Siren - Hazel Grace Page 0,89
was my blood, I’d be fully aware that we were linked together—plain and simple. So this kook of a woman sitting in front of me is imagining shit and making up stories.
Except, to my utter frustration, she knows my sister’s name.
“Kelaya was killed with my mother and brother. And his name was Gathan,” I seize. “You could’ve gotten any of this information from—” I wave my hand in the air. “—whatever kind of magic you witches do.”
She eyes me with exasperation. “Tobias is Gathan. I took him to his Uncle Declan, which—” She looks over at Tobias. “—isn’t your uncle. Just some fool I paid to keep you safe until you were old enough to take care of yourself.”
“What makes you think either of us is going to believe this tall tale,” Tobias chides. “This is the dumbest shit I’ve heard in a minute.” He looks over at me. “Beside the fact that a Viking got taken by a bunch of women.”
I take a step in his direction. “Says the weak fuck who can’t pull his head out of his ass when clearly she doesn’t want you.”
Tobias squares on me. “Yeah? Explain to me how I’ve been—”
“Besides both of your stubbornness that you get from your father,” Taysa cuts in. “I’ll explain everything that you need to know because both of your lives are going to change.”
“Make it quick,” Tobias carps. “I have a tide to catch.”
Taysa chuckles and forks a piece of cheese. “You’re not going to sail off today, Son.”
He tenses. “Don’t call me that.”
“Both of you sit down or this will go a whole different way.” Her dark eyes flicker with warning, and I’ve seen unimaginable things lately so this can play out in so many ways.
Tobias and I look at each other before he moves to pull a chair out. Following his lead, we’re both seated in front of her—eager and anxious to hear this bullshit story that’ll make no sense.
“You’re both aware of this veil that the girls keep talking about, how no other creatures besides a Siren, and myself, can pass it. No one can find it. Except for the two of you.”
“Davina showed me the island,” Tobias voices. “Shit was no surprise or anything I randomly fell upon.”
She extends her index finger at him. “But I allowed you to get past it. Coursing through your veins right now is my magic. Both of you are my sons, spawned from the same father who is Oryn the Great.”
“This idiot is no Viking,” I carp. “But nice try.”
“You’re not much of one either, apparently,” he retorts back. “Don’t you people kill others with branches or anything you can get your hands on? You’re failing pretty quickly on that feat.”
Taysa’s eyes turn into slits. “And you fight like brothers. I needed heirs to succeed me after I die as well as when I’m alive. I knew I should’ve had more daughters.”
I place my palms on the table, about to stand. “Well, amazing story, thanks for that.”
“I will summon you to that chair, Dagen—” She pops another piece of cheese into her mouth. “—if you try to move again.”
“Then why separate us?” I challenge. “If he is my brother, why did you take him from the village? Makes no damn sense, isolate us just to allegedly make you stronger or whatever.”
“Because I needed him to be something different. You’re a Viking, Dagen, through and through. Your loyalty proceeds you, but I needed your brother to be something diverse.” She looks at him. “The Prince of the Black Sea.”
“And?” I press. “Who cares?”
She leans back in her chair. “Two sons who rule the land and the sea.”
“It’s just a name,” Tobias voices. “Men gave it to me.”
“Because you’ve earned their respect. How do you both think you were able to get past the veil? Dagen’s men became ill and died on their own because no human is capable of setting foot here due to the spell I cast over the island. With my being able to stride through the veil, so is my bloodline—the both of you, my sons.”
“So you wanted two sons, with names on land and sea, and so what?” I snap.
“You’re familiar with the golden cuff you stole from Davina and her sisters. I sent you here to obtain it for me.”
“I’ve never seen you a day in my life,” I retort.
“You didn’t need to,” she conveys. “You do whatever your father tells you to do, and I told him to send you here. I