Page 82 of The Seer

“She’ll be safe where I place her. You won’t,” he said.

“Was it always goin’ to play out this way, then? Were the ancestors right when they said she’d be my downfall? They meant her death, didn’t they?”

“No. They fought my resurrection. They always knew it was coming if Taryn handed you my amulet.”

“Save her. Please,” Fintan begged.

“That’s the plan, Fin. Now, for her sake, go.”

Ardghal waited long enough to ensure Fintan’s teleport before he sank to the depths of the grotto floor and placed Taryn’s body on the bed where he was born. Her multi-colored hair floated around her, creating an eerie visual with her too-still visage and bloody body.

“Rest, love.”

After returning to the surface, he relied on the water’s buoyancy to keep himself afloat as he twisted his upper torso back and forth, summoning what he needed from within the mini-tide he created. The energy flowed through him, building as it joined with the magic inside his cells. Throwing back his head, he released a single note, increasing the volume as his power took hold.

His Siren’s song, a utilization of hydro-acoustic resonance, created a soundwave strangulation in Odessa’s bloodstream. The vibration shook her body where it lay, gaining in intensity with each accelerando, his voice climbing from baritone to tenor, and then soaring into an otherworldly register, piercing and florid, like a male coloratura, until Odessa’s body collapsed under the weight of his final note.

Stepping from the water, he crossed to her empty husk. Dispassionately, he stared down, mourning the loss of her potential as his descendant. The good she could’ve done in the world would’ve far exceeded that of her evil self. But that was the problem with greedy Sirens when the lure ofmorewas too strong to resist.

Fortunately for him, his father had anticipated Ardghal’s nature and added a failsafe into the amulet. Through metal, blood, and stone, Father allowed Ardghal to transition from human to sea creature to Incubus without the demon taking control. He’d instilled his wisdom and patience in his hybrid son, teaching Ardghal the importance of both in addition to empathy and compassion.

All things Odessa had sorely lacked.

“What will ya do with her now?” Peter asked.

“Burn the remains and scatter the ash away from the sea. She doesn’t deserve a proper burial for her crimes.” Ardghal glanced at him, noting the sorrow and regret. “Do you believe me wrong?”

“No. I’m mournin’ me bright, wild-child sister from our youth. After she killed her first, she was dead to me.”

“You think my judgment fair?”

“Aye, my liege.”

“So it will be done.” He touched Peter’s shoulder, making him solid. “Prepare her body for the bonfire. I’ve a need to see to Taryn.”

CHAPTER25

The wait was endless, and Fintan was about to lose his bleeding mind!

Narissa, having been fully healed by Jordan, paced the library, stopping in the doorway periodically to give him a helpless or pitying look. Brenna was no better and remained tearful within Eoin’s comforting embrace.

As for Fintan, he remained on the landing, at the entrance to the caves. He didn’t know which way Ardghal would return, whether by teleport or passageway, but he was prepared should Odessa escape her fate.

The image of Taryn, broken and bloody, with her face frozen in triumph, would forever be emblazoned in his mind. She’d risked it all to save him—or Ardghal—by confronting the one monster even the Sullivan Sirens feared.

He wished she’d have saved herself and left them to their fate. She’d still be alive, and his family wouldn’t face the wrath of Damian when he discovered what had happened.

“We should go back,” Narissa announced from the bottom step. “It’s been too long, and I don’t trust that rotten sow hasn’t talked her way out of a rightful execution. Or worse, gotten the better of Ardghal.”

When they’d returned, Fintan explained everything he and Taryn had experienced since Peter woke them. How the grotto had infused its history into his memory, and how Ardghal came to be born, then reborn today.

It was still hard to believe the entity residing in him was the original Siren hybrid.

“Ardghal won’t fail,” he said tiredly. “He has more to lose than we do.”

Except for Taryn… but Fintan had already lost her.

“I’m sorry, sugar,” Narissa said gently as she climbed the stairs. Sitting one step below, she placed a hand on his knee. “For what it’s worth, I was rooting for you two crazy kids.”

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