40. Maren
Maren
“How many royal ships are in Leihani’s port?”
I’d closed my eyes, curses flying around my head like bats in a Mihauna-damned cave in the wake of Aegir’s departure. But I opened them at the sound of Cebrinne’s voice.
She sat directly across from where I stood, both hands on the edge of Selena’s table, eyes wide and skin pale, a stillness in her body that verged beyond natural, but the pounding of her heart was rapid. Erratic.
Like a candle’s flame fighting against a windstorm, flailing in the dark.
My mother had returned from Perpetuum weeks ago, but she and I had never mentioned my father.
I’d thought she hadn’t cared. She’d used us as a means of escape, after all.
And if she had cared, it was only because of the tattered threads of their cordae, the bond of a past life.
Not because she missed him, or even less imaginable, because something inside her loved him.
You don’t abandon the things you love.
But the bones of her knuckles were painted white, the skin around them so tight they looked ready to burst.
“Nine,” I answered slowly. “Not in port. Off the western coast of the island, trebuchets aimed at my father’s house.”
The legs of her chair groaned against the polished floor as Cebrinne swung to her feet.
I angled my head, studying her. “Nori is sinking them.”
Often quiet as a shadow while surrounded by Naiads, Kye leaned into the nearest wall, watching and listening.
Selena heaved a breath loudly, as though she’d been holding it in for several minutes. “Just go there and get him, Ceba. Bring him here.”
Cebrinne glanced at her sister like she’d woken from a daze. Then shook her head. “He’ll never leave that island.”
“Probably drown himself at the sight of you after thinking he was free all these years,” Pheolix murmured.
Selena thumped him on the back of the head. “Not helpful.”
Cebrinne blew a raspberry out the side of her mouth. “My sentiments after realizing I’d have to deal with you again.”
Pheolix chuckled, lifting the rim of his teacup to his mouth.
Cebrinne’s gaze narrowed. “You’re welcome to drown yourself at any time.”
Laughter leaked into the edge of Pheolix’s voice. “You’ll never cease to amuse me, Cebrinne. Bravest person in the room except for when you have to face yourself.”
My mother’s lip curled, though her eyes softened with an ounce of humor. “A concept you’re familiar with yourself, Pheolix.”
“Touché, cockroach.” He sipped his steaming cup. “Why are we worrying about ships in Leihani?”
I’d shuffled the conversation to the back of my mind, only half listening to Cebrinne and Pheolix as I recounted my visit with the King, carefully turning over Emilius’s words as if they were precious stones, a hidden meaning lying under their bellies. “The King sent them there to threaten me.”
“Threaten you over what?”
My attention tripped. Snapped from the long, lusterless tread where varnish over the floor had been scored away by pacing feet to Pheolix, a static jolt clipping the room in near silence as everyone else looked at him as well.
“Emilius wants me to convince a thousand islanders to join his war,” I said, crossing my arms.
Pheolix nodded, a deep crease between his brows. “What war?”
Selena drew a slow breath. Then released it just as slowly, her mouth curved in a soft circle.
Even blind, Pheolix sensed the shift in the space around us.
He waited a long moment for someone to answer him, and when no one did, he scrubbed a rough hand down his mouth like we’d answered a different question instead, clarity unfolding behind his clouded eyes.
He straightened. Paused. Leaned forward and gathered himself to his feet as he set his cup on the table. He kissed the side of Selena’s head, murmured something in her ear, and left through the joining office.
I stared at her, a slow sinking in my stomach.
Selena avoided our eyes. She swallowed. Curled her fingers around her porcelain cup of tea and raised it for a smooth pull.
Then placed it back, a glassy tink over the table.
She sucked a breath between her teeth. “I didn’t want to tell anyone.
I wanted to see if it would stop—would start to improve—the longer he remained outside Thaan’s control.
But it hasn’t. If anything, it’s worsened, especially since Thaan took him on the riverside. ”
Kye met my eyes, his expression carefully, painfully neutral. “How long has he…”
Selena shook her head, still locked on the curl of steam climbing from her tea.
“It’s hard to pinpoint. In the beginning, years ago, Thaan had little use for Pheolix, other than the odd meeting in the offices.
But he’d given Pheolix his name and told him to make allies among the lords and counselors, something Pheolix accomplished easily compared to—to Thaan’s prior Oculos.
” Her gaze wavered, reaching for Cebrinne’s to share a thought or memory.
“How much is he forgetting?” Kye asked softly.
Selena’s eyes closed. She avoided us for a long moment, the ocean thrashing below.
“He remembers everything from before Thaan began using him as clear as day. It’s the recent memories he struggles to keep.
There are days when he’s with me completely.
When he remembers every moment of the past twenty years.
And there are days when he just—” She swallowed, opening her eyes to look at none of us. “Doesn’t.”
The air left my nose in a quiet gust. I probed for things to say. Helpful, hopeful promises, encouragement that it might return to Pheolix. Something held me back. Some broken part of me that hated empty promises, whether I was receiving or giving them.
Cebrinne stood. “Maren has the stones. We’re so close, Senna. We just need time to invent a plan, separate Thaan from his drones, pull him into a trap. Something he can’t resist. Something tempting enough to draw him out.”
Selena’s head tilted back. She stared at the patterns woven into the wooden beams above, lines and loops and rigs expanding in a gnarled ripple. “Time,” she said, “is the one thing I might not have. You should get him, Ceba.”
My Queen. Nori’s voice almost made me jump.
Did you find them?
Yes. Nine ships off the south-west coast of Leihani. They were not here this morning.
I cursed under my breath, stealing the attention from the remaining occupants of the room. I’d known Emilius was telling the truth. The challenge in his eyes had been too raw, too confident to have been mere attempt at deception. But I’d hoped it had been.
Where is my father?
We cannot locate him.
What? I turned away from them, their pressing eyes, to better listen to Nori. When was the last time he was seen?
Yesterday, on one of the fishing boats. She paused. We’ve sung ourselves aboard the royal ships. All the naval officers are incanted. We’ve searched each one. He’s not here.
There was suddenly not enough oxygen in Selena’s moon-damned apartment. I turned on my heel, striding to her balcony and pushing her doors open with the flat of my hand. The heavy sun hit my eyes like a burning slash of gold, bright and brilliant and hauntingly cold like a chill through my bones.
I stared across the Juile Sea to the distant islands.
What would you like us to do? Nori asked.
Shoes clapped softly against flagstones behind me. My eyes didn’t leave the waves.
“I have to go,” I said softly.
I couldn’t see behind me, but in my mind, I envisioned them with painful clarity. Selena and Cebrinne glancing at each other, the way they’d tip-toe around the subject like I was a growling little wolf pup who didn’t know any better, one misguided word away from snapping at their hands and running.
“Where?” Kye asked.
“Home.” I turned to glance at him from over my shoulder. “Back to Leihani.”