Siren Awakened - C.R. Jane Page 0,8

my footsteps thumping the hard floor.

Muffled cries emerged.

My adrenaline soared.

I threw myself into the crowd, shoving them aside, pushing them out of my way. In the middle, two men were fighting, one straddling the other, pummeling his face. Normally, I’d sit back and let them play this out. Plus, it offered entertainment, but not today. I needed this more than them, they just didn’t know it.

Lunging forward, I tackled the barrel of a man on top, taking him down, my fist colliding with his head before he even hit the ground.

Darkness moved through me, my beast feeding off my raging adrenaline, pushing me to spill more blood. I wanted to listen to him, to sink deep into his energy and let him take charge. To shake that ache deep inside me, the regret chewing me alive.

But what then?

No, that was a dangerous route to fall into, so instead, I’d charge my inner assault with fists and aggression. This emotion I could cope with. Anything else was a noose around my neck.

Seth

The walls of my prison seemed to close in around me, suffocating me. Each breath was a struggle. Up on my feet, I paced to the shut door and back to my bed, the quiet giving way to thoughts slowly chipping away at me.

Each time I closed my eyes, all I saw were images of Selena lying on the bed, dead. A soft light had spilled on her face, breaking the darkness consuming her. I shattered into a thousand pieces to see her gone. So I did the only thing possible to bring her back.

But even after that, she’d made her decision to pull away from me. Of course she would. I’d caught her spying on me kissing Alania. I ground my back molars, digging my nails into my palms until they broke skin. Maybe all the torture I’d received had changed me. Now I longed to feel anything but the agony of her catching me.

I huffed loudly and punched a wall, my knuckles scraping the hard surface, tearing skin. She wasn’t meant to see me. Alania meant nothing to me. She was a means to an end, a role I had to play to protect my family lineage. She was all I had left from home, and I couldn’t risk lacerating that connection.

My world darkened without Selena’s presence, with her pulling away from me, but I couldn’t risk what was best for my kingdom. For the safety of so many innocents.

It didn’t change the cold hard fact that she would no longer want me. It destroyed me to know I hurt her and that she may never forgive me. But I’d ended up in this shithole because I’d been set up, and so much depended on my survival. That was my goal, not falling for a siren.

Seething, I returned to my pacing, unsure of my next steps with Selena, unsure how long I could torture myself this way. Did I tell her the truth, risking the news reaching the warden?

Muffled voices echoed outside my prison, and I jerked my head up to the door. A couple of men walked past, deep in heavy whispers. It wasn’t Selena. Of course it wouldn’t be.

I moved away from the door and to my bed, where I flopped down. Selena’s voice filled my head, and for a moment, she was standing in front of me, delivering the crystal she’d claimed back from the warden.

I’m sorry that you were ever parted with it to begin with, she had said.

She’d risked so much to get the crystal back for me. And the way she had looked at me with those beautiful blue eyes reminded me of the sky back home. Unblemished and bewitching. I’d tried so hard to push her away from me, so when had she crawled into my heart?

I fisted my hands, hating that I cared about her pulling away from me.

The metal click of my door unlocking echoed through the silence.

They were coming for me. My torturers.

I stiffened, my heart pounding loudly like it was trying to escape.

Two guards marched inside, wearing grins like they always did when they came to take me to get whipped. I tried to swallow, but I pushed up to my feet, ready to drown in excruciating pain to forget everything else.

Whatever Selena and I had was over. I had to accept that, even as the heaviness of that loss filled me with dark thoughts.

“It’s time,” the man with a hooked nose declared, lifting his hand with