Page 3 of Seas and Scepters

"RESISTED?"The word exploded from him like a depth charge."No human can resist the siren's call!It is impossible!You failed because you are weak, because you lack the strength of will necessary to rule!"

"I tried—"

"You tried and you failed!"He rose from his throne, the Trident's power making the water around us churn and boil."You have brought shame upon our bloodline, disgrace upon our kingdom.In three thousand years, no heir to the throne of the seas has ever proven so inadequate!"

The assembled court pressed back against the walls, their faces twisted with fear and horrified fascination.I felt their judgment like physical weight, crushing down on me from all sides.This was worse than exile—this was complete and utter humiliation.

"You want to know what happens to weak sirens, daughter?"My father's voice had gone deadly quiet."You want to know the fate of those who cannot command the power of life and death?"

He raised the Trident, and I felt its ancient magic reach out to touch the very core of my being.The sensation was unlike anything I had ever experienced—as if invisible hands were pulling at the essence of what I was, unraveling the threads that made me siren, that made me royal, that made me worthy of the crown.

"Father, please—"

"Since your voice cannot kill as a siren," he intoned, his words echoing with the power of ages, "perhaps it can serve as a human.Since you cannot claim death from the safety of the sea, perhaps you can learn to kill with mortal hands."

The magic struck me like a physical blow, tearing through my body with agony beyond description.I felt my tail begin to change, the scales dissolving, the powerful flukes that had carried me through the ocean's depths splitting and reshaping themselves into something alien and wrong.

"I cast you out, Selene of the Silver Depths," my father continued, his voice becoming the voice of judgment itself."I strip you of your birthright, your power, your place in this kingdom.You will walk among the humans until you complete your task—until you kill the one who escaped your song with your own mortal hands.Only then may you return.Only then will you reclaim your crown."

The transformation was complete.Where my beautiful tail had been, two pale, fragile limbs had taken its place.I could no longer breathe the water that had sustained me all my life—instead, I felt a burning need for something called air filling my chest with panic.

"Guards," my father commanded, and I felt strong hands grasp my arms."Take her to the surface.Let the humans find her as one of their own.If she proves herself worthy, she may return.If not..."

He didn't need to finish the sentence.If I failed again, I would die as a human—forgotten, powerless, stripped of everything that had ever mattered.

As the guards dragged me upward through the water that was no longer home, I caught one last glimpse of my mother's face.For just an instant, I thought I saw something break through her mask of royal composure—sorrow, perhaps, or regret.But it was gone so quickly I might have imagined it.

The surface broke around me, and I gasped my first breath of air as a human, the alien sensation burning my lungs.Above me, the same moon that had witnessed my failure now looked down on my exile, its silver light offering no comfort, no guidance.

Only the promise that somewhere out there, a scarred prince sailed the dark waters, unaware that his life had become the key to my redemption.

Or my doom.

Chapter Two

Eirik

The screaming jolted me awake.

For a moment, I couldn't tell if the sound came from my own throat or from the nightmare that still clung to my mind like kelp dragged up from the ocean's depths.My heart hammered against my ribs as I sat up in the vast bed, sheets damp with sweat, the echo of that otherworldly song still ringing in my ears.

Beautiful.Deadly.Irresistible.

I pressed the heels of my palms against my eyes, but I could still see them—my men, my loyal sailors—walking to their deaths with expressions of rapturous joy.One by one, they had climbed over the ship's rail and thrown themselves into the dark waters, drawn by a voice that promised everything and delivered only doom.

All except me.

The song had tried to claim me too.I had felt its power wrapping around my mind like silken chains, promising an end to pain, to loneliness, to the burden of wearing a face that made children cry and women turn away in disgust.For one blessed moment, I had been ready to follow my men into that eternal embrace.

But the curse that marked my flesh had saved me, just as it damned me every day of my life.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood on unsteady feet, my body still trembling from the memory.Three days had passed since the attack, three days since I had rowed back to shore alone while the bodies of good men floated in my wake.Three days of sleepless nights and waking nightmares, and still I could hear that voice calling to me across the waves.

The siren had been beautiful—more beautiful than anything mortal eyes were meant to see.Silver hair that caught the moonlight like captured starfire, skin pale as sea foam, and eyes the deep green of the ocean's heart.She had sung my men to their deaths, and I had been powerless to stop her.

Powerless to do anything but save myself.

Dawn light filtered through the tall windows of my chambers, painting the stone walls in shades of gold and amber.I should have felt grateful to see another sunrise, but all I felt was the familiar weight of guilt and shame pressing down on my shoulders like a yoke.

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