Siren Awakened (The Cursed Seas Collection)

by Elle Middaugh

  Suddenly, a voice cried out, interrupting our moment of bonding.

  I spun around to the sight of Valentina Torre launching two spears at my new dragon pets. Without hesitation, I lurched up and grabbed both spears before they could make contact. The dragons snarled viciously behind me, and Valentina’s face went pale. I could only imagine the terrifying contortion of their faces.

  “What the hell, Valentina? Keep your spears to yourself.”

  “Well, well,” she said, crossing her armored arms and trying to seem fierce, though her skin was still ghostly. “The princess has failed. A new queen will wear the crown after all.”

  I despised the condescending tone in her voice. I threw the spearheads into the sand, and drifted downward, preparing to kick her pompous ass, but Arlo interrupted.

  “The princess has not failed,” he corrected, coming up beside Valentia and crossing his burly arms. “She is still alive, therefore the fight will continue. She can take as much time as she needs.”

  I paused, a little reluctant to do what I knew needed to be done.

  There were a number of reasons why I detested the idea of ascending to the throne. Annoyingly enough, there were even more reasons why I had to—not least of all, the need to prevent the stupid Torres’ attempts at ruling. But now this—and this was the ‘most of all’ part—the fact that I now had this strange, deep-seated desire to protect the sea dragons. The only way to one-hundred percent ensure their safety, was to become queen. Or I guess, to allow them to think I’d become queen. I hadn’t technically killed the alpha myself, and therefore, hadn’t technically avenged my parents as the law stated. But...those were minor details, right?

  I lifted my chin and put on my cocky-face, strolling even closer.

  “You’re both right, and you’re both wrong. The fight is over, but I haven’t lost. I am still alive, but the fight will not continue. My parents’ killer has been slain. This is all that was required of me, and this is all I’ll do. Feroz and Bravo are not to be harmed. In fact, from now on, they’re to be revered as the sacred pets of the queen, and will be treated as such.”

  Arlo’s mouth dropped. “But... Your Highness—”

  I swiftly cut him off. “Arlo, did you, or did you not, say the alpha was the one who killed my parents?”

  He swallowed hard but nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  “Then Feroz and Bravo are innocent,” I said plainly, eyeing each guard one at a time. By that point, most of the guards had caught up to us and had removed their helmets to eavesdrop on our little debate.

  “The deal was three sea dragons,” Valentina spat at me with narrowed eyes.

  “The law says I must avenge my parents’ killer. No more, no less.”

  Valentina waved a hand in my general direction. “Everyone knows she’s nothing like David or Selena. She’ll bring the entire kingdom down—probably literally. Let’s not forget the time she blew up the west wing of the palace.”

  I narrowed my eyes even further. They were never going to let me live that down, were they?

  “Yes,” I said sarcastically, “and let’s not forget the time you Torres told my parents there was a mutant invasion in the East Sea Quadrant, in the middle of a stingray migration, in hopes of them dying of natural causes.”

  Valentina aimed her spear at me and snarled. “If you will not slay the dragons, then you will forfeit the crown. Give it to someone who isn’t afraid to shed a little blood to protect her people!”

  A moment later she was gone. I blinked, and her legs were dangling awkwardly out of the blue dragon’s mouth—the slightly larger one I’d named Feroz. Then he lifted his head back and swallowed her whole.

  Well, almost whole.

  Blood trickled out the side of his mouth, and my eyes widened like clamshells. I swallowed convulsively and clamped a hand to my lips to keep from vomiting.

  Feroz sort of smiled at me. Like, you watch our backs, we’ll watch yours, remember?

  I nodded dazedly, realizing I needed to roll with it, or the guards would all start demanding their deaths. I didn’t want them to die, but holy fucking Poseidon! He just ate someone! I kind of wanted to scream and swim for the hills.

  “As you can see,” I said, rather uncertainly, “I’m not afraid to shed a little blood.”

  As if it had been my idea in the first place.

