Chapter 39
Isat at the polished and gleaming virginal bench and rested my hands on the mended keys, the white velvet underneath them also clean and new.
Arlo was a magician himself with how well he’d revitalized the once-waterlogged and deteriorated instrument I’d found in the treasury only weeks ago.
I searched for him in the crowd to will him a thank you for repairing the instrument.
He’d breathed life into it. As he did me.
But he was gone, already executing the first step of our plan.
So, with a deep, calming breath, I played to distract the sirens.
The first wave of melody was slow and careful as I savored every note plucked from the strings. How I missed this. Closing my eyes, I felt the music. It steadied my racing heart and matched the tepid tempo I kept.
I wasn’t lying when I told Hylos I wanted to give thanks to Nymphaea. I did. Despite everything I’d endured in her domain, she’d given me so much to be thankful for.
My music swelled like the ocean upon which she’d delivered me to Naiadon, instead of into Cedric’s grasp. Although Hylos was flawed, I was happy to know the sirens. To witness their beauty and wonder. Maybe if such strange and fantastical creatures could exist in this ruthless world, I could too.
My pace quickened, as I also bid a thank you to the woman in the journal.
Hylos’s mother. Who, against all odds and without her knowledge, had shared her story with me.
She hadn’t just shown me the way out of this place; she’d shown me her heart.
Thank you, thank you, thank you—for showing me through handwritten words what it was to love fearlessly while carrying the burden of duty.
I returned to mellower tenor notes, reminiscent of Oakhaven.
Clear notes, like hymns echoing in churches worshipping the Guardians.
Certain like the sun that rose and fell with or without me.
Like the country that waited for me on land.
I’d return to it. Warn my father. Save my people.
Then face whatever fate awaited me without fear.
Traveling down the keys, I found notes reminiscent of Arlo.
Deep like his voice in the night as he held me.
Slow like our life if I’d done as he suggested: never returned to Oakhaven and ran away with him.
Soft, quiet, and simple. Like summer days filled with laughter, and winter nights spent tangled in each other’s arms. They would never be. But they still sounded sweet to dream.
The music flowed from my fingers, lingering at the right moments, quickening at others.
The speeding notes blended into a culmination of everything: land, sea, hope, joy, love, and loss.
Playing all that my heart could offer until my fingers stilled, and I followed that very last lingering note as it stretched across the room and ended somewhere below the sea.
I opened my eyes to the sirens all watching me in awe. My heart stuttered, recalling how my father’s court reacted to my playing too. Forced to clap by their liege.
But they did not need forcing.
The sirens erupted into applause.
“Wonderful! Wonderful!” Hylos cheered, clapping loudly too.
I stood slowly, taking in the sight of their beaming faces, and gave a small bow.
A tear slipped down my cheek, which I quickly wiped away. To share my music with these beings, who were themselves made of song, and to receive their praise, was an honor beyond words.
The applause faded like that single sweet note, and I walked to meet Hylos and his inner circle one last time.
“Elowyn, that was outstanding!” Morvyn exclaimed.
“That was amazing!” Nixie chirped at Raylik’s side.
“Yes, you are talented,” Raylik said.
“Thank you, the instrument is perfect. So well made,” I answered, still in disbelief at its repair. It was a shame to leave it behind.
“I guess we can thank Tiny Toes for something,” Morvyn sneered.
“You played wonderfully,” Lumina said with tears in her eyes.
“My liege, you’re needed in your study,” An out-of-breath guard said to Hylos, eyes wide.
“I’m coming.” He looked back at me, softening for one moment. “It truly was wonderful, Elowyn. Thank you for sharing your song with us.” Then he stormed off and Raylik followed.
“Has anyone seen Arlo?” I exclaimed, our plan racing back to me.
“No, I haven’t,” Nixie said as Lumina still watched me in wonder.
“I saw him draining a few cups.” Morvyn smirked. “He’s getting into the Hydroxia spirit at last.”
“Oh no, I should go look for him,” I said.
“Do you need help?” Nixie asked.
“No, no. It’s fine,” I said, looking at her face, tracing her sharp features, trying to remember them. This would be the last time I’d ever see her.
“Let her go, Nix, I’m sure she just wants to make boring human love with Tiny Toes. Unless you’re trying to join them,” Morvyn joked.
“You’re so obnoxious.” She swatted him and let out a laugh that warmed my soul.
“I should find him and get to bed,” I said.
“So early?” Lumina asked. I would miss those deep brown eyes. So thoughtful and intelligent. I wanted to convince her to tell Hylos how she really felt. That she might be afraid of what would happen, but it would be better to know his heart than not.
“Yes, I’m exhausted from the day and I’m sure Arlo is too drunk to even stand. Plus, we don’t need to end the night with him finally punching Morvyn in the face.”
Lumina gave a little grin. “I wouldn’t mind seeing that.”
“If I’m going to be verbally abused, I’ll need another drink.” Morvyn walked off. I wanted to grab him, hug him goodbye. But he vanished into the crowd.
My heart ached as I looked back to Lumina and Nixie. Quickly, I wrapped my arms around them both, pulling them in before they slipped away too.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“What for?” Nixie asked.
“For being my friends.” My first true friends.
They both squeezed back.
“Of course, Elowyn, you were brought to us,” Nixie said.
“Nymphaea brings lost souls here to be saved,” Lumina added.
