direction, toward their bedroom suite.

“That was too close,” Shiri whispered aloud while we followed her and Drae.

“I know,” I said as I slipped across the slick tiles in ridiculous slippers that I planned to promptly burn as soon as we reached our suite.

“Do you?” Ash growled behind me.

I tossed a look over my shoulder, unnerved to see the simmering rage in his eyes while he carried the girls. Stopping, I turned to face him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Washed-up, old whore?he projected to me, his voice like rolling thunder.

I pressed my lips into a line, refusing to be intimidated by his glowing eyes or the fur sprouting on his face.She is.

He closed the distance between us, setting down the girls, his heated glare never leaving me.That old whore would’ve smoked you, Tari.

My magic was ready, I argued, summoning confidence I didn’t feel.

She would’ve turned you to ash and then the rest of us when we attacked her.His roar in my brain was so loud, I swore he rattled my eardrums. “If you don’t care about your own safety, then think of us,” he said aloud as claws sprouted on his fingers. “Think of the children!”

The girls gasped, clinging to my skirts.

“Ash,” I warned, motioning to the children, who looked up at us like frightened baby birds.

“Oh, now you think of them,” he grumbled, jarring my shoulder when he brushed past me. “I need some air.”

“Ash!” Tears sprang to my eyes when he refused to turn around. He shifted into a big, angry hybrid wolf beast and let out a howl before sprinting down a darkened hall, disappearing around a corner. I faced Helian. “What do I do?”

Helian brushed up against me, a look of pity in his eyes. “Let him go cool down.”

“But we should stick together,” I argued. There was no telling what the firemage guards outside would do to Ash when they saw him. “What if the mages mistake him for a demon?”

“I can go after him,” Drae said.

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