Page 9 of Shattered Galaxies (Tears of the Siren #6)

Lorcan

The quiet hum of the air conditioner was the first noise that filtered into my consciousness, the cold fabric of the bed sheet wrapping around me like a cocoon.

I could feel my men’s magic nearby, just right out of reach, so I didn’t feel rushed to put together the pieces of what exactly had happened.

I knew that it would come with a heavy weight of responsibility.

The faintest sliver of sunlight was starting to peek through the curtains, but the bedroom was otherwise dark.

I’d fallen in love with the hotel suite, a room of neutral luxury with glints of gold speckled throughout, when we first stepped through the doors.

But now, in the comfort of the dark? It was even better.

Although I couldn’t ignore how the decadent luxury of the space contrasted the chaos of what we’d just been through.

Not yet—I couldn’t think about it just yet. Instead, I would just feel.

Squeezing my eyes shut and rolling my body over, I let out a deep, long breath before turning inward.

Before looking toward the magic that I could feel pulsating in the center of my chest. The composition of the cosmos had imprinted itself on my soul, branding its notes into my memory.

It felt like the stars themselves had found a home within me, even in this corporeal form.

My entire essence felt more potent, an undercurrent of cosmic power from the creator himself resting right out of reach.

In order to access it, I would need all three parts of the composition—then I would have what I needed to tackle the dark ones.

It didn’t stop me from feeling the physical effects, though.

My fingers felt hot, almost on fire, and my heartbeat was less of a thump and more of a whirl. As far from human as possible.

I wasn’t the same girl that had gone home to Arizona.

I wasn’t even the same woman that had gone to the Old Realm of the Ethereal Sea.

Now I was something more.

“Princess.” Adriel’s voice pulled me from the spiral of my thoughts. Turning my head to the side, I found the man right next to me, looking over my face with a drowsy curiosity. I hadn’t even realized he was right there, but clearly the incident had knocked him out as well.

“How…how did we get back?” I asked groggily as Adriel’s hand wrapped around my waist to pull me against his chest. I buried my head against his warm muscles as his lips trailed over my forehead in a soothing touch.

“I don’t remember as much as I should,” Adriel admitted, sounding frustrated by that.

“But after the vision from the dark ones was interrupted, we were pulled back into reality. The shock of it caused the cavern to shake and start to come down on us, but Zander managed to stabilize it long enough for us to leave. He used a type of magic I haven’t seen before—it was almost like he used waves to propel us forward, like the sea was moving us—but there was no water.

When the door sealed back up after us, the destruction seemed to stop, so the archive remains”

“It’s like it was trying to kick us out,” I murmured, hoping that nothing in the archive was ruined. “Or maybe it could sense the world eaters’ interference.”

“For them to push the Cosmos god to the side…” Adriel’s brow dipped. “It’s concerning, that level of power. After everything we’ve been told, I should have expected it.”

“It’s different experiencing it.” I released a long breath. “How did we get back after that?”

“I’m not sure. I think Zander or Desmond, but my own power gave out. I don’t know anything past that—we’ve both been sleeping until now.” Clearly our magics hadn’t been happy with our expenditures today.

“I can feel the others are in the main room, which means everyone is safe,” I said, closing my eyes. “That’s what really matters.”

“Helps that we found the answer we were looking for,” Adriel said, catching my jaw before brushing a kiss to my lips. I melted into the touch, and I relished in the sensation of his body against mine.

“Two other spots,” I agreed, “two other crystals.” Although the crystal itself didn’t seem very important since this first one had been destroyed.

But clearly it wasn’t physically needed because I had the music it contained embedded in the marrow of my being.

I knew it by heart—I could hum it, sing it, or play it.

It was now innate to me. “I guess we should be thankful the Cosmos god was so…friendly.”

“I don’t know what to make of that, princess.

Of course I’ve always been aware of his existence, but to have such a concrete conversation…

it makes me question so much of what I was taught and validates theories I’ve had about the power structure of the realms. Not everything is as it seems,” he said, tying up his minor tangent.

“And watching the composition brand itself under your skin, watching you transcend like that…it was both horrifying and fucking amazing.”

Nibbling my lip, I closed my eyes before admitting, “I don’t feel very human anymore. I’m not sure I did before, either, but this feels different.”

