Sirens of Faldion: The Final Bond

by Anya Merchant

  “Selene!” he screamed. “…Selene.”

  Kai leaned forward toward the waterfall, half hoping the rope would snap and save him from having to make the decision to go on. He had no such luck, and all of his despair, disbelief, and guilt harbored for only a minute in his chest before snapping into something resolute and dangerous. Terrion had been the one who’d thrown her into the water.

  Kai pulled himself back up the rope attached to his harness, straining against the river’s current every inch of the way. He made it to the river’s bank a few hundred feet from where the main encounter was taking place and discarded his rope harness.

  The fight had expanded out, now including all of Terrion’s guards and most of the able bodied slaves, much of the action happening in the shadows of night and not lending itself to a clear picture. What Kai did see immediately was Sky, fighting at the center of it, up against Terrion and his bound wolf, and struggling to hold out.

  Kai charged forward, speeding up rather than slowing down as he neared striking range. Terrion was taking a moment to gloat in the middle of the fight as his wolf pressed Sky back. His attention was angled as to only let him see Kai out of his peripheral vision, if at all, and it cost him.

  Kai slammed his knee into the slaver’s stomach, immediately following it up with a hard elbow to the jaw. Terrion staggered back, not falling down, but clearly dazed. Kai pressed forward toward the man and took a surprise punch to the stomach, hard enough to knock the wind out of him.

  “I’d thought that you’d chosen death along with your little slut of a girlfriend,” said Terrion. “But I guess I’m happy to see you. I’d so much rather kill you with my own hands, rather than let the river do my dirty work.”

  Kai snarled and swung an uncoordinated fist at Terrion’s head. The slaver knocked the blow aside and countered with a quick jab to Kai’s mouth that made blood burst out of his already cut lip. He staggered backward, forcing his arms to stay up, to keep himself protected.

  Sky screamed. The wolf had scored a hit on her calf, limiting her mobility. She was caught in a life or death struggle with it, only managing to hold back its snapping fangs through force of will.

  Terrion chuckled, also observing the scene of the other fight. He took a step toward Kai and gestured amicably.

  “We can still end this on even terms,” he said. “I want the girl. She’d make a good replacement for the slut I just lost, and her abilities are… rather intriguing.”

  Kai felt anger flush through his body, but forced himself to keep it under control. He bowed his head slightly, assuming the submissive body language that had come so naturally to him for so long.

  “Ah,” said Terrion. “That’s better. Tell your whore to stand down.”

  Kai nodded slowly. He let out a deep, hacking cough, and muttered something intentional muted. Terrion frowned at him and took a step forward.

  “Call her off, boy,” he snapped. “Call her off or the first thing I’ll do with her once she’s mine is-”

  Kai moved with more speed than he’d ever put to a task before in his life, leaping forward and swinging his foot up into a high, dangerous kick. His foot found its mark better than he could have hoped, slamming into Terrion’s chin and knocking the man up and backward. Kai followed after him as he fell, pinning him to the ground and beginning a brutal, emotional onslaught on his face.

  “You!” He screamed and slammed his fist into Terrion’s jaw. “You bastard! You ripping bastard!”

  He landed blow after blow, enough to keep Terrion from having more than a baseline awareness of what was going on. Kai threw punch after punch, his knuckles raw and wet, covered with blood and grime that was either from Terrion’s face, or his own hand.

  Sky appeared at his side, and Kai could hear the whimpers of Terrion’s bound wolf from behind her. She hesitated within a few feet for him, as though waiting to see what Kai would do if left unassisted.

  Kai threw another punch, his hand impacting off Terrion and causing the man’s head to jerk limply, near lifelessly. He stopped, realizing how close he was to actually killing him.

  “Finish it,” said Sky. “There is no reason behind letting him live.”

  Kai took a breath. He unclenched and reclenched his fist, staring at Terrion’s bloody face. He was already unconscious, his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. Kai thought about Selene and felt all of his emotions flood back through him. He heard her last words in his head, as clear as though she was right there again, speaking into his ear.

