Pretty Stormy (The Fallen Gods #3) - K.A Knight Page 0,2

mouth is parted and pink, his hair is balding in places, and his skin is mottled from being at sea for so long. I let his thoughts, his emotions, his past and future come to me. I see into the very core of his soul and decide his fate.

He’s good.

So I move on to the next. This one has grey areas, some anger and a lot of pain, but he’s good as well… But the third? The third makes me shiver with hunger, my power aching to swallow him whole. His hair is blond and short, and he’s young and strong, but his soul…his soul is as black as his heart.

He hurts women, likes it. He thrives on pain and chaos. He needs it. He arches towards me, his hands grabbing my hips, and pain flares through me. I moan, loving the kill, the hunt.

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kiss him gently. “You are mine, his, now do not fear any longer, I have you,” I whisper, and then I tip us over the edge of the boat and into the sea below.

We sink rapidly through the depths as I let the change come through me, and the water washes us away, wrapping around us and hiding us from the man above.

The one with the lightning eyes, whose soul called to mine…

Calder

I watch her slip from the rock gracefully, moving like the water itself. The flow is so smooth and sleek, I still, my eyes locked on her form as she leaps from the water like a dolphin and lands on the boat. Her eyes lock on me for a moment, and I notice a sadness there, a loneliness in those emerald depths, begging me to save her. To wrap her in my arms and keep her safe, to sink into that curvy body currently moulded by a scrap of white fabric and make her mine.

But I don’t. I watch as she dances across the slick wood, going from man to man before wrapping her arms around the last one. She seems to find something in him. Her song changes to one of anger, railing about humans’ hate and the capacity for evil within their souls.

Her melody ripples through me, ripping at my heart. There is so much pain and distrust in it, I feel tears in my eyes, although I’m not tempted to go to her like the humans. She is a siren, after all, she must be. She is the first I have ever seen, but I have heard stories and they match.

I gasp as she falls over the edge of the boat and plunges into the water while embracing the human. Jealousy surges through me, but I push it away, watching with both awe and fury as she disappears into the sea like she never existed.

Unable to help myself, I dive below, swimming down to try and see her, but it’s no use. It’s like the water itself is protecting her, shielding her from me, so with no other choice, I head back to land.

Walking from the water, I stride towards my castle on the cliff, confused as to why I was drawn to her. Her powers shouldn’t work on me, but it was more than that. I didn’t want just her body, I wanted her very soul…

Shaking my head, I glance back at the vast blackness of the ocean and wonder, not for the first time, what and who else lingers there and calls it home… Definitely a radiant beauty, a siren. I thought I had seen all that it had to offer, but it still finds a way to surprise me, even all these years later.

I force myself away from the water that tugs at me for another reason now, and take the path up to my castle. Moving through the darkened hallways, I light the candles with a thought as I go. They illuminate the paintings, the arched, winding stairs, and gothic architecture as I head to my second favourite place—my bedroom.

It looks out onto the sea with a curved, stone balcony and gargoyles perched on it. Inside, the space is all stone floors, high, arched ceilings with wooden beams, a giant fireplace with a fur rug underneath, and a four-poster bed hand carved by an artist over a thousand years ago. It is a mix of the eras, of the centuries I lived through, telling the story of my life.

Striding over to the hearth, I lean against the mantle and warm