Page 55 of A Fate of Wings

“What are you on about, Aurnia?”

“I’m not sure. My head hurts more than usual. My heart hurts even more. I’m afraid something is coming for me as Seamus said.” I rubbed my forehead, attempting to ease the ache.

“You’re overreacting to the birth. No one has come. I don’t think anyone will.” She nodded at my wings. “At least now we see you’re a siren.”

“Siren.” I staggered to my feet as the knowledge clouded my brain even more.

My wings snapped back into the slits on my back as I fell to the floor. Cara was there, kneeling beside me, concern etched across her brow, the baby nestled in her arms.

“Cara,” I murmured, lifting my gaze to hers. “If something ever happens to me, will you take care of him?”

“Yes.” She cupped the back of his little head. “But nothing will happen.”

I ignored her statement, for how could she ever know what waited for me? “Will you love him as your own?”

Seamus returned to the house, closing the door quietly behind him. He stepped over to us and kneeled next to his wife.

“We love you both as though you’re our own,” he said.

“Thank you,” I replied.

With their assurance they’d take care of my son, I let them help me to my feet and settle me on my bed. Cillian fell asleep in my arms, and I stared at him all night, taking in his strong features, the tiny slits on the back of his shoulder blades that would one day reveal his wings. As I brushed a finger over his forehead, tiny hard bumps surged forward, then retreated. I sucked in a gasp.

Who and what had I mated with?

Should I leave him now, safe in the arms of those who loved him as if he were their child? He’d be safe from my past, which I knew nothing about. His little arms stretched over his head. My heart contracted with so much love for this tiny being that was half me, half someone else, that I knew I’d stay and hope that whatever darkness was in my past would never come.

Chapter twenty-six

Rozronuuk

The Autumn Court

Time held no meaningin the siren’s dungeon beneath the colosseum. I recognized the stone structure of the walls from the nights I’d waited in the holding cell. This was different, though. Darker. Damper. Depressing. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been in the cell, days, weeks, or months. There were no windows to tell the rising and setting of the sun. No way to count off the days. Inside the long corridors and small cells, the only light flickered from the torches on the walls and the sirens never let them die down. The guards would wander the length of the cells, replenishing the rush stalks dipped in sulfur and lime and setting them alight mere moments before the previous torch died. Burning wood and sulfur impregnated the stale odor of the dungeon, but at least it covered the unwashed bodies’ stench. Along with the obnoxious odor, it was perpetually light and darkat the same time. Flickering shadows played tricks on the mind. The meals were bland, scarcely enough to sustain the prisoners, but that was the point. They would feed no prisoner a feast. My stomach rumbled. I kicked the bars for the millionth time. Beside me, Raelin sighed as though she tired of my continual brute attempt at breaking out of the cell.

“It hasn’t worked before. Why do you think it would now?” she sniped.

I could, with great pleasure, strangle her, but I wouldn’t. She was Thea’s friend, and possibly a chance for me to find out what Melanie did to my mate. Melanie was smart enough to keep me alive, knowing my death would infuriate my brother and war would ensue. He’d annihilate anyone who killed more of his family. His collection of energy-filled memories ensured he was the most powerful demon in existence. It would only be a matter of time before he came looking for me. What then? Would they have a witch spell me? Trick me into believing everything was as it should be. Or would Melanie attempt to kill us all in her greed for power?

I growled.

Raelin shuffled to the border of her cell, the farthest away from me as she could get. Good. She was afraid of me. Everyone should be scared because once I got out of here, no one was safe from me finding my mate. Nor were they safe from me hurting whoever had harmed her.

A click of heels echoed down the hallway. My ears pricked. The guards didn’t wear heels. The steady cadence grew closer. I caught sage and something older than time itself in the air. The witch’s power pushed against mine like a living pulse field. Saltine stopped in front of my cell. The light from the torches flickered uneven shadows over her face and gave her hair a halo effect. As if she were an angel.

“Saltine, you bitch, why did you knock me out?” I said as I stepped closer to the side of the cell.

She paced away as though my getting closer scared her. She should fear me. I’d wring her neck until she answered my questions. Then I might let her go or not. Saltine spun, her dark robes flaring behind her like a living shadow playing even more tricks on my mind. She marched back to my cell.

“You would have destroyed the entire siren population with your rage.”

I snorted. “My rage is under control.”

“You think you can control it, but when it comes to your mate, you can’t.”

“Did you come here to gloat?” I folded my arms. “The great Saltine shackled the Rage Demon prince.”

“As if that was my goal.”