  “No,” he said.

  Sky frowned at him.

  “He would kill you, if the circumstances were flipped,” she said. “Selene… You saw what he did to her.”

  “She…” Kai took a deep breath, steadying his voice. “She told me not to give up.”

  Kai shook his head slowly.

  “I can’t give up on who I am,” he said. “I can’t give up on being a good person.”

  Sky glared at him, almost as though she took his words personally, for whatever reason.

  “You’re a fool if you think that’s what it comes down to,” she said. “Killing is necessary, sometimes. It doesn’t make you a bad person to do what needs to be done.”

  Kai stood up slowly and said nothing. The other slaves appeared to have won in their insurrection against the guards, and a number of them were gathering around Kai, watching him with reverent expressions.

  “You…” said one of the slaves. “That’s a spirit siren!”

  Several of the other slaves began murmuring. Kai looked over at Sky and saw that she was still tense, still ready to do battle and take lives if need be.

  “You’re one of the Chosen,” said another slave. “You came to save us!”

  “I am not one of the Chosen,” said Kai. “I’m just a man.”

  One of the slaves stepped forward cautiously and dropped down on a knee in front of Kai.

  “Tell us what to do,” said the man. “Whoever you are, we’ll follow you! You saved us!”

  Sky nodded to him. There was a crowd of at least twenty former slaves watching Kai, waiting for him to take charge. He remembered Selene, the dreams he’d had of the two of them eventually earning or winning their freedom, and the pain came back in a sudden stab to his heart.

  “No,” said Kai. “I’m not looking to lead anybody.”

  He turned and walked away from the river camp, into the darkness of the night. Only a single figure followed behind him.

  CHAPTER 26

  “What are you going to do now?”

  Sky sat next to Kai, watching the sun slowly come up over the horizon in the distance. They were out of sight of the river camp, and for good reason. The thought of ever seeing it again, or the lake down below it where the bodies pooled and decayed made Kai feel sick to his stomach.

  “I have to keep going,” said Kai. “I can’t give up. That’s not what Selene wanted.”

  Sky eyed him skeptically and shrugged slightly. She’d been silent for most of the aftermath, providing neither her opinion nor any emotional support.

  “So answer the question,” said Sky. “What, exactly, are you going to do now?”

  Kai let out a slow sigh. He didn’t know. He thought for a moment, a painful memory coming to mind, and bringing with it an idea.

  “I’ll buy a house,” he said, smiling sadly. “Selene always used to talk about how once we were free… we’d find a way to buy a house.”

  Kai’s heart had enough ache in it to force small, lumpy bolts of pain up his throat, making him constantly feel as though he needed a sip from a water flask. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes, leaning his head forward.

  “It’s not that simple,” said Sky.

  “Why not?”

  Sky stood over him, looking down like a reproachful authority figure.

  “Plenty of the slaves saw me,” said Sky. “The guards, too. They saw me, they saw my magic, and they have mouths.”

  She slid a lock of fine blonde ha
ir out of her face and looked in the direction of the sunrise. Her eyes had turned the color of it, a deep yellow orange, the color of new beginnings and long awaited ends.

  “So?” asked Kai. “You were on the run before. You have money now, it’s not like it would be impossible for you to be on the run again.”

  “I’m a spirit siren, you daftling!” snapped Sky. “And unfortunately, you’re my master.”

  Kai glared at her, his emotions still raw, open, exposed.

  “I’m just a man,” said Kai. “And I’m going to make my own choices.”

  “The One Master will send his agents to investigate, if he hasn’t already,” said Sky. “And so will some of the Chosen. There will be attacks, assassination attempts. Sophisticated ones.”

  Kai wasn’t listening to her. He’d realized that he didn’t have anything of Selene’s, no object or memento to hold onto as a totem of his love for her. It was a stupid thought, but carried far too much weight with his already volatile emotions.

  “Kai, listen to me,” said Sky. “You need to keep moving, to keep yourself safe, and get into a better position to operate from.”

