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“Wait…what? You can’t mean— You canseetheir thoughts?”
He nodded. “It’s a power of a siren. We judge good and evil. Both of which start in the human mind.”
“But surely you can’t see…”
I trailed off, realizing.
I had always been good at reading people.
Luc stepped forward, his eyes glued to mine.
“I can see everything,” he said. “Humans and sirens, alike. I can see every dream and desire you’ve ever had. Does that frighten you? Or does that thrill you?”
I lost my breath, drowning in the seriousness of his eyes. Only when he blinked did I feel myself come up for air, nearly gasping.
“You can’t know those things,” I said defiantly. “You can’t expect me to believe all this so easily—”
“You can’t fix your family, Esmeralda.”
I stopped. “What?”
He held my gaze. “Marrying a complete stranger won’t cure the pain you and your father are facing. It won’t make your family whole again.”
My stomach clenched as he held my face in his hands.
“You couldn’t save your mother,” he continued, “so now you’re trying to save your father in order not to feel the same guilt all over again.”
My eyes started to water, but I gritted my teeth. “You’re—”
“You can’t help what you are, you know. You can’t help your love of the sea, your understanding that the world is more than what it seems, and your desire to help others before judgment sweeps them away.”
I dipped my head as tears dropped. Luc pulled my face up, forcing me to look at him.
“You believed your mother’s fairy tales because they were real,” he said softly. “And you keep trying to save your family because you’ve been designed to save people.”
He stroked my hair, a look of pity on his face. I hated it. I hated Luc looking at me with such pity. I blinked away my tears, my stomach knotting with panic and irritation.
“You’re ridiculous,” I said. “I’ve never once been angry with you, Luc, but this—”
“Try it on me, then,” he replied, coming into my space. “Just once. Look at me and tell me what I want. Go ahead.”
I tried to turn my head away, but he grabbed my chin and directed my eyes toward his.
“Look at me,” he commanded.
My breath stilled. I gazed at him, getting lost in his desperate eyes completely. Then a thought struck me. It was strong and undoubtable, like a fact from a history book.
“You want to be reunited with the others,” I said.
He dropped his hands and nodded with a sad smile.
“I was born an orphan,” he said. “My fiancée is dead. I don’t have anyone anymore. But if an incarnate proves themselves, they can get their wings back. They can become their full-form selves once again. And I can become part of something that makes all this suffering worthwhile. You noticed that the sirens never returned after that night, yes?”
I nodded weakly.
“Because there are two sirensalready onthe ship,” he said. “They won’t come after the crew for judgment as long as we’re here.”
I suddenly remembered something.
