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Jacques smiled as he looked at the burning star.
“You’ve made my job much easier, Luc,” he said. “I’ll remember that.”
“Job?” I echoed. “Luc, is he a siren too?”
Luc hesitated, then shook his head. “Remember how I said that there is a balance between this world and the spiritual world? That everything is organized?”
Jacques turned his head toward us, fully attentive to what Luc was saying.
“Yes…” I replied.
Luc swallowed. “This man…is a Judge of the spiritual realm.”
Jacques gave a single nod, starting to unbutton the top of his shirt.
“Let me explain it to you this way, dear mother,” Jacques said, as he continued to unbutton his shirt. “You understand that sirens judge humanity, yes?”
Before I could answer, he opened his shirt, revealing his chest decorated in circular Celtic patterns. They were dark—nearly black—and deep, as if they had been burned into his skin. Luc grabbed my hand at the sight of it, his hands sweating in mine. Jacques quickly smiled at our hands together, then pursed his lips.
“The sirens judge mankind,” Jacques said, stepping forward, “and I judge the sirens. I decide whether you get your wings, or whether you’re sentenced to an eternity of endless reincarnation for your sins.”
Jacques looked up at the glowing red star with a smile.
“And thanks to you, Luc,” he said, pointing in the distance. “I now get to judge theentireDen of Sirens.”
CHAPTER 26—PATHS
“You can stop trying to protect her,” Jacques said to Luc. “We both know it won’t protect either one of you from the Trials.”
Luc’s shoulders dropped, but I could still see the tension in them. Jacques waved to his own men, who were now also free from their cells, and gave them orders to continue sailing toward the light. He then turned back to us.
“The Siren King will be very pleased at your delivery, Luc, I’m sure,” Jacques said, nodding to Adrian and Henrik. “Especially so soon after the spiritual and physical realms have been united.”
Luc swallowed, but said nothing.
“That will work in your favor to get your wings back,” Jacques said.
“Wings?” I asked.
Jacques then turned to me. “Yes. The end of your cursed state. That’s your goal as well, I take it?”
I had no idea what anyone was talking about, but I was tired of Jacques accusing me of wanting things.
“I only wish to return to my father,” I said.
He chuckled softly to himself. “Oh, Esmeralda. You really have no idea, do you? There are only two choices for you. You can become a fully winged eternal siren once again, or be reborn into another useless human body after this life.”
He stepped forward, looking down into my eyes. Luc stepped in protectively, but it wasn’t necessary. I wasn’t afraid of Jacques. I had no reason to be.
“I have a hard time believing you don’t want your real power back,” Jacques said to me after a moment. “I can already tell by your face that your soul has been through many lives to get to this current one.”
“And what is that supposed to mean, exactly?”
I honestly had no idea what it meant, but it felt insulting.
“Your soul is pure,” he replied with an irritated sigh. “Which means that your soul has worked over a long period of time to redeem itself.”
“Can you see why we were sentenced to reincarnation?” Luc asked Jacques warily.
