Siren Awakened - C.R. Jane Page 0,18

would be with the help of the warden, how he should always keep his commitments with him.

It was exasperating work, but I tried to think of it as a learning experience. Instead of thinking about what it would be like to have it ripped away, I would use this week to try and hone my skills, so that when I did get my power back, I wouldn’t be like a newly born foal stumbling around with no clue how to use it.

And I would get my power back. If there was one thing this experience reinforced was that I could not live like half a person forever. I’d been motivated to get my power before, but then I’d gotten distracted. With Keon, Alaric, and Seth. I wouldn’t forget the end goal this time.

My heart broke, thinking of all the sirens who lived permanently without their real self.

I wouldn’t be like them. I couldn’t.

The door suddenly opened, and the warden strode in, a big grin across his handsome albeit terrifying face. He was holding what looked like a thick gold-plated book under his arm, and he slow-clapped as he entered the room.

Whatever magic he contained in that clap dissipated all the hard work I’d just done on Julian. Julian’s gaze became sharp and focused once more. He looked around the room as if he wondered how he’d gotten there.

His eyes flicked to me and then to the warden. I knew when he noticed the book because his entire being stiffened, a dangerous aura surrounding him.

“How did you get that?” he growled, right before a wave of recognition hit him. He turned towards me, and I knew that he saw me. He saw the cloak of power I held.

“That was a stupid thing for you to do, you little bitch,” he seethed at me. He lunged at me, and my power cracked at him like it had with the warden, sudden and uncontrolled. Except unlike with the warden, my power struck home. A giant red welt appeared across Julian’s face, and he yelped at the pain.

He lunged at me again, and again, my power struck, this time slicing him right across the neck. Julian’s pallor had turned a furious purple color, a mix of embarrassment and rage I supposed.

I’d only seen him turn that color once before, the day I told him I’d given myself away to a stranger.

Julian would have killed me in that moment if he could have, but the warden stepped in right before he could lunge again.

“That’s enough,” he barked, but there was no real heat in his voice, only amusement. “You should have known better, Julian. Nobody double crosses me.”

The words were more than a slap in Julian’s face, they seemed like a warning as well. To me.

“You’re both going to pay for this,” Julian said in a voice that was so enraged, he could barely get the words out.

He flew past both of us, vibrating with irritation and the promise of retribution. The door slammed behind him, and silence filled the room.

My body was beginning to tire. Controlling my power, or even wielding it, since it was obvious that I had very little control, was tiring, that was for sure.

I looked over at the warden, but he wasn’t paying me any attention. He had the book open, and he was attentively going through it. The gold pages made a soft ringing sound as he flipped them. I gazed in amazement at the aura I could see around them. Whatever was contained in those pages was powerful.

No wonder Julian hadn’t wanted to give it up.

I waited a few long moments before I cleared my throat. I was ready to get back to my cell, and it was almost time to start delivering meals. I was excited about the prospect of having a week to try out my powers. Maybe I could use them on the guys…make them do embarrassing crap or something.

“Selena, you did good work today,” the warden said, that annoying amusement still laced through his voice.

“I did,” I told him calmly, because my mother had once told me that a lady deflects compliments, and when I’d woken up from the dead, I was more determined than ever to be the opposite of her.

“I hope that was fun for you,” he continued, and a trickle of unease began to build up inside of me…along with panic.

“It was good,” I told him hesitantly.

“But I’m afraid that your fun is going to have to come to an end.”

I