บททั้งหมดของ A Wager for The Siren: บทที่ 1 - บทที่ 10

Amelia knew when she was being watched.It was one of the first things Lucien had taught her.Not how to fight.Not how to scream.Not even how to run.How to know when someone was watching.Your instincts will recognize danger before your mind does, he’d told her when she was eleven. Listen to them.At the moment, Amelia’s instincts were telling her that someone had been staring at the back of her head for the better part of five minutes.She continued eating her strawberry.“He’s still looking, isn’t he?”Across from her, Elara didn’t bother looking up.“Which one?”Amelia’s eyes narrowed.“There’s more than one?”That earned her Elara’s attention.Her handmaiden slowly lowered her teacup.“Oh, Your Highness.”“Don’t.”“You really don’t know?”“Know what?”Elara smiled.Amelia hated that smile.She glanced around Helix’s Upper Dining Hall.It hardly resembled a school cafeteria.The original Helix Academy had been constructed more than two hundred years ago, long before supernatural

Amelia knew something was wrong the moment Elara smiled at her over breakfast.Not a normal smile.Not the amused little smirk Elara wore whenever Amelia embarrassed herself.This one was worse.Far worse.It was the expression of a woman in possession of information.Amelia slowly lowered her spoon.“What?”Elara buttered a piece of toast.“Nothing.”“You have never once in your life looked that pleased about nothing.”“I slept well.”“You always sleep well.”“Not always.”“Elara.”“Amelia.”Across the breakfast table, Queen Lillian lowered the newspaper she wasn’t actually reading.Amelia immediately straightened.“Mother.”Lillian’s green-blue eyes moved between the two young women.“Should I ask?”“No.”“Yes.”Amelia shot Elara a murderous look.Elara smiled.Lillian folded the newspaper.There were mornings when Amelia looked at her mother and wondered why anyone had ever questioned whether they were related.They shared the same delicate jaw.The same high cheekbones.The same n

“What am I?”The question landed harder than any accusation.King Alexander Corvo stood in the middle of his daughter’s bedroom and realized there were wars he would rather fight again than answer it.Amelia waited.Barefoot.Trembling.Golden-eyed.Water dripped from the walls around her.The shattered glass glittered across the floor like ice.And on the bedside table, the moonbell continued to glow.Fae light.In his daughter’s room.Alexander’s jaw tightened.“Everyone out.”Lucien didn’t move.“Alexander—”“Not you.”His gaze shifted toward the guards.“Everyone else.”Elara looked at Amelia.Amelia immediately reached for her.“No.”Elara stopped.Amelia’s voice cracked.“Stay.”Alexander closed his eyes briefly.Of course.Elara wasn’t merely an attendant.She had practically grown up beside Amelia.“Fine.”The guards withdrew.The doors closed.Four people remained.Alexander.Lucien.Elara.Amelia.And a secret that had outgrown the walls built around it.Amelia wrapped her a

Cassian Vale smiled when King Alexander Corvo entered the chamber beneath Corvo House.It was a poor decision.The rooms beneath the royal estate were older than the modern Council, older than supernatural integration, older than the laws that now governed how prisoners were supposed to be treated.Centuries ago, sirens had used these chambers when humans still believed their kind belonged only in sailors’ nightmares.Very few people knew they remained.Alexander preferred it that way.Lucien stood against the wall, arms folded. Two royal guards remained behind the prisoner.Cassian sat chained to a chair.And smiled.Alexander closed the door.“Name.”Cassian tilted his head.“You know my name.”“If I knew your name, you’d already be dead.”A quiet laugh.“You sound like your father.”Alexander’s expression didn’t move.“Drop the glamour.”“No.”The temperature in the room seemed to change.The guards felt it first.Then Lucien.Then Cassian.People liked to reduce sirens to beautifu

The Founder’s Gala had survived three supernatural wars, seven assassination attempts, one magical coup, and an unfortunate incident involving an intoxicated dragon shifter in 2019.Amelia Corvo was fairly certain none of those things had required this many flowers.She stood at the top of Helix’s Grand Staircase and stared down at the ballroom.Thousands of moonflowers floated beneath the enchanted ceiling, their silver petals opening and closing with the music. Crystal chandeliers hovered without chains. The academy’s original banners—Siren, Fae, Wolf, Witch, Vampire, Shifter, and dozens of lesser houses—hung from the upper balconies.Humans had their own banner now.That addition had apparently caused a three-hour Council argument.Amelia knew because her father had complained about it through dinner.Twice.“Stop fidgeting.”Amelia immediately stopped touching her dress.Elara stood behind her.“I wasn’t.”“You’ve adjusted that strap nine times.”“It’s uncomfortable.”“It’s coutur