Josephine's voice kills any man who hears it-except for the assassin sent to capture her for the king that's been chasing her all her life...but what happens when he decides he doesn't want to hand her over and keep her for himself instead?
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Awaking from a numb nightmare, paralyzed and frozen with cold sweat dripping down the back of my neck, a warm washcloth was placed on my forehead as I opened my eyes to find myself in a room with walls decorated in sapphire blue rugs.
Blue rugs with intricate golden swirls adorning each and every open space.
Sabira's home.
Somehow, I had made it from the field where the Siren who'd been sobbing for her missing daughter and back into Sabira's home—and her bed, apparently.
Cracking open my eyelids dusty with sleep even further, slanting sun nearly burning my eyes from the sky light opening atop the stone roof, I blanched at the sight of not one, not two, but three Sirens standing at the foot of the bed made from tufts of furs and cottons.
"Goodmorning Princess, how are you feeling?"
I almost groaned had it not been for the well-intentioned look on each of the Siren's faces, deciding to answer Erinna gently, especially seeing as how she genuinely cared for my wellbeing.
"I'm feeling better. And you don't need to call me Princess, that's Inala's nickname for me, and I never told her she could call me that, either."
"Uh, I hate to be the one to tell you this but...we actually do need to call you 'Princess'. Because you are. Our princess."
Sabira's words finally registered in my exhaustion addled brain as I sat up with a start.
"Oh. Oh, that's right. My mother was supposed to be your leader, until she ran away with me and my sister—"
"The only heirs to the Elder claim in Hefeta. Exactly. So, we can call you our princess. Right Inala?"
Erinna turned optimistic, hopeful and shining eyes onto Inala who smirked at me with far too much amusement dancing in her eyes as blue as the azure rugs covering the walls.
"Princess, Jo...I don't think what we call her matters. But what Oren calls her? That is absolutely scandalous. What was it again, Jo? Temptress? Bewitching—"
I cut Inala off from her attempt at embarrassing me by throwing a rough, thick pillow at her face as the other girls fell into giggles and raucous laughter.
"I'm sorry, it's just—" Erinna started, but then Sabira cut her off.
"No one's ever put Inala in her place like that except me, so it's nice to have another girl in the group who's not afraid of her."
"Afraid of Inala? Me? Only when she was attacking me in that hot spring I rescued her from."
Erinna gasped, her long dark braids swinging around her shoulders as she whipped her body to Inala.
"You attacked the Princess?"
"In my defense I had no idea who she was at the time, so it wasn't like I did it on purpose. And now she's my blood claimed, so I physically can't do anything to hurt her again. Ever."
