Siren's Song by Mary Weber

of the material to see what she’s staring at.
    It’s only then I’m struck by the realization that my chest hasn’t ached in hours, since just before we crashed the airship. Not only that, but somehow the wounds that oozed the blood are gone. I pull more of the cloth away from my chest and poke gently where only last night my flesh was torn open. It’s smooth. It’s soft. My skin is whole.
    She nods.
    â€œHow—?”
    â€œYou assume his gift is blocking others’ abilities. Considering you love him, I find it curious you know so little of him.” She tilts her head and drifts her gaze over me.
    Whatever words were in my mouth are sliding back into my throat. What is she talking about? “Is that what you told him ?” My mind flashes to an hour ago in the room with Eogan, when he seemed so hesitant. “What did you say to him? What’s his ability and what will help him?”
    â€œWhat another asks of me is not for you to know. Nor is the answer given them. You should be less concerned with that and more with getting him to the Valley.” Her head snaps to the window again. “Even now Draewulf draws closer.”
    I bat a hand toward the sky and light it up as if this is of little concern. “So come with us. Help me save Eogan, your people, and the Hidden Lands.”
    Her eyes harden. “I’ve already said I will not leave my people. Draewulf will try to take me, yes. And if he succeeds, that is my destiny.”
    â€œ If he succeeds?” How can her Luminescent sight see so much and yet leave so much to fate? And how can she not know what he will do—what he’s capable of? “I believe we make our own destiny. We make our own choices.”
    â€œThen you can choose to respect mine.”
    â€œEven though it will cost your daughter’s life as well?”
    She tips her head as if to shrug, but not before I see the tightening of her throat. “If she is meant to survive, then she will.”
    I give a harsh laugh as I pull away from the guard’s knife that’s now annoying me. “Are you insane? Of course she’s meant to survive—we all are!”
    â€œThen perhaps you should help her do so. But as I said, respect my decision.”
    â€œRespect your choice to endanger the entire Hidden Lands because you’ll only protect your own people—but not your own daughter? Forgive me, but I’ve seen your defenses. You can’t protect your city!”
    The same irritation I had toward Rasha bubbles up into my mind before I can stop it. Was it destiny that caused the murder of my Elemental race? Or simply the decision on Cashlin’s and Tulla’s parts to care only about themselves?
    Her gaze snaps. “We have our reasons.”
    â€œYes, Rasha mentioned as much. Too bad she’d no idea how little care for her you have.”
    â€œCareful,” the guard behind me growls.
    â€œShe does not always see eye to eye with those reasons,” the queen says. “But the safety of our people has always come first.”
    I allow the words I spoke to Rasha not four days ago to emerge in my head—that my Elemental kind has spent the last hundred years being slaughtered while Cashlin has protected its own.
    â€œAh, but you did not know your people as I did. If so, you might feel differently. They were arrogant and too powerful for their own good. Lucky for your kingdom at the time, none of the Elementals were as powerful as you, nor could they bear working together—plus, there were other kinds of Uathúils to control them. Had your people been more unified, they might’ve overcome the Uathúils hired to confine them in their internment camps before those same Uathúils began to be hunted themselves.”
    I step toward her, my stomach churning and my hand clenching. The guard and her blade are right on my heels, but I don’t care. “And that’s your excuse for