Chapter Seven #4
Os still hadn’t said a word, but the memory of their tense exchange, so many weeks ago now, left such a sour taste in his mouth that Kai could not help but clench his teeth against it.
“Did you need something?”
His cousin’s brow twitched up at the bitter tone, and Kai felt the cold sweep of regret wash through him in an instant. Os glanced away with a disbelieving huff, head shaking.
“Believe it or not, Kai, it is not my mission in life to keep you apart from your princess. Yes, I came out here for a reason.”
Kai unfolded his arms, holding his hands up in deference.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and meant it. “Go on.”
Os sighed through his nose, then drew his shoulders back.
“The Empress is asking for you. She’d like to discuss your meeting with the Merrow Chief.”
She wanted to discuss it now? He felt his brows pull together.
Alun had told him it was considered distasteful to conduct matters of business or politics after the sun had set—matters of the heart and stomach, in his words, were fair game.
Kai had assumed they’d discuss their plans tomorrow morning, and he had certainly expected some time to debrief with his own court first.
“Where is Al?”
Os stared at him for one unfathomable moment, before loosing a low breath through his teeth and turning on the spot.
“Similarly occupied,” was all he said as he stalked away.
Kai was not any less confused, but he followed on his heels, ducking back beneath the broad archway to enter the bright warmth of the dining room.
He knew he’d been engrossed in his moment alone with Adeline, but he had not imagined it was so much longer than a moment.
Dinner, it seemed, was over, but the flow of wine had clearly been uninterrupted.
Guests had shuffled around the table, half of them having dragged their chairs around to watch what appeared to be a game conducted on a large wooden board dotted with dozens of marbles, the spectators whisper-shouting overlapping commands to the two players.
Someone had sat down at the piano in the far corner and drawn a small crowd of dancers.
Al was among them, beaming as he twirled a giggling Ceri beneath his raised arm.
Odd, Kai thought—Oswalt’s grumbles had painted him off in some corner, charming a pretty courtier.
Kai batted away the insistent flutter of an unwanted thought; the thought that perhaps it was happiness in general his cousin objected to.
He knew that wasn’t fair. He knew that Os had no motive other than the well-being of their people, but the sting of his too-apt prediction would not fade.
His cousin waited at the head of the table where the Empress sat expectant, and Kai had little choice but to put aside his pride and join them both.
He returned Eleni’s smile, drawing out the seat she’d patted invitingly.
He hadn’t even been aware of his own reflexive glance around the room until he turned to find the Empress watching him knowingly, head tilted, and lips pursed together to contain her amusement.
“She has retired for the night, I’m afraid.”
Kai tugged at his collar, suddenly stifling warm around the gills. His mind seemed to falter with the wash of heat, disconnecting from his tongue entirely and leaving him without the words to deny her entirely true implication. He had been looking for Adeline, as was his way, apparently.
“Although,” Eleni said, dark eyes now sly and sparkling, “she did return from the balcony in better form than she left. Whatever you said seems to have done the trick.”
Mother. Kai cleared his throat. He opened his mouth, and finding his tongue had not recovered itself, promptly shut it again.
“Your Highness, if I may,” Os cut in, and despite the unspoken fracture between them, Kai felt a flicker of gratitude.
“Prior to King Cumhaill’s arrival, I believe Alun had come to an arrangement with you, is that correct?
We’re due to take the Arabidae beyond the reef in two days’ time, where I’m told the crew will moor for the afternoon while we meet with the Merrow Chief. ”
Though her gaze still simmered with mischief, Eleni reluctantly released Kai from her attentions and turned a gracious nod in Oswalt’s direction.
“That was the plan, yes.”
“Was?” Kai echoed.
“Well, we were expecting a rather large shipment along with your arrival, but unfortunately, there was an issue fulfilling our order in Eisalaan. The silver lining, however, is that the crew need not waste time unloading our stock, and are now free to facilitate your trip tomorrow.”
She punctuated this revelation with a soft clap of her hands, but there was something ever so slightly off about her enthusiasm. Kai did not imagine it was the wine.
“Forgive me, Your Highness,” he said carefully, “but is there a time constraint I’m unaware of? If you need us out of your hair sooner, of course I—”
The forced brightness of her smile drew in all at once, and she leaned forward urgently, clapping a hand over Kai’s where it rested on the table.
“My home is your home,” she said, as sharp as she was earnest. “Please, do not imagine yourself, any of you, a burden.”
And as much as Eleni had been an enigma, as vague as her intentions had always seemed to him, Kai did believe her in this.
He nodded his thanks. “I appreciate it; I’m sure we all do. But if that’s not an issue, may I ask why we’re in a rush?”
Eleni sighed, her gaze sliding past Kai and shifting restlessly, searching.
“I had rather thought Alun might spare me an uncomfortable discussion.” Her eyes finally settled, and the crease between her brows smoothed in time with the slow spread of her smile. “Although I can see why he may be distracted at present.”
Eleni laughed a little, leaning in, though her eyes were still fixed beyond him.
“I haven’t yet had the pleasure, but I almost feel I know her at this stage. That is the famous Ceriwyn, isn’t it?”
Kai followed her nod over his own shoulder, and found Ceri and Al right where he’d left them; still dancing, still laughing.
“My sister Ceri, yes.”
“Your sister?”
Kai turned at the shock in her tone—just a beat too late. For a split second, he was certain Eleni had thrown a wide-eyed look in Oswalt’s direction, but her easy smile returned so quickly it threw him.
“How nice,” was all she said, and then, rather briskly, “Well, let’s not pull dear Alun away mid-song. I’m certain we can manage amongst ourselves.”
“Alright,” Kai agreed, barely succeeding to keep his wariness at bay.
Eleni took a deep breath, expression solemn, though the bracketed lines around her mouth held the ghost of her smile in place.
“There is a rush, as you say, and to that end I’m afraid I must ask a favour of you.”
Kai felt his shoulders tense at once; he’d had his reservations about Eleni from the beginning. He had asked her what her motivations were, and found her answer evasive at best. Was he about to find out that he’d been wrong to believe her invitation was entirely in good faith?
“Is our welcome here contingent on this favour?”
“As I’ve said, my home is your home. That is why I need your help.”
Kai scrutinised her for a moment, the slight, imploring slant of her brow and the trepidation working its way through her nerves until her fingers twitched slightly where she gripped the table’s edge. He gave a slow nod, waiting.
She exhaled.
“When you meet the other merrow, I would ask you to act as a Dhaliaan emissary, to an extent. I would ask you,” she said, eyes dropping to her own twitching hand before she forced them back up to meet his, “to broker peace.”
“Peace?”
Kai exchanged a swift look with his cousin; Os was similarly tensed, his typically impassive face tight, eyes narrowed. He had no idea, then, what it was that Eleni wanted from them.
“There are waters beyond the reef known as Isa Koemi; Isa’s Graveyard. Have you ever wondered why the Crossing takes quite as long as it does?”
He hadn’t; ships were a rather abstract concept to one who could travel the waters at their leisure, and Kai had no point of reference for the length of such a journey.
But at her prompting, he could only guess at the connection between Daughter Isa, who he knew to be a water-wielding deity, and the apparently troubled waters off the Dhaliaan coast.
“I’m assuming your ships keep a wide berth of this graveyard.”
“They do. And when the Arabidae takes you beyond the reef tomorrow, you may have a ways to swim, unfortunately, as we are neither permitted nor willing to enter Koemi.”
Kai stared.
“Are you saying these merrow have settled within the graveyard?”
Eleni gave a stiff smile, her silence stretching ominously.
“I’m saying they are the Daughter’s own reapers.”