Siren: A Dark Retelling

by Hazel Grace

  “Let me know when you’re ready for me again,” he muses then allows me to rip my arm from his hold.

  Conceited man.

  I hear my sister’s hollering through my bedroom door that Tobias is here, and I can’t hide my excitement. Throwing my door open, I rush down the hallway and look through the open pillars at his small boat that he leaves docked on the beach.

  Down a small set of stairs and another hallway, I’m outside the castle, my bare feet sinking into the hot sand until I see them.

  As in Tobias is not alone.

  Dark hair sways in the ocean breeze as Tobias breaks from his guest, striding in my direction with a giant smile plastered to his face.

  I try to smile back, I do, but I know it’s fake and is coming off as a scowl.

  “Princess,” he greets, extending his arms for me to jump into. I would, if she wasn’t here. And it’s puzzling because he’s never brought someone along with him before, and why he has now, already has my defenses up.

  “What’s wrong?” he asks me. “You didn’t miss me?” I take the three strides to get to him and wrap my arms around his torso, receiving a small squeeze in response and a kiss to my forehead.

  “Who’s she?” I gripe. Tobias doesn’t let me go, breathing in my hair and laying another kiss to the top of my head.

  “Don’t get mad at me, she’s injured.”

  “From what?”

  “I saved her from Hunters,” he tells me, releasing his hold on me. “She’s been through a lot.”

  “Haven’t we all,” I object, letting my gaze fall back onto the woman who I’m going to let my sisters play with if Tobias doesn’t give me a good answer. “What am I supposed to do?”

  “I was on my way to see you and was attacked. I found her on the other ship, was hoping she could stay here for a few days to heal up. Her ribs are busted up, and we’ve been hitting storm after storm. Some land might do her good.”

  “I don’t have time to babysit her, Tobias. I have my hands full already.”

  His brows snap together. “The Viking is still here?”

  “Yes.”

  “But—”

  “You’re watching the lass,” I retort. “She’s your responsibility. Let me meet her.”

  Before I kill her myself and save both of us the trouble of tending to a stranger.

  Tobias motions for her to come closer with his hand, and hesitantly, she does—she should.

  She’s beautiful and lovely, something that promises to be more of a pain than anything in my eyes.

  “Davina, this is Vlatka. Vlatka, this is Davina, Princess of Lacuna.”

  She curtsies, but her eyes stay plastered on the scales forming on my shoulders from lack of water. “It’s very nice to meet you. Thank you for letting me—”

  “I’m not letting you,” I snap. “You’re not allowed to roam the halls only to stay in your room. Your welcome is limited.”

  She glances up at Tobias, curious I’m sure as to why she heard me only in her head, and I want to snap her neck. “Of course, regardless, I appreciate it.”

  I summon one of my men in my head for them to take this little wench to a vacant room. “Don’t make me regret this.”

  “I promise—” She extends both of her hands in front of her, green eyes gleaming with innocence. “I’ll stay where I’m told.”

  “Davina is just tired,” Tobias offers for me. “She’s had a lot going on.” I shoot him a glare, but Vlatka nods her head.

  “Of course, I can only imagine.”

  My jaw locks in place as she bats her long eyelashes at Tobias. Before I can compel another snarky comment, Sullivan arrives at my side.

  “I want a man at her door at all times.” I instruct for only him to hear as the woman gapes at Sullivan’s frame.

  He nods then clasps her forearm to guide her away to the castle, and no sooner is she out of ear shot, Tobias rounds on me.

  “What was that?”

  I perk a brow. “What was what? You bringing someone here when you know that no outsiders are allowed except you.”

  “I didn’t bring her here purposely,” he counters. “She’s hurt.”

  “That’s not a problem for either of us. And still you put my sisters and I at risk.”

  “I’d never let anything hurt you. You know that.”

  “Do I?” I turn on my heel, letting my question hit him as hard as it’s hitting me that he has a woman in my midst, my home, and now another problem I have to deal with.

  Something happened when I wasn’t here, and I had a gut feeling it would when I left her alone with the Viking. As much as Davina doesn’t like to think it, she’s naive, knows nothing outside the water and this island. Vikings are the core of brutality. He will hurt her, that much I know, just to gain his freedom.

  And I’ll have to pick up the pieces.

  I don’t mind having to do so, but if I can stop it, I’m going to. Whether she gets pissed at me or not.

  Snatching her upper arm, I turn her around to face me. “You’re not allowed to leave upset, remember?”

  Her green eyes burrow into my browns and remain there. “But I am upset. You just put us at more of a risk.”

  “I’ll keep an eye on her,” I retort. “And I will be keeping my eyes on the Viking while I’m here too.”

  “That’s under control.”

  “How?”

  “Seven sirens versus one Viking, who do you think is going to win?”

  “But who is going to protect your heart, Princess?” She blinks, didn’t expect me to call out what I think is already happening, which she just confirmed. “Something happened, I know it did. I should’ve never left you.”

  “You have to find Lorne.” Slowly, she pulls herself out of my grasp. “That’s important.”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever find him,” I allude with a shake of my head. “He’s starting to fade from my memory. Every year that passes makes it more blurry. I think I should just let him go.”

