Page 28 of Shattered Galaxies (Tears of the Siren #6)

Lorcan

The bright morning sun lit the back yard as I took a long sip of my iced coffee.

If I ignored the chaos of last night—the slaughter of my stalker and the revelation of the true depravity of the dark ones’ long-term plan—I could almost imagine this was a totally normal morning.

I was even in a bright blue sundress, the soft linen material very comfortable in the morning heat.

“Still pretty cool that you were talking to the Cosmos god,” Rhett commented as I finished telling him about the vision that had sparked the previous night’s events.

“Very cool,” Cash agreed. Dean didn’t say anything, his hand tightening on my leg in support.

While the others were making breakfast in the kitchen, the Reid brothers were absolutely not leaving my side anytime soon.

I couldn’t even blame them. Their worst-case scenario regarding my stalker happened when they left for a pride meeting—after I’d pretty much forced them to go despite their concerns.

So I understood if they didn’t want to let me out of their sight for a bit.

I was just thankful that Rhett and Cash were attempting to act ‘normal’ and relaxed.

I wouldn’t have blamed them if they’d remained tense, but once they saw the carnage Desmond had brought down on Malcroy, it had gone a long way to soothe their fury.

“I mean the entire ‘the time has come’ and ‘prepare for war’ element wasn’t as fun…” I let my words hang as I took another long sip of my iced coffee. This was far from the first time that I’d talked with the Cosmos god, but something about this interaction felt more personal. ”

“I don’t understand, though. If this asshole is the Cosmos god,” Cash said, “why can’t he just handle this shit?”

“Some things are more powerful than even creationist gods,” Desmond said, walking out of the house with a plate of donuts. I happily took one as he smoothed a hand over my hair and dropped a kiss to the top of my head.

After a good night of sleep, Desmond appeared to be doing much better. Sort of. There was still a feral, tightly controlled edge to him. A simmering energy right beneath the surface.

“Do you think he’s the Maker?” I decided to ask the existential question that had been rolling around in my head for a bit now.

Everyone went quiet. I mean, it would be easy to assume he was—but at the same time, I felt like there was a reason he was called the Cosmos god.

“Not exactly,” Zander said, stepping out onto the patio with a cup of coffee in hand. “At least not fully—although I’m sure he wouldn’t mind people believing that. The Cosmos god is a being that individuals can interact with and see, the other not so much.”

“He’s also waged active wars in the past,” Draven agreed, carrying out a bowl of fruit. “He’s not nearly as ‘godly’ as many would believe, and far from infallible.”

“So no one has met the Maker then.”

“There’s a theory that he’s part of the Maker,” Zander said, easing himself into a chair. “That he is one very active part of a much larger system of creationist deities. I’ve tried to ask before, but he gets evasive.”

Fascinating.

“That would also make sense why he can’t help or why he isn’t as powerful as the dark ones,” Adriel said, carrying the last dish of breakfast food.

I swear, these men didn’t even realize how thoughtful they were.

I immediately began eating, my appetite making a full appearance after the chaos of last night.

“Hopefully the visions will stop for a bit,” I murmured, half kidding…and half not. Suddenly, a scream of excitement rang through the house, and we all snapped our heads over to Maggie sprinting towards us through the kitchen.

Not just Maggie, though. Woody was sprinting after her happily…along with a kitten.

“Look what Woody brought me!” Maggie twirled out the door and presented the two of them like a magic show. “I was telling him yesterday how I wished we had a kitten so they could be best friends…and look! A kitten has appeared.”

For a moment, we all just stared in silence.

“Good job, Woody,” I said, petting his head as he let out a bark. Maggie scooped up the kitten as if that had been the permission she’d needed. When Woody hopped up on my lap, Dean let out a soft rumble and rubbed under his chin as if saying ‘good job.’ Interesting .

“I can keep her, right?!” Maggie asked as she went around the table, showing off the adorable poof of orange fur.

“Yeah,” Dean said—the first thing he’d said pretty much all morning.

“Oh, how exciting!” Maggie twirled again and then ran to the center of the yard, Woody jumping off to follow. I watched in amusement as the three of them laid out in the grass, the others talking—humor evident in their voices—as I looked at Dean.

“That was nice of you,” I said softly.

His dark eyes held mine as he shrugged, trying to act like it was no big deal. “I figured Woody would want a buddy, and Maggie has been asking for her own pet for forever. Only seemed right.”

