Page 71 of Castor
“Gluttony, I’m guessing?” Sirena asked.
“Huh?” he asked, looking at her with an oblivious expression. In the time I’d known him, he had a habit of zoning out when food was involved. “Oh. Gluttony. Yeah, that’s me.”
Titan added more fruit to Raiden’s plate, and Raiden smiled before eating another handful.
“Can I ask you something?” Castor asked Sirena. He sat beside me on a cushion on the floor, his arm resting against mine. I loved the way his apple-red hair fell across his brow as he reclined. It had grown a bit longer over the weeks I’d spent with him.
Sirena nodded, though her gaze remained guarded.
“Why are all of you warriors? The Nephilim on Baxter’s island are mainly used for self-defense, which is why we’ve helped train them for actual combat lately. But you and all the females here seem to live and breathe fighting.”
“Because wedofight,” Sirena answered. “Do you think you and your brothers are the only Nephilim to care about humanity? We are not our fathers. We strive to do what they failed to do—protect what is sacred.”
“You fight demons?” Alastair asked.
“Yes. Not as often as you, I’m sure, but when we hear of a threat on any of the neighboring islands, we go and dispose of it.” She leaned forward in her seat and studied Castor. “We fight demons, vampires, and any creature that threatens human life. Before you arrived, we didn’t know about Asa though. News from the underworld very rarely reaches us here.”
“So that’s why you agreed to ally with us so quickly,” I said.
“Yes.” Sirena cocked her head at me. “It’s been many years since I’ve seen a water dragon.”
“Iknewyou were a dragon,” Baxter interjected. “Fucking badass, man.”
“My eyes gave me away, huh?” I said to her, trying to hide how uncomfortable it made me that she’d figured it out. I knew it didn’t really matter now who knew because the conflict between the other dragon clans was mostly over. But after being sheltered for so much of my life and being told that I would be killed if anyone knew who I was, it was habit to be wary of strangers.
“As did your scent,” she said. “You smell like your brother.”
“You know Tatsuya?” I was shocked.
“Once upon a time, he visited this island,” Sirena said. “He was looking to strengthen his clan through marriage to one of our kind. It was during the time when your people were at war with the ice dragons, and he needed strong allies. I was flattered, truly, but even with his long, pretty hair and ocean-blue eyes, I wasn’t swayed. Neither were my warriors.”
“I didn’t know any of this.” How much had my brother been keeping from me? It also might’ve explained why he seemed to dislike the Nephilim.
“I suppose he wouldn’t have told you,” she said. “A dragon’s pride is a fragile thing. He wasn’t happy that I refused his marriage proposal.”
“So, do you hate men?” Bellamy asked.
Alastair kicked his foot.
Sirena laughed though. “Hate men? No. I don’t. Yet, for a majority of my life, I have seen them control women. Treat them as lesser beings. My father forced himself on my mother and left her to raise me on her own. My upbringing was rough. Times have made me a bit jaded to the ways of man. But do not mistake that for hatred.”
Castor’s phone rang. “Sorry,” he said to Sirena before accepting the call. “Gray?”
Alastair looked at Castor, worry in his eyes. As if knowing others in the room were curious, Castor put him on speakerphone.
“Cas!” Gray exclaimed. “Daman told me you guys are in the Caribbean! So not fair. I want to be on a tropical island getting some sun too. Instead, I’m here where it rains, like, all the time. Can you believe it’s already getting cold? I’m sitting outside right now in a hoodie. It’s my cute hoodie though, the one with the cat ears. Ugh. I just felt a raindrop.”
Relief flooded Alastair’s face. Gray wasn’t in trouble. He had only called to blab like his usual cute self.
“Is that a child?” Sirena asked.
Bellamy laughed. “Nah, he’s our age. But he’s a small little thing. We’re all super protective over him.”
“I think I see why.”
“Who’s the lady I hear talking to Bell?” Gray asked. “Am I on speakerphone?”
“Hey, smalls,” Raiden called out. “We all can hear you.”
