Hush took a moment to let Liam mourn the image he’d held of his parents his entire life, before saying, “If a male like Ilia is willing to harm an innocent child, why wouldn’t he be just as willing to harm his own queen? An alliance easily formed between Ilia and the former fae royals, because your parents thought removing one siren royal would make the other look weaker.”
“…If Ilia and Astrid were mates, hewouldhave grown weaker over time, but they weren’t…” Audrey whispered.
“The nereids had two kings and a queen, the fae had both a king and a queen, but then there was just the Siren King. Only having one siren royal was a strategy your parents would directly benefit from,” Hush sighed to a glaring Liam. “They probably assumed they could manipulate him to agree to their trade deals more easily. Based on how they describe sirens in their own private words, they didn’t consider us to be held to the same air as fae and nereids.”
Something didn’t make sense in my head, even after the four of us sat in silence over this revelation. “Why didn’t Ilia send someone to, um, take care of Audrey?” Audrey lifted her gaze to stare at Hush, as if she were wondering the same thing.
“He did.” Hush stared at the ground. “But Queen Astrid was smart. She knew he wasn’t above murdering a child born out of a marital bond.” Something soft flickered across her expression, but difficult for me to clock behind her mask. “However, I believe the former queen reached out to a powerful witch to cast a protection over Audrey.”
Liam lifted his head, his brows furrowed in thought. “But protection spells wear off. They’re not permanent. The fact that this one seemed to last three decades was already an impressive feat.”
“Which is exactly why you were suddenly able to track her and the other halflings down in this realm a couple of years ago,” Hush stated matter-of-factly. All our eyes widened at that. It was all starting to make sense.
“Drustan’s mom didn’t just protectherdaughter.” I pressed a hand to my chest, a simmering of hope burning my heart. “…She protected all the half-human children.”
Hush nodded in agreement. Audrey’s lips parted.
Liam frowned. “And her mate had her killed for it, because he couldn’t get to Audrey.” He released one of his arms around Audrey to scrape down his face. “And then my parents even documented what they considered their…alliance. Because even though Ilia thought he was strong enough to combat the long-term effects of losing a mate, they probably assumed what it would do to him.” He released Audrey to slump against the wall, sliding down until his ass hit the ground. Folding his arms over his knees, he rested his head on them.
“Jesus,” I muttered. “Drustan discovered all this, then? You think that’s why he killed Liam’s parents?”
Hush lifted a shoulder. “It would make the most sense.”
“Does your sister know?” Audrey asked Liam, crouching down on the floor with him.
Hush shook her head. “I doubt Queen Ada is aware. I stole this from a corner of your archives that had many artifacts and keepsakes that hold no value. Masterfully hidden by the formal fae royals, where no one would think to keep something so important, but they could easily access it whenever they needed. I would be surprised if Ada ever got her hands on this specific journal of theirs.”
Liam released a loud exhale as he nodded against his arms, feeling relief, but probably not enough of it.
“We should tell Drustan about Ilia’s kill order,” I muttered.
All three of them lifted their eyes to look at me, so I elaborated.
“We have to tell him.” I nodded. “If he knew what hisfatherdid, that would be a game changer. No man can stomach the fact that his father killed his mother. It would get Drustan completely on our side.”
Hush lifted a shoulder. “It wouldn’t suck to have the Mad Siren Prince supporting us.”
Liam grumbled, “Dammit. Drustan is amurderer.”
“Apparently, so were your parents,” I retorted.
“We need some time,” Audrey muttered as she glared at me. “I don’t think that Liam and I are in the mental space to make any major decisions right now.”
Hush’s blonde brows furrowed. “I’m not so sure you have the time you want.”
“I don’t care,” Audrey snapped at her. “You just dumped a lot of information on us. Our entire view of ourselves just got thwarted. We need time to process. To regroup how we approach Ilia, the nereids, and even Ada.”
Hush and I exchanged a look. It was like we were both saying,…really?Not to be insensitive, but Audrey had only considered herself to be half-fae for about two years. Adjusting to learn that she’s half-siren shouldn’t be that crazy. But maybe that was a privileged, full-blooded human take for me to have.
“I must take these back,” Hush sighed as she stood from the wall and collected the journals. “I was barely able to leave the Shaw Estate with them. I need to return them, so I don’t reveal my cover.” She locked her eyes on all of us. “I’ll be checking in. We can plan more specifically another time. I can only give you a day or so.”
Audrey and Liam didn’t say anything to her, so I chimed in, “Sounds good.” Hush nodded at me before studying Liam and Audrey with a look I couldn’t decipher behind her mask. Within a blink, she lyskifted and she was gone.
Chapter 19
Iweirdly became both Liam and Audrey’s emotional support the rest of the day. Offering them comforting caffeinated drinks; helping them build Audrey’s new, bigger bed that took up most of her bedroom—but hey, at least Liam fit in that one.
Liam was basically a third roommate at this point, and even though I still got annoyed with him, I accepted the fact that he would be wherever Audrey was. I fought the urge to escape to my boat so that the two of them could play house together at the condo, but I decided I wouldn’t remove myself from my own home just to make them feel more comfortable being in it as a couple.
