The Blue Siren: Tales of Evermagic, Book 7

By Jessica Lorenne

Ber’s search for Serren comes to an end when he learns she’s being kept prisoner at Snow White’s castle. When he goes to retrieve her, he learns that she is suffering from a curse that has made her kill several Blue Beards. She is possessed by a Blue Siren, and the only way to save her is for the beast who rejected her to listen to the story of each her kills. But can Ber convince the siren to tell him her tales when it was his voice that drove her to kill?

To protect Serren from the pain of being abandoned by her beast, the sickness she locked up inside her has grown into a monster called the Blue Siren. A monster whose only purpose is to kill Blue Beards so the voice of the man who rejected her will be silenced by their screams.

When she is captured, she is taken to be quarantined at the formidable and inescapable prison at Snow White’s castle. Content to die, she waits for the queen to decide her fate, but instead of an execution like she expects, a man who shares a voice with the one that drove her mad has come, demanding she tell him her story. But will he still love the beauty the siren is trying to protect when he learns just how insane she’s become?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jessica Lorenne
• Release date: Dec 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311526519

Jessica Lorenne

Jessica Lorenne started writing for assignments in elementary school, but didn't begin her first attempt at a novel until the age of 12 when she was inspired by Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, which she then read along with other works by Tolkien. This first story turned into the Bearer of Power series from which other relating projects have emerged.She grew up in western Oregon where the national forest was her backyard. It became the backdrop for her stories, and fed the fantasy realm of her imagination. She started rewriting fairy tales while studying theatre, voice, and writing at Brigham Young University-Idaho, beginning with Cinderella.As a result of her constant immersion within her own imagination, she has begun to have imaginary arguments with her characters. Through these encounters she has learned about them, and begun to tame them. These meetings can be read on her blog Character Arguments on wordpress.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Once upon a time...

They caged me, and they should have. I had become a siren. Blue Beard? Who was he compared to me? Every time I killed one, I killed him. The man that had taken my heart with him. I’d lost my mind with it. My sanity has faded into a darkness that’s overwhelmed me. It’s taken possession of my soul and set me out against my enemy. Perhaps I should not have let it, but now it doesn’t matter. I have no regrets. Not concerning those men. Each one deserved his end.

How many? Ber stared at the ground. His dark eyes searched the grain of the stone floor, looking for something to convince him this was all just a very bad dream. His hands, no longer that of a monster’s but the human he now was, pulled into his hair.

Ulrich frowned. He glanced at Rose. She was staring out a window, her arms crossed. The peacock blue dress she wore was a soft satin cushion for her copper locks. Her lips were thin and her eyes cold with displeasure. Ulrich looked back at Ber, his face strained.

At least a dozen, he said quietly. There was little light in the room. Rose hadn’t let any candles be lit, and the one window within was tall and thin. Still winter, the sky was covered with sad silver clouds so the sun had to fight to shine through.

Ber shut his eyes and quickly stood. Ulrich watched him turn to pace. The confused anger in his steps resonated in the room as Rose slowly turned to look back at him.

She has gone mad, Ber, she stated firmly. Hunter insists she is not even the same person. She is not the Beauty she once was. All her goodness has been lost in her seductions. She went to him, her hands balled into fists at her sides. She did not understand this magic and that upset her. She could not stand being ignorant in so dark and dangerous a story as this one. If you see her, she will not know you, she warned.

When she last saw me I was a monster. Ber turned around and faced her. He towered over her so that his shadow fell on her features. She looked up at him, bristled by the challenge in his gaze. Now you say she is one? He cried. He shut his eyes and straightened. It doesn’t matter. She did not turn her back on me. I made the mistake of leaving her. I will not do it again! He stepped closer to her, his frown firm as it creased through his brow. And I will not let you hurt her. Law or no law, she will not be executed for the crimes that should be mine, he said, jabbing his thumb into his chest and gritting his teeth.

You are not the one that killed a dozen men, she hissed, glaring at him under her brow.

