Siren Song Read Online Free PDF Page A

like, what? Nap Town’s self-appointed defender against sexy singers?”
    “You’re not just a sexy singer, Chloe, and you know it. You’re a siren.”
    “Stop saying that!”
    “I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.”
    She shook her head, her voice throaty with emotion. “Why me?”
    He wondered how best to explain it to her, but she stopped him before he could. “It seems like I’m always asking that. Why me? There were other female soldiers captured, you know, but I was the one they—“
    “There’s no reason behind what happened to you. You can’t blame yourself.”
    She gripped the end of her towel with trembling hands. “Well, I’ve tried to put it behind me, okay? I’ve refused to let it shape how I deal with everything. I’ve tried to embrace my own sexuality—do you have any idea how hard that is? But now I’m supposed to believe my powers of seduction are fatal…”
    “I’m sorry, Chloe.”
    “You’re sorry? ” Now her tears turned to anger. She glared at him. “ Somebody should be. Women like me not only get to be violated and tortured but end up monsters besides? That’s fair. Way to blame the victim!”
    As a soldier of the sea who had seen more than his share of death and destruction, he’d have told her that life is unfair and the sooner she figured that out, the better off she’d be. But he took one look at her and couldn’t say it. “None of this is fair. War is an ugly thing and sometimes it turns men into monsters. Literally. ”
    She hung her head and was silent for a long time. “Did they suffer?”
    “Who?”
    “The midshipmen. If I hurt them—and I’m not saying that I did—would they have, you know, known they were going to die? Would they have been scared? ”
    She didn’t have to tell him that she was thinking about her own narrow escape from her captors. Her expression was haunted, her eyes half-closed. Alexandros imagined that she must have feared she’d never live through it. Now she seemed to wonder if she’d done to others what had been done to her. “They wouldn’t have been afraid, Chloe. A siren’s song is seductive. Pleasurable. They’d have gone willingly to their deaths. Although, drowning isn’t quick.”
    “No. Just…no. I can’t believe that I’d ever do that to someone—even subconsciously. I don’t use my music to hurt people!”
    “What about your drummer? You’re slowly driving him insane. He’s obviously resorted to drugs to get the fix that he can’t get from you. You can’t tell me that you haven’t noticed how unstable he’s become….”
    She shuddered, then lowered her face into her hands, choking back a sob. Perhaps he’d misjudged her, and now he had no idea how to help her. When she was finally composed enough to speak, she asked, “So, what am I supposed to do now?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Singing was always my dream.” She kicked at the life vest that was strapped onto the rail in frustration. “What am I supposed to do now that I can’t sing?”
    He lifted an eyebrow. “You’re giving up singing?”
    “Is there another option? I mean, if I’m killing people and don’t even know it, I can’t risk singing for an audience anymore.”
    In all his many years, he’d never heard of a siren who was willing to give up her song. Chloe could be lying to him, but somehow he didn’t think so. Like him, she was trying to make her way in a world that would never believe, much less understand, her powers; and she was so young. She shouldn’t have to do it alone.
    The idea of simply dropping her off in the New York harbor and leaving her to her own devices now seemed heartless and unworthy of him. If she truly stopped singing, there was no reason they couldn’t both live in Annapolis. He was hesitant to suggest it, knowing how vulnerable she was. Still, he gently offered: “You could do a speaking tour. Share your experiences so that other soldiers are better prepared. I could arrange for you to talk to my