Chapter 2

2.

Shortly after Baxon left, a small fish-shifter sneaked into the cave.

"Sister Calliope," she whispered.

I opened my eyes. "What is it?"

She blew a bubble toward me.

Inside the reflection, I saw Baxon.

He was holding a woman in a passionate embrace.

He kissed her forehead with a tenderness he never showed me.

"Talia, in three days, we will be together forever."

I let out a bitter laugh.

Three days from now was supposed to be our wedding day.

He had no idea that the wedding wouldn't be happening.

Talia leaned into his chest, acting all shy.

"Why did you take those lightning bolts for her? You lost so much power. Do you love her?"

Baxon looked happier than I had ever seen him.

He kissed her deeply before answering.

"How could I? Everything I did was for you."

"I only saved her from the lightning so her body wouldn't be scarred. I need her to die willingly at the altar."

It felt like invisible hands were ripping my heart out of my chest.

The pain was so sharp I could hardly breathe.

The bubble popped.

The little fish-shifter looked at me with pity.

"Sister, the nasty things everyone says about you... Baxon permitted it."

"The other shifters know the Siren laws. He told them to gossip about you."

So that was it.

The grand gesture that made me fall for him was a lie.

Five hundred years ago, when I first arrived at the coast, an old turtle-shifter begged for one of my scales.

He said he needed it to save his dying grandson.

Siren scales are formed from our very life force.

Our laws strictly forbid giving them to anyone except our true soulmates.

I followed the law and refused him.

A few days later, both he and his grandson died.

The rumors started then. I was called selfish and cruel.

Baxon was the one who stepped up to defend me.

That was how we met.

He had been plotting to trick me from the very beginning.

The fish-shifter left, telling me I didn't deserve this.

My mind was a mess of memories.

Sirens get very sick every September.

Our bodies become unstable, and the fevers can be fatal.

Baxon had gone to great lengths to find a cure for me.

He told me he fought monsters for months in the Forbidden Valley to get a rare herb.

He even said he used his own heart-blood to brew the medicine.

When I saw his scars, I cried and held him.

"You shouldn't have gone. I'm used to the pain."

Because of that medicine, I became the only Siren who didn't fear the September fevers.

Baxon would kiss my brow and whisper.

"Callie, I never want to see you in pain. I want you to be a happy little shifter forever."

And now I knew.

It was all a sham.

He just wanted a healthy Heart-Tear for his Talia.