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I gripped Luc’s shirt, but not from fear of falling. It was simply the only thing I had to hang on to, to endure the pain.
“Will you come back to us?” Luc asked softly, rising higher into the air.
I heard the pain in his voice before I saw it in his eyes. I nodded.
“I’ll come back to you,” I said. “You know I will.”
He pressed his lips together and nodded.
“Somehow even knowing that,” he said, “still doesn’t make it any easier for me to let you go.”
***
The sun had just set by the time we arrived back in the city.
It was strange to think that the home I had grown up in as a human child and the home I was created in were only one day’sflight apart. It had taken months by ship, but with Luc’s wings, it had taken only hours. The world suddenly felt a bit smaller, which made my heart ache less.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so difficult to go between homes.
The city lights spread out below us, taking my breath away. I had only seen the lanterns at eye level, and to see them from the eyes of the birds was a completely different experience. I fell in love with the city all over again, the ache in my heart overpowering the ache between my shoulders.
“Where is your home?” Luc asked.
I hesitated, realizing that he wasn’t asking me a deep question, but a practical one. I tried to figure out the lay of the land. I soon saw the landmark closest to my home: the city library. I pointed to it and Luc swept down. Guiding him closer and closer to the house, my heart clenched—nearly stopping—as we reached the balcony.
He fluttered down to the balcony, his bare feet barely touching the floor as his wings fluttered beside us. I looked over Luc’s shoulder, seeing that Jacques and his siren were not too far behind.
Luc kept his arms around me as he set my feet on the floor. There was a tense pause, a hesitation as he formed his words.
“Before he gets here,” Luc said, nodding back to Jacques, “I want you to know that however long it takes, I’ll wait for you to come home to me.”
He spelled out his words slowly, as if each word was cutting him bit by bit as he spoke. I knew it was painful for him to let me go; he had let go of so many people. And now that I knew who I was, I didn’t want to let go of him either.
I wrapped my arms around him in an embrace. “Somehow we always find each other, Luc. As sirens…as humans…I’ll always find a way back to you.”
He gave me a small smile, the warmth of the cook onboard theQuetzalcoatlpouring through his eyes. He leaned forward, placing a single kiss on my temple and giving me another warm embrace.
Jacques and his siren landed next to us. Luc slowly released me as Jacques looked at us, unamused.
But he was never amused at anything anyway, so I wasn’t bothered.
“Thank you,” Jacques said to his siren carrier. He turned back to Luc. “And to you as well.”
Luc nodded.
“This won’t be the last we see you,” Jacques said to Luc.
I raised an eyebrow. “We?”
Jacques raised his eyebrow back at me. “What? Did you think I was just going to abandon you? I have to go back to train Henrik eventually. I assumed you’d go with me.”
He said it as if I had already decided on it.
I smiled. “You understand me better than I do, it seems.”
“The sirens may read souls,” he replied, “but I have the gift of being able to read you quite easily.”
He almost smiled, but then seemed to think better of it. I was distracted by Luc’s hand on mine and turned to his sad eyes.
