Page 9 of Forever My Siren Luna

I sighed deeply as I shook my head. He continued on with his plans to build a family wing onto the castle for Elelira and himself to share. He still hasn’t given up hope. Niomi has been stepping up and helping be an adoptive parent to him like she was to Ela, helping him not to give up. She loves Luna dearly, and I think she won’t let Lachlan ruin himself for Ela's sake.

“Is it close to completion?”

“Close enough,” Meldec states, looking out over the sea. “Niomi has been trying to talk him into moving into the new room early. She doesn’t think it’s healthy for him to obsess over keeping their old room the way she left it. He wouldn’t even let anyone wash the bedding or touch any of her discarded clothing from the day she left. He wants every bit of her scent to remain in the room for as long as possible.”

“He really loves her,” I whispered, looking down at our hands interlocked together. “I did a horrible thing to him.”

“No,” Meldec murmured, pulling me closer as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “You tried to help her. It was that whore that did the horrible thing.”

I snorted, knowing that is the truth. If she hadn't entered Lachlan’s office and tried seducing him at the worst possible moment, Ela would have talked with him and not run away. I’m sure of it.

Ela loves him too.

Loved.

I doubt she still harbors the same devotion to the man after all she discovered in a single day.

And it’s all my fault.

Four

“I’m serious, Cedric. It’s time for you to stop blaming yourself. No one else does. My alpha blames your king and the whore, and your king blames himself. No one is blaming you. She wouldn't want you to suffer like this.”

I scoffed, doubting that. “I didn’t have to be the one to try and reveal everything to her. I should have….I should have trusted your alpha more. He should have been there with me. Everything would have been fine then.”

“I doubt it would have been fine,” Meldec muttered.

“Not fine, but she would have blamed me or her father more than him. He wouldn’t have been in his office either for that awful woman to try to ensnare him. Ela would be here with us now, not out there somewhere, heaven knows where, defenseless and all alone.”

Meldec makes a face, furrowing his brows. “You know, I don’t think Luna is as defenseless as you all assumed she was.”

“What do you mean?” Of course she is. She is so small and kind. She had to have multiple guards with her at all times because even her mate knew how weak and defenseless she was.

“She was young, and grew up in grave circumstances, but I really never sensed a weak presence about her. She was an Alpha Lycan and a royal siren. She had strong blood, and she was the only one I had ever seen face off against our alpha willingly. His aura is too strong to stand up against, but she could.”

I scoffed. “You didn’t see her the day before she left. She was a wreck. She was the definition of weak, Meldec.”

“I did see her, “ he muttered, “ I was right there with you. You were just so focused on her.”

I could feel his irritation with me. I know he would get annoyed when I chose my princess and her needs over giving him a chance. I wasn’t here for love, though. I was here to protect Elelira at all costs.

And I failed.

Meldec sighed then continued on. “It was her trauma and the demons in her mind she cowered to, not Lachlan. Not even those men. She was weak to her trauma, not to any man. You would all try to shelter her, but I could sense a warrior hidden inside her. Maybe it's because I’m the gamma and it’s my job to decide who will make the strongest warriors, but I always thought it was ridiculous how you all treated her like porcelain. She was made of steel.”

“Steel doesn’t break the way she did,” I narrowed my eyes on him.

“No, but I don’t think she was broken. I think she was in the fires of her life's circumstances, being forged into something even stronger. Quenching and tempering steel is a long process, but the results are something unbreakable, even under dire circumstances.”

I stared at him, marveling at his beautiful words.

But that’s all they are. Just words. She is still gone. She could be dead. Or on the verge of death, for all we know. Meldec is just trying to ease my guilt; trying to make me feel better. I want to believe his words, but I just can’t. Not until I see her again.

My weak, broken princess. Where could you be?

“You say pretty things, painting a beautiful picture, but it doesn’t change reality. She is still gone.”

Meldec sighed, rubbing my shoulder, looking out into the vast sea, knowing nothing else he says will help.