She is your friend, he snarled. How could a fairy tale maiden turn against another suffering from the same magic? Wasn’t there some kind of code against that? Some kind of law that women living fairy tales had to help one another!

An acquaintance who is the dear friend of my brother, she corrected. But I cannot excuse such crimes even for such as that, she retorted in a low brazen voice.

Ber growled. He turned away and started to pace again. Rose and Ulrich watched him. The veins in Ber’s arm bulged. I want to see her, he said again.

Rose and Ulrich exchanged glances and then Rose glared back at him. That is impossible, she said.

I want to see Serren! He said, his voice hard as his eyes bore into hers without fear. He was one of few men she had no power over. Queen of Fire or not, he would break apart mountains with his hands alone when it came to Serren.

I will take you to her. Ulrich rose from the chair’s arm he sat on. Rose’s eyes flashed to him. He frowned at her. Do you not remember our pains? He asked her.

That is different. Neither of us heartlessly broke the laws of this land, she deadpanned.

Ulrich frowned. He looked back at Ber and nodded. Come with me. Perhaps she will tell you what she will not tell us, he said, walking past his wife without hesitation.

Rose raised her head and jutted out her jaw. She watched Ber follow Ulrich out, who glanced back at her only once. He knew there would be a fight later but they’d lived through plenty of those, and he believed Ber might be able to get through to Serren. She still loved him. That much he was certain of. Otherwise, the magic’s hold on her would not be so strong.

***

They stared in through the bars at the dark and damp prison cell. Ulrich glanced at Ber, who gazed at the girl there. She sat on the stone bench that served as a bed, looking up through the bars of a window above her. Pale sunlight rested against her skin, the smile on her face wry and her eyes empty. It was so contrary to what Ber had become.

Ulrich looked between them, wondering at the strange transformation. He’d seen Ber as a beast once. His bear and wolf like features were now totally gone so what stood beside him was a tall and well built man with dark hair and dark eyes. He glanced at Serren, frowning. It was she who was now the one twisted into a strange unnatural being.

Though not cursed with animal features, there was a clear change in her. It was like looking at a ghoul whose feasting graveyard was empty of corpses to devour. Her limbs were too thin and her skin gray, her eyes were sunken in and her hair wiry. Between her and Ber, she was the one who looked the beast and he the beauty.

I will leave you, he said quietly as he stepped away.

Thank you. Ber did not look back at him, but Ulrich nodded anyway. Ber stood silent and listened to his steps fade away. When he heard no one stirring near, he stepped to the one occupied cell. Since Rose and Ulrich started their rule, crime had nearly become nonexistent. Rose was not tolerant of law breaking, and she’d made the police efficient, even hiring from the White Tiger guild to hunt down those that were harder to find. Now people were too afraid to do more than petty theft.

Ber wrapped a hand around one of the bars and peered in. Serren’s face was pale and soft as he remembered, and her hair had grown since he last saw her. It had even changed to a colder color tinted a grayish blue that almost made it look like blue silver in the white light. It was tangled and covered part of her face. Her arms were wrapped around her knees, and her shawl covered one shoulder. It was as tattered as the dress she wore that was no longer rich and beautiful. The dark purple satin was unlike anything he had seen her in, even at the manor.

Serren, he called quietly. She blinked but did not respond. Serren. His voice resonated as he spoke again. This time she turned her head.

Who calls? Her voice was deeper than he remembered.

Do you know my voice? He slowly fell to his knees as he stared in at her.

Silence followed his question. He thinned his lips. His heart pained him more than he had anticipated. He peered harder at the woman who stared at him but did not see him. She slowly smiled. The twisted corners of her lips unsettled him. He swallowed.

It is the voice that drove me mad, she cackled. I heard it in my mind every moment of every day. It only grew silent when they screamed. She rested her head back and sighed.

The fingers of Ber’s heart squeezed his throat. What do you mean? He asked. She did not speak. He watched her. The eyes that did not see him were old and dusted like the cobwebs of an ancient house.

