Chapter 2

Chapter

Two

CORDELIA

S alty waves filled with seafoam and blood crashed against the jagged rocks off the coast of Argyll as I sent out my Siren song within it. Beneath the winter sun, my azure scales heated, sending their vibrant warmth throughout my soul.

My long tail slapped impatiently in rhythm with my clawed and webbed fingers, harshly tapping the broken stones beneath my body. The chilly water vibrated from the pulsating echoes, similar to the melody of the whales, as I waited for any sign that she'd heard my plea.

Everything was taking far too long.

No one was answering except for the sharks, whales, dolphins, larger seals, and other creatures of the Circadian. They usually fought for dominance in this sea but when it came to protecting their collective home, they pushed their differences aside and came together. There was even a Godsdamned pufferfish, its delicate spikes protruding with every inhale of the salty sea, waiting for instruction at my call.

But the most important person that I needed wasn't here. She was nowhere to be found or seen.

My mother, Queen of the Circadian, hadn't even answered my call when I sent it out over a month ago and that should've been my first sign that something wasn't right. And when the High King ordered his Raken to attack Jindera, the creatures of the sea answered my call to battle with no sign of Kailani or my father.

Pulling my webbed fingers from the water, I ceased my signal because it was clear she wasn't coming.

A dolphin, who went by the name of Sinu, hit his flipper against the raging Circadian while whistling a tune that would call more allies from the pods that he swam with. Only a few porpoises answered and swarmed around him impatiently, bringing the salty water closer to the shore with their movements.

The Queen of the Circadian, Kailani, knew of everything that happened within this sea. She was a part of it as much as it was a part of her and my father. She had never gone this long without seeing me or even sending a blasted seashell as an answer when she was too busy. I've sent out hundreds of calls to her and scoured every dark crevice of the Circadian searching for her. I didn't know what I would do without her or if something had happened to?—

A flash of orangish-red, too bright to be that familiar color of crimson filling our waters recently, pulled my attention towards the north. Sinu's head turned at the exact moment mine shot up before he dove under the turbulent waters in a flash. A keening, screeching sound echoed through the sea, sending more vibrations along the waves and sending the creatures surrounding me into a crazed frenzy.

The distress call of the Sirens.

Loud and piercing, her alarm echoed across the Circadian, sending me on high alert. This was my home, my people, my creatures—my family .

And they were being taken within the flap of a fin.

Without a second thought, I dove into the icy depths, my scales bristling as I shot towards the fiery wave dancing in the distance.

The infuriated waters did nothing to muffle her cries of torment. That maddening sound sent blood straight to my webbed ears as I saw black swirling tendrils of darkness surrounding Nerida, a Siren with blood-orange hair and tail to match. Her sharp claws shot out of the murk around her as she attempted to rip through the forcefield of dark magic trapping her inside.

The Siren kept bobbing in and out of the Circadian, fighting with every movement as I pushed myself into the serpentine shadows. Bubbles left my maw of serrated teeth as I screamed, "Nerida! Hold on!"

Her blue gaze blazed towards me with alarm as her scratching ceased and my heart sunk in my chest. Nerida's eyes changed to that cursed Medies black color and then back to the deep azure that she was reborn with instantly, and her fighting picked up once more.

Hissing against the searing pain, I pushed my claws into the darkness, gripped her wrist, and pulled with all my strength. Nerida let out another screech as the tendrils dug their barbs into her scales, fighting against my magic of the sea blessed by our Goddess Kano. Pale blue light escaped from my fingertips and through my hand, making those murky webs shudder and release their hold on Nerida.

The Circadian always had a mind and heart of her own and right now, she was pissed that this corrupt magic was invading her. Now her sea was relentless, its savage waves growing in size no matter how much magic I used and tried to calm the growing swells. Holding Nerida with both arms, I swam swiftly to the shore, deposited her onto the sand, and sent more of my soft blue light into her shaking form.

My power wasn't strong enough like Selene's to fully extinguish Medies, but I'd been able to save a few before that vile magic overtook their souls completely and they were lost to the dark magic. Not all Sirens possessed the same magic I was blessed by Kano with. Since I was born from my mother in her Siren form, and not reborn from the sea like most of us were, I was given the ability to shift forms and use the power of the sea.

But even the Circadian's power had its limits.

The High King's wrath had spread across not only Atrium, but Ladon and the Circadian Sea that surrounded those great continents as well. Hundreds, if not thousands, of lives were lost weekly by his culling and thirst for power and our numbers were dwindling immensely.

With the Crown of Daemonium in King Seraphim's grasp, he no longer needed to be present to possess any living being with Medies . That sinister magic had begun embedding itself within our land and seas, its tendrils of darkness clinging onto any life form within its reach before it overtook them completely.

We still didn't know how he targeted that magic to spread or if he could even control it that much. All we knew was that it no longer mattered if the victim were human, possessed even a drop of magic in their blood, or if they were fully High Fae. The High King wanted them all under his control and more people were losing their lives and falling under his command every day.

Nerida's blue eyes flashed back to that deep onyx once more before returning to their natural state of cerulean and she slumped with fatigue into my webbed arms. "You're safe." I tucked a piece of her fiery hair behind her webbed ear. "It's okay." Her tail flicked with agitation, sending the gory sand up around us as I tried to calm her body from the shock of almost having her soul taken.

Dim turquoise light glowed from my palms as I pushed my magic into her still-vibrating form. Her bright orange scales were duller than before, but with every ounce of my power blessed by our Water Goddess flooding her system, they started to return to their normal vibrant color. Her shaking ceased along with her labored breathing until it evened out with a steady rise and fall of her chest.

Seagulls flew overhead, their piercing cries barely heard over the roaring of the angry sea. Nerida's body went rigid before she latched onto me with clawed fingertips, cutting into my flesh.

I couldn't see her eyes from the position her head had slumped, couldn't tell if Medies had seeped in once more. I stiffened against her bruising grip. Panic started to override my system and my magic fizzled out, the well within me now empty. Before I could pull her back and take another look into Nerida's eyes, she whimpered out my name in a shaky voice, "Cordelia."

My shoulders relaxed at the sound of my name in her frightened voice. "You're safe," I repeated my words over and over, holding her tighter and grounding her so she could feel that she was still with me. "You're safe."

Nerida's form shook against my own as a broken sob left her mouth and she held onto me tighter, sobbing with every word leaving her. "I–I–I–I thought it had taken me." Wrapping my scale-covered arms around her, I held onto my friend tightly as she wept, her tears as salty as the ocean we were a part of.

"You're okay, Ner," I soothed her and looked back out at the outraged Circadian, her bloody waves lashing out at the snow-speckled shore. "It's not going to take you. I won't let it take you."

Exhaustion set into my bones and I could feel how deeply I had depleted that well of magic within me from using that much at once. But I didn't have a choice or Nerida would've been taken as well. I had lost creature after creature to this darkness that the High King held over us with the Crown of Daemonium and now I had this ache in my gut that I knew exactly where my mother and father were.

This was bad.

So very fucking bad.