Chapter Nine
Serin
The helping effects of the water seemed to be lessening over time. It seemed no matter how much I drank before unconsciousness blessedly claimed me the night before, nothing was easing the body aches.
I didn’t know if maybe the water wasn’t as fresh, or maybe it was pulled from a stream further away from my lake, or what, but I woke up alone in bed in absolute agony.
I couldn’t muster the strength to even pull the heavy blankets off my freezing body for several long moments.
When I sat off the bed and set my feet on the ground to stand, I collapsed down onto my knees.
The pain shot up my legs and into my hips, making my breath catch as I fell forward onto all fours.
I couldn’t do it. Not for a single moment more. I needed a sip of my water. At this rate, I was going to be driven mad from the pain before I even got a chance to use the water for an escape. It wasn’t going to work. I needed some relief.
I managed to crawl to the water closet door before even that seemed to sap what was left of my energy, making me drop onto my stomach and try to claw my way into the water closet.
“Serin?” a woman called, but it sounded like it was coming from far away.
“I’m coming in,” she said, and I was vaguely aware of a breeze washing over me, making a choked whimper crawl its way up my throat.
“What the hell are you doing?” she asked, stepping over me to get into the water closet first.
All I could manage was another pathetic cry as I lifted my arm as high as I could to point toward the cabinet.
“Is there something in there you need?” Nira asked, her golden eyes wide.
Did I manage a nod?
I think I did.
But there wasn’t anything left in me as my face pressed to the cold floor, as the pain became a million stab wounds through every inch of skin.
I heard the sounds as Nira moved things around. “This? This flask?” she asked, but I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t move. Could barely think.
Nira reached for me, ignoring the way a ragged, broken sound escaped me as she pulled me up and dragged me to sit against the tub, using her shoulder to keep me upright as she uncapped the flask and held it up to my lips.
The second I felt a single drop on my lips, it was like a sunbeam burst open inside me, chasing away the cold, the pain, the bone-deep ache to be close to my lake again.
“Whoa,” Nira said as I jerked hard, gasping for air my lungs felt like they hadn’t breathed in days.
I reached for the flask, holding it in front of my mouth, but only allowing one more drop to fall onto my tongue.
I could hear it. My lake. I could hear it calling to me in the water, could feel it stirring inside me as the second drop leached into my system.
My vision sharpened.
My mind cleared.
I let myself listen to the lake for one moment more before capping the flask.
Sensing Nira’s gaze on me, I turned my head to find her watching me with those disarming golden eyes. She searched my face for a long moment, then looked at the flask and back at me.
“Hell’s teeth,” she said, and I could see the realization forming. “You’re a water fae.” She reached for the flask, uncapping it and sniffing. “Is this from your water source?”
I gave a slight nod.
“Why would someone—” she started, but was cut off by the bedroom door opening and men’s footsteps moving inside.
“Serin?” Jet called, and I was surprised how strong the urge was to go to him.
“In here,” Nira called back.
Both men moved into the doorway, taking in the scene of the two of us on the floor, of the foreign flask in Nira’s hand.
“Is that from a servant?”
“No,” Nira said, handing it back to me. “It’s Serin’s.”
“Serin… Serin didn’t have anything.”
“Yeah, about that,” Nira said. “Where are all her belongings? Why is she wearing your clothes? What the fuck have you dragged me into?”
Jet glanced at Vishen, who moved into the hall, glancing around, then calling Knight to stand outside the bedroom, locking it, then moving back into the water closet with us.
“Serin was kidnapped and used as a stand-in for Gemma Grimwood,” Jet told her.
“That’s… that’s treasonous.”
“Yes,” Jet confirmed.
“Why isn’t he hanging from the front gate, his entrails spilling out to get picked apart by vultures?”
I shrank away from the vile image that put into my mind.
Admittedly, my life had been quite insulated from the cruelty some Dark fae were known for.
My heart ached at the idea of such violence.
Even if Grimwood had treated me terribly, pulling me from my life source to slowly fade away in the court so his daughter didn’t have to marry the prince.
“Things are… complicated politically right now,” Jet said, choosing his words carefully.
Nira let out a laugh. “Oh, I’ll say. A mad king leading us into a pointless war.” The men’s brows raised, but they didn’t contradict her. “What? I’m not supposed to notice he’s a ranting lunatic who is ready to send thousands of men and women like me to our deaths all for, what, his pride?”
“I suppose I thought he was fooling more people than he is,” Jet said.
“Well, half the men I worked with couldn’t find their asses with both hands and a map, so I think your family secret is safe for the moment.”