  “I don’t need to do a damn thing, other than honor Selene’s memory,” said Kai. “And she wanted me to keep living. As myself, as a good person.”

  “As a fool, apparently,” said Sky.

  “Shut your ripping mouth,” muttered Kai, through gritted teeth. “You’re making it sound like she died for nothing.”

  “If you’re too stupid to survive on your own, she most certainly did.”

  Kai glared at her, and saw a similar anger staring back at him in Sky’s expression. She was beautiful, but there was a hard edge to it now that Kai hadn’t seen in her earlier. She was a killer, someone willing to do whatever it took to get by. She wouldn’t spare him her thoughts, even if they were a little too raw, barbed and painful, for him to handle in a vulnerable moment.

  She was his spirit siren, sworn to him and him alone, for better or for worse.

  EPILOGUE

  “She… she isn’t available currently. I’m sorry, milord chosen.”

  Keaton Margellis leaned forward, grabbing the girl’s chin with two fingers and tilting her face up so her eyes met his. The two of them stood in the hallway of the Margellian palace’s servant’s quarters, the last place that Tania and the other harem girls had claimed to have seen Ariexa that evening.

  “But she is here?” asked Keaton. “You wouldn’t dishonor your lord by lying about that much, would you?”

  “I… I…” The girl hesitated. She was one of the palace’s laundress’s, though Keaton didn’t recognize her. She was frail and tiny, though cute enough in a mousey kind of way.

  “Answer me!” Keaton whirled, slamming her up against the hard, metal reinforced wood wall. “Or if you’d rather, I could take you somewhere to discuss what happens to uncooperative members of the palace staff.”

  He let his free hand linger in the low cut crease of her plain servant’s dress, ready to rip it free from her if she continued in her obstinacy.

  “She’s in the old master servant’s chamber!” screeched the girl. “I, I’m sorry, milord!”

  Keaton pushed the girl aside and started off toward the end of the hallway. The master servant’s chamber had been empty ever since Keaton had transferred the responsibilities out to one of the older women in his harem, who continued to lodge in the much more opulent concubine’s quarters. It was larger and nicer than the rooms of the other servant’s, and notably, the most private room in the entire palace wing.

  He heard the noises as he came within a half dozen or so feet of the doorway. Deep, male grunts, accompanied by soft, high pitched moans. Keaton felt his anxiety flare up and took the last few steps in a hurry. He tried the door’s handle and found it locked, unsurprisingly.

  Ariexa’s moans were unmistakable. Keaton had heard her make the same noises for him many times over, though not within the past year, or maybe the past several, ever since she’d grown distant. He clenched his hands into tight fists and forced himself back under control, searching the pocket of his tunic for the master key that would open any lock in the palace.

  Keaton slid the key into the handle and unlocked it, and then carefully pushed it open. It caught against something after a couple of inches, and it took him a moment to recognize that it was a metal lamp holder, twisted by Ariexa’s metal magic to hold the door shut in the event that someone made a spirited attempt at getting inside.

  The door was open just enough for Keaton to see the large bed across the room, and the action taking place within it. Ariexa was naked, her silver hair spilling across her pale flesh and large breasts, which were dotted by dark blue nipples.

  She was on top of a man that he recognized. Jarvis Accliano, one of the new sub-captains of the Margellian Guard. He was around Keaton’s age, maybe a few years older and a couple of inches taller. And he had his cock inside the Metal Queen, enthusiastically pushing up into her as she bounced around on his tool in ecstasy.

  It was an insult to Keaton directly, to his authority and everything his last name stood for, and yet he found himself watching, completely transfixed. Ariexa’s buttocks jiggled with each movement, each slide down the man’s cock. She was in full control, dominating him and using his body, his manhood, for her own purposes.

  Jarvis’s face was a mask of overwhelming, all-consuming lust. He reached his hands up and touched the Metal Queen’s breasts with reverence, his head shaking back and forth slightly as though he couldn’t believe his luck.