  Arlo, who appeared even more stunned than I was, quickly snapped himself out of his stupor. He stamped the bottom of his trident into the sand, and squared his broad shoulders, shouting, “All hail your new queen, Liliana Acosta, Slayer of Sea Dragons!”

  I grimaced and glanced at my new pets apologetically.

  “I can’t have a title like that.”

  Arlo cocked his head. “Conqueror of the Alpha?”

  “Um, I’d rather not have that one either.” Considering it wasn’t even true.

  His brows furrowed in deep confusion. “What title would you prefer, Your Majesty?”

  All the guards stared at me inquisitively.

  I blinked, nervous to have so many eyes locked onto mine. “Um...how about Tamer of Dragons?”

  A low murmur once again crept into the space between the guards as they talked and gossiped amongst themselves.

  Arlo silenced them instantly with a booming voice. “The queen has spoken! She will henceforth officially be known as Queen Liliana Acosta, Tamer of Dragons! Now move out. We have a coronation ceremony to prepare for.”

  I took a deep breath and stole a quick glance at my dragons, who in turn, smiled at me in a ferocious sea dragon sort of way. I had a suspicion I was the only one who’d recognize their expressions as something other than terrifying.

  Flanked by a dragon on each side, I followed the guards the long distance back to the kingdom. I’d miraculously survived the avenging, but could I somehow survive the monarchy?

  I guess I was about to find out.

  Chapter 3

  The day after my coronation, I was thrown straight to the sharks. The kingdom needed ruling, and I was officially the queen for the job.

  The ceremony had been a whirlwind of chaos that I barely had time to comprehend, full of endless vows, uncomfortable skinsuits, and only a mild amount of panic. Turned out, on days such as those, I took the orders from sirens who actually knew what the hell they were talking about. Thank Poseidon. Who knew there was an exact location where you needed to stand at all times and an exact moment where you needed to take a breath during your vows?

  By the time the coronation ended, I yearned to escape all the pomp and circumstance—even by attending to my queenly duties. Anything to get me out of the spotlight and away from all the eyes boring into my skull, probably just waiting for me to screw up.

  I was ready for this.

  But no. No, I wasn’t.

  I’d technically seen it all done before, every day of my life up until a couple days ago, but that didn’t make it any easier for me. It never had. Knowing what to do didn’t mean I particularly wanted to do it, nor that I instinctively knew how to do it.

  I sat down in my mother’s oversized throne—my father’s had been removed—and gripped the bejeweled arms tightly. My heart suddenly ached for them. If they were here they could walk me through this, teach me how to be the badass leader I needed to be. Better yet, if they were here, they could just rule the kingdom, so that I didn’t have to.

  I swallowed hard, and tears almost stung my eyes.

  Put it away, Liliana. Now was not the time to be weak.

  “The first citizen has arrived, Your Majesty,” Kayo announced. “She’s the daughter of Carlota, Duchess of the East Sea Quadrant.”

  I nodded and prepared to be bored out of my mind. “All right. Send her in.”

  He strolled over to the massive stone doors of the palace and heaved. He was Arlo’s younger brother, but he could’ve passed for his just-as-muscular, slightly-better-looking twin. It was no surprise that he was the unknowing object of Catalina’s affection. She would probably
kill to be in this courtyard right now, which ironically, was more than I could say for myself. Kayo didn’t even know she existed, but maybe I could help in that department?

  A young siren woman, no older than me, strolled in and knelt down at my feet.

  I rolled my eyes and let out a deep sigh. “You may speak.”

  The siren rose and crossed her arms. She had long, straight hair combed off to one side, and a few tattoos enhancing her pretty face. There was a no-nonsense air about her that immediately prickled my spines. She was too much like me. It spurred the competitive part of my nature.

  “Your Majesty, our village has no food.”

  I blinked as her brashness. “That’s shitty.”

  Her lips curled a bit at the sides. “Yes, it is. I’ve come on behalf of my mother to ask if the kingdom could send us aid—particularly in the form of food.”

