Page 15 of Enchanting Him
“Hera and Athena, as in the ancient Greek Goddesses?”
“Yes,” I answer seriously. “To teach the sirens a lesson, they tricked them into a singing competition with the muses. A sirens’ song is only meant to lure, it sounds different to everyone, and not every siren can lure every man at the same time.”
“So when several siren sing at once, the ones that have no effect sound hideous to the listener. Muses on the other hand,” Serenia says, “are meant to inspire, especially music itself. So when a group of them get together, it creates the most beautiful sound ever.”
“The sirens were laughed at by the men present, and because they won, the muses were able to decide what their prize was. They said they wanted the sirens’ feathers, to make them even more beautiful to men, because ours were the prettiest. Once plucked, the sirens’ wings shriveled and could no longer support them in flight, and they were trapped on the ground to walk on their talons,” Celestia adds.
“But the men that once were under their spell now mocked them, and unable to fly, they captured all of them and told them to try and put them under their spell when they looked like monsters. They wanted to drown all of them, and so, they tied the sirens’ feet together and threw them into the water. They sank fast, the pressure made their bodies elongate while their legs fused together, their skin turning to scale, and the wingsrotated and became arms. The coldness of the water turned them into the true monsters the men called them. Their once lovely human faces became bone and terror, their hair long weeds, and ice flowed through their veins, allowing them to breathe under the water. Horrified of the creatures they created, the muses disappeared, and the men tried to fight. In the water they stood no chance. Several were killed instantly, others, managed to escape, and when the sirens went after them, it was discovered that they could not cross the land because they had no feet or legs to stand on any longer,” I admit sending Dylan’s brows up higher.
“But all of you have…and you’re even more beautiful…” he says, and I grin, giving him a soft kiss at his words.
“The beauty was a gift from Aphrodite,” Celestia explains as I pull back from Dylan.
“She also gave the sirens the chance to reclaim what was taken from them—the freedom to roam the land and sea,” Serenia adds.
“But the sirens used their newfound legs to hunt down the men that mocked them, to kill them instead. Aphrodite offered them the chance to find love, real love, but all they could feel was the cold in their hearts, the urge to kill. And seven days after they were given their legs, as they slayed the last mortal man, Aphrodite took back her gift of legs, forcing the siren back into the seas. For nearly three thousand years, the sirens have used their powers and Aphrodite’s gift of beauty to kill. Not knowing they had another choice if they just ignored the icy cold,” I tell him. “None of us—Celestia, Serenia and I—ever liked the cold. The urges it created within us to kill. Sirens become their most powerful after they turn twenty-one. The bloodlust is said to be unbearable at that point. Likely because that’s how old the original sirens were when they were thrown into the ocean.”
“Melodia discovered a loophole that could keep us from becoming full-fledge sirens,” Serenia says giving me a grin. “She told us about it, and we all agreed it was our only option.”
“As long as we didn’t kill by the end of our twenty-first birthday, we would get the chance to be blessed by Aphrodite’s gift. So we spent our birthday together in the lagoon outside of town, keeping each other from letting the cold consume us, and as the night turned to midnight, we found ourselves with legs,” Celestia states, laughing a bit as she remembers our first moments on them.
“Serenia was four before she came to live with us, so she knew the most basic things about humans, was able to teach us how to walk, and then Celestia remembered a hidden bag of clothes that also had money in it that would likely be useful. We walked to town that morning, and then one by one, met you all.”
“And spent several days worried that you wouldn’t fall in love with us, and we’d have to go back,” Serenia adds.
“And then worried that it seemed too simple that you did fall in love with us, until Aphrodite joined us in the diner at least,” Celestia says and all three of our men share confused looks at that. “She walked right into it past you. Said you ignored even her, but it wasn’t a surprise since your hearts were never meant for anyone but us.”
“So we really were brought here to find you,” Dylan says to me, and I nod. “And you still were worried it wasn’t real?”
“We’ve spent our entire lives fighting against the cold. You’ve no idea just how powerful it was, so yes, when nothing happened when you told us you loved us, we were worried somehow our powers had gotten you to fall for us, even though you said it happened in an instant,” I state.
“Then Aphrodite told us, it was never your love we had to worry about, it was always us. That you would have fallen for us no matter what, because you were destined to be ours,but if we hadn’t listened, hadn’t fought the cold bloodlust, we wouldn’t have seen it, seen any of you, and ended up like the others,” Celestia adds, snuggling into Dane’s hold as he kisses her forehead.
“Knowing what it took to get us all here, in this town, and knowing that we all had listened, we knew her words were true.”
“And then she told us she’d given us two more gifts,” I state, giggling a bit as I look up at Dylan. “Well, she said the first was really for you all.”
“Being that when we transformed back into our siren bodies, we’d have a little more coverage than normal, because sirens only have tails,” Serenia says making Duncan’s brow lift higher on his face.
“And hair for coverage,” Celestia expands on for them, bringing a growl to Duncan’s lips that Dylan echoes against my temple.
“So the other gift is that you all can transform whenever you want?” Dane asks her. “Because in the water you had a tail but once out of it…”
“That was part of her original gift for those that found true love not the extra ones she told us about in the diner,” Celestia answers.
“She did say that we could only transform back into our siren form when in a natural body of water. So the lake, a river or the ocean. Pools won’t do it, and neither will the rain thankfully because we’ve kept our existence from humans for thousands of years now,” Serenia adds.
“So what was the last gift?” Dylan questions.
“You all as ours forever. Sirens are immortal beings,” I tell him, sending his brow upwards as well. “Every soul that the Lycophron—our group or family of sirens,” I add at his confusion of the term, “consumes, gives us more strength. Even if we didn’t do the actual killing or consuming, the strength isshared by all through the bloodline. Normally, when a siren mates, it’s to breed. When a siren has a man under her lure, it’s to kill, unless she’s ready to breed. Once a siren knows she’s with child, she kills the man, so he has no chance of sharing a bond with the child.”
“That bond gives them strength and sirens hatred of men is as deep as the bloodlust that runs through them. But that strength was just that, strength, not immortality,” Serenia adds, thinking of her father.
“But it will be different with us, for us,” I remind her. “Aphrodite told us that when we daughters, they won’t ever have to fight the cold. They won’t feel it because of your hearts, and with our daughters’ birth, the bond will create a new one for us, where we’ll get to have you with us for eternity. Our daughters, as well as all of you, will share in the strength, her victory over the ones that used her gifts for evil.”
“They won’t be able to kill you even in the water then,” Serenia says to Duncan, shuddering with the memories of her father.
“Until then, you have to swear you’ll stay out of the ocean, away from the rivers or lakes that connect to them, because if our mothers do come, that’s as far as they can go,” Celestia adds.