Chapter 22 #2
I gasped and did what I was told. I even went as far as to crouch, because for some reason, that felt like something to do when squeezing my eyes closed and pressing my palms over my ears.
I still heard the siren’s screams, though. It couldn’t have been more than a minute of time. Wails, guttural choking, cries of pain, all of it. Suddenly, but not soon enough, the sounds stopped. I kept my position. My breathing was still uneven, but at least I was breathing.
Warm hands wrapped around my wrists to expose my ears.
“I’m taking you out of here,” Hush assured me.
I nodded but kept my eyes closed as she used her lyskift.
After she settled me on a rock some distance away, so I could put my head between my knees, a poor attempt to catch my breath, Drustan was with us again.
Audrey whimpered, “…You killed them all.”
“Now,” Drustan’s tone wasn’t playful, but firm.
“Tell me exactly why I just ended their lives for you three.” I lifted my head to stare at him.
Drustan looked…terrifying. His red hair was half pulled back in his favorite style, except for a few loose strands that framed his hard face.
His hands had dark red blood all over them, which he was now wiping off with a rag he pulled out of one of his pockets in his pants.
Apparently, siren military uniforms also had clean-up supplies.
Drustan looked mildly inconvenienced, but his eyes were pure black again. No whites, no irises.
Audrey was standing next to him, pale, staring at me as Hush knelt by my side. Her wide hazel eyes kept flicking between the three of us. I recognized the same expression from that horrible night I burned our foster home to the ground. She might have been going into shock again.
“You need to control that better,” Hush muttered, pointing an accusing finger at Drustan’s face. “Your composure is fading more and more, Dru.” I flinched at her nickname for him.
“That is not something you need to concern yourself with,” Drustan grunted, blinking until his eyes shifted back to gold.
“Now, tell me what you’re hiding.” Audrey didn’t seem to hear their conversation.
She seemed like she was elsewhere, struggling to blink herself back to the present.
Hush stood with her fists balled up, before she inhaled a deep breath to compose herself.
My heartbeat was in my ears.
“…This could risk the lives of thousands,” Hush replied. Drustan stared at her, not budging, waiting her out. She lowered her voice before saying in her clear voice, “Thousands of females and children are seeking refuge from your father’s rule.”
Drustan didn’t react, didn’t blink. Just stared at her, before shifting his eyes over to me.
“I just learned about this tonight—well, last night.” I glanced off into the distance, where the sun was rising and turning the sky pink and orange.
“Where?” Drustan asked.
“I can’t tell you that, yet.”
I started playing my favorite tune in my head, determined to focus on every single note, not to give anything away to him accidentally. I hoped Audrey was doing something similar, and based on the frown she gave the ground, I assumed she was.
“What is your plan?” Drustan pressed as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Hush tilted her head to the side. “Do you understand why Ilia cannot find them?”
Drustan huffed an annoyed breath as he responded with, “Probably the same reason he executed a seemingly random twenty-six-year-old male during Bandthral.”
I widened my eyes in horror. The Bandthral I was at? The one Drustan massaged me at? Is that where his father went off to? With Sergei. That must have been why Sergei was so confident that Ilia would kill them all. He probably watched Ilia do it with his own eyes.
“You knew Ilia was doing this?” Hush sounded very angry, angrier than I think common sirens were allowed to be with Drustan.
“I just learned of the execution this morning,” Drustan replied. “But I only assumed why the execution happened, and you seem to be confirming it.”
“Oh my god.” I breathed.
“I am still failing to understand Vanessa’s and the halfling’s involvement in all of this.” Drustan’s golden eyes slid over to me.
I stood from my seat on the rock and mirrored his pose. “Because I don’t need your blessing to be involved.”
“No, but that won’t stop me from carrying you out of this realm myself,” Drustan retorted. Color was slowly coming back to Audrey’s face, and her stare turned skeptical as she watched Drustan and me argue back and forth.
“I fucking dare you,” I threatened. Without hesitation, Drustan stepped toward me, but Hush halted him with her hand on his chest.
“The halfling and her mate need to inform the fae and nereids of the situation, immediately,” Hush interrupted, making Drustan focus his attention back on her.
His expression was still stony, giving nothing away.
“That’s how close your father’s guard is to discovering what desires to be hidden.
