Page 7 of Shattered Galaxies (Tears of the Siren #6)

Adriel

Lorcan’s initial disappearance from my life sent me down a trajectory I could have never anticipated.

It inspired a strength I’m not sure I would have found otherwise—especially not with the kind of parents I had.

They’d been far from ‘good’ by any measure, and they certainly didn’t provide examples of anything worth emulating.

As a star elf, I’d been given privileges in the Elven realm—status, power, lineage.

But like every other young elf, I’d been shipped off to military school, an attempt by our parents to shield us from the chaos that bloomed inside the Kingdom of Day.

I took the opportunity to escape for a short time to the Earth realm under the guise of expanding my studies.

It was then that I had the chance meeting that brought Desmond and Dean into my life.

Or maybe the meeting was inevitable. I was always meant to meet Lorcan, after all.

And when I lost her—when that tether of rightness vanished—I couldn’t return to what I’d been before.

I couldn’t serve a realm that had violently suffocated me.

When my parents died, I didn’t mourn. I splintered.

I walked away from the Kingdom of Day, from everything I was supposed to be, and stepped into the unknown with nothing but magic and determination.

I lost many, but I gained a strength—a power. I became someone who would fight for something real, who would die to protect my kingdom. All in the name of creating a space that I could be proud of. One I could call home.

In the silence of those years—buried in scrolls, reading prophecy, tracing forgotten bloodlines—I thought about her. Always her.

And now, she swam ahead of me. Alive. Powerful. Mine .

I watched her elegant form swim through the submerged tunnel, gigantic runes lighting the way and casting her in a blue glow.

Her tail moved as a natural extension of herself, and I had to contain the groan that nearly broke from my throat.

I had no fucking reason to find a tail attractive—but reason didn’t exactly apply to my feelings about Lorcan.

I felt strongly about everything she did, especially about the star we’d created together.

My thoughts were pulled from that particular train of thought as Lorcan darted up, the tunnel coming to a dead end before leading upwards.

Seconds later, we broke the surface of the water, our air bubbles popping as Lorcan shifted into her human form.

Pulling herself up onto the ledge, she let out a huff.

“Well, that was wild.”

“A primordial sea creature asking for your blood?” I mused as she shook her head in disbelief.

“And hey, before anyone gives me shit”—Lorcan narrowed her eyes at the other men getting out of the water, particularly at Dean, Cash, and Draven—“I didn’t exactly have a choice! Plus, for a sea creature that absolutely could have slaughtered us, he was pretty cool.”

“You did great, bunny,” Rhett said supportively, and I chuckled at the disgruntled looks from the others, though Desmond and I shared a look of understanding. Zander, however, was in a world of his own, walking past all of us to inspect the rune on the door ahead.

The air here was ancient and layered with magic.

Wet stones splashed by water glittered with naturally formed gemstones embedded inside, and when I really looked at the rune that had caught Zander’s attention, I couldn’t help but pause as well.

I faintly recognized it; I just didn’t know from where.

“I have no idea how to open this,” Lorcan admitted as I followed behind her, noticing how the glow from the door grew brighter in her presence.

“I don’t think you’ll have to do anything.”

The moment Lorcan approached the door, I was proven correct.

The chilling noise of rock moving against rock echoed through the cavern, causing me to wince.

I could feel magic building behind the door as the gigantic stone disappeared into the earth, and as soon as it was gone a blast of magic—a phantom wind—hit us so hard it nearly threw us back.

Lorcan’s body pressed against mine as I held her firm.

The sound of crashing waves and storms filled the air—almost as if they existed as a memory—before everything silenced.

The archway that had once been the door stood proudly in welcome, and our group approached quietly as we took in the temple that lay beyond.

The blue marble and gold veined stone soared nearly three stories up, crystallized rock covering the ceiling.

Artifacts covered every surface in the space, and a sigil incorporating all four pure siren lines stood at the back of the room, nearly thirty feet in height.

The scent of parchment and oil saturated the room, and there was an undertone, a murmur, of voices long forgotten.

A sense of wonder filled my chest—I’d absolutely never seen anything like this before.

“I think we found the place,” Draven stated simply, nearly making me crack a smile.

