Caelena nodded solemnly, “Raising me, protecting their only child, eventually cost them their lives.”
Grief that I had no right to feel, filled my chest, and I couldn’t stop myself from placing a hand between my breasts to ease the ache. “I’m so sorry.”
Caelena ignored me and continued, “When I was older, barely fifteen years old, my parents deemed me ready to enter Lydhavn. They introduced me to the king, my cousin, and started to educate me on proper siren society. I had passed all my parents’ lessons with perfect marks, and they were confident I could keep my own secret. Drustan, however, is cleverer than anyone gives him credit for.” Caelena sighed. “We returned to Lydhavn just after the Siren Queen’s mysterious death.” She threw a look in Liam’s direction, who furrowed his brows from being reminded of his parent’s crime. “I was being taught siren politics, which is why, after a few weeks in Lydhavn, I was invited to attend Queen Ada’s birthday celebration that night.”
Liam looked more and more uncomfortable as Caelena told her story. Perhaps that was why Sergei had slowly lowered his weapon, an untrusting eye locked on him as Caelena continued.
“I thought I was ready.” Caelena leaned her head back against the wall. “I thought I was strong enough. But I wasn’t.” She bit her lip and closed her eyes through the next part of her story, “When I first arrived in Lydhavn, Drustan suspected mywhismerra almost immediately. He and I spent the most time together, and he tricked me. Thinking something loud and clear, exactly how he would vocalize it, while his back was turned to me. I responded, assuming I had heard his voice. But no.” She shook her head. “He tricked me with his mind.”
Audrey exhaled a nervous gasp. “But, Drustan has whismerra, too. So, he couldn’t turn you in.”
Caelena gave a mischievous smirk at the ceiling before locking her gaze on Audrey. “Drustan has no whismerra at all.”
I frowned.What? That couldn’t be right.
“He’s been in my mind,” I argued. “How could Drustan have known my thoughts if he doesn’t have whismerra?”
“There is only one other way a siren can enter the mind of another,” Caelena explained. “A way that is not only allowed but sought after.”
My stomach sank as Liam cursed, “Are you implying that Drustan and Vanessa are mates?”
Audrey paled and asked, “Mated sirens can enter the minds of others?”
“No.” Caelena shook her head. “Mated sirens can enter the minds of their mate. That’s it. No one else.”
“That’s why he killed Leon for slapping you…” Audrey murmured to the ground. “I suspected, obviously. I thought I saw his eyes flicker to black.” She gave me an accusing look; one I didn’t bother responding to. “He must have known you were his mate since Fergus’s birthday.” Audrey looked very confused, so when she opened her mouth to ask more questions, I tried to get the conversation back on track.
“So Drustan killed Liam’s parents because they discovered your whismerra?”
Coward, Caelena taunted in my mind.
Fuck off, I thought as loudly as I could.
“Yes.” Caelena looked remorseful, and part of me felt bad for diverting the subject back to such a sensitive one. “I had tried to whisper something to Drustan during dinner. He was the only one who knew my secret besides my parents…he and I hadn’t known each other for more than a few weeks, but Drustan was the only friend I had.” Caelena’s gaze grew distant, and part of me wondered if she was reliving the memory as she told us about it. “Unfortunately, Drustan didn’t hear me…your parents did.”
Liam clutched Audrey closer to him, seeking her comfort while his eyes were glued to Caelena. His full attention focused on her story. I couldn’t imagine being haunted by this memory. Holding a grudge against your parents’ murderer for over a decade, only to discover the horrible things your parents did. To hear the perspective of someone else involved in the crime.
“I was terrified. I screamed into Drustan’s mind what I had done. I was convinced I had committed my own death sentence. The entire dinner, I kept waiting for the Fae King and Queen to reveal what I did. But they didn’t. I kept stealing glances in their heads, determined to figure out what their angle was.” Caelena’s lips pressed together, and the divot between her brows deepened. “Their minds were not a place I wanted to linger. They were cold. They were calculating—very unlike the demeanor they performed for everyone else. I almost couldn’t believe it.” Caelena shook her head. “I was horrified. I combed through their minds while they continued a pleasant conversation with Ilia and the Nereid Kings and Queen. That’s when I found a horrid recent memory of theirs. The death of Drustan’s mother.”
Liam cursed, pulling Audrey in front of him so he could wrap his arms around her and rest his face in her hair. She stared wide-eyed at Hush, stroking his arms and providing comfort the best she could. Sergei continued to stand as a guard in front of Caelena, and I contemplated the clusterfuck of this situation.
“Were your parents there?” I asked Caelena with a soft, yet prying, tone.
Caelena nodded. “I didn’t tell my parents what I had done. I was terrified that if I made it out of Enharra alive, they would send me back to my lonely life in the mountains. I was a stupid adolescent.” Caelena’s eyes started to get red with unshed tears. She desperately fought them back. “This is why, when the Fae King and Queen requested to join my parents in their chambers that night, assuming I’d be with them, my parents invited them in without question. Unaware that within seconds, the fae royals will have poisoned them…” My heart shattered for her. “I awoke to my parents screaming their last thoughts to me. Telling me to run. To get out. They were gone before I even sat up in bed.” Caelena closed her eyes, allowing one single tear to trail down her cheek.
She wiped it away before continuing.
“I was staying in Drustan’s chamber, who awoke from my distress. Told him my mistake, shared the memory I stole of his mother’s death.” Caelena locked eyes with Liam again. “Drustan attended that dinner already fully aware of who murdered his mother, and who asked them to do it. But once he saw in real time your parents planning to execute me as well…Drustan decided enough was enough. He took things into his own hands.”
The room felt cold, as if the unveiling that Caelena was bestowing on us came with a haunted wind. A reverent confirmation that each of us experienced with her words. I folded my arms, rubbing my palms on the outside sleeves of my leather jacket.
“…Then Drustan was sent to the Gravhune, and Ilia—who hasneverlearned about my whismerra—ordered me to train with his guard, as his last surviving heir,” Caelena concluded her story; squaring her shoulders.
“Your parents’ last thoughts were focused on saving you,” Audrey murmured. “Every choice they ever made was to saveyou.”
“Similarly to your mother,” Caelena agreed with a sad, empathetic expression. Audrey sniffled, wiping from her eyes, the tears that refused to stay put.
“To think that two women, who were willing to protect their children no matter the cost…” I murmured, heavy with emotion over the concept. “Started such an important chain of events.”
