The Discord

The end came on a Tuesday.

I was reading in the living room when the elevator chimed. Julian walked in.

He wasn't alone. His lieutenant, a severe woman named Klio, was with him. And he wasn't looking at me with soft eyes.

He looked like he had the night we met. Cold. Lethal.

"Cassia," he said.

I stood up, the book slipping from my hands.

"Klio found something," Julian said. He didn't come to me. He stood by the door, keeping his distance. "From the night of the Siren attack. The one that killed my squad."

Klio stepped forward, holding a tablet. She looked at me with pure loathing.

"We recovered audio from a damaged body cam," Klio said. "The Siren... she hummed before she screamed."

She tapped the screen.

A sound filled the room. A low, melodic humming. It was a simple tune—a lullaby I used to hum to myself in the dressing room when I was anxious.

I froze.

"We ran a spectral analysis," Julian said. His voice was dead. "Then we ran an analysis of the breathing patterns you make when you sleep. When you hum in your dreams."

He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and threw it on the floor. It showed two sound waves.

They were identical.

"Julian," I signed, my hands shaking so bad I could barely form the shapes. "Let me explain."

"Explain?" Julian roared.

The shout shattered a vase on the table.

He stormed toward me. "You are the Siren! You killed my men!"

"I didn't kill them!" I couldn't sign fast enough. I grabbed a notepad from the table, scribbling frantically. *It wasn't me! It was a fledgling! I was just there!*

"You lied," he whispered. He ripped the notepad from my hand. "Every moment. Every touch. The curse. It was all a lie."

"The bond isn't a lie!" I signed.

"The bond?" He laughed, a harsh, broken sound. "The bond is a trick. Sirens entrap men. That’s what you do. You made me love the thing I hate."

He drew his weapon.

It wasn't a gun. It was a dagger forged of Stygian iron. A blade meant to sever souls.

"Julian, please," I mouthed.

He hesitated. The dagger shook in his hand. The bond was screaming at him. *Mate. Mate. Don't hurt her.*

I could see the war in his face. The duty against the heart.

"I can't kill you," he whispered, his eyes filling with tears. "God help me, I can't do it."

"Then I will," Klio said.

She raised her sidearm.

**BOOM.**

The front window of the penthouse exploded inward.