Extremely thoughtful since at some point Woody and Maggie would be separated—eventually she would go off to college or move out, even if just for a while.

Though it was insane to think of her leaving, especially since I truly considered her my little sister. I was happy to see that she seemed mostly unaffected by the events of last night.

Thank the Maker.

“I need to call Cormac,” I announced. “I know Nova is bound to reach out to us soon—probably today or tomorrow—and I want to handle something before we have to leave again.”

“Going to see Jeanie and Nelson?” Rhett hazarded.

“Yeah. I think it’s time to learn the truth.”

“Nice place!” I called out, waving to Riley as Cormac jogged down the steps to hop into my car. My sleek vintage lavender sports car was as perfect as I’d left it, and I found myself happy for the small little luxury in an otherwise chaotic time of chaos.

“You know they’re going to tail us,” he said, amused, as he sank into the passenger seat. I did know that—in fact, I was sure Dean was already following me. “But at least we get the illusion of doing shit on our own.”

“I’m still stuck on your house.” I examined the contemporary adobe exterior. It was a warm brown with red undertones, and there were large cacti throughout the front yard. I loved it.

“Quinn and Riley have really worked on making it home, and those plants are thanks to Elora. She’s an amazing gardener.” His self-evident contentment made me happy in a way I wasn’t sure I could explain to anyone who wasn’t a twin.

Pulling out of the driveway, I drove to the Louvre estate across the compound. If it wasn’t for the heat, we could have walked, but that sounded absolutely horrible.

“Last night was a shit show,” Cormac said casually. “Sort of hot how Desmond slaughtered all of them though.”

I shot my brother a playful look, because I didn’t like anyone using the word ‘hot’ in reference to Desmond—and Maker, I’d gotten so possessive. “You aren’t wrong…plus, something good came out of yesterday, besides my stalker being dead.”

“What’s that?”

“We know how to kill the humanoid counterparts to the world eaters.”

“That’s true,” Cormac said with a slight smile. “Shit, that’s awesome.”

A frown took over his face. I offered him a questioning look, turning down the street with Jeanie and Nelson’s estate.

“I know that I’m not necessary to saving the world,” he said wryly, “but I don’t even know how to help when most of my power resides in playing the piano. I can’t bring a fucking piano with me to the battlefield. Elora and I are trying to figure out how to handle that.”

“Why not a keyboard of some type? Like one of those you can wear across your chest?”

Cormac stared at me for a long moment before sighing. “Well now I feel dumb.”

I barked out a surprised laugh. “Not dumb, just overthinking it.”

As I parked the car, both of us stared at the modern monstrosity of an estate that we’d grown up in. There was a tension in our arrival; I could feel it radiating in the space between us. A heavy truth waited behind those doors.

“Are you sure you want to do this now?”

I considered Cormac’s words before nodding. “We need to—or at least I need to. I can’t go into a war where we could lose everything without knowing all sides of the truth.”

And no matter what they said, I was thankful—grateful—for the protection they’d given us while growing up, even if it was just through wealth. But now, in the light of everything that had happened, I wanted to see through the layers of secrecy.

“Right,” he murmured. “Let’s do this shit.”

“And hey—no matter what they say, we have always had each other.”

“And always will.” Cormac nodded, pushing the car door open with determination.

The Louvre estate was undoubtedly beautiful, hard lines and concrete and so much damn glass. As we approached the massive doors, I knew what we would find behind. Abstract art, luxurious furniture—and absolutely no warmth. Nothing to remind you that it was a home.

Because it wasn’t one. At least, not my home.

Knocking on the door didn’t prove necessary because Jeanie opened the door, her eyes filled with a rare glimpse of affection.

“Lorcan, Cormac! I was excited to hear you were stopping by.”

“I’ve been out of town for a while, wanted to touch base,” I explained, giving her a quick hug as I stepped into the gorgeous masterpiece of architecture.

“Drinks? We have to celebrate all being back together!” Nelson called out from the kitchen as he poured some champagne.

All of this was completely unsurprising, if we were being honest—this was them .

This had always been them. And once we turned eighteen—hell, once we’d moved to California—they’d stopped trying to be parents and instead became more like friends.

“Sure.” Cormac walked across the room to help Nelson carry them into the living room.