Lorelei twisted, facing Mother standing opposite her across the water. “To my mother, the woman who, nineteen years ago, tried to stop me from taking my throne.” She shook her head, clucking her tongue. “Imagine my surprise when I learned of your disloyalty not only back then but through the years, sending Yemma to my brother to inform against me.” Her upper lip peeled off her gums, fueling a glint in her eye as she added, “And now your precious Yemma is dead.”

Calliope’s marble façade shed a single tear from her clear, gemstone eyes. Her practiced, hardened shell could not fully contain that fresh grief.

“You gave me the gift of a baby brother, only to allow him to be stolen away. Taken by the man who left you here to rot. I’ll never forgive you. Your death will come swiftly on the heels of theirs. And it will be most glorious.” Lorelei lifted her glass and toasted our mother.

My heart gave a painful wallop at the threat to my mother’s life. Lou grabbed my wrist without taking her eyes off the queen, wordlessly asking me to refrain.

Calliope smiled with beauty and grace, the way only my mother knew how. She threw her chalice into the pool and watched it sink to the bottom. “I died a long time ago. Today will be no different than yesterday.” She flung her hair over her shoulder and lowered herself back onto the rock behind her. She crossed her legs at the ankle and folded her hands in her lap, elegant and unaffected, save for the defiant tilt of her chin.

Lorelei’s eyes rimmed with red fury. She roared. The obsidian rocks around us started to shake and crumble. The sirens about the room reached for handholds to steady themselves. I ditched my cup to brace myself and Lou as the floor cracked under our feet. The queen’s magic surfed the water, causing ripples and swells so powerful I felt it thrum through my own veins. I scented her anger coming off the spray—a salty, smoked-fish stench.

A scarlet tinge blotched her face as she released the most powerful song I had ever heard, almost as deafening as my mother’s gift. It savaged my eardrums like flying shards of broken glass. I wrapped one arm around Lou’s body and pressed the other hand against my temple to relieve the pressure. Blood dripped from my nose as Lorelei’s furious melody intensified.

Lou lifted her head off my chest and looked up at me. Her amber eyes pleaded; she was about to do something stupid.

“Do you trust me?” she whispered.

My brow furrowed. “Yes, but what are you—”