Page 9 of Siren Problems
I stiffen.
“No,” I snap. “I’mcautious. There’s a difference.”
She steps closer. Barefoot, hair wild, face open and unafraid. How the hell is she not afraid?
“You’re cursed, aren’t you?”
It hits me like a slap. The word. Thetruthin it.
I want to lie. Gods, I want tobarkat her, chase her off like all the others. But the silence between us is heavy now, full of moonlight and half-buried ghosts.
So I say nothing.
Luna exhales slowly, watching me. Her face shifts—not pity, not judgment. Just... understanding. It’s worse. It cracks something in me.
“I’ve been down there,” she says. “Near the altar. The ley lines bend like they’re afraid of it. But you—you walk near it every day. Youlivenext to it.”
I swallow hard. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Thentell me.”
She doesn’t blink. Doesn’t move.
I grit my teeth, turn away. “Go back inside, Luna.”
She steps forward. Her hand brushes my arm, light as a wave.
“I’m not trying to expose you. I just want to understand what’s hurting this place.”
“It’snotthe place that’s cursed,” I say, voice low. “It’s me.”
She freezes. Just for a breath.
“Who did it?”
I laugh. Short, bitter. “A mistake.”
“You?”
“Someone I trusted. Once.”
The ocean crashes against the rocks like it’s punctuating the conversation. I feel its pull in my ribs. Old magic. Old pain.
Luna says nothing. She just stands beside me, eyes cast out to the water, quiet now.
“I can’t sing,” I say, finally. “Not like I used to. If I do... the magic comes back.”
“And that’s bad?”
“It’sbinding.Siren song isn’t just sound—it’s power. It commands, consumes. I was trained to use it as a prince. But when I used it tosavesomeone... I broke the rules. And she took my voice in return.”
Luna doesn’t gasp. Doesn’t recoil. She just nods slowly, like it makes too much sense.
“You sang in your sleep.”
I close my eyes. “That means the curse is unraveling.”
“Isn’t that good?”
