Page 59 of The Serpent Prince

Kiran’s eyes hardened. “You’d rather lose another finger than let me help you? Soon, you’ll have none left, Imani. Please, see reason.”

“I’d probably do a blood burning if anything.”

He slammed her against the tree, knocking the wind out of her. Kiran gripped her shoulders, his eyes wild. “You won’t. It may make you feel strong and in control for a time, but trust me when I say those feelings quickly turn on you. You can’t rely on them forever or you’ll eventually be a slave without any control at all.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Is that what happened to you?”

Shifting his gaze left and right to confirm they were still alone, he rubbed his hands up and down her arms. “What happened to me doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m right.”

Sweat dotted her brow, and Imani wiped it off as she debated her options.

“Why are you so invested in this?” she asked.

“Because I know what happened to you, and you will want all the protection you can get when you enter siren territory.”

Her brow furrowed. “And what exactly happened to me that you’re referring to?”

“I know Malis used his compulsion on you,” he practically snarled. “With the echo shield, they’re less likely to force you to remove the glamour because they won’t even sense it.”

Imani’s mouth fell open a little at the mention of Malis, but then she remembered the merchant had worked for the prince. They knew each other.

“You don’t know that for a fact,” she spat back.

“I can guess, based on what I think happened at his manor that night.”

Her mind reeled. “He did do something to me that night,” she whispered. “He took control of my body. Forced me to do things. Is that what a siren does?”

Kiran nodded. “Like your soul draw, his breed has an inherent magic he can access without a wand. It’s a compulsion called the siren’s song, but it only affects your physical body, not your thoughts, unlike your soul draw.”

The noise that had come from Malis’s throat that night had been eerie. A vivid memory of his voice taking control of her body in his study surfaced, and the sheer fear of losing control of her limbs felt almost real again. It had to have been his “song.”

“What exactly is a siren? We don’t have that breed in Essenheim.”

“They’re closely related to water elves, but they’ve evolved from the aquatic breed they used to be into something new. But it was said originally sirens used their songs to lure in sailors as their prey. You see, they don’t feed like we do…” He trailed off.

Imani made a frustrated noise. “Tell me. How do they feed?”

“Let me cast the echo shield, and I’ll tell you.”

“Permission not granted. Tell me.”

He grabbed her face and pressed his forehead to hers, mouth ghosting her lips when he spoke. “I don’t need your permission, my darling.” He pulled back and touched her cheek, and his mouth brushed hers as he growled hungrily.

Imani chased his kiss as he pulled back, watching her try to reclaim his hungry mouth.

The smile that spread over his face enraged her, and Imani clenched her jaw, her body tensing. She ignored the desire and ache that lived and breathed like a second entity inside her whenever he was near. Fighting it was akin to dragging a knife over slippery flesh, hoping the blade didn’t slip or slice.

“Tell me what kind of elf they are and how they feed,” Imani gritted out.

“They aren’t elves anymore, not really. And they eat another person’s heart. The stronger the magic user, the stronger the siren will be afterward.”

Horrified, Imani wondered if that would have been her fate that night if her magic hadn’t intervened. “What is their sigil?”

“High breeds possess a heart with a circle around it.”

Kiran removed his hands from her shoulders to lace their fingers together. “Let me cast this before I leave, and I promise you’ll be protected from them. The sirens are not to be trifled with, my darling.”

Nodding absently, she agreed. Her mind still spun from this revelation about Malis and his breed. Now she knew definitively that Malis wasn’t her heartmate. Whoever the bastard was, he was from the Under, like her. But fear lodged within her chest, spreading wide like some black, winged creature at the idea of spending any more time with these sirens. They were truly monsters.