Mistress of Siren Cove

Chapter 15: Where to Go Next?

They had two weeks of glorious weather, wonderful food, delicious lovemaking, and time to be together. Finished with the troubles in Bern, Elysia and Connor had a chance to really get to know and understand one another. She kept in touch every day with Antoinette and Lorelei, her island family, but her focus was on him. He filled her heart in a way that she desperately needed.

He was beginning to put together in his mind a new life for himself, and as he talked, his plans always seemed to include her. She did not want to discourage this too much because perhaps they could be together. She didn't see how, though. She couldn't live indefinitely off the island. Her powers had fully matured, and it was often difficult for her to simply walk down a street without gathering a crowd of men. Sitting on the beach, she saw it as well, though the men were usually respectful, and she was sure it annoyed Connor.

She would have to return to the island, perhaps when their vacation ended, and she had no idea what would happen to them. She thought about bringing him with her. Maybe that would work, but she did not see how. The only thing she could do was to tell him about herself and her life on the island and allow him to decide.

She talked with her mother, who said it would be alright if she did not say too much. Back in their room, sitting on their balcony looking over the sea, with a bottle of wine on a small table, she started.

"Connor, you've been wondering a long time about me, and the people I work with. Thanks for not pressing it. As I said, it's secret, but you and I have something, don't we? Connor... do you love me?"

"I think I do, and I think you love me as well, Elysia."

"I think so, I believe so. It's so confusing, so tangled up. In some ways, it would have been better if we had not met. But we have, and I do love you, and I don't want to part with you."

"So, you don't have to, Elysia. Why can't we be together?"

"Connor, I know, and I think I want to, but there's something about the way I am, the way my mother is, and the way almost all the women I know are. But it's secret, and if I tell you, you must swear never to reveal it. Can you do that? Swear, no matter what I tell you?"

Connor looked at her seriously, thoughtfully took a sip of wine, and said, "And you need to tell me before we can talk about being together?"

"Yes, Connor, you have to know."

"Well then, I swear." He said this nervously, not knowing what he was getting into, and not knowing what would happen if he accidentally revealed this to someone. He knew her people were powerful, and maybe he should fear them. Still, he wanted to stay with Elysia. She had done so much for him, and he sensed that it would make her happy if he stayed. He owed it to her, somehow, to hear what she had to say, regardless of what might happen to him.

"Good. Connor, I'm not like other women; I'm what people call a siren. Maybe you've heard of them, from old tales, like the tale of Ulysses?"

"I think so, maybe, although I don't know anything about Ulysses."

"Fine, that's just what we have been called, and pretty much all of what they say about us is wrong. We, including me, have the power to attract and control men. When a normal man sees me, if my power is fully awake, he sees a goddess, not the plain thing you see before you. No matter what I really look like, to that man I would appear as his ideal woman. You notice how the eyes of men turned to me on the beach today, and every day. They do this even when I try to mute my allure. Unmuted, I might have a circle of those men standing around me."

Connor looked at her in complete surprise. He had noticed how she attracted men and was proud that she was with him, but pretty women always attract men. "But you look so normal now, Elysia, pretty, but normal."