Mine, he had said. I shook my head.
“Nope.” I lifted the remote and switched the TV to something else. Desperate to change the environment enough to move on from that conversation. To pretend like I wasn’t hypothesizing something absolutely crazy. “Nope. Nope. Nope.”
Audrey and Liam didn’t return to society until three days later, and while they were clearly in some type of honeymoon phase, desperate to hold hands or touch each other as much as possible, they weren’t nearly asobsessedwith each other as they were before.
However, the recent development in their relationship soon took a back burner, because Hush had reached out to Liam tomeet up again. It’s how we ended up in my back office a week and a half after I visited Enhavenn with them, and Drustan pinned me against himself and sniffed my hair. Only days after, I gained newfound knowledge about Hyvenmerian’s eyes shifting to solid black.
But I refused to waste energy hyper-fixating on the silly hypothesis I had, so I locked in when Hush entered my office with an object in her hand, lifted in the air for everyone to see.
“This is the former Siren Queen’s private journal.” She let her gaze flick across all of us in the room. “Before I share more information,you, halfling, need to read the passages I marked.” Hush dropped the worn journal on my desk without flourish, making Audrey jump. “Now.”
My friend lifted an eyebrow at Hush before tentatively taking the journal in her hands, gazing at the page Hush flopped open to. The room was silent and tense as Audrey’s eyes quickly began skimming the pages filled with a beautiful written language I still couldn’t interpret.
“This…this is about me.” Audrey’s face paled with her whispered words. Liam immediately stepped to her side, protective instincts kicking in.
“What does it say?” I asked, shifting my weight from one leg to the other.
Audrey shook her head as she held the journal closer to her face. It looked like she was reading the same line again and again as she whispered, “I’m not fae.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. Liam’s eyes widened before he snatched the book from her hands and read the pages more intently.
“I’m—” Audrey shook her head again, her gaze looked distant as she stared at a spot on my desk. “I’m not half-fae…”
“So then, what are you?” I asked.
Audrey’s hazel eyes locked on mine, the sun setting outside shone through the window at an angle that illuminated them just right, brightening the warm undertones of the hazel in them. The gold streaks in her irises gave me the answer before she could.
My lips parted in surprise. The room’s silence was thick, and when Liam read the same passage, his whole body stiffened. His gaze also kept scanning the pages, reading and rereading the language I couldn’t.
“…I’m half siren…” Audrey breathed.
Oh my god.
My best friend, who was mated to a fae prince, wasn’t half ofhispeople like she thought. Instead, Liam’s mate was half of his worst enemy. Half of Audrey’s DNA was from a people who betrayed Liam in the worst possible way.
“…That’s why you didn’t recognize Liam for so long,” I murmured, rubbing the side of my neck as I held eye contact with her. “You wouldn’t feel his heartbeat when you recognized your mate. You would recognize his sound.” I recalled Audrey stopping mid-sentence when sheheardLiam approaching the condo a few days ago.
It was why Liam felt their connection in his heart immediately, but Audrey didn’t. It was why Liam waitedyearsto tell Audrey what he knew. How much longer would he have waited had I not accidentally revealed their bond to Audrey?
Hush dropped her head and cursed, rubbing her brow with pinched fingers.
Liam tilted his head toward Hush. “Did you suspect this?”
Hush lifted her gaze to stare at the ceiling. “Yes. This confirms my suspicions.”
I gaped at her. “You suspected that Audrey was half-siren and not fae this whole time?”
Hush lifted a shoulder. “Not initially. But it makes more sense that Audrey is a siren.”
“How?” I questioned.
“Not recognizing her mate the standard fae way, for one, implied that she is something else—” She turned to Liam, who stiffened. “Yes, I recognized your heart desperately trying to time itself with hers every time we were in the same room. Siren ears are better at picking up patterns like that.” Liam squeezed Audrey’s shoulder, tucking her closer to his body. I was side eyeing him, knowing he had disdain toward sirens in general because of what Drustan did to his parents, but he seemed to be taking Audrey’s new identity in stride, from the way he didn’t hesitate to hold her through this.
Perhaps the mating bond between them put things into perspective for him. I studied Audrey’s dark red hair, so similar to…
“If that’s Drustan’s mother’s journal, are you and Drustan related?” I raised my eyebrows. Hush and Audrey nodded while Liam frowned. “Wow…” I scraped a hand on my cheek in thought. “You’re siblings with Drustan?”
“Half-siblings,” Liam muttered.
