Page 3 of Rise of the Siren Queen
I straightened my shoulders, masking the bitterness curling in my chest. Today was not about mourning. It was about faith. Power. And ensuring that those who dared to threaten my rule understood the consequences of their defiance.
I won’t repeat the same mistake I made four years ago.
I swam slowly down the trails, my fingers trailing across the smooth coral walls. Each ridge told the story of Hyrem, of Aetheria. The city had stood for centuries, a symbol of strength and power underwater, but today, even with all its splendor, there was an unsettling tension in the currents. The hum of the city, though cheerful and alive, felt distant, almost muffled by the weight pressing down on my chest.
Music floated through the water, carried by the tides. Sea harps strummed soft, melancholic tunes, mixing with laughter of happiness. Dolphins darted, weaving through the flags as though they were part of the celebration. As always, playful and putting a smile to thechildren’s faces.
Despite all the euphoria, I couldn’t shake the tension crushing in my chest. I shouldn’t be here alone. They should be with me. Alive and well. Excited for my coronation. But their bodies are rotting in the royal crypt and I lived.
The Solstice Festival had always been a time of joy and renewal, but these last four years, it felt different, void of love and faith. Heavier. My coronation loomed just beyond the horizon, and with it, the crushing weight of expectation. The council’s whispers, their doubts, echoed in my mind as I glanced toward the palace rising at the city’s heart.
You’re not strong enough. It is your fault.
The palace, Hyrem’s crown jewel, stood tall and proud in the center, its crystalline spires glowing softly with a silvery light that reminded me of the moon’s reflection on the surface. It used to fill me with pride, but now, all I felt was uncertainty. The silent judgment of those around me was almost palpable, a vortex drawing me in.
“Princess!” A child’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts. “Princess!” I turned to see a small group of young Aetherians swimming toward me, their eyes wide with excitement, tails flicking rapidly through the water. In their hands, they held a delicate wreath of sea flowers, shimmering with the soft light of the fluorescent rhodymenia.
“For you, my Princess,” the youngest said, beaming as she held out the wreath.
I forced a smile, though the tension in my chest tightened further. I placed the wreath in my hair, nodding my thanks as their faces lit up with joy. Their hopeful gaze pressed down on me like a second crown—beautiful, but unbearable. To them, I wasn’t just Iryen. I was the Crown Princess, the future queen, the symbol of Aetheria’s strength and hope.
As the festivities echoed, I quietly slipped away from the vibrantstreets of Hyrem, seeking refuge in our hidden sanctuary. The familiar pull of the currents guided me along the seabed, past the coral outcrops, and through the concealed entrance to the cave, home of our most sacred place, the moon pond.
The path twisted through jagged rock and coral, a labyrinth known only to those who had trod it before. Each turn, each shadowed crevice, felt like a test, one designed to keep the unworthy from reaching the moon pond. My pulse thrummed with anticipation, the cool current brushing against my skin as I neared the sacred place.
The passage widened, revealing a cavern bathed in silver. Moonlight spilled through fractured cracks in the cave ceiling, casting slender beams across the cavern, illuminating the water in ghostly light. Emerging, I found Elora and Sienna at the edge of the pond waiting for me, their silhouettes poised against the ethereal glow.
The moon pond lay before us, a hidden sanctuary cradled within the earth, its waters shimmering with an unnatural luminescence. Turquoise depths reflected the celestial light above, their surface shifting, pulsing as if the very breath of our goddess stirred within them. Bright dictyota and crystals clung to the jagged cave walls, their faint glow weaving ribbons of sapphire and jade across the stone, painting the cavern with the quiet hum of something alive.
No soul, siren or otherwise, had ever entered this place uninvited. Not for centuries. A barrier was laced with ancient blood and magic to protect us from the human world.
The air was thick with salt, mingling with the damp, mineral-rich scent of the cave. It wrapped around me, grounding me, yet there was something more, an undercurrent of energy thrumming beneath my skin, seeping into my bones like a whispered promise. The steady drip of water echoed through the chamber, a rhythmic pulse that matched the steady rise and fall of my own breath.
Stalactites hung like silent sentinels above, their crystalline formscatching the light, glinting like sacred relics. They had stood witness to centuries of whispered prayers, of rituals performed under the watchful eye of the moon. I exhaled slowly, allowing the dread to settle deep within me.
The solstice had arrived, and the celestial forces were aligning, creating a deep, almost tangible connection between the ocean and the Elysium. The magic of the sea was at its most potent during this time, and tonight, we would honor our goddess with ritualistic ceremonies, invoking her blessings as the tides swelled in harmony with the full moon.
Astralis wasn’t just a celebration of the solstice. It was a time when the balance between light and dark, the ocean’s ever-changing cycles, and the forces of nature were most attuned. It used to be my favorite time of the year, but now was the saddest time of my life.
A bone-deep chill seeped into my scales. The energy in the air was hefty, yet it wasn’t just the pull of the full moon that unsettled me, it was a deeper, more instinctual foreboding, one that tugged at the edges of my awareness like a warning whisper from the deep.
I clenched my fists, trying to steady my breathing.
Why am I so on edge?
The thought pulsed through my mind, loud and unsettling, but I pushed it aside. Tonight’s focus was on the goddess, unity, and peace. Not… whatever this was.
I close my eyes, sensing the powers of the ocean beneath my skin. This ceremony is sacred, binding our pod’s strength to the lunar cycle.
The ritual was nearly complete. Just a breath left before we called her name, the goddess beneath the moon.
“Amphitrite.”
It was supposed to be a quiet, routine ceremony, and it was… Until the tall, muscular human entered the cave.
Panic floods me, tightening like a vice around my chest. My heart races, each beat louder than the last as I glance between Elora and Sienna, searching their faces for reassurance as we cloaked ourselves from prying eyes. It’s impossible. How could someone break through the magical barrier surrounding the cave?
It was dark enough for him to not see us, or anything for that matter, and with some luck, the darkness will dull his curiosity.
