Red Blood (Series of Blood Book 2) by Emma Hamm (best short books to read .TXT) 📕

that should have been hers. Not without getting in trouble.

“Your mum seems like a real B-word.”

Lyra turned towards the voice to cast a sneer at the boy who now stood next to her. He wasn’t dressed well at all. Not to mention his hair was tied back into a ponytail at his neck. What was he trying to be? A girl?

“You don’t get to have an opinion about my mum.”

She wasn’t that bad. Well, not usually. Her mother was simply a little off today because her father was traveling. Lyra didn’t understand what traveling entailed, but she did know that it made her mother angry every time Daddy disappeared.

“I get to have an opinion about everything.” The boy leaned against the glass as he stared at her. “It’s called being human.”

“You aren’t human.” She sniffed. “There aren’t any left.”

“You need to go back to school.”

“That’s rude.”

“That’s rude? I just called your mum a bitch.”

“That’s a bad word.” She scowled at him. “You’re not supposed to say that.”

“Seemed fitting in this situation.”

He was older than her. His voice cracked on the last word, and Lyra laughed at him. She had to be cruel to people like this. It was the only way she knew how to be like her mother.

The boy stuck his hand out towards her.

“What do you want me to do with that?” She glared at the offending hand.

“Shake it.”

“I’m not touching you.”

“My name’s Jasper.”

“Lyra.” She told him her name, but she did not shake his hand.

He took his hand back, but he grinned at her. “Pretty name for a pretty girl.”

She blushed bright red. Lyra knew that she shouldn’t like that at all. Her mother would probably smack her other cheek for talking to the tall boy. But that magical part of her preened that he had noticed how pretty she actually was.

He was handsome in a farmer boy kind of way. She supposed any other person might have found him attractive. The slight roundness to his cheeks was already disappearing to reveal a hard jaw and defined brow. He wasn’t going to be a pretty man. He was going to be one that women fantasized about.

Where had that come from? She frowned. She was only seven, and sometimes she had thoughts that only a grown woman should think.

“You’re a Siren aren’t you?” he asked her.

The blush on her cheeks drained until she was paler than a sheet of paper. “How did you know?” she whispered.

“I have a talent for knowing.”

“You can’t tell anyone.” She frantically pressed closer to him so that no one overheard them. “Mummy will get mad if anyone knows. I’m not supposed to be a Siren.”

“Why would your mum get mad about that?”

“Sirens aren’t respectable creatures.”

She hated that. Lyra thought she was respectable enough. Her mother thought it necessary to remind her every day that Sirens were horrible monsters who weren’t worthy of their bloodline. What had their family done to be cursed with such a creature for a daughter? What mistakes had they made?

The Siren inside her was an interesting enough creature. She even liked it before they had merged souls. Now there wasn’t another voice in her head insulting her mother. Now she was alone again.

“Wow you live in a real strange world.” Jasper shook his head. “So what’s a pretty little thing like you doing here?”

“Shopping.” This was a topic she could speak about at length. “Mummy’s getting a brand new dress for when daddy gets home. She wants to make sure that she looks prettier than all the other women daddy sees.”

Jasper arched a brow. “Your dad sees a lot of different women?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Mummy says so. She said I could even get a new dress if I was good!” At the words, her expression turned dark. “But I wasn’t good.”

The beads were calling to her again. She pressed her little nose against the glass and sighed. Her breath fogged her sight, but she knew exactly what they looked like. Their image was burned into the back of her eyes.

The boy rolled his eyes. “Wow, you’ve got it bad.”

She didn’t respond.

“You know that Sirens can be mesmerized by shiny things, right?” When she didn’t respond, he snapped his fingers next to her ear. “Hey. Kiddo.”

“I’m not a kid,” she muttered as she tore her eyes away from jewels.

“You definitely are a kid,” he said with a laugh. “Why wouldn’t your mother buy them for you?”

“She says I don’t need them.” And really she didn’t. She had so many necklaces back home that they littered her floor. But Lyra grew so tired of them so quickly. The sparkle was never enough to keep her attention.

“Why don’t you just take it?”

“Take it?” Her brow furrowed. “You can’t do that.”

“Yeah. You definitely can.”

She looked over her shoulder at the beads. “I don’t know how. People would see.”

He looked her up and down. “I think someone like you could sneak in and out without anyone wondering what you were doing. You’ve got those big blue eyes. Just bat them at someone, and they’ll do whatever you want. You’re a Siren.”

“I can’t do any of that,” she said quietly. “I can’t use any of the powers or Mummy will know. And keep your voice down!”

“You should be proud of what you are. We all should.”

“Maybe in your world, farmer boy. But in my world there are standards.”

“You don’t think my kind has standards.”

“Not like mine,” she muttered before she saw who was walking towards them. Her mother. “Oh no.”

“What?” He turned to look at her mother before he stumbled as she shoved him.

“You have to go.”

“Why?”

“Stop questioning things!”

“Is this because of your mother?”

“Yes!” she shouted. “Go away!”

Her mother was too close now. Her brow was furrowed as she saw who her daughter was talking to. Lyra could see the anger in her mother’s eyes as she glared at the two of them.

“Are you scared of your mother?” he asked her as he stumbled away.

“You would be too if you knew her.”

Clawed