Page 2 of Seas and Scepters

I positioned myself in the ship's path, far enough away to seem ethereal and mysterious, close enough for my voice to carry clearly across the water.The ancient power stirred in my throat, the same magic that had flowed through generations of siren queens.It built slowly, a tingling warmth that spread through my chest and into my vocal cords, transforming my ordinary voice into something that could command the very soul.

I began to sing.

The melody that emerged was older than memory, passed down from mother to daughter since the first siren learned to call the wind and waves.It spoke of longing and desire, of love that transcended death, of beauty beyond mortal comprehension.My voice soared across the dark waters, carrying promises that no human heart could resist.

The effect was immediate.On the ship's deck, I watched sailors stop mid-conversation, their heads turning toward my voice like flowers following the sun.Their eyes took on the glazed, dreamy expression I knew so well—the look of men whose wills were no longer their own.

One by one, they began to move toward the ship's rail.A young sailor with golden hair was the first to climb over the side, his movements fluid and graceful as if he were dancing rather than walking to his death.He hit the water with barely a splash and began swimming toward me with powerful strokes, his face radiant with otherworldly joy.

Another followed, then another.The ship's deck became a scene of beautiful chaos as men abandoned their posts and their reason, drawn by the irresistible call of my song.I watched them slip beneath the waves one by one, their last breaths escaping in streams of silver bubbles.The ocean welcomed them into its eternal embrace, and I felt the familiar surge of power that came with each claimed life.

But something was wrong.

In the center of the deck, one figure remained upright.A man stood gripping the ship's wheel, his knuckles white with strain, his body swaying as if fighting against invisible chains.My song grew stronger, more insistent, weaving through the night air with deadly beauty.Yet still he resisted.

Impossible.

I could see him clearly now in the moonlight—tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair that caught the silver light.But it was his face that made my voice falter for just an instant.The left side was twisted and scarred, the skin pulled tight in patterns that spoke of terrible burning.He should have been hideous, yet something about his stubborn resistance, his refusal to surrender to my power, struck me as almost...noble.

Focus,I commanded myself.He is just another human.Another life to claim.

I poured everything into my song—all my training, all my desperate need to prove myself worthy, all my fear of exile and shame.The melody became a living thing, wrapping around the ship like invisible tentacles, squeezing the breath from mortal lungs and the reason from mortal minds.

The scarred man staggered, his grip on the wheel loosening.For a moment, I thought I had him.His eyes found mine across the water, and I saw them widen with something that might have been recognition.But instead of the glazed obedience I expected, I saw horror—raw, devastating horror as he realized what was happening to his men.

He lurched toward the ship's rail, and my heart soared with triumph.Finally, he would succumb.Finally, I would—

But he didn't throw himself overboard.Instead, he began cutting the ropes that held a smaller boat to the ship's side.His movements were frantic, desperate, but purposeful.Even as my song tried to claim his mind, he fought against it with a will I had never encountered.

"No," I whispered, my melody faltering.This couldn't be happening.No human had ever resisted the siren's call.It was impossible, unthinkable, against the very laws of nature itself.

The man tumbled into the smaller boat just as the last of his sailors disappeared beneath the waves.I could see him struggling with the oars, his scarred face contorted with effort and grief.The current should have carried him to me—should have delivered him into my waiting arms where I could finish what my song had started.

Instead, he rowed away.

I floated in the dark water, surrounded by the corpses of his men, watching in stunned disbelief as the prince—for surely he could be nothing else—escaped into the night.My voice had died in my throat, the ancient magic dissipating like mist before the dawn.

For the first time in my life, I had failed.

The journey back to the palace passed in a haze of shock and growing dread.Word of my return had already spread through the court—servants could feel the vibrations of a royal's passage through the water, and they had expected me to arrive in triumph, bearing news of my success.

Instead, I swam through corridors that seemed to grow quieter with each stroke of my tail.Conversations stopped as I passed.Eyes followed my progress with a mixture of curiosity and something that might have been pity.By the time I reached the throne room, the silence was so complete it felt like a living thing pressing against my eardrums.

King Nereon sat upon his coral throne exactly as I had left him, but now the Trident of Power pulsed with an angry red light.My mother floated beside him, her face carved from pale stone, her eyes reflecting depths I couldn't fathom.

"Well?"My father's voice cut through the water like a blade."Where is your proof, daughter?Where is the treasure of your thirteenth kill?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came.How could I explain that a mere human had resisted the power that flowed through my royal blood?How could I admit that my voice—the voice of queens—had proven insufficient?

"She failed."The words came from somewhere in the assembled court, spoken in a whisper that somehow carried to every corner of the vast chamber."Princess Selene failed the Thirteenth Trial."

The murmur that arose was like the sound of a thousand dying fish.Shocked.Scandalized.In three centuries of siren rule, no royal heir had ever failed to complete their trials.I was the first, the only, the greatest shame our kingdom had ever known.

"SILENCE!"King Nereon's roar shook the very foundations of the palace.Startled fish fled into the darker waters, and even the bioluminescent creatures dimmed their lights in fear.The Trident blazed with power, its light turning the water around us red as blood.

"Is this true?"he demanded, his voice dropping to a whisper that was somehow more terrifying than his shout."Did you fail, daughter?Did your voice prove too weak to claim a simple human life?"

I forced myself to meet his eyes, though it felt like staring into the heart of a maelstrom."He...he didn't succumb, Father.I don't understand how, but he resisted—"

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