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“I don’t need them,” I replied. “And I didn’t need them to kill the Guardians either. There’s another way to kill. To destroy any living creature, you just need to remind them of one thing: their lust for something they don’t have.”
CHAPTER 44—CAPTURED
The Guardians were on night watch.
There had always been too many of them. How many Guardians did there need to be when there was a cavern full of sirens? Nevertheless, the Siren King kept fifteen or twenty of them at a time, rotating every year with new Guardians in order to give the humans rest.
The humans were always weak like that. Always needing a break. Always needing family and friends. But sirens didn’t need those sorts of things. Sirens weren’t built to rest and have families. We were built to uphold the spiritual realm.
We didn’t need the humans. The king would realize that once I showed him.
I watched the Guardians as they patrolled the hallways leading to the king’s throne room. How could they even be allowed on the sacred tiles here? How could the king allow them inside a sacred space when they were so filthy? Fine, they were deemed pure by the trials. So what? Purity could always be corrupted. I knew that.
If the sirens could fall, so could the humans.
I approached the throne room. One of the Guardians, Wilton, bowed as I came forward.
“Hello, Astraea,” he said with a smile. He was always oddly good at remembering our names. “I hope you are faring well this evening.”
“I always fare well in my father’s home,” I replied, trying to make my smile reach my eyes. “Speaking of which, you’ve been with us for what? Three months now?”
He nodded proudly. “It’s been quite the experience. To see the world as it really is…I wish everyone could see it.”
“As do I.” I leaned against the wall, doing my best to look downcast. “It’s a shame you can’t see your family. You must miss them.”
His smile faltered a little. “Of course, of course. But what I do here is important.”
I let a smile slip, but I hid it behind my hand.
“Is that so?” I asked. “Guarding a rock when the sirens could do it themselves?”
His eyes widened at my outburst. I patted my cheek in embarrassment.
“Forgive me,” I said. “I didn’t mean to speak ill. Perhaps it’s because of what I saw…oh! Never mind. Forget I said anything.”
With genuine concern—that foolish thing humans always seemed to have—he stepped forward to console me.
“It sounds serious,” he replied. “What happened?”
I took a long breath for good measure.
“You know part of my job is to bring in the humans for judgment, yes? Well, this time our ship had a small child. Barely old enough to eat solid foods. We brought in her mother and father for judgment and—”
I made a fireworks gesture with my hands.
“The poor child wouldn’t eat after that,” I continued. “This morning we found the child…well, that is… Ah, such a tragedy.”
When I put a hand over my mouth and shut my eyes to fake grief, he put his hand on my shoulder in condolence. It took everything within me to not cut it off.
“That’s terrible!” he said.
I nodded. “So terrible, children being separated from their parents. We sirens have no children, so we don’t think about those things. But the humans…why must they be separated from their children like that? Children would be so much better with their parents’ love than anything else, it seems.”
His face paled slightly as he took a step back and nodded.
“You have a young child, don’t you?” I asked.
He nodded. “Three.”
