Page 148 of The Sea of Zemira (The Zemiran Chronicles 1)

Elijah turned to the sea, watching three ships a couple miles out approaching Crotona.

“The fog is coming down, Nola. It is too late! My father is here.” The prince turned back to her. “He has come to kill me, not you.”

Nola’s eyes could not leave the evolved sirens breathing heavily, frustrated to not be able to escape that place.

Her gaze finally broke from the creatures and looked at him. “Go, Elijah!” she said. “Take the weapon, and fight. I will be behind shortly. I must save them.” Nola placed her hand on his chest gingerly. “And then together, we will use our powers to destroy the weapon. It does not belong here in this world.”

The prince nodded slowly, taking the weapon and the ruby.

“When the war is over, I promise to destroy it. I give you my word,” Elijah said.

Nola reached out and caught his hand. As his fingers touched hers, she winced. Nola looked down, remembering the short but brutal night they had to spend together. Once she released his hand, she reached up to her long strands and tugged. A chunk from her hair pulled off her scalp so easily.

No!she thought, then peered over to the sirens again. The same was happening to her. Her mind clouded over, and for a moment, she forgot her name.

My name—

“Nola, what is happening?” Elijah asked, panic clutching his throat.

Nola, she repeated in her head.

“Go. I need to get the sirens in the water. This place makes you forget,” she said. “They do not know who or what they are anymore.”

A small desire to stay with the creatures crept into her mind.

This cannot happen to me. Not to any more of my kind.

“Go!” Nola said again. “Go, Elijah.”

The prince reached out one more time and placed his hand on her cheek, running his fingers along her jaw. She felt the rough touch over her coarse skin.

“I’ll see you out in the sea, Nola,” he said before rushing to the rower to head to his ship.

Nola turned back to the sirens and called out.

“You do not belong here. You are sirens!” she shouted. A few heads tilted, but they only moved back as if afraid of the sea. Slowly she stepped back into the water. “Come, sirens. Follow me. Follow me into the water.” Her throat pulled. Her eyes felt heavy. “Sirens. You. Are. Sirens!” She took another step back, the sea now touching her knees. “I am the child of Maydean, Queen of the Undersea. She would not want to see her people suffer like this! Follow me into the sea. Come home.”

In that instant, one siren stepped forward, and the others slowly followed.

This will not be your fate,Nola said in her mind. It is not your fate.

As the ship moved west towards the king’s army, a serene moment loomed around her—a split second of peace before the sirens charged towards the deep blue waves.

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