What do you think would have happened had Leon and his entourage found what they were looking for? ”
Drustan nodded, scraping a hand down his face.
“If you’re looking for my blessing to conspire with other territories to dispose of my father,” Drustan muttered as a rock formed in my throat. “You don’t need one. No one will be happier with his death than me.”
Well. Damn.
“If that’s really how you feel,” Audrey narrowed her eyes at him, suspicious. “Why haven’t you just killed him yourself? You have no issue taking lives as you please, it seems.”
In response, Drustan gave her a bored expression and said, “Do you think the Gravhune was a pleasant experience for me? That I’m desperate to pay it another visit?
” he rolled his eyes at her and continued, “Who, exactly, would vouch for me if I took it upon myself to dispose of him? Who would plead the case that I shouldn’t be sent back to the Gravhune for his demise?
Many would be happy to see me sent back for less. ”
“But why are you with him?” I asked, making everyone turn to face me again. “If you wish to see him dead, why are you doing his bidding?” It didn’t make sense to me quite yet and based on the nod Audrey gave me, she agreed.
“My father’s power is rising at an indescribable rate,” Drustan replied.
“For years, since before I was sent to the Gravhune, he’s spoken privately about one single goal of his.
When I was released from the Gravhune, there were rumors in the guard that he was closer to meeting it,” he chuckled to himself.
“I wasn’t about to be on my father’s bad side if that were the case. ”
“What goal did Ilia have, exactly?” Audrey crossed her arms and popped a hip out.
“Strengthening his sinndra,” Drustan replied, stepping closer to me almost mindlessly as he addressed her. “Enough to command his guard himself. Enough to manipulate the fae and nereid governments to obey his every word.”
Audrey paled, but Hush didn’t seem too surprised by this revelation.
“The recipes you stole for him the night of Fergus’s party,” I whispered. “That’s—that’s why he felt confident the gates would be closed now. He must have found what he needed to—to—” Drustan just nodded, confirming my hypothesis.
“Why are you telling us any of this?” Audrey glared at the Mad Siren Prince. “If you’re so self-centered enough to happily steal what Ilia needs and to do his bidding, why should we trust you?”
“Because the stakes have changed since you’ve stepped foot into Hyvenmere, halfling,” Drustan lifted a brow at her.
“My father is not the prophesied one he has claimed to be, is he?” Audrey frowned at Drustan as he explained, “This means that my father is not as untouchable as the realm once believed.”
“Which is why he needs to go,” Hush confirmed.
“But…” Audrey stuttered. “You’re okay with us just killing your father instead of sending him to the Gravhune? Like you had to experience?”
Drustan gave her a look of disbelief, “I think just killing him would save everyone time and energy. But…” he lifted a shoulder. “I am not as terrified to take a life as you seem to be.”
“Because I’m not a soulless monster,” Audrey grumbled. I flinched at her words, which she clocked immediately. Instead of apologizing as she did before, though, Audrey just held my gaze.
“Will you be willing to do what needs to be done once Ilia is gone?” Hush asked.
Drustan rolled his eyes and scoffed. “I am not meant to rule.”
“You do not have a choice.” Hush stepped forward, her hands out to emphasize her words.
“Whether he dies at the hands of rebels, or dies a natural death, you are still the next in line. Our lands will be uneasy, and the revolution will create extremists who will make Ilia a martyr. We need you to guide our people into peaceful living, regardless of who can touch whose mind.”
“Why would you ask the Mad Siren Prince to become another Mad Siren King?” Drustan asked.
“Because you have to,” I chimed in. Audrey glared at me before turning her anger to the side. I knew she was displeased by the conversation, by the reality we all had to face, but Hush was right. We were even shorter on time than we thought, if Amber and Leon were onto us.
Hush and Drustan turned to look at me, but his expression was particularly annoyed at my comment. I stepped toward them, determined not to shout or yell in case any more of Ilia’s spies were lurking around. If Amber sent another unit to follow her brother’s.
“You have to step up, Dru.” I hesitated.
I hadn’t called him that since I thought he was a human.
His eyes softened at the nickname, but I was determined to ignore his feelings and get my point across.
“Your people need you. You’re in a privileged position here.
You can inspire real change. Just imagine all the good you can—what are you doing? ”
Drustan had taken a few steps toward me, his eyes hooded and focused on my face. “Staring.”