Page 109 of Rise of the Siren Queen
Just like I am.
I rose from bed with a heavy heart, and limbs felt made of stone. Each stroke in the dimly lit corridors produced a hollow beat in my chest. I didn’t know if I was moving toward answers or simply seeking a moment of stillness in the storm brewing inside me.
At her chamber door, I hesitated, just long enough to question whether I had the strength for this conversation. Then I knocked.
“Come in, child,” came the soft reply. Her voice was always thesame: calm, knowing, timeless.
The coral doors creaked open as I slipped inside. It wasn’t late, but Queen Nerina had already retired to her room. Her silhouette was regal even in rest, her hair like silver threads flowing around her shoulders, her presence always commanding, even in peace.
Her eyes met mine immediately. “Iryen, my child, what’s wrong?”
I tried to lie. I tried to saynothing. But I couldn’t. Not to her. She always knew. She read the tension in my jaw, the way my fingers curled into fists at my sides, the faint tremble in my breath. I was a sealed vault to others, but never to her.
I didn’t answer. I just crossed the room and sank into the bed beside her, resting my forehead against her shoulder as I pulled her into a silent embrace. We stayed like that for a long time. Her warm heartbeat grounded me until the words finally slipped free.
“I found my mate.”
Her hand stilled on my back, but she didn’t flinch. “I know.”
I blinked. “Youknow?”
I pulled away just enough to see her face. Her green eyes, a mirror of my mother’s, sparkled with an understanding I hadn’t earned.
“The way you reacted at the council meeting,” she said matter-of-factly. “The human, the fury in your voice, your insistence on Ithra’s punishment. It was all written across your face, my dear.”
I flushed. The shame was colder than any ice wall I could summon. I had thought I was subtle. Careful. Calculated. But of course, this washer.My grandmother, who raised me, who’d watched me grow from a weeping child to the weapon I had become.
“Do the council know?” I asked, my voice a broken whisper. “Why did you order me to erase his memory? Why didn’t you ask me first?”
My voice cracked from the strain. The floodgates were open now—guilt, confusion, all of it rushing out in an unrelenting tide.
She chuckled, a soft ripple through the silence. “My, my. Slowdown, child.” She took a breath before continuing. “No, the council doesn’t know. But theywould have suspectedif I hadn’t issued the order. And as for not asking… I knew you’d come to me when you were ready. I also knew you’d put duty before desire.”
She tilted her head, gaze narrowing like a blade. “Now tell me truthfully. Did you erase the man’s memory?”
I looked away, shame coiling around my ribs like a vise. “I…no.”
She touched my chin and gently lifted it until I met her gaze. Her eyes held no judgment, just fierce love and quiet sorrow.
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
I stared at her, stunned. “But the prophecy—”
“Is a lie.”
I stopped breathing.
“When you were born,” she said gently, “a seer came to us with a vision about your mate. She said he was a hybrid. Your parents and I… we told her to change the records. To make it a warning. To paint the hybrid as a threat.”
“Y—you…” My mind reeled. “I—I don’t understand. Why?”
Her fingers brushed my cheek.
“We were trying to protect you. If the council ever found out the truth, ifThalorfound out…” She didn’t finish. She didn’t need to. I knew the consequences too well.
The pain in my chest returned in full force, sharper now. It stole my breath and sent a fresh wave of nausea through me.
I lefthim.