Tears pricked my eyes, but I blinked them away behind their backs.
“You saved me,” I answered in a whisper.
Then I pulled away from them and went to find Arlo.
***
I circled the party twice, appearing to search for Arlo. But I knew exactly where he was. After my third rotation, I made my way into the connected hall. Just past Hylos’s study, where he and Raylik had gone, it was a clear shot to Hylos’s bedchambers. Where Arlo waited for me.
Quickly, I moved through the hallway. No Arlo in sight. Perfect. We agreed if the path was clear, he would go forward; if not, he would wait for me at the mouth of the hall.
Passing small, laughing crowds heavy with drink, I continued until they thinned out to lovers kissing in corners, too occupied to notice the direction I headed.
Hylos’s voice boomed in anger. “Another fucking attack.” The door to his study was ajar.
“Directly outside of Naiadon,” Raylik said.
“They’re closing in.”
Did my father also know of Naiadon?
“Good thing our next step is an offensive maneuver,” Hylos growled. “No, do not give me that look, Raylik. We attack as planned, tomorrow. I’ve told you, it is final.”
“If tomorrow my mate and I face death, then I will spend it with her, not arguing with you,” Raylik ground out. I had never heard Raylik speak to Hylos in such a manner.
“Go then, leave,” Hylos spat. “Fuck yourself silly. Just be ready to fight tomorrow, commander.”
“And you will remain here, with your plans?”
“What else would I do?” Hylos scoffed.
“Maybe be with the woman you love instead of hiding from the truth and chasing the past,” Raylik said.
Did he mean Calypstra? Or did he see what was between Hylos and Lumina too?
“But you only listen to those who whisper what you wish to hear, so I shall no longer waste my breath. Good night, my liege,” Raylik said.
Quickly, I dove behind a nearby pillar. Peeking past the marble, I saw Raylik’s tense back come into view, his hands balled into fists at his sides as he walked toward the ongoing festivities.
Hylos backhanded a platter of chalices onto the ground, sending them clattering.
I wanted to beg him to reconsider. Try one last time. But it was pointless. He would hear no reason. Not from Raylik, not from me.
“Psst …” A whisper cut through the hall. “Psst … Elowyn,” Arlo whispered from behind a corner.
I quickly stepped to him.
“Are you alright?” Arlo asked, his strong hand gripping my shoulder. “You look angry.”
I wasn’t angry; I was sad. Sad for Hylos. He was so lost. And I couldn’t help him.
“I’m fine, come on, we better hurry.”
Together, with purpose, we strode down the hall, the soaring doors to Hylos’s room at the end left open.
“It’s almost too easy,” Arlo said.
We were so close. I smiled. “Or our luck is finally changing.”
We entered the room that was as big as I remembered, set in tones of blue and gold.
The room of the greatest siren king of all three seas.
Not just Hylos, but his father before him.
The room of a man who’d loved a human woman so profoundly that he created a portal between their two worlds so that she could step through and be with him every night.
“This is it,” I said, ripping open the wine cellar’s curtain and marching back toward the painting of Hylos’s mother.
My ears strained at a small lilting that called me to the shrouded painting. Siren song, meaning magic was in its wake.
Arlo marched to my side. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” I answered, even though a part of me wasn’t. This place was, in so many ways, a dream that I wanted to linger within. But I couldn’t. Oakhaven needed me.
Arlo grasped a fistful of fabric and pulled it off the painting. We stepped back and looked at the woman who’d poured her heart and soul into the journal, the woman who’d loved a siren under the sea. Hylos’s mother, who loved him so much she sacrificed herself for his safety.
She was beautiful, poised and waiting. She had dark black hair and was dressed in a blue gown lined with umber fur. She had two piercing blue eyes.
My heart tripped.
I knew those eyes.
I cocked my head to the side, waiting for my eyes to adjust or for the portrait to change. But it didn’t. I stumbled back, and Arlo caught me. “What is it?”
I knew that face, from a long-distant memory frozen in ice and death.
Looking back at me, smiling softly, was my mother.
But how? There were no remaining paintings of my mother. Every mention of her was cleansed from this earth, struck out in her own blood.
Footsteps resonated through the halls. Someone was headed in our direction. Likely Hylos.
“Elowyn, we have to go, now,” Arlo demanded. “Do you know how it works?”
I shook my head no, still stunned by the painting.
Why was my mother’s portrait here? This had to be a mistake.
Arlo reached out a hand to the painting, but the textured surface of the canvas didn’t yield.
“Elowyn, think. What did the journal say?”
But I couldn’t think. I could only reach up to touch her. My mother. Could only reach for those eyes that looked back at me as a child the last day I saw her. Before her death. Before the world and my father discarded me.
The prayer beads glowed on my wrist, and a sound hummed in the air. Arlo clasped my hand, and in a heartbeat we were pulled into the painting.
Summer 5344 AT
With Nymphaea’s help, I have done it. Aegir said if you were a male, he wished to name you Hylos.
It fits well with your sister’s name. How gorgeous you are, dazzling with blue hair and your mama’s eyes to match.
The future king of the three great seas.
I’ve spent all evening holding you, unable to look away, but soon the sun will rise and shed light on my truth, as it always has.
So, I must return you to where you belong.
Be good, Hylos. Be strong. Be happy. Find your sister one day. The Guardians ordain her for greatness. I know it. As they do you, my son.