  And just like that, it was time for my first royal decision; the first ruling I’d have to make as Queen Liliana Acosta, Tamer of Dragons, and Imposter Extraordinaire.

  My initial instinct was to tell her to go screw herself because I didn’t like her attitude. But that was something a bratty princess would say, not a dutiful queen. So I gripped the arms of the throne and took a deep breath as I debated.

  “Sure,” I said after a few more moments of hesitation. “Tell the Duchess of East Sea that Seabella will send a whole boat-load of fish as soon as possible.”

  The siren girl thanked me, bowed, and exited the open-arched hall.

  Kayo arched a brow at me. “You know you can’t dish out food to every citizen that comes here asking for it, right? The city would be starving in less than twenty-four hours if you did.”

  Goddamn it, I knew I shouldn’t have done that.

  “Oops.”

  “Don’t apologize,” he said with a wink and a cheeky grin. “You’re the queen, remember?”

  “Oh yes. How could I forget? Queen Liliana, Tamer of Dragons.”

  My gaze shifted toward the sea between the open arches of the courtyard. Feroz and Bravo were circling the building in nervous excitement. They seemed antsy already. I’d have to take them into the deeper waters for some playtime or something later.

  Kayo shook his head at me and got back to business. “The next citizen is a man from the village of Sevilla, part of in the North Sea Quadrant.”

  I propped my chin in my palm, and with my other hand, gestured toward the door. “Send him in.”

  A bald, wrinkled, old siren entered the courtyard then. It took him ten minutes to hobble up to the throne, and then he damn near threw his back out trying to bow.

  “No need,” I told him quickly, stopping him before something snapped off and fell to the floor. Like a limb, or his whole upper body.

  “Your Majesty,” he began with a quavering, timeworn voice, “Sevilla has been overtaken by strange mutated fish, which stink of decay, and have evil red eyes.”

  I nodded, imagining the ugly little things swimming around. “Yes, that sounds appalling.”

  His jaw shook as he tried to spit out the rest of what he’d come here to ask. “Is there a shelter where we can send the children, at least, in order to keep them safe?”

  “Oh, Poseidon, yes! We have all sorts of shelters in Seabella. People are fleeing their villages like krill in the path of a blue whale lately.”

  Shit. I probably shouldn’t have said that.

  The shaking in the old siren’s jaw spread into his frail little body, and I feared for a moment that he might literally fall apart.

  “No, no! Don’t worry!” I said, trying to cover for myself. “The shelters are great! They even have room for more than just children. Men and women are welcome, too, whoever needs help gets help.”

  He shook his already-shaking head and attempted another bow.

  “Please don’t do that,” I said, about to leap from my throne and catch him.

  “Thank you, majesty,” he finally stuttered out, then slowly twisted around and left.

  I exhaled a deep breath and turned to Kayo. “What’d I fuck up that time?”

  He snorted. “Oh, I think you know.”

  “Yeah, I worried the poor guy would have a heart attack.”

  Kayo chuckled. “Try not to tell the citizens any more than they need to know. Most of them can’t actually handle the cold, hard truth.”

  “Noted.”

  “The next citizen is from the outskirts of Seabella.”

  How long of a line was waiting outside those double doors? How many god-awful decisions was I going to have to make before Kayo finally gave up and let me leave? Surely he’d eventually realize that me making no decisions was better than me many any? My skin itched. I was becoming as antsy as my dragons.

  “It’s hot in here,” I said, fanning my face with my hand. “Is there something I could drink? Preferably something alcoholic.”

  “I don’t think that would help you feel any less hot, Your Majesty,” Kayo said with a grin. “Besides, we haven’t sunk and plundered a pirate ship in while. Our alcohol stores are running low.”

  “Damn,” I grumbled. “We should probably change that.”

  He shrugged. “Give me the word. I’ll send a crew out tonight.”

  “Are you serious? Just like that?”

  “Yes, just like that. You’re queen, remem—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I remember.”

  He shook his head again. “You’re also stalling.”

  “Ugh. Fine. Send the next siren in. Also, you officially have my blessing to pilfer some pirate ships as soon as sirenly possible.”

