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But as I sat there, staring at the man who had shaken my world in ways I never expected, I wondered if I could ever truly let go. I knew I would not get over him, and this pain would become another companion in the prison I built for my emotions.

Adrian’s expression softened, his eyes searching mine. “You’re not the only one trying to protect yourself, you know,” he mumbled, sitting closer. “But I’m still here for you.”

I blinked, surprised by the intensity in his gaze, the vulnerability he allowed himself to show. For a moment, neither of us moved.

“I don’t know how to do this,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t know how to thrust.”

His hand reached out, brushing a strand of hair away from my face. The simple touch sent affection rushing through me, a comfort I hadn’t realized I needed.

“You could start by opening up,” Adrian murmured, his fingers lingering near my cheek, sending a subtle warmth through me. “But you don’t need to if you don’t want to.”

But that was the thing Iwantedto do. I wanted to tell him about my past, about the pain that shaped me, about the scars I kept hidden beneath layers of duty and responsibility. I wanted to trust him, to let him in. But fear clung to me, deep and relentless. The fear of being hurt again, of being vulnerable and losing him like I had lost so many before.

If I hadn’t let him in, I wouldn’t have to feel that kind of loss again.

A lump formed in my throat, and I looked away as tears stung my eyes, unable to hold his gaze any longer. “It’s not that simple,”I muttered. “Opening up means risking everything… and I don’t know if I can do that. Not again.”

How could I risk feeling that kind of pain again when I knew what it was like to lose someone I cared about? If I kept him at a distance, I wouldn’t have to face that. I wouldn’t have to face the heartbreak of watching him walk away.

And yet… wasn’t I already losing him by not letting him in?

“I understand pain, Iryen,” Adrian’s voice was soft yet steady, his eyes never wavering from mine. “I know how terrifying it is to risk your heart after having it shattered. But I’m only asking for one thing. If you can’t trust me, then trust your goddess.”

His fingers rested on my cheek. “You told me she pairs souls who belong together. And though I don’t know what to believe in yet… I know that whatever is between us, it’s real.”

His words unraveled every emotion deep inside me. He was asking for a kind of trust I had given no one in so long, a trust I wasn’t sure I was capable of. But I couldn’t ignore the goddess’s wishes. Amphitrite herself nurtured the mate bond.

“The triton in my dream… it was my ex-fiancé.” I fidgeted with my fingers in my lap, staring down, unable to meet Adrian’s gaze. “My parents’ death… it was my fault,” I stammered, voice trembling. “If I had listened to them and waited for my mate and my coronation, they’d still be alive. My mistake cost them their lives.” I whispered, and tears rolled down my cheeks, wetting Adrian’s fingers.

“Princess, look at me,” he murmured, his voice so gentle, but I couldn’t respond, too ashamed of my deadly mistake.

“Look at me, Iryen,” he said again, firmer this time. When I didn’t move, he gently tilted my chin upward, forcing me to meet his gaze. And when I did, what I saw in his eyes made my heart race, sending a flutter of warmth through the storm of my emotions. “It’s not your fault. I’m sure they would feel the same.” A sob escaped my lips as Itried to swallow down the pain. Leaning forward, my hands clutched over my middle. Despair gripped me. Numbness had become a familiar companion.

My thoughts circled the same moment over and over, like a needle stuck on a broken record. Why didn’t I listen to them? Why did I trust him? I replayed every conversation a hundred times, trying to find something I must have missed. Grief made everything too loud—the ticking clock, the closing door, the sound of my own breath. It felt like someone had hollowed out my chest and left it echoing, empty and raw. It was like drowning slowly, lungs never quite filling, breath always just out of reach. What an irony for a siren.

The world kept turning, but I had stopped. I was stuck on a page everyone else had already turned.

Not capable of holding it in any longer. A scream tore from me, loud and unrelenting, as I cried for my parents, for myself. I even cried for the Draven I once knew, the man I had loved. I had never allowed myself to mourn him, but I would not let him take any more from me. So, I cried for him too. And through it all, Adrian held me, tight and unyielding, as I finally let the grief consume me.

His warm hand moved in soothing circles on my back, his voice a gentle mantra. “It’s not your fault,” he repeated over and over until my sobs subsided.

“The worst part was,” I started again after a while, my voice hoarse, “when I told the council what he’d done, they didn’t believe me. Lord Thalor twisted everything, saying I couldn’t have known because it was too late and that there was no proof Draven was responsible. ‘As a scout for King Orion, he was trustworthy,’” I mimicked bitterly. A laugh, sharp and broken, escaped me, and I felt Adrian’s fingers tense against my back. I knew without looking that his molars ground together and his brow furrowed.

“They what?” His voice was low, gravelly, like distantthunder before a storm. “They believed a lord and a scout over their future queen?” Each word dripped with rising fury, his tone growing more dangerous with every syllable.

“Yeah.” My tone was placid. “And because our laws state I have to be twenty-five to ascend the throne, my grandmother had to step in as regent. That only added to Lord Thalor’s manipulations.”

Rage flowed through me like lava, burning my insides, but it wasn’t my anger. It was his. I’d heard his fury, but to feel it like this was overwhelming. The council was my burden to bear, yet he felt it as if it were a strike to his own honor. It left me stunned, frozen in place, my head still bowed over my knees. I had never felt such raw, powerful emotions radiating from anyone like this. But then again, I had never had a mate before.

I lifted my head slowly, blinking through the haze of emotions. His eyes were dark, stormy, locked onto mine, and it was like I could feel every pulse of his heartbeat, every crackling wave of his anger. It wasn’t just about me. It was aboutus.

For a moment, there was only the sound of our breathing. Adrian’s eyes swirled with emotion. Anger and protectiveness were crystalline, but there was something deeper, something that made me feel less alone in my grief.

Adrian’s entire body was tense beside me. “So, they dismissed not only your claim but also handed more power to a man who—” He stopped, panting in a frenzy state.

“Yes.” I nodded. “They did.”

His eyes flashed, his pupils narrowing into dark vertical slits. His beautiful hazel gaze shifted to a deep, ominous brown. Outside, the once starry sky transformed into a mass of churning darkness, and, just like on the yacht earlier, a relentless storm erupted. Thunder cracked violently above, winds spiraling with the force of a tornado, powerful enough to rattle the walls and shatter the windows.