“Tell me,” Adriel said, his lips brushing my forehead again. In the quiet darkness of the room, it felt easier to talk about the slightly scary and very obvious change that I was going through.

“My body, my magic…my soul. It feels so damn different. I can’t fully express it, but I can feel it.

I don’t feel bad, but overwhelmed. I don’t feel like myself, but I think that this is me.

More me than anything I’ve ever been before.

” I hoped that made sense, and as Adriel took a minute to analyze my words, he nodded.

“I think that two versions of you can exist, Lorcan. There is no question you are insanely powerful, but you’re also allowed to be as human or as not human as you like. Prophecy or not, this is your life—a life that you have fought for, even when you didn’t think you wanted to keep going.”

My eyes stung as I tilted my head back, feeling a wave of gratitude for the broody elf king. Somehow he always knew exactly the right thing to say.

“I love you, Adriel.”

Adriel let out a low rumble from his throat. “I love you so damn much, princess. It’s fucking painful.”

A soft smile pulled on my lips, but before I could respond the suite doors opened, the bright sunlight making me wince.

“Oh good, you’re both up,” Desmond practically chirped. “It’s been five hours; we were starting to worry.”

Dean’s voice rumbled in the background. “I’m ordering food.

She hasn’t eaten in over twelve hours.” I felt Adriel chuckle silently as I sighed, slowly sitting up and casting Desmond a shy smile.

I knew I probably looked like a hot mess right now, but Desmond did not.

No, he looked perfectly put together, down to his linen suit.

“Morning,” I said as Adriel turned over, acting as if he were going to keep sleeping.

When my King of Smoke appeared at the end of my bed, I didn’t hesitate to reach for him, loving the way he instantly scooped me into his arms. His hands were firmly on my ass as I locked my legs around him, burying my face in his neck.

I should’ve told him to wait until I brushed my teeth, but I didn’t have the energy.

Not until I got some food, like Dean mentioned.

“How are you feeling?” Desmond rumbled.

“There is so much I’m feeling…and so much we learned. When we blacked out, we were up star traveling and talking to?—”

“The Cosmos god,” Desmond finished. “We saw everything through our bond. Don’t worry about thinking too much right now, just focus on resting until you wake up fully.

I already contacted Cormac. They’re going to expand their search into South America.

I don’t think any of those are our locations, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to continue to grab any useful information or relics. ”

“Thanks, Desi,” I said as he set me down on the couch. “I know we still have two pieces left to find, but I won’t lie—I feel good about the progress we’ve made. The Cosmos god was even able to give us those hints about where to look before the world eaters kicked us out.”

“Which was some bullshit,” Rhett pointed out, bringing me a large cup of coffee. He dropped a kiss onto my lips before crouching down. “I loved seeing you star travel though. You are perfection, bunny. So damn beautiful.”

“Thanks,” I whispered, my cheeks damn near flushing.

“You handled it really well,” Cash said, coming to sit by my side as Desmond went back into the bedroom, probably to talk to Adriel. “I’m glad you asked him for help. It gives us something to work with instead of searching every damn place on the planet.”

“Breakfast will be here soon,” Dean said as he brought me a bottle of water from the kitchenette. “Do you need to sleep more, baby?”

Shaking my head, I reached forward and squeezed his hand.

“I promise I’ll let you know if I need rest.” Dean examined my expression for a long moment before nodding and standing once more.

The man seemed on a mission, and I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before we were packing up and moving forward on our expedition.

“Hey Dean,” I called out, his gaze immediately returning to mine. “Can you give Maggie a call? I feel like we should check in on her.”

“Of course,” he said, his phone already in his hand.

When the door of the hotel suite opened, I was surprised to see Zander and Draven walking in.

The second was at my side in a flash, dropping his bags unceremoniously onto the floor and kneeling in front of me, looking over my expression.

It was such an intense, surprising moment that I nearly swayed forward to melt into his chest. Instead, the man cupped my jaw and pressed a hard, deep kiss to my lips.

“Scared the hell out of me, Lorcan,” he said before pulling back. “I don’t like these damn gods meddling in everything—especially the Cosmos god.”

“You don’t trust him?” That worried me.