The Executioner's Wife

Bonus Chapter: The Siren's Song

"Can she sing?"

Alois snorted. "Not for her life."

Ivan frowned, puzzled. "Is she good in bed?"

"I don't know- we haven't even kissed, yet."

Now Ivan rubbed his jaw, as if he were really trying to figure something out. "Is she rich? Like a princess, or something?"

"No, she- why are you asking all these questions?"

Ivan shrugged. "She's just not really your type."

"What do you mean?" Alois cast a quiet look at Lily, sitting alone in their corner. She waved to him with a shy smile, and he waved back. He'd been excited to bring her here, finally. For the past few weeks, he'd been hyping her up to Ivan, telling him about the beautiful woman who'd approached him on the scaffold to tell him he had nice eyes. He'd told Ivan about her corny jokes, her stories from her homeland, her affinity to run away from everything, her disgust for anything with onions in it, her hyena laugh, her deep dark eyes, her full, pinkish-brown lips. Now she was here, in the flesh, and pressed shut like a bud of her namesake with a full stein of beer in her hands. Alois had introduced her to Ivan, but she'd offered nothing more than a small smile, and a squeak as Ivan shook her hand with a grip that was a little too tight.

Ivan huffed. "She's too quiet. You need someone exciting to balance you out. Like Magda. I will go to my grave one day wondering why you let her go."

"I didn't let her go. We just weren't right for each other."

Ivan laughed out loud. "How could she not be right for you? Look at her!"

They looked together then, as Magda held the attention of nearly every man in the Guild, single and taken alike, as she took the stage to begin another song. "Alright, alright, you've convinced me! I need to start charging you bastards."

Her red hair flared out behind her like embers in a breeze- quite frankly, she had a glow that drew every seeing man's eyes straight to her. That, her magnificent singing voice, her voluptuous body, and her talent for skinning men alive made her as dangerous and beautiful as a siren. Alois remembered the fun they'd had together about five years ago, kissing and invading each other behind the Guild, in the cold grass, under the moon. But in between the fun were silences as lukewarm and awkward as a funeral for their stillborn relationship. Soon enough, fun wasn't fun anymore. They'd parted without hard feelings and still talked like old friends.

But Ivan couldn't let it go, as if it were he who had lost Magda. Alois realized this bitterly.

"If you like Magda so much, why don't you go for her?"

"I'm already loud, I can't live with a loud woman. But you need one. What are you going to do with Lily? Sit and stare at each other all day?"

Alois thought about it. He really wouldn't mind it. Ivan scoffed.

"Go sit with your little librarian, my friend. Go sit with her and listen to Magda sing, and you'll see exactly what I mean. You'll forget about her in two seconds."

Ivan shooed Alois away with a careless gesture, and Alois rolled his eyes. Without another word, he left Ivan and walked back to the booth. A part of him was disappointed- he'd wanted Ivan to like Lily. He also knew that Ivan was as deep as a puddle, but something itched at the back of his mind. Ivan was one of his closest and oldest friends, and probably knew him almost as well as he did himself. He had no reason to lie. What if he was right?

Lily moved over eagerly to welcome him.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

Alois nodded as he settled beside her. Lily snorted. "You looked like you were about to strangle him."

"He just likes to rile me up. Don't worry about him." He smiled softly at her, and she smiled back. Then he noticed the still-full stein of beer in her hands. "Aren't you going to finish?"

"Oh- I don't like beer," Lily admitted, a little embarrassed. "Someone just pushed this over to me and ran off before I could say no. Do you want it?"

Something cringed inside of Alois. She didn't drink beer. It wasn't a fatal flaw, but it signified a distaste for one of the main staples of the Guild- the only place Alois could really go to escape his duties in town. Maybe it was a sign that Ivan was right.

He took Lily's beer and sipped it thoughtfully, as the lanterns darkened, and Magda began her song.

The Guild hushed as her voice filled the little wooden speakeasy. It was mellow, and warm, a tinkling sorrow shining beneath the rattling bass of her notes. She sang of a ship looking for shore in the midst of a storm, a heavy-browed captain squinting through the spray to catch the shadow of his wife in the lighthouse. Like a heady lullaby, it drew eyes to droop, and minds to wander, as the tragic tale of the captain eventually losing his line of sight became a vivid, haunted picture.

Alois had heard Magda sing before. He was enchanted every time- it was one of the reasons he'd first been drawn to her. Her glittering eyes drifted over the heads of the executioners and their families in the Guild, and for just a second, they locked with his. Then they flickered away.

Alois swallowed, and blushed, ashamed. Was there still something there, or something that should be? There couldn't be. He hardly went out of his way to get Magda's attention anymore. But Ivan's words had struck a nerve. Now he was beginning to doubt. Maybe he wasn't ready, or worthy, to start something new with Lily.

Then he looked at her.

Lily gazed awestruck as Magda sang her sorrowful tune. Her eyes widened, her body leaning forward over the table as she took in every word, every note. She only lost focus when she realized Alois was looking at her. Lily grinned and whispered to him excitedly. "She's amazing!"

"Yeah," Alois laughed a little to himself as Lily smiled, and turned back to continue watching Magda. Her song was reaching its crescendo, but it was mere background noise to Alois as he quietly witnessed Lily's fascination. Lily looked like she was floating in a dream, listening to Magda's voice cloud the Guild like heavenly smoke, her arms crossed on the table.

He couldn't take his eyes off of her.

Alois only jolted out of his daze when the Guild erupted in applause, and Magda gave her obligatory bows. Then Lily was up, with a sudden burst of energy that surprised him enough to ask, "Where are you going?"

"I gotta go tell her," Lily insisted. "I'll be right back!"

She ran off then, and nestled herself patiently behind the line of men giving their basic praises. Magda gave small smiles of thanks, and a few short, clever quips, stepping out of their way to avoid further conversation. 

Then Lily shuffled forward, her hands open and flying as she gushed over Magda's song.

Magda's face broke open in an honest grin, and she thanked Lily eagerly. Alois didn't hear much of the conversation. From the way Magda gestured respectfully to Lily's twists, and the way Lily took a strand and began to show it as Magda nodded with interest, he could assume they were exchanging compliments.

Alois sat back as he watched them talk, and began to accept that Lily wouldn't be coming back too soon. At the same time, he also understood something about Lily- when she really loved something about someone, she just had to tell them. It was why she'd forgotten her shyness to run up to Magda. It was why she'd run to him and told him about his eyes.

If he cared enough to go back and argue with Ivan, Alois would have told him that no, Lily couldn't sing. She didn't like beer. She was quiet, lived in books, and made stupid jokes. But Lily had her own glow. 

Who cared if Ivan couldn't see it?