by Meg Xuemei X
~
That night, Lucienne had her second prophetic dream.
A sun shower poured from the sky; only it wasn’t rain but blood. The rain of blood gathered, becoming one drop, and plummeted toward Lucienne.
Stricken by terror, she sprang toward the pavilion for shelter, but the blood reached her faster than lightning, hitting her Siren’s golden mark.
Lucienne jerked awake from the tingling warmth radiating from her mark.
She just had a vision, she realized, like the sight she had in the ritual when she was made Siren—she saw herself holding Twilight Water with the Eye of Time caged inside. That was why she knew how to harvest the Eye when she first encountered it.
Her Siren’s mark stored genetic memories going back to ancient times, but its power had never been stable. She now understood why.
The mark was lacking an element. Nexus Tear wasn’t a weapon but the last missing piece of the Siren’s mark.
The five fundamental forces are fire, water, earth, aether, and metal, her mark whispered.
“And Nexus Tear is the aether,” she murmured. “The force from the sky.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lucienne promised Kian that she would follow security protocol and then left him and his men to work on the details for her return to the Red Mansion.
She trekked down the hallway in the castle’s north wing. Her pulse quickened as she spotted a hunky figure in a white shirt and black pants leaning against a stone column.
“Ash?” She strode toward him.
“Lucia,” he said, giving her an appreciative look. She was wearing a black, knee-length satin dress with classic boots. “I came to apologize for my behavior the other night. I was a jerk.”
“I understand why you lashed out,” she said, suddenly realizing that if it were Vladimir, she would have hissed at him. She would have never let him off the hook so easily.
Did she treat Vladimir more like her equal? When she and Vladimir established their relationship, it was he who constantly fought to keep her safe, not the other way around.
“I was afraid of losing you,” Ashburn said. His face was open. “I still am. I don’t have much experience with girls.”
His intensity made her heart flutter, even though she knew that look mostly came from his attempts to read her. “Could have fooled me,” she teased. “You have everyone’s experiences in your database. You can just pick the best move.”
“The moves all suck when it comes to you,” Ashburn said, his eyes sparkling. “People’s emotions in my memory bank are a mess. We humans aren’t famous for being rational.”
Vladimir had tons of experiences with girls before he met her, yet complained about not knowing how to please her. Did they both mean that she was difficult? High maintenance?
“I’ll be going away on family business for a little while,” she said. “Anything you need here—”
“I’m going with you.”
“You’re not. Sphinxes is the safest place for you.”
“I’ll go wherever you go. Stop treating me like your possession. It’s time you treat me like your equal.”
“I haven’t treated you otherwise.”
“You have, Lucienne Lam. You hate men treating you like fragile china, yet you’ve been treating me the same.”
Because they regard me as too valuable, as I do you. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
“Do you want me to act the way your men act around you?” Ashburn said. “I don’t mind starting now because I don’t like you being out of my sight and unsafe. I have powers that can protect you like no one else.”
“I have enough people protecting me,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at her guards.
“So you don’t need me.” Ashburn’s voice turned bitter. “You always needed Blazek. In your mind, he’s a mighty warrior and a prince; I’m a farm boy.”
Lucienne signed. “You’re everything but a farm boy. You know that.”
“Then let me accompany you. Let me be useful. I’ll know danger before it approaches. I can fight, too. I’ve been training with the men. And I promise I won’t be overprotective.”
Lucienne wanted to ask him, Can you kill, like Kian, Vladimir, and the warriors, when the situation calls for it? Being a warrior isn’t your calling, Ash. But she didn’t want to challenge him while he was competing against the shadow of Vladimir.
In need of persuading him to stay, she stepped toward him and laid a hand on his arm.
The Lure buzzed, immediately rewarding her with a marvelous sensation.
Ashburn’s eyes turned bright silver, and Lucienne melted. “Fine, you’ll come with me.”
Ashburn grinned.
