An Immortal's Song (Dante's Circle #6)(16)

Tristan returned quickly, still naked but with a glass of water in his hand. Later, she’d scold him for allowing anyone else to see him naked as there were others in the home. He was hers and Seth’s, only they got that right.

She gulped down the water and sighed once Tristan lifted it from her hands. “Thank you. I feel much better.” She frowned. “In fact, I feel even better than I did before everything happened.” She licked her lips. “What exactly happened?”

Tristan cupped her cheek even as Seth leaned closer. “You changed, Amara.”

Apprehension slid over her skin. “What…what am I?”

“You’re a siren, Amara.” Tristan paused. “A f*cking beautiful siren.”

Images of mermaids and long-haired women luring sailors to their deaths filled her head and she frowned.

“There are sirens?”

Seth snorted. “Yeah, and you’re one of them. Sirens and the merpeople have a long history, so you being one kind of rocks.”

Amara’s head hurt. Instead of saying anything, she pulled away from both men and scrambled off the bed. They let her go but followed her to the mirror above the dresser. When she spotted her reflection, she paused.

“Dude.”

Not the most eloquent of phrases, but honestly, she didn’t know what else to say.

Because, dude.

Her skin glowed. Freaking glowed. And that wasn’t even the fantastical part. Lavender and scarlet floral and script tattoos covered her sides and hips, going up and under her breasts before circling back to her shoulders and down her arms. The ink continued up the side of her neck and framed her face.

Her temples, the sides of her jaw, and up to part of her forehead with two branches coming out over her eyebrows and hairline also held the tattoos.

Normally, she’d have thought she looked, well, a little freaky, but for some reason, it felt…right.

Her eyes themselves hadn’t been enlarged, but the brown of her irises had turned lavender, the color taking up even more area than before, as if the whites of her eyes had lessened.

She for sure wouldn’t be able to walk down the street looking like this.

“Like with Nadie’s ink from being a succubus, the script and colors come from what lineage you carry in your veins,” Tristan said softly. His fingers trailed over her arm and she shivered. “I haven’t seen this script in…” He trailed off.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m not sure,” he answered. He lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. “I need to go to the Court and see if what I’m thinking is right. Do you and Seth mind staying here for a bit?”

She blinked at his abruptness. “What do you mean? What are you going to ask, Tristan? What’s going on?”

He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. Something’s pinging in the back of my head, like a memory I can’t quite reach. I’m nine hundred years old, and sometimes I don’t remember everything. Will you two wait here while I figure it out? I don’t want to mention it in case it’s nothing and I’m wrong, but I need to go.”

“You’re being vague and I’m not sure I like it,” Seth put in. “But, if you need to go, then go. Just make sure you come back because we have a whole hell of a lot to deal with when you do. Okay?” With that, he kissed Tristan hard then moved out of the way for Amara.

She folded her arms over her stomach, aware they were all still naked and they hadn’t talked about what they’d just done together, or what her changing meant in terms of the lack of bond between them. However, if Tristan felt this was important, she would have to trust him. Trust, in general, didn’t come easily to her, but she would try.

“Come back soon,” she said then kissed his jaw. He lowered his head and took her mouth in a passionate kiss before he pulled away. “I’ll be back soon.” He sighed, looking distracted, then grabbed his clothes from the floor and headed back out of the room.

Both she and Seth watched him walk away.

“You know, he might annoy me with the way he doesn’t tell us his thoughts, but damn that man can walk away like no other,” Seth said with a groan. “That ass? Seriously.”

Despite the tension and uncertainty filling her, Amara laughed and leaned into Seth. “That he can. And your ass is pretty nice, too.” She reached around and pinched him, loving the gasp that sounded. “What do you say we find some robes or one of his shirts to put on and grab something to eat in this big place? I’m suddenly starving.”

She ran a hand over her temple and the ink seemed to pulsate under her fingers. She was a siren, a mythical creature that, apparently, wasn’t so mythical. What that meant in the long run, she didn’t know, but if she didn’t take it one step at a time, she’d freak out beyond reason.

“I can probably scent our way to the kitchen,” Seth said as he pulled on his jeans, leaving the waist unbuttoned. He held out his shirt. “How about you put this on so we don’t go through his things.” He blushed a bit and shrugged. “I know we just slept together and all, but since he didn’t actually give us a tour…”

She nodded, fully understanding his hesitation, and pulled Seth’s shirt over her head. Since she was so much smaller than them both, the shirt billowed to the middle of her thighs. It covered enough of her, and frankly, she was too hungry to be modest. If she happened to meet up with any of the people who were inside Tristan’s home, she’d deal with it then.