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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Someone was shaking me.
My head bobbled back and forth on my neck like one of those toys Marlisa had bought me from the market after escaping from a family that had taken us in only to use us as their glorified slaves.
The toy's head had bounced back and forth on its neck, the eyes dull, lifeless. Haunted.
"It'll be alright, Josie. We'll find another mommy and daddy that want us more than they did. No one can pull us apart. No one will keep me from you. I promise. From the sleepy stars to the happy sun. Alright?"
My fingers were still stained black with soot and my back still sore with lashes. They hadn't been gentle with their punishments on me, but had cherished Marlisa like she were a fragile, beautiful flower to always be protected.
I never told her why the father of that first family we'd been apart of had died the night before we escaped, of how I had caught him with his hand too far up on Marlisa's knee one night at dinner while I sat by the stove and ate the scraps they were willing to throw my way.
The anger had flooded me, suffocated me.
Why hadn't they wanted me? What was so special about Marlisa?
It was the first time I'd used my gift in anger, in rage.
I had tried to direct it at Marlisa, when I snuck into her room that night, only to find the father creeping near her room in the hallway.
He was struck dumb by my song and dead by the lethal call inside me.
So many close calls with men who didn't know how to keep their hands to themselves.
So many men who didn't understand that the word 'no' actually meant 'no', and not 'maybe', or 'in a little while', or even worse—'what are you doing to me?'
So many men that I'd protected her from, but it only took once for me to fail her completely after saving myself.
One more thing to add to the ever-growing list of things I'd never forgive myself for, and I had an eternity to live with them.
"Is she even conscious? Can she hear what we're saying?"
The world around my memories grew dim and fuzzy and for once I was grateful for the light to chase out the shadows I so gleefully welcomed in the night.
"What happened Oren? We all saw the lightning, we all heard the call of the prophecy in our minds. It is part of our link. What did she say?"
Flashes of gold and daylight flooded in through the hazy fogginess I had once been drowned in and the Sirens around me stirred as I sat up and immediately regretted it.
Black spots danced in my vision while acrid bile swam up my throat.
The pungent scent of cinnamon was too much for my stomach to bear as I reared back and retched over the side of what I hoped to be the bank of the Serenity Pool I had been near when the ordeal started.
