Sing Me to Sleep

by Gabi Burton

I’m beautiful. Not arrogant, just honest. My birthright is coiling men so tightly around my finger, they’ll willingly follow me to an early, watery grave—beauty is a given.

As a siren, I’ve always been able to feel emotions. Some are basic: sadness feels heavy and cold; happiness is light and warm. Some are more complex: bitterness is sharp like a sting, hot like a flame, and persistent like a bad cold. I can block out the way emotions feel against my skin, but when they’re strong, I can’t turn off the way they taste.

Raze—an infamous group of powerful fae who slaughters other powerful fae for a hefty fee at the request of still other powerful fae.

Usually, the Raze doesn’t employ women, but five lunes ago, I became the first.

“The Raze and Spektryl thank you for your service.” I’ve never met Spektryl and I doubt I ever will. As the Raze assassin credited with the highest number of kills, he’s likely busy. At least, he used to be. Five lunes ago, Spektryl stopped killing, and when the Raze hired me, all my kills

None of us is related by blood—hell, we’re not even the same species—but they’re my family just the same. Scratch that, they’re my whole damned world.

The horrifying truth: I’m as drawn to water as men are to me. When I near it, it speaks to me. Urges me to act. Kill. The call of the water is as fierce as it is deadly. My own personal Siren Song.

don’t know why the Royals despise other creatures, but they’ve never made their disdain a secret. Witches have been all but banished to the outskirts of the kingdom, and humans are barely paid servants.

fae are the only creatures who matter in Keirdre.

“We don’t speak for three days and you went and got a good side?” He makes a show of looking me up and down. “When did that happen?”

“But he’s wrong. Flem isn’t like me. He’s like you. Dependable. Smart. Hard-working . . . ​the kind of person you spend two minutes with and you already know you should be more like him. He’s also honest.”

Why she trying to make me sad 😔

“That’s why I wanted to take you out with me.” “Because I don’t like you?” “Because I thought your hostility would be a distraction.” The smile wanes. “But instead, you remind me of him.”

People have a way of living down to my expectations.

I’ll live forever and I’ll never be King. Finnean lived seventeen years and my father all but handed him the kingdom. It’s impossible not to hate him.”

“There was a few inside the barrier when King Elrian—” “No.” The Prince shakes his head. “There weren’t a few. There was an entire sector. And to answer your question, that sector was called Szeiryna. My father burned it to the ground.”

“That story is a lie. King Elrian didn’t create the barrier; my father did. And he tied his own life to it. And my mother’s. And when I was born, mine. Our life forces are linked to the barrier. Each of us provides an added layer of protection. As long as the members of the Royal family live, so does the barrier. As long as the barrier lives, so does the Royal family. But that doesn’t mean we’re invulnerable.”

Not because I now know the Raze is plotting against the Royal family—and they are. But because they used me to do it.

“I’m not a bad person. But sometimes, I think I care about you more than you do.

I’m sorry that the best I can do is tell you I’m learning. I’m paying attention now. And I’m sorry if that isn’t enough for you.”

Thinking: a water fae tried to kill Hayes. Someone close enough to him to be on the ship. Someone responsible for his safety at the party, just a week away.

But she was on the beach when Hayes was dragged under, and she’s a water fae. And she did nothing to save him.

I killed his best friend, my wanted poster hangs on every wall in the kingdom, I’ve done nothing but lie to him since we met, and when his heart stopped on the beach, so did mine.

“The ocean saved you, Your Highness. I merely kept you breathing.” “Which is a function I require for living, if I’m not mistaken.”

“And Jeune is the only water fae in your guard. But she was on the beach. It’s too far for her affinity.”

Which means the only water fae on deck were my parents’ guards, Rikkard and Brannon. It could have been either one, and I can’t assume they acted alone.”

Hayes Finnean Vanihail has wormed his way under my skin. And from there, he burrowed into my heart, so deep that I can’t shake him.

“No.” He raises his voice, talking over me. “Being a monster is too easy. You don’t get to claim you’re a monster just so you can pretend you don’t have choices. You do, and you keep choosing wrong. We love you for who you are, but we fear what you choose to do.”

“You don’t have to push me away. You have no idea how badly I want to be that person for you.” “What person?” “Someone you trust.”

“I want you. All of you. But if that’s too much, I’ll take whatever you’re willing to give me. Whatever you want to give me.”

“But none of that matters. I don’t trust you at all, and I’d still willingly follow you off a pier—song or no song.”

The truth—the horrible, ugly, selfish truth: the only reason I turn away is because I don’t think I can stomach the taste of Hayes’s disappointment again.

I forgive you because if I think about what you’ve done—the people you’ve hurt, the way you used me—I would hate you. And the thought of hating you breaks my heart.”