  Her brows furrow. “You can’t. He’s out there, I can feel it.”

  “Can you?” I try to smile but fall short with a quirk of my lips. “I don’t know, Princess. He escapes me every time. Maybe he doesn’t want to be found.”

  “Maybe he’s scared.”

  I shrug. “Don’t know.”

  “Tobias—” Her palm comes up to my chest. “Don’t lose hope.”

  “It’s gone, slipping further away each day he still remains missing.” I place my hand over hers. “I’ll be okay.”

  “So you’ve decided to pick up damsels in distress instead? You can’t give up on Lorne.”

  “I already told you,” I seethe. “She was hurt.”

  “Then take her to the next port.”

  “I was already halfway here.”

  “She needs to go.”

  “Davina,” I warn. “I promise you that—”

  “I don’t want your promises.” Her brows furrow in frustration. “I want you to keep this island safe. Now she’ll know about us and speak about how there are Sirens here that can walk and talk to her.”

  “She won’t know you’re—”

  “That’s if we can keep her locked up in a room.” She looks over to her left. “Which I should go do right now.”

  “Davina, I’ll—”

  “You have to choose,” she snaps. “Me or her.”

  “What?”

  “Me or her. She has to go.”

  “So you don’t trust me anymore? What happened when I was gone?”

  She pulls her hand from mine. “You have until tomorrow.” She begins to stomp away, but I grab her again.

  “What’s wrong? Tell me. You used to tell me everything.”

  “It’s best you don’t know a thing, Tobias. I’ve been trying to tell you that for years. The more you know, the more of a liability you’ll be. The more I can’t protect you. It’d kill me to see you die over something you shouldn’t know.”

  “Your sisters should know me by no
w,” I defend. “You’ve always been someone I’d protect.”

  “But you just betrayed it. You brought some pretty raven-haired woman here and—”

  “Is that what this is about? Another woman?”

  “No,” she retorts quickly. “It’s about protecting my family.”

  I brush back a piece of her hair with my index finger. “You are my family. You’re everything to me.” I cup her cheek. “Everything.”

  “I think you should leave,” she mutters, tucking her chin into her chest. “It’s not a safe time for you to be here.”

  “Davina—” I tuck my hand under her jaw and lift it to meet my face. “—I’d never leave you when your world is crumbling.”

  Quickly, she wraps her arms around my body in a hug, squeezing me for dear life, admitting my fears that there is so much more to the story than what she wants to tell me.

  “You will fall victim to this if you don’t leave me,” she utters into my chest. “And the only way I can preserve you is if you never come back.”

  My next intake of air seizes in my lungs.

  Just the thought of never seeing Davina again stabs at my chest. It sends me into a state of anxiety and heartbreak because I’d die for this woman in a heartbeat with no questions asked.

  “How can I leave you when I love you?” I assert in a low whisper. “It’s like taking my next breath and never giving it back.”

  “It’s because I’ll watch you take that last breath and I’d die right along with you.” She peers up at me. “Please don’t put me through that.”

  I lower my head. Shit, I’ve been doing it for years with coming here and the possibility of running into her father, who would smite me down as quickly as I blinked.

  My lips gingerly brush against hers, and fuck it, I want more.

  More of what she can’t give me.

  More of what I can’t have.

  And knowing it makes everything about this so much worse than it should be.

  While my world has been flipped upside down the moment Dagen stepped foot onto this island, it just proved to get worse. Not only do I have a dark-haired woman who calls herself Vlatka locked in a room in my home but another woman has dared stepped foot on my sandy beaches with a burly group of men that look just like Dagen.

  All equipped with swords, axes, and brows descended in anger.

  Standing in the middle of my six sisters, we watch them come off the small dingy and disregard it quickly. The pack of men is led by a tall woman dressed in fur and leather, a long sword in her hand as I keep my eyes solely locked on her.

  “Edda,” Isolde voices to us. “That’s the woman I saw in Dagen’s head.”

  My blood begins to boil at her name. She looks fierce, beautiful even, with her blonde hair braided at the scalp and down to her shoulders. Appearing to have cut down a few people in her day with the scowl that hits each and every single one of my sisters and I.

  “Dagen the Blood Axe,” she bellows, her eyes narrowing. “Where is he?”

  “I’m going to kill this wench,” Atarah seethes to my left. “Right now.”

  “Not yet,” I assert. “We might be able to torture this one for information. But you’re more than welcome to the ships.”

  There are two of them within an easy eye’s distance away. Which means they are through the veil, the one that Taysa confirmed is cracked, putting us in more danger.

  The woman points her sword at one of my sisters to the right of me. “You. Where is Dagen?”

  I take a step forward, breaking from the united front with my sisters because I’m seconds away from snapping this maiden’s neck.

  Clenching my fury into my hands at my sides, I meet her scowl with one of my own.

  “You’ll speak with respect,” I fume, “when you speak to us.” Her eyes widen a tad when my lips don’t move but she can hear my words.

  Looking over her shoulders at her men, who stand stoically behind her, she finds some sort of confidence again because her gaze falls back upon me.