Why should I tell you? Her voice was dark and cold like a black cloud before it stormed.

He frowned and leaned as close as he could into the bars so they pressed uncomfortably against his face and shoulders. He reached into the cell and touched one of the stone slabs at his feet. I think I can help you. If you let me.

Silence. He sighed and looked at the ground and then shut his eyes in disappointment.

My heart left with him, she said, her voice quiet and sounding as if confused. A shadow of nothing is where it once was. The dark poisoned my mind. The logic I so readily relied on disappeared, she whispered, staring up at nothing.

It made no sense.

Sir? Ber looked behind him at the guard that had come to check in. He stared, waiting for the man to speak his mind. All she says is nonsense, he warned.

Thank you, Ber said. He looked back at Serren and came even closer to the bars. Serren, why did you kill those men? He asked, pleading her with his voice to trust him.

She stared at the wall and blinked. Ber waited. So’s to shut him up, she snarled.

He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. What did he do to you? He asked.

I will not have you... She whispered. That is what he said.

He stared at the ground. His chest felt as if it were full of needles, but then a bang on the bars in front of him caused him to jump up with alarm. When he looked down, she was staring up at him. She bore her teeth like a wild animal, their glow white as snow and seeming to be like fangs.

Who are you? She screamed. Her fingers clutched around the bars, her brittle nails chipping against their metal as she kicked against the door.

Serren, he tried. He lifted his hand to her fingers but she grabbed his arm and jerked on it so he slammed against the cell with a bang. He stared down at her, unable to move himself.

Who are you? She hammered on the bars with her fists and clawed at his arm. Stop speaking! Do not speak! She screeched wildly, acting like a crazed animal.

The guard that had stood by ran to him, his armor and boots making enough noise to warn Ber what was about to happen. The guard grabbed his arm and pulled it free, jerking him away from the cell and putting Ber in a panic. If it ended like this he wouldn’t be allowed to see her again. It is time to leave, the guard said firmly.

No! Ber ripped away from him and slung shot back to the cell bars. Serren! He touched her hands, grabbing her fingers as she rattled the bars. She yanked away and screamed.

Sir! The guard shouted, his voice mean and forceful. Another improvement Rose and Ulrich had made was a fearless force. Not even Ber’s monstrous size could deter this man.

Ber heard the sounds of men running down the steps to the dungeon. One pushed past him and touched Serren’s arm. He chanted in a low voice so her eyes bulged and shook. She screamed again and again, shaking her head and trying to get free of him.

What is he doing? Ber shouted, trying to force his way past the mass that had gathered between him and her. It took seven of them to hold him back.

Please, sir! The guard cried.

What is he doing? Ber roared, tears of fear and rage gathering in his eyes.

He is soothing her with magic! Another man calmly took his arm. Please, sir. She will hurt herself if she continues, he said evenly, but with a stern severity that made Ber feel as if he were sinking in a dark black marsh. He looked down at him. The sincerity in his eyes caused him to falter. He looked back at Serren. Her cries had stopped. The man who had been chanting now stroked her head as if she were a child as she lay on the floor. Her eyes were emptier than before but wide as they stared at nothing.

Serren... The same pain he felt the day he walked away from her struck him again. The same day she saved his life and told him that she loved him.

He had not changed into himself then. He was still trapped in the monster’s body of Beauty and the Beast. She had not seen that it was his love for her that made him leave her. He would not curse her to be bound to one that was as ugly as he was.

How had his Beauty turned into a Beast?

CHAPTER 2

I didn’t understand. Serren in prison? Queen Rose of Geran and her husband Ulrich had sent word out to any who knew her to contact them. When Gladwin asked me about it, I was stunned. And now here I am. At the Snow White’s castle trying to understand why my Beauty was in a cage. What I would learn would set me on the path of discovering my own guilt and how wrong I was to the woman I cherished above all others. I would learn that everything was my fault.

