Chapter 24
Hush was Caelena Shaw. Drustan’s cousin. Ilia’s niece. The one who stole the dark recipes from the nereids. The one who snuck Liam out into the hall at Bandthral.
“You—” Liam gave her a wide-eyed, bewildered look. “You tried seducing me at Bandthral.”
Hush—Caelena—rolled her eyes at him. “I played my role as the pretty face perfectly. I tried encouraging you to take charge and search my uncle’s room and office properly, but you were too flustered and worried about your mate’s feelings to focus on the mission.
” I snickered at her version of events, but my laugh was ignored by everyone in the room.
“Wait…” Liam’s face paled. “You were there the night Drustan killed—” he snapped his mouth shut, unable to say the words.
“I was,” Caelena nodded. “And as much as you’ve been holding onto this anger and resentment toward Drustan, you need to understand what happened.”
Liam frowned. “What, exactly, happened? Beyond the murder of my parents, that is.”
Caelena gave Liam a stern look. “Drustan only killed your parents because of me.”
Liam cursed, baring his teeth at Caelena, making Audrey have to hold him back.
Sergei snarled, clearing the desk and positioning himself in front of Caelena, lifting a sword to Liam as he growled, “Think very carefully about your next move, fae.”
Liam was struggling to control himself. “Why? Why would Drustan do that for you?”
“Because.” Caelena’s temperament was calm, not defensive but determined. “Your parents were going to kill me first.”
Liam froze, his eyes widening with horror.
Why would Liam’s parents care about Caelena?
She herself said that no one in Hyvenmere considered her to be more than a pretty face.
Something Ilia was able to weaponize to steal from other territories.
What would make the former Fae King and Queen want to end Caelena’s life?
Then it hit me.
“Because of your whismerra…” I whispered my assumption.
Everyone in the room stilled.
“Yes,” Caelena confirmed. “I wasn’t raised like all of you.
I didn’t grow up in society. My parents protected me.
Kept me safe from the ancient law that demanded I be executed.
That cabin that guards the entrance to these tunnels is my childhood home.
” I pictured my first impression of the cabin, how it looked lived in once upon a time.
I could practically feel the warmth that was soaked into the structure over the years and years.
Caelena’s family home.
“My parents first discovered my whismerra when I was an infant. I couldn’t project clear thoughts, obviously.
Just feelings.” Caelena paced the room before deciding to lean against the wall where Fergus once was.
“They took me away. To the base of the Fjellenheim Mountains. My mother was a witch—the one Queen Astrid worked with to develop the protection spell over Audrey and the other halflings in the human realm. My father and Ilia were brothers, and my mother was from one of the small towns scattered between here and Lydhavn. It wasn’t a suspicious move my parents made, and Ilia granted them his blessing to leave the city, because my father was farther away from the throne.
In Ilia’s eyes, his brother picking up his mate and newborn, and leaving the city, was the equivalent of giving Ilia his blessing to rule with Queen Astrid.
So, I was raised here.” She gestured toward the cavern.
“My mother taught me everything she knew. Educating me on the goddess Tynara and the power she stored here.” Caelena marched over to the far wall where the many maroon drapes hung and pulled one back.
This revealed a series of carvings. Old enough to be marked long ago but preserved.
“What does that say?” I asked.
There was a reverent, heavy silence in the room until Audrey started to speak, translating:
When contention shrouds the continents, an Idol shall rise.
Their hand shall heal, their roots sunk deep in timeless soil.
Guided by the holy elements, they shall cast down the ancient beast
and bind the realm in long-lost unity.
“The prophecy,” Liam breathed in awe. “This must have been one of the earliest documentations of it.”
“My mother believed the Goddess Tynara carved these words herself, before she left us,” Caelena added. “My studies were held in this very room my entire childhood.”
Audrey stared wide-eyed, releasing her hold on Liam to step forward and gently trail a finger just outside the carvings.
“…Was it you?” she asked, turning to look at Caelena.
“Was it you who started the rumors that it wasn’t Ilia who was prophesied to unite the realm…
but me?” Caelena simply nodded, making Audrey press a hand to her chest in shock.
“Yes. I studied our history here,” Caelena explained. “As well as many other subjects. My father pushed me to become skilled enough to destroy any enemies should anyone discover my whismerra and demand my death.”
Audrey spoke in a reverent tone, with her eyes glued to her prophecy, “But by doing that, wouldn’t your parents put their own lives at risk? Breaking the law by hiding you?”
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 my whismerra 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.