  Ariexa was smiling and biting her lip slightly, rubbing her tight cunt down against the man, melting into the sensation of his cock filling her up. A tiny strip of silver hair ran a short way up her crotch. Her waist was trim, with the slight outline of her muscles showing through. She was a goddess, and Keaton was watching her in action. Watching her, when he should have been the one taking her.

  He was surprised by how hard he was, and by the confusing mixture of emotions spawned by bearing witness to the scene. He still felt angry and jealous, but also horny, and strangely humbled. He let one of his hands drift down to the bulge in his trousers and ran his fingers across it, watching as Jarvis Accliano, his subordinate, experienced the pleasure of Ariexa’s body, pleasure that belonged to Keaton by birthright.

  Ariexa began to move faster. She ran her hands across Jarvis’s chest, holding him down rather than caressing. Jarvis was moaning louder than she was, his body shaking and jerking upward to meet each of her movements.

  “Ariexa!” he groaned. “I… I cannot… hold much longer.”

  The Metal Queen laughed and pushed her breasts into the man’s face. Keaton felt his rage rise again, taking predominance over his emotions. He would not stand and watch another man cum inside his spirit siren. He couldn’t just stand there, not if he was to live with himself for another day.

  Keaton unsheathed his sword and slammed his shoulder into the doorway, hard. The metal lamp holder tore from the wood of the door frame it had been secured to, not coming entirely free, but pushing the door back far enough for him to slip through. Ariexa and Jarvis both looked toward the door, Jarvis with a terrified expression, Ariexa looking annoyed and murderous.

  Keaton took slow steps into the room, his cock still hard enough to leave an obvious bulge in his pants. He wasn’t sure what to say, so instead of speaking, he held his sword up and pointed it at Jarvis.

  “Milord!” cried Jarvis. “I… This is not what it looks like! I… I had no choice!”

  “You bastard!” screamed Keaton. “And you… you whore!”

  “Keaton,” purred Ariexa. “Please. Take a deep breath. Why don’t you have a seat, join us for a moment?”

  She shifted off Jarvis, sitting down on the bed and crossing her legs, as if retaking control of her cunt. She pushed her chest out toward Keaton, her breasts on full, seductive display. All of her attention was turned toward him, as though Jarvis wasn’t even there.

  Keato
n walked slowly across the room, stopping a couple of paces in front of the bed. Jarvis wouldn’t meet his eye. Keaton pointed with his sword, gesturing for the man to stand and move away from the bed.

  “Milord…” said Jarvis, his voice scared, submissive, and weak.

  Keaton lashed out in strike that took all of his emotion and channeled it into physical action. His sword cut into Jarvis’s neck before the man had time to scream, parting his head from his body and spilling hot, crimson blood over the bed, the carpet, and Ariexa.

  Ariexa’s expression was one of pure, unadulterated shock, and Keaton couldn’t stop himself from smiling at it. She’d always been a step and a half ahead of him, always been able to conceal her emotions, manipulate him as she pleased. And now, he watched her as she realized that it had all come falling apart.

  If she’d wished to, she could have used her metal magic to arrest the path of Keaton’s sword and spared Jarvis’s life, at least for a moment. Keaton could order her to stop, or even to kill Jarvis at his command, if he so decided. But Ariexa made no move to defy him. She wiped a few droplets of blood off her cheek and watched him, her eyes uneasy, not quite scared.

  “This…” he said. “This is why you’ve been so distant. You’ve been with this man, behind my back.”

  Ariexa stood up slowly. She took a step toward Keaton, her bare feet stepping into the blood.

  “I’ve been working on your behalf, Keaton,” she said, softly.

  “On my behalf?” scoffed Keaton. “Fucking other men? That’s on my behalf?”

  The Metal Queen met his eye, a bit of intrigue reentering her expression.

  “Do you know who Jarvis Accliano truly was?” asked Ariexa.

  Keaton shook his head no, his grip on his sword staying tight.

  “He’s one of the Fire Chosen’s spies,” said Ariexa. “He was here in Margellis seeking information on you, weaknesses to be exploited.”

  “And so you fuck him?” asked Keaton.