Did he just succeed in manipulating her, or did the Lure? Then a dark suspicion hit Lucienne. Ashburn wanted to replace Vladimir in every way. Aggression and possessiveness hadn’t been his character traits. How much and how deep had TimeDust changed him, and to what end?
As Lucienne eyed Ashburn with that uneasy thought, she noticed Ziyi waiting at the end of the hallway, peeking at them.
Had Ziyi started stalking Ashburn? Lucienne shook her head. She had to have a long talk with her friend.
“Ziyi,” she called. “You need Ash?”
“No, I need to talk to you,” Ziyi said. “This is urgent.”
Lucienne raised an eyebrow. Ziyi usually added “urgent” to everything she wanted to talk to Lucienne about. If Vladimir were here, he would be irritated and would give the girl grief. Ashburn just ignored her.
“I’ll be at your door when you’re ready to leave,” he said. With a polite nod at Ziyi, he walked off.
Ziyi hopped toward Lucienne in her qipao and stilettos, the gold chain bumping on her slim ankle. “Please, Lucia, please,” the girl began. After a two-minute pitch, Ziyi concluded with, “Let me go with you. Let me see the Red Mansion just once. You gotta let me see where you grew up. I haven’t had a vacation for—”
“You had a vacation a few months ago,” Lucienne said. “Remember? At Nirvana? And you used the same lines.”
“I did?” Ziyi said. “Well, lately, my memory—”
“Your memory is fine. You just need to stop eavesdropping.”
Ziyi blushed. “You have to understand I just want to live dangerously, like you.”
“You’ll not live dangerously,” Lucienne said sternly. “Three personal guards will constantly watch over you at the Red Mansion.”
“Really?” Ziyi grinned from ear to ear. “I get to have three guards following me everywhere, even for bathroom breaks?”
Lucienne nodded ruefully.
“Awesome,” Ziyi said.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Valkyrie, the Siren’s new jet, pierced the dusky sky with the power of the Norse goddess she was named after, the one who decided which soldiers lived and died.
Riding Valkyrie, Lucienne hoped none of her warriors would perish again.
She sat with Claude.
Her team, including Duncan, Adam, and Finley, was with her.
Ashburn chose a seat across the aisle from her. Lucienne won the argument that he should ride with her instead of advertising himself on Spike to the whole world.
Ziyi sat facing Ashburn, perky beyond reasonable, as if Lucienne was leading the group on a long vacation. Most of the time, the girl stared at Ashburn, chin on her palm, adoring a master art piece.
As usual, Ashburn ignored her. It seemed he’d gotten used to people gawking or stealing glances at him, as if he were a strange, dangerous animal out of the zoo.
Other than Ziyi and Oliver, who was Ashburn’s assigned bodyguard, the men tried to stay as far from Ashburn as they could.
They all heard what he could do, and no one liked their memories, especially the bad and embarrassing ones, to be read, or worse, recorded and stored permanently.
Lucienne shook her head. Physical distance wouldn’t help. She was tempted to point that out, but placated them with the fact that Ashburn wasn’t interes
ted in savoring their memories since he had zillions of them in his head.
In truth, Ashburn was indifferent to the entire world, except her. He had a remote, bored look until his ice-blue eyes fixed on her. Then light in them instantly sparkled to life.
Like right now. He was focused on her, eyes ablaze, listening to the jokes she and Claude threw at each other.
“I saw the spark in you, cousin,” Claude said, “when you were but a bad baby. You bit a lot of important people, you know. Our grandfather was forever on guard when he was around you. It’d look bad for the Siren to have the teeth mark of a baby girl.”
Lucienne remembered the story Kian told her. She almost caused her grandfather a heart attack when she took his priceless ancient scroll at the Selection Game and refused to give it up.
She was a very strong six-month-old. When Jed had managed to pry her fingers off the scroll without damaging the antique, she swung her other hand around
and grabbed it, looking up at her grandfather with a smirk.