  He chuckled as a woman in her mid-forties entered, cradling a horrifyingly ugly angler fish under her arm.

  Its face was the stuff of nightmares, littered with deadly sharp teeth of varying heights and angles, and a strange glowing light dangling from an appendage protruding from its forehead. Its gray skin was partially transparent, giving it an additional reddish tint from the tissues underneath all the spikes and needles.

  The poor woman had a near constant stream of tears bubbling from her eyes. She didn’t seem able to speak.

  I glanced at Kayo, then back to the citizen. “Can I help you?”

  She broke out into full-fledged sobs, then. “Fluffy is sick! I’m afraid he might die! He needs a healer right away, but no one will allow me to bring him in!”

  “I can’t imagine why,” I muttered.

  It probably had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Fluffy looked like he chewed on siren bones for fun. You know, in his free time, when he wasn’t already chewing on the bones of everything else.

  I cleared my throat to grab her attention. “I can’t just force a healer to look at him. That’d be homicide. But I can have the royal healer whip up a tonic that you can try administering, yourself. Does that sound okay?”

  “No!” she wailed, surprising the hell out of me. I figured she’d be pleased I offered to help at all. “Fluffy and his friends will think I’ve turned on him! It must be a healer!”

  “Fluffy...and his friends?”

  She nodded, pointing back to the huge stone doors. “There are nine others waiting outside.”

  “Dear Poseidon! What the hell were you thinking?”

  This was the shark farm incident all over again. I couldn’t allow myself to make the same mistake twice.

  “Get those things out of the city. I’ll send you the tonic by the end of the day. That’s the best I can do. You’re dismissed.”

  She sobbed louder than I’d ever heard a siren sob before. I might’ve sympathized with her if the situation wasn’t so damned ludicrous.

  Kayo shut the doors behind her and sighed. “You probably shouldn’t have done that.”

  “What? I did something like that before, and I still haven’t lived it down!”

  “I know, I know, but this is different. That woman was Lord Lopez’s favorite niece, Camilla. He’s the lord of the West Sea Quadrant, the one who supplies us with most of our warriors and royal g
uards.”

  I rubbed my temples. “Great. So, now I’ve started a war within the kingdom, with no way to acquire reinforcements, because said reinforcements come from the other team?”

  Kayo shook his head. “Doubtful. But we’ll have to make sure we do a little ass kissing to West Sea. Starting with sending a royal healer over to his niece and her adorable little pets.”

  “What if I don’t want to risk a royal healer’s life like that?”

  “Then you, instead, risk war with West Sea.”

  This was insane.

  “What the hell is the point in being queen if I can’t even make a simple royal decision for myself?”

  Kayo hesitated. “You can. You just need to learn to make the right ones.”

  If I hadn’t learned in the past twenty-three years, what were the odds I’d learn now?

  I sighed. “Are we done yet, Kayo? I think I’ve made enough mistakes for one day.”

  He bowed to me. “Of course, Your Majesty. Your parents only ever held court in the morning. They couldn’t stand doing it for very long, either.”

  The thought leant me some much-needed comfort.

  I pushed from the throne and ruffled my hair, massaging my scalp with my fingernails. My head ached, and my ass hurt from sitting in the stone chair for so long.

  “I’ll be out with the dragons on the north side of the city.”

  “Your Majesty, I must insist you take a royal guard or two along with you.”

  I straightened my spine and lifted my chin. “Did my parents require babysitters wherever they went?”

  Kayo’s nose scrunched. “No, but they had each other. You would be alone.”

  I could have laughed.

  “If anyone has the balls to attack me with two sea dragons at my side, then let them try. And if by some miracle they actually succeed in killing us, then by god, they deserve to rule more than I do.”

  Rather than cowering, Kayo simply grinned and bowed his head. “Of course, Your Majesty.”

  “Besides,” a voice called over to us from one of the archways. “She won’t be alone. We’ll be going with her.”

  Kayo’s face immediately went dark. “And who are you, exactly?”