“Anyway,” Jet said, shaking his head. “What is going on here?”
“I found your wife crawling into the bathroom.”
“Crawling?”
“She was too weak to sit up,” Nira explained. “But she was trying to get to something under the cabinet.”
“The flask,” Jet said. “Is it some sort of remedy?”
“Depends on how loosely you use that term.”
“Nira,” Vishen said, his voice holding a warning.
“It’s water.”
“There’s water in the bedroom.”
“Sure is. But not her water.”
“Her water—oh,” Jet said, his eyes going round. “You’re a water fae?”
I felt my stomach tighten, not sure how I felt about everyone knowing the truth. But what could I do now?
I nodded.
“Ocean?” Jet asked. I shook my head.
“Nymph?” Vishen asked.
“Naiad?”
“Bog fae?”
“She’s too fucking beautiful for a bog fae,” Jet said. He tossed the comment away, but my whole body seemed to react to the praise. My pulse skipped, my heart fluttered, and my belly swooped.
“She’s a Daughter of the Lake, you dimwits,” Nira said, rolling her eyes.
The men froze as their gazes slid back to me.
I couldn’t understand their reaction.
My life had been so isolated, so removed from the rest of the world.
Sure, I encountered the occasional fae when I was in the woods around my lake.
And some even came to visit the lake. I spoke to them or listened to their conversations while under the water.
But as a whole, I was aware of the fact that while I was of the world, I wasn’t exactly in it.
I wasn’t even aware of many other fae that existed, since unless they visited my lake, I had no way of learning about them.
I’d never seen another lake.
I didn’t know how many—or few—there were of me.
“He stole a fucking Daughter of the Lake?” Jet growled, seeming to be speaking to himself.
“Grimwood is slime,” Nira said. “Are you surprised he would take her?”
“She’ll die,” Vishen said. “She’ll die without access to her lake. And he installed her here as his own daughter. What was his end game?”
“He probably ran out of time trying to find someone who resembled Gemma,” Jet said, watching me in a way I couldn’t parse.
“Where is your lake?” Nira asked. “We could get her water from it, can’t we? That would fix this. At least temporarily.”
I shrugged.
I had no idea where it was. I never ventured far from it. If I did, it started to call to me, to beckon me back.
“It couldn’t be far from Grimwood’s estate,” Vishen mused. “How many lakes could possibly be in that area? We could bring samples of each back, see which one is right?”
“It’s worth a try. I mean, two drops of that water has her upright and not groaning in pain.”
“Groaning?” Jet asked, his spine stiffening. “Can she speak?”
“She’s sitting right here. Why are you asking me?” Nira asked, rolling her eyes at him.
I barely knew my new guard, but I had a feeling I was going to like her.
“Have you tried to speak?”
Everyone’s eyes turned to me, making my belly slosh around. I suddenly just wanted all their eyes off of me. I opened my mouth and pretended to try, making just a rasping sound, not an actual word.
“Damn,” Jet said. “Isn’t this too long?”
“I don’t know if Bellhush affects her kind of fae differently. Maybe her metabolism is different because of all the water.”
“The sooner we can get her water, the better,” Jet decided. “Hopefully, it will revitalize her and counteract the Bellhush.”
“Why don’t you take more of your water now?” Vishen asked.
I shook my head, clutching the flask to my chest.
“You can’t blame her for not wanting to use it all up until we can guarantee a supply of it. Would you want to be as sick as she’s been?” Nira asked.
Jet turned to me. “Did Grimwood have you longer than a day?” I shook my head. “Longer than half a day?” Another no. “In that case, why don’t you two head out and try to cover as much land as you can today. Collect water. Mark it. Then bring it back here.”
“Leave you two completely unprotected?” Vishen asked, jaw going tight.
“I’ll have Knight. And I’m not exactly as helpless as you’re making me seem.”
“Maybe it would be best to be as public as possible today,” Vishen suggested. “Take a walk around the courtyard, have a picnic, that sort of thing. Serin can bring her flask and have a drip if she is feeling especially weak.”
Jet looked to me, silently asking me my thoughts.
I shrugged. I was feeling better. And I really did need a tour of the castle and grounds if I was ever going to be able to leave.
“That’s settled, then. You two get moving.” I tapped my leg, filling the room with a little slapping sound as my palm met bare skin. Then I gestured down at my body. “Right,” Jet said. “Nira, do you have a gown for Serin to wear?”
“Do I look like a woman who has a gown to borrow?” Nira shot back. The eye roll was implied. “Besides, we’re a completely different size.”
“Can you find something for her?”