Traditionally, the Selection Game was reserved for only the Lams’ male babies—the Siren candidates. A Lam boy would select an item from among a variety of objects—such as a gold coin, a book, a gun, a lipstick tube—on a huge table in the Red Mansion’s Antique Room. The family members would all gather and watch the baby’s pick. A candidate’s first choice symbolized his future path.
Among Jed’s four sons and twelve grandsons, Lucienne was the only one who picked the scroll that the next Siren would inherit.
The scroll, written in encrypted symbols, held the partial code of the Eye of Time and its bearer—Ashburn Fury. Three scrolls formed a complete circle. Lucienne possessed two of them. She still needed the last scroll before she would know how to apply it to Ashburn and the Eye.
“Right, you saw my glow when you were a five-year-old brat,” Lucienne said.
“I was a very intelligent five-year-old.” Claude laughed. “I persuaded my parents to support you instead of your psychopathic half-brother.”
“Now, as I recall,” Lucienne smiled, “everyone saw the spark in me—only they hated me for it.”
“Blame yourself,” Claude said. “A nice girl wouldn’t blindside the brightest boys with all that incomprehensible i-Ching talk. I can still taste the humiliation.”
Those were bittersweet times for her. In every way, she proved to be the Chosen One, but the Lams still rejected her. They called her ‘the Abomination’ and started a family war, trying to erase the first and only female offspring from the Siren’s scion.
“I was nice and fair to all of you, but my reputation didn’t match my good deeds,” said Lucienne.
According to tradition, after the next Siren was named, the failed candidates would be removed from the Red Mansion premises. On coronation day, the new Siren could demand anything from the Siren in power.
Instead of asking something for herself, Lucienne requested Jed Lam to let the former candidates stay on the premises and continue to provide them with everything they needed, especially the best education.
Two candidates out of the twelve then swore their allegiance to her in secret. Claude was one of them. Half of the candidates and their families enjoyed her benevolence, but still wanted her blood. The rest stood by the sidelines and watched.
“You were more than fair,” Claude admitted. “The family realizes it now.”
And yet, they decided to test her to see if she was fit to lead.
“Is that Lake Michigan?” Ziyi asked, looking at the landscape through the window.
“Correct,” Ashburn said.
Lucienne looked outside the window, too, at the flowing lines of lights and shadows.
Valkyrie had reached Illinois’ airspace. Even inside the jet, protected by its steel and glass, she felt the familiar biting air and smell of Chicago.
The sounds of the city were no longer a distant memory. She had come back to her childhood home.
~
Lucienne and her companions approached the Red Mansion, escorted by Kian and his selected team of guards.
Kian and his elite warriors not only secured every inch of the Red Mansion’s premises, but rigged the five-mile radius of the complex with cameras. His men were camouflaged at every corner, and snipers perched on many roofs. On top of that, the Sphinxes’ satellite fixed its lens on the Red Mansion and the surrounding neighborhood 24/7.
Kian has never been this crazy before, Lucienne sighed.
Dusk’s light painted the ceramic tiles of the mansion the color of blood. The statue of the immortal Siren riding a phoenix with two xiphos swords strapped across his back still stood proudly on its rooftop.
“The world has changed,” Claude said, his hands clasped behind his back. “The time for a girl Siren riding the heavenly bird has come. Our ancestors could never have foreseen today.”
Kian nodded before turning to Lucienne. “See you tonight, kid.” He kissed the top of her hair and hurried off.
She knew he was rushing to the control room to supervise the security details. Claude also bid her farewell to arrange the first Lam family meeting since their grandfather’s demise.
Lucienne’s entourage shrank to Ashburn, Ziyi, and half a dozen guards.
“OMG!” Ziyi called as Lucienne led the group through the grand garden with its exotic plants, among them dancing plants and corpse flowers. “It’s more magnificent than I pictured! You grew up here?”
