Siren's Curse

Chapter 6

Inpu's POV

As of recently, Bryan has been all over me but I can tell he's also been hiding something from me.

Usually, he'd seem all happy with me, but the second I bring up his mother or his pod, he'd get quiet or change the subject.

It made my heart break because I could tell something was wrong, but he wasn't willing to tell me which hurt.

Knowing he was hiding something bothered me, but I was learning to ignore the feeling because when I'd ask, we'd be on a ship of in the house doing something together.

Normally we would be working on the ship, but today was a bit different.

My father had started to get along better with Bryan once finding out we were a match, so he decided to take the two of us for a fishing trip on his boat, not for work or anything, he said he just wanted to do some fishing with us.

We were stopped in a part of the ocean that Bryan refused to swim in, which we found strange, so we just went to get fish how we normally would while Bryan watched.

It was clear my father could tell something was up with Bryan, but no one would say anything about it.

Eventually, I had enough of the hiding for the day, so I sat next to Bryan while my dad was busy collecting the fish so we could have a one on one conversation.

"So, what's bothering you now?"

"What do you mean? Nothing is bothering me"

"I know you think I can't see it, but I can tell something is bothering you, I want to know what is so I can try to comfort you or help you if I can"

I put my hand over his, and I could tell he was calmer because of it due to the fact he started to lean on my side.

"My mom gave me a task to complete in order for me to stay with you"

"Did she find out you know your match now?"

"Yup, now if I don't get my own pod by the time the six months is over, I will be forced to go back"

"Is that part of the reason you won't go swimming?"

"Not exactly, this is the part of the ocean my parents courted each other, so if I enter it, there is a high chance I enter a love frenzy and pull you under"

"That's a new detail, care to explain?"

"Sirens typically court in more private places in the water, often being hidden grottos or rock hides with good places to lean, and they tend to leave bits of their poison that can linger for around 30 years"

"Oh? And how would that effect me?"

"The poison of a siren is different for every siren, so the poison of two parents can cause the child to enter a frenzy if their match is nearby, so for your safety, I refuse to swim here"

"Alright, thanks for having enough care in you to not want to kill me"

"Hey, I have standards, I'd rather have my match breathing"

"And I'm glad for it, another random question about the match thing, really only because I'm new to siren matches, what is courting like for sirens?"

"Well, siren poison doesn't work how its commonly believed, a siren can change it based on who the poison is for, so when courting another, one will make the other drink the poison, and once a large amount has been taken in, they stop, wait a few hours, then go back to where they live"

"Is it common for it to be forceful? That sounds like something where it would be fought regardless of how much trust is there"

"Yes, but usually the one dispensing the poison holds the other with their tail to keep them safe"

"Ok, is it usually assigned to a certain siren, or is it just whoever can do it first..."

"Its usually the dominant one, but for us, it would be me regardless because you can't produce siren poison"

"And let me guess, it has to be underwater"

"Yup, meaning for part of it, you may feel like you're drowning"

"Great, and after it I'll be immune to siren abilities, right?"

"Well, no, something I never mentioned because you seemed so confident is that the siren ritual happens when they get married, not when they first court each other"

"And you're only telling me this now why?"

"I didn't want to ruin your thunder"

"You sneaky bean"

"It would happen either way, we may just have both done not long after because of our unfair luck"

"Well, if I have to get it done, I'm glad its with you"

We just sat there watching the water for a while before my father walked over to us with a couple dead fish that just didn't make the transport to the tank.

I went over to the tiny stove we had for where we were on the boat and started to cook mine while I watched Bryan release his fangs and sink them into the raw fish.

It was the first time I had ever seen it because when we ate at home, he'd take small bites or use utensils, so seeing him with his fangs out was weird to me.

"Alright, weirdo, what makes you eat fish raw with your fangs fully in display?"

"I don't judge how you eat, this is how I eat when I swim, usually I have more places to hide it in water though"

"Its more the fact your fangs seemed to retract when you stopped eating, it just feels weird"

"Ok, you try posing as a human, how do you suspect people would react to seeing a normal human with fangs, you think they'd trust you?"

"Well, no, I guess it makes sense, its just weird to me"

"I could always bite you and see if a tiny amount of my love poison changes your mind"

"Love poison?"

"Siren poison has two parts, the romance part, and the kill part, can't tell you how accurate my information on it is because I've never used it, but I have an idea on what it could be for you"

"Do tell"

"Well, the kill part is used to make sure a victim is paralyzed before they're eaten alive, and the romance part, from what I've heard at least, is often used to lure in a victim, or its used between un podded sirens and humans, since relationships are more common in them, so the human feels more flirty or aroused"

"So its your way to tell me to listen to you"

"No, I would only use it if you ask me or if I think its needed during activities, but otherwise I don't really plan to use it much"

We went quiet again, and I watched him take another bite into the raw fish which made me start to gag a bit.

He just started to laugh at me, and I went to argue with him, but couldn't get any words out.

"I found the one thing you can't handle~"

"Oh shut up-"

He went from slowly eating it to just eating the entire thing whole and pulled out the bones before looking at me again.

I just gagged again before my father asked for help steering the boat back, so I told Bryan to watch my food so it didn't burn and went to help my dad.