We began to spread out and explore the open chamber, an archive containing priceless pieces of information.

Artifacts never seen by the outside world.

I picked up scroll after scroll, examining the seal resting on each edge.

All were unopened. Large texts glittered from where they rested on marble tables, and sheets of music, poetry, and artwork lay scattered everywhere.

Anything could be preserved here. It felt endless.

“This was never meant to be found,” Zander noted from across the table. “These texts, these relics—all of them preserve our heritage. The fact that anyone is laying eyes on this except Lorcan or Cormac…it concerns me. I don’t understand why it’s welcoming us here.”

“Our bond with Lorcan,” I wagered.

“I don’t have the same bond with her,” Zander said, not looking happy about that.

I tilted my head at him. “You have a soul bond with her, Zander. What are you talking about?”

Zander hesitated for a long moment, holding my gaze. The truth—his distress—was blatant on his face. “That is magic. I’m not her bonded…it’s different.”

“The same could be said about Draven.”

The siren considered my words before adding in a quiet voice, “She loves Draven, though.”

I nearly rolled my eyes at the bastard.

“I think you’ll find that Lorcan doesn’t keep people in her life that she doesn’t love, Zander.” Leaving him to think on that, I made my way across the room and toward Lorcan. Her hand was on a crystal—a line of them lighting up in tine to her touches. I arched a brow curiously.

“Music,” she said. “Compositions they’ve made—they’re beautiful. Some of them are for crop growth, to encourage the earth, but others are to place enemies under a spell.”

“Anything powerful enough for what we need?”

“Unfortunately not.” She sighed and stepped away, making her way to the large sigil on the wall. Her fingers traced the sigil as it lit up the Darklace part, causing Lorcan to huff.

“At this point I think it’s clear I’m a Darklace, but I need to know if Beryl is still alive.

I think Elizabeth and Lucas were my parents—that vision I had showed as much—but nothing past that.

Why did Beryl leave us with Jeanie and Nelson?

Or did she? And who was our grandfather?

” The rambling set of questions caught me off guard as her voice took on a slightly panicked tone.

“You’re on this family tree!” Rhett called out, causing both of us to look over. “Both you and Cormac. Someone has been able to update this.”

“Maybe Beryl?” Lorcan asked, mostly to herself.

I answered anyway. “Elves—and I would presume sirens—live a very long time.” Zander essentially proved that point.

“You know what…I’m going to try something.”

She stepped closer to the sigil and pressed her palm against it.

I watched curiously as magic lifted from the stone and wrapped around her wrist, vibrating the space around us.

At first, it seemed to just cause a physical reaction, similar to the elevator in the skyscraper, but then a door to our left—seamlessly integrated into the cavern—opened with a puff of smoke.

This place was a maze of tunnels, I had a feeling.

Above the door, the Darklace sigil lit up the darkened hallway.

“Let’s go,” she said, and I followed willingly.

As we stepped through the hall, the glowing bulbs of magic on the walls lit up a bright aqua.

I could hear the others following, their conversation quiet as Lorcan stepped into the cavern the passageway led to.

One that was much smaller but featured a piece of artwork I couldn’t look away from.

An epic mural of war stood prominently on the back wall. It featured creatures rising from the ground, their shadowy grasps reaching upwards. Angels soared in the heavens, and chaos reigned supreme. My eyes were drawn to the sirens in the center of it, their magic clashing with the shadowed beasts.

“The Cosmos Wars,” Draven said, his voice filled with a heavy amount of emotion—for him. Lorcan turned to examine his expression.

“The sirens were part of it?” Lorcan asked.

“We were,” Zander agreed. “Although I…not as much as others.”

His words faded into the background as I approached a table that sat to the right side of the chamber—hand-carved stone with words in a language I didn’t recognize running around the edge. Crouching down, I examined the shakily created symbols as Lorcan joined me.

“See anything?” she asked softly.

“No, but it’s the only piece of furniture in here besides the artwork, which is a bit odd…”

Lorcan’s fingers grazed over the words, which immediately shifted and transformed to read: Darklace . A creaking noise sounded before a pop of air revealed a center chamber within the table.