  “I don’t serve you,” she rebukes with a rise of her chin. “I’m here for my leader.”

  “The Viking that stepped foot on my land, you mean?” She bristles like it means nothing to her. That only her people are allowed to trespass on land and no one else. Arrogance does run deep in that bloodline.

  “Is he alive?” she asks.

  I nod. “He is.”

  “I need to see him.”

  “You will see him when I see fit, and you will state your name to me.”

  “I am Edda, his woman.” I didn’t realize I was marching in her direction until a soft hand lands on my upper arm to halt me in place.

  “Remember,” Nesrine says next to me. “Information. She may hold it.”

  “Destroy the ships,” I order. “We’ll show her how much power she really welds around here.”

  My sisters speak amongst themselves within our heads so the intruders can’t hear while the wind starts to pick up around us, moving the waves of the sea to crash more loudly on the beach. The sun’s rays are blockaded by dark clouds, as rain starts to pour down on the ships but the island stays dry.

  Each pair of their eyes look over to their comrades on the ship, the ones who are about to drown within my realm of power—the sea. Ironically, the one I can’t touch.

  A small whirlpool starts to form in between the two docked vessels, as well as more pounding rain against their decks.

  “What are you doing?” Edda rants over the noise of the waves.

  None of us answer her, she’s about to visually see what’s going to happen when she so graciously decided to look for her man and leader.

  I watch the sea start to move the ships along in a circular motion around the edge of the growing vortex of water, the faint yells of men crying out in alarm. A giant crest of a wave slams into one of them, sending it tipping to its side but not enough to plummet into the undertow of the whirlpool.

  “Stop,” Edda bellows, her eyes burrowing into me. I don’t acknowledge her, letting my sisters do what they’ve wanted to do since the moment they saw the evasive vessels come through our veil.

  Another gush of wind hits the second ship, making it pivot from side to side. A loud snapping of wood permeates the air while another influx of water sends it crashing to its side, overcoming the whole vessel, and when it calms and blends back into the sea, both barges are gone, leaving scapes of boards and debris floating on the surface.

  A sharp scream hits my eardrums, and my head follows the intrusion to see Kali on her knees with a long spear sticking from her shoulder.

  It’s all I need to see.

  My insides feel like an inferno while my full attention stays locked on the woman who just gave an order to have my sister attacked. Hand on her neck, the scent of burning flesh fills my nostrils. I hear a muffled shriek of pain as I tighten my hold.

  She is going to die by my hands.

  Not only are my feelings about Tobias staying on the island this morning brewed and littered with relief and frustration that he didn’t listen, but now I have to deal with the aftermath of Dagen and his people trying to save him. Not only those things but also the veil that is now more damaged and fleeting of safety for my sisters and I.

  Our whole kingdom.

  Movement in my peripheral gets me to focus on my surroundings, but it’s a surge of water that becomes a wall between myself and the goon of men behind her. Another ear-piercing scream bellows from the air as Edda’s men cover their ears to Kali’s wail of pain.

  “You just sealed your fate to something more awful,” I snarl into her face, yanking one of her hands away from her head. “And you just killed all your men too. Congratulations, Edda. You’re all dead.”

  Another squeeze to the man’s neck I’m fastened onto and he falls to a lump at my feet. Moving quickly, as to not alert anyone else that I’m missing, I creep up the short stack steps to Davina’s room.

  It’s a risk, that I’m damn sure of. But I can�
�t resist the urge to see her. To smell the sea salt off her skin and brush my fingers through her long tresses.

  Last night was unbelievable, and I’m addicted to this woman. If I’m here, against my will, I’m going to enjoy every moment I can with this Siren who captivates and starves me for more.

  Reaching her door, I’m certain to get attacked the moment I step foot into her bedchamber. Ready for her to throw me against the door and question why the fuck I’m here. But the eeriness of the silence infuses the air to an almost deafening sound.

  I eye her bed, seeing a small frame lying underneath the white sheet that is highlighted by the moon.

  Taking a step toward her, I’m careful not to alarm or scare her, which I will because, fuck, I’m creeping into her room in the middle of the night.

  “Take another step, Viking, and I’ll put you through the wall.”

  My lips twist into a smile. “That’d be different.” She stays in bed, not moving, but I can tell her back is to me.

  “Would it be? Was that something you did with Edda?” The mention of her name makes me jolt back a little. A sudden rush of memories of home and the comfort of being there surge through me like a bolt of lightning.

  “Why would you mention something like that?” I censure through descended brows.

  Davina turns herself to face me on her side and, fuck, I wish I could see her face that is now casted with shadows.

  “Because she’s here,” she mutters. “Badly injured, by the way.”

  I’m two steps closer. “She’s here?”

  “Don’t sound so excited,” Davina snaps, sitting up on the edge of her bed. “She threw a spear through my sister’s shoulder.”

  I’m suddenly on my knees in front of her. I know how much her sisters mean to her, and the evidence that I care more about Davina’s well-being and state of mind than my own clansman and potential wife shows me that my loyalty is starting to veer off in a direction that screams traitor.

  While my brain barks at me to stand up and demand to know what happened to Edda, my heart pleads to find out if she’s okay.