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“Areyouthe king?” Hugo replied. “Must he answer to you?”
“If he cared about his sirens as much as he says he does, he would. Instead, he lets them burn to death.”
Hugo sighed, only making me angrier.
“You give me a headache, Astraea,” he said. “Every day you act like you don’t know any better. This is why I keep putting you on probation.”
“Tell me what I should do to get through this door then, huh? Should I become one of your beloved humans? Is that it?”
Hugo’s eyes flashed, as they always did right before he was about to reprimand me. Before he could, however, the king spoke from the other side of the door.
“Hugo,” the king’s voice echoed through the door. “Let her come in.”
“Finally!” I huffed.
Hugo threw a hand in front of the door to block me. “Just because you got an audience with the king doesn’t mean you’re going to like what he has to say.”
I threw his hand out of my way and stepped into the room, fists clenched. The king sat on his throne, chin on his hand as ifhe was already tired of our conversation even though we hadn’t started yet.
“You refused to see me,” I complained, not bothering with paying respects.
“I was giving you a chance to prepare yourself for truly listening,” he replied calmly. “I see that you didn’t take that opportunity.”
“Renaldo was cursed.”
“I know.”
“And that means nothing to you?”
He slowly straightened, his eyes heavy but not sorrowful enough. “It means as much to me as it always does when I lose one of my own.”
“But Renaldo was different. He wasn’t like the evil sirens that murdered or stole or tortured the humans—”
“His sentence wasn’t based on whatyousaw,” the king said, “but what I saw.”
“Maybe you saw wrong.”
The king cocked his head to the side slowly, narrowing his eyes. I could tell that he was conjuring up his patience. I didn’t know why he bothered. It wasn’t like I had any patience left with him.
He stood from his throne, coming down the steps to meet me. He reached out and took my hand in his, looking down at the ring on my finger—the one Renaldo had given me.
“I know he was special to you,” the king finally said. “In your pain, you can’t understand my judgment.”
I pulled my hand away. “You let the humans live. They sin far more than us, yet somehow they don’t get sentenced.”
“I didn’t put them in charge of judgment. I gave the sirens that job. Because of your power, I judge you more harshly.”
“You treat the humans better than us. We’re practically their servants instead of their sentencers.”
“And I serve you both, Astraea,” he said firmly. “Do you think that you’re higher than me?”
This time I had nothing to reply, my anger rendering me speechless.
“You need to see the way that I see,” he continued. “If you don’t, your heart will turn black, just as Renaldo’s did.”
I couldn’t speak. I could only shake my head at him in frustration. He stepped forward and cupped my face in his hands.
“I don’t want to lose you, Astraea,” he said, his thumbs gently rubbing against my cheeks. “I don’t want to lose any of you. I judge with my blood because I made you with it. How could I not love you?”
