Page 60 of Rise of the Siren Queen
I couldn’t meet his eyes. I turned my head, unable to face him as the storm inside me churned. My body still ached with the intensity of our mating, but my heart felt torn apart. There was too much to process, too much to lose.
“I can’t afford to be reckless,” I whispered, more to myself than to him. “Not with everything at stake.”
He opened his mouth, ready to respond, but I couldn’t do this anymore.
“I’m going back to my city now,” I said, my voice sharp and final. I didn’t give him a chance to argue, to question, to linger.
Without a glance, I dove into the water, the cool depths swallowing me as I swam away, toward the palace, toward my room. My safe place. Away from him, away from the chaos he stirred inside me.
* * *
Once inside the palace, I linked to the ones who could truly understand me, my best friends.
“Sienna, Elora, I need you,”I urged through telepathy, my voice tinted with the guilt. He’s leaving. How could I have been so careless… How could I have mated with him?
“Yes, Princess,”Sienna’s calm response felt like a sharp contrast to the storm inside me.
“What happened?”Elora asked, her concern clear.
“I’ll explain when you get here,”I replied quickly, cutting the link just as I reached my room. Collapsing onto my bed, I buried my face in the pillows. I should have known better.
His features won’t leave my mind, the way he handled me, so firm, so sure… and afterward, oh goddess, the way his anger burned through him.
I can’t keep this up much longer. I had dodged his questions so far, but I was running out of excuses.
A soft knock echoed through the spacious room, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Enter,” I called, my voice barely steady.
“Here we are. Now what’s wrong?” Elora said, her fiery eyes narrowing as she stepped into the room.
“Adrian is my mate… and we mated.”
The words tumbled out of my mouth, flat and devoid of emotion, but the pressure of them hung in the air, suffocating. Both women stared at me, their eyes wide in shock, the silence between us heavy. I couldn’t tell if it was pity or disbelief that flickered across their faces, maybe both.
“Wait, what? Since when?” Elora recovered first, her voice cutting through the stillness.
A bitter smile tugged at the corners of my lips as I remembered that moment and I realized we were mates.
“Since Ithra tried to kill him,” I grimace. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I thought… with him leaving in a few days, it would be better to keep this a secret.”
Sienna’s sharp gaze met mine, her eyes filled with the wisdom I always admired.
“Does he know?” she asked, her voice steady, but there was a note of concern.
“No…” I shook my head, then rushed to complete “And I’m not telling him.”
“But, Iryen,” Sienna’s voice softened, her words filled with warning, “Fated mates are sacred. The bond is unbreakable. If you stay apart, it will weaken both of you. It may even kill you.”
The thought of death didn’t scare me. I was dead inside anyway.
I just had only one matter to finish before meeting my goddess and it was to deliver those bastards to tanathos, even if I had to do it myself. I clenched my fists, the guilt like a thorn in my heart. But the idea of trapping Adrian in a life he didn’t choose was unbearable.
“I know,” I whispered, my voice laced with frustration and sadness. “But it’s forbidden, Sienna. I can’t be with him. He’s from Nyssaion. For the goddess’ sake, he’s a hybrid. This can’t be a good match.” The words tasted bitter, and I knew deep down that they were excuses, hollow defenses to shield myself from the reality of what we were.
Sienna remained unswayed. “You know the goddess doesn’t make poor matches,” she pressed, her gaze unshakable. “I think you should tell him. You don’t know what his reaction will be.”
“He’ll never want to stay here, Sienna.” A laugh escaped my lips, but there was no humor in it. “He has a life, a family. The only reason he’s here is because we made him a prisoner. In two days, he’ll leave, and all of this… it’ll stay behind.”
