Page 104 of Rise of the Siren Queen
“You keep trying to shield me, princess, but I was never just human. I have power too. And the right to choose what I’ll fight for.”
The doorbell rang like a bullet through the tension, cutting her retort.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, though I didn’t remember deciding to move. My body just obeyed, desperate for something,anything,to do that wasn’t falling apart.
I brought the food in, set it down like it mattered. Like any of thismattered.
No candles. No soft music. No warmth.
Just takeout and a woman I was losing by the second.
I unpacked the containers in silence. Watched her in the fading light, still staring at the horizon like it was the only thing that made sense.
“Come eat,” I said. My voice was hollow. Tired. “You’ll need strength for your journey tomorrow.”
She moved without a word, sat across from me with all the elegance of a queen resigning herself to duty.
She picked at the food. Distant. Fading. Her mind was already beneath the waves.
Between bites, she said it casually,like the weather.
“I’ll be sleeping at the reef tonight. I need to contact my court… so I’ll leave after we finish here.”
I clenched my jaw so tight it ached.
Was she serious?
She’d rather spend the night on a reef than in my home? My bed?
She could breathe my name like a promise, and still vanish as if it were nothing.
“Please don’t.” The words came before I could kill them. Raw. Pathetic.
“If you don’t want to sleep with me, fine. Take the guest room. But don’t stay at the reef.”
She paused. Finally, looked at me. Something flickered in her eyes. Pain, maybe. But she didn’t speak.
And the silence that followed said everything.
She was still going.
And I was the fool, still begging.
22
He’s back
Iryen
I woke at dawn, drenched in sweat and unrest. Sleep had been a cruel, flickering illusion, just flashes of memory, suffocating truths, and the sound of my heartbeat hammering like war drums beneath my skin. The city still lay in hushed slumber, but inside me, chaos reigned.
The moment I saw her—Adrian’s mother—everything cleared up. The lost princess of Erythion. How had I not seen it? The eyes, the presence, the magic seeped into her bones. It was all there. It had always been there. And I, daughter of Aetheria, a ruler forged from blood and obligation, missed the signs.
Stupid. Pathetic.
I should have pieced it together sooner. I should have questioned harder, dug deeper,listened to my instincts. But I was too distracted by him. By the pull. From the warmth of his voice and the way he looked at me, I felt like I was the only thing that mattered. I let my guard down. Goddess, I let my guard down again.
I didn’t resent her. On the contrary,I envied her.She had done what I never could. She’d walked away. Left behind duty, crown,expectations. Chosen love. She made it look so easy. Like courage and recklessness were the same thing.
