"Queens and commoners, princes and peasants, welcome to the party of the quincentury!"
For most people, receiving an invitation to the White King's Masquerade is an honor. Even attempting to attend is a chance to go down in history. But for Sol of M...
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I turned to face Ciel so fast I think I may have gotten whiplash. I could feel the colour drain from my face as Kostik burst out laughing.
"You are too dramatic, Haven," he laughed as she bent down to hug him.
"What can I say," she shrugged, "it's in my blood."
She turned to face us, giving us a dazzling smile.
"I'm Haven and, today, I'll be preparing you for Icarus Falls." She raised an eyebrow as she looked over our group.
"So normally you would expect siren-" Kostik began.
"But sirens are overzealous drama queens which is why you'll have me, a naiad, instead," Haven interjected, with a voice like sugar. Sickly sweet.
"They say Severine was the last true Siren Queen but that's just segregational propaganda her followers spew. Selene is twice the queen Severine was-"
Kostik coughed loudly.
"But anyway we're not here to talk politics," she finished, glaring at him, "today you will be fighting in the water."
I glanced at the peaceful lake and back at Haven and knew better than to hope that this would be an easy battle.
"I don't even know why anyone would go to Icarus Falls, the sirens there are so rude," she muttered as she picked her way over the lily pads to center of the lake.
We stood, watching her. Possibly enchanted.
"Well, I don't have all day," she called in a sing song voice, snapping me out of my daze.
She's like a seventeen hundred year old Odelyn, I thought, wading into the water after Ele. It was around waist level for me, meaning Fyn was basically completely immersed so River helped carry her on his shoulders.
"This is embarrassing," she grumbled, as he laughed.
"Now if I'm honest I think it's preposterous that a siren queen drowned," she said haughtily and then shrugged, "but there is only one way out of Icarus Falls and it is through the waterfall."
She pointed a perfectly manicured finger to the rushing cascade.
"The sirens of Severine's only ambition in life is to get as many people as possible to join their drowned queen, so today you will be fighting those sirens."
The water began to fizz and burble as a multitude of cerulean, luminescent sirens rose up, their long braids of waves and bodies of froth glimmering in the light.
We had quickly learnt to always keep our weapons on us, and I reached for my sword as the aquatic army let out a synchronized, shrill... song? The sirens began to sing.
I could see River in the corner of my eye, raising a fist up as the siren right before him crumbled.
Then they increased their song by an octave, and River dropped.