Ber rested his mouth against his laced fingers as he stared out a dark window. Rose had forbidden him from seeing Serren again. Her reasoning was sound. Despite her harshness, he knew she was trying to protect her. What had happened when he first tried to see her was the exact reaction she had suspected. She wasn’t trying to keep them apart or even punish them. She was trying to act within the best interest of those concerned. But nothing would change if he didn’t at least try to understand what had happened. Newt once said that Ber had never been the Beast. Was this what he meant?

Are you ready? Ulrich asked, coming into the unlit room from the bright hall outside it.

Ber turned around and stared at him. You realize what risk you are taking in going behind your wife’s back to help me? He said, not liking the idea of getting between Ulrich and Rose. He’d seen enough of their relationship to realize that they loved each other more than they didn’t get along, but for some reason the fighting had gotten worse. Rose was more on edge than normal and no one could account for why, not even herself.

Rose and I have differing opinions concerning this matter, Ulrich acknowledged. We both want to get to the bottom of this. I think you are the only way we can. Serren isn’t who she was.

It is your opinion that I can get her to speak? Ber asked, his brow twisted with pain.

Yes. Ulrich walked in and glanced about the room they’d given him to stay in. It looked like every other one as far as he was concerned, but Rose had insisted it was the most comfortable for reasons Ulrich couldn’t see. At least she hadn’t shown her disapproval for their meddling by rooming the poor man with the servants, though their accommodations had vastly improved since she had become queen.

And Rose? Ber asked, gloomy as the stale smell of the not so often used room.

Ulrich looked back at him. She has sent for a witch that is the stepsister of her friend, Princess Cinderella, he explained.

Nim. Ber nodded knowingly.

You know her? Ulrich looked out into the hall, checking to make sure that Rose wasn’t coming. She didn’t like it when he did things without consulting her, and she especially didn’t like it when he went behind her back. But he couldn’t afford her trying to stop him this time.

She and her husband took me in for a time... Ber said, remembering them. It was the strangest months of my life. Even more so than when I was cursed.

Ulrich nodded. They are quite the pair, he agreed. He looked back at him. Now come along. Go to her again, before Rose can put a stop to it.

Perhaps we should wait for Nim, Ber said dejectedly. She may know best what to do, he reasoned, his voice carrying the misery and helplessness of his heart.

Nim could not come. Nor does she know what ails your lady, a voice said from the door. Ulrich and Ber looked back where the voice came from. A tall man—though not quite as tall as Ber—with shoulder length hair, a hat, and trench coat on, came in. He glanced between the two men, sizing them up as he did every time they met. Both were broad and tall, but Ber was still the biggest of them even after having transformed back into his human form completely.

Newt, Ulrich said, staring at him in the same manner he had been staring at them.

Newt glanced at him. Majesty, he said, tipping his worn hat.

You know what is wrong? Ber slowly stood, a hope twisting his brow.

Newt frowned at him and nodded. I made mention once. When I first met you, he said. Ber stared. Newt sighed and walked to a chair. He sat and leaned back in it, getting comfortable. You wouldn’t remember, he acknowledged. You were in a pitiful state. But I said––

A lot of men were about to die... Ber said quietly.

Newt smirked. You do remember. Good. He took off his hat and pushed back his hair, setting his hat on his folded knee. I’ve hunted witches a long time. I understand curses and the like as they tend to like those sort of things. Nim’s even cursed me once. He pursed his lips as he remembered it. But anyway. This is a rare one that you are dealing with.

What does it have to do with the tale of Beauty and the Beast? Ulrich asked. What can you tell us that we don’t already know?

Not every fairytale ends happily, new or relived, Newt said. Witches and sorcerers have taken advantage of that. Ber and Ulrich exchanged glances.

Are you implying that there are consequences to unhappy endings? Ber asked.

Yes. The worst is when Beast––saved by Beauty––denies her love, Newt replied seriously.

Ulrich’s eyes flickered to Ber, whose face had gone pale and frowned so it might have touched the floor. What do you mean? He asked, looking back at Newt.

"Few know the facts of Beauty’s heart. It is