The Siren

The Siren
Kiera Cass

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Selection series comes this sweeping standalone fantasy romance. A girl with a secret. The boy of her dreams. An ocean between them.Throughout the ages, the Ocean has occasionally rescued young women from drowning. To repay their debt, these young women must serve for 100 years as Sirens, remaining young and beautiful and using their deadly voices to lure strangers into watery graves. To keep their true nature secret, Sirens must never speak to humans, and must be careful never to stay in the same place for too long. But once her century of service is over, each Siren gets a chance to start over – a chance to live the mortal life that was almost stolen from her.Kahlen became a Siren after her family died in a terrible shipwreck, decades ago. And though a single word from her can kill, she can’t resist spending her days on land, watching ordinary people and longing for the day when she will be able to speak and laugh and live freely among them again.Kahlen is resigned to finishing her sentence in solitude…until she meets Akinli. Handsome, caring, and kind, Akinli is everything Kahlen ever dreamed of. And though she can’t talk to him, they soon forge a connection neither of them can deny… and Kahlen doesn’t want to.Falling in love with a human breaks all of the Ocean’s rules, and if the Ocean discovers Kahlen’s feelings, she’ll be forced to leave Akinli for good. But for the first time in a lifetime of following the rules, Kahlen is determined to follow her heart.

Copyright (#uf00fb987-a2ff-569a-80e8-8a353270643b)

First published in the USA by HarperTeen,

an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Inc. in 2016

First published in paperback in Great Britain in 2016

by HarperCollins Children’s Books

an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd,

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

The Siren

Copyright © 2016 by Kiera Cass

Jacket art © 2015 by Gustavo Marx/Merge Left Reps, Inc.

Jacket design by Erin Fitzsimmons

Kiera Cass asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008157937

Ebook Edition © December 2015 ISBN: 9780008157944

Version: 2015-12-03

For Liz—

Because she’s the kind of girl who songs should be written about, poems should be composed for, and books should be dedicated to

Contents

Cover (#ud50f8d42-2583-5889-92e4-7da388d04ba0)

Title Page (#u65496ec6-de7c-539f-9a08-5e9280eecf36)

Copyright

Dedication (#uaca00be2-a95f-5dd4-acd6-5e38e3f30126)

Chapter 1

80 Years Later

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21