“Since I was six months old,” Lucienne said, stealing a glance at Ashburn.
He couldn’t read her memories, but he stored all the events around her through others’ memories—the fierce competitions, dark schemes, assassinations. Sweat and blood and tears.
He had all the data, but could he understand the brutal politics to which she was born—the Siren’s tenuous grasp on power, the backstabbing, and the deals?
Vladimir took to politics like a fish to water. His uncle trained him on the art of seizing and holding onto power. The old Czech nobleman wanted his heir to take center position on the world stage. He would not let his line be brushed aside by his inferiors.
Lucienne once thought Vladimir would always stand by her, but he took a side path, a dangerous one designed to protect her, but one that could not guarantee his return.
Ashburn, no matter what superpowers he possessed, was a stranger to politics. He refused to be merely a piece in her puzzle and a ladder to the stars she wanted to pluck. He wanted to be in her life completely—to take center position in Lucienne’s stage—but she wasn’t sure of his future role. She hid her uncertainty about him. And thank God she could.
Taking a deep breath, Lucienne headed up the marble stairs and reached the entrance of the Red Mansion, her home of fifteen years.
Adam was already before her, pulling the red door open.
At a moment like this, Lucienne preferred to be alone, but solitude had become a luxury. “Adam,” she tried, “it’s more than safe for me in my home. Kian’s men are at every turn with enough fire power to level a squadron. You and the guards can take off and enjoy the rest of the day.”
“Miss Lam,” Adam said, “we go wherever you go. You’ll have to—”
“—shoot you to stop you?” Lucienne sighed. “One day I will.”
Adam just grinned and gestured for two guards to enter the mansion first, even though Kian’s men had done a security sweep before her arrival.
Lucienne stepped into the foyer.
The crystal chandelier jingled, making the house come alive, as if welcoming her. The smells of antiques and blossoms slammed her senses along with a blur of images of her old life.
Lucienne had to close her eyes for a second. Every light, every texture, every scent was familiar, yet like a bright dream from a lifetime ago.
She was here now, but where was her grandfather? The place felt empty without his magnificent presence.
Lucienne led her guests to the grand hall.
Ziyi widened her eyes at the mansion’s old Europ
ean designs. “Grandeur!” she exclaimed, and scurried to check the rare collection of antique artworks on display.
Ashburn surveyed the surroundings. “They look more impressive than in people’s memories.”
Lucienne squinted, taking in her old house from a different perspective.
When she dwelled here, she never paid any mind to its riches and beauty. Her life was all about training, survival, and preparation for her future role as the Siren. There was never any place for pleasure or enjoyment.
Lucienne escorted her friends up the grand staircase.
Ziyi and Ashburn both halted halfway up to gaze at the paintings on the wall. One of them was a Monet: Woman with a Parasol.
Lucienne recalled that she ran down the stairs everyday when she was a little girl and never took the time to appreciate the Impressionist’s work.
Secretly, she feared this mansion as a child. It carried too much history, burdens, and blood. Many times, she felt it wasn’t just Jed and her living here, but all the ghosts of the former Sirens. Some of them didn’t welcome her; and some kept their dead eyes on her, demanding that she never fail.
“Let’s go,” she urged her companions. “We have a lot of ground to cover.”
The group entered the study, a combination of modern library and reading room. Even the guards looked intimidated by the vast collections.
Lucienne moved across the room to the balcony and overlooked the Roman style courtyard.
Across the vast courtyard were many houses that used to be the homes of Lam family members. Those structures were vacant now.
After Jed’s violent death, Lucienne banished the Lams. She blamed them all. She loved the old man more than she had realized. Her grandfather did everything in his power to make sure her ascension to the Siren’s seat went smoothly, and he sacrificed himself in the process.
She avenged him, even though she promised not to break up the family.
Lucienne gave her old dominion one last glance before turning to Ziyi and Ashburn. “So, this is it,” she said. “My old humble home.”
