Chapter 41
NO SPACE FOR HIDDEN TRUTHS
RUNE
In all my years, I have never known the peace I feel like I do in this very moment.
Odi sits beside me, her head resting on my shoulder as I wrap an arm around her waist. The ocean stretches wide and endless before us, sapphire waves rolling in slow rhythm, each crest catching the last of the sun and scattering it in shards of light.
Ruby and ripe orange bleed across the horizon, spilling into streaks of liquid gold that ripple over the water’s skin like fire poured onto glass.
The sky is a living canvas, billowing clouds shifting with every heartbeat, colours deepening, softening, melting into one another. Salt lingers in the air, and even though I can’t take my eyes off the sea, I’m very aware of the woman in my arms. She’s warm, and soft in all the right places.
Ivor and what’s left of his crew are bound and gagged under the watchful scowl of Tavi.
I breathe deep, dragging in silent but salty air.
My body aches in places I didn’t know existed, but the immediate threat of dying is over now, and the moment I get back to The Gilded Hart and my crew are safe, I’ll be sleeping for as long as the sea will let me.
I lean down to press a kiss to the top of Odi’s head.
Her dark brown waves are silky against my mouth.
She burrows into my side, her left hand resting on my thigh.
Behind us, with its still sealed door, sits the cavern leading to the treasure.
My chest twinges at the thought of never opening it, of giving up that last shred of hope.
Yet, this time when I put those feelings aside, they don’t hurt as much.
Perhaps I’ll never have answers. No clues, no solid tie to the elementals I share blood with. And I need to accept that. I do accept that.
I slip my free hand into Odi’s, weaving our fingers together, holding on like she’s the anchor in the waves. Treasure means nothing—relics, foolish hopes, any of it—if she’s not by my side. She outshines it all.
Grains of sand dance across the shore as the wind picks it up, taking it on a journey into the sea. Odi tips her head to look at me. “Where to, Captain?
“To The Gilded Hart,” I murmur.
She offers me a soft smile, returning her gaze towards the ocean. “Would your crew accept someone like me, if I stayed?”
Her question lingers between us, soft but heavy.
She says she’s happy to be on the water, but I wonder if it’ll be enough.
The sea took much from her, yet it’s still in her blood.
No matter how far she runs, I think a part of her will always belong to the tide, but I know what her soul truly longs for.
“You mean someone who is fiercely brave, and knows how to put a monster down?” I pull her closer. “I think they’ll be just fine.”
Gentle waves crash against the shore, one after the other, hissing as they fall away, when something on the surface a little further out draws my gaze. My brow pinches as I try to make out the shape. A hallucination from all the adrenaline leaving my body . . . surely.
Yet, I find myself standing before I realise.
“What is it?” Odi says, standing too.
Something stirs in the surf. The swell thickening, rising higher and holding its shape when it should have broken.
I turn to her, squeezing her hand once. “Wait here.”
Then I’m walking towards the figure like my feet have given me no choice.
My blade clinks at my side with every step, matching the thud in my chest. The sea climbs into a form I know isn’t possible, and yet it happens before my eyes.
A woman, born of water, her body rolling and shimmering with every surge.
Her hair tumbles about her like strands of tiny diamonds, her limbs nothing but flowing current.
Her eyes. Deep sapphire blue. Fixed on me.
Mother.
My chest constricts. Bones aching as my ribs wrap around my heart in self protection.
She’s here.
For ten years I’ve searched for her. Clung to the hope that maybe if I sailed the seas long enough I would find her again. And each year that passed that hope grew into something hard, and painful. But as she hovers in front of me, every wall I’ve built to keep myself safe falls away.
She drifts close enough that the ocean spray cools my face.
A hand of foam reaches, fingers sculpted from the tide itself.
She cups my cheek with a touch that’s both there and not.
Salt and brine burn through me, the scent a core memory blooming to life.
For a breath I forget the battles, the blood, the weight.
“Mother,” I whisper.
Her eyes say a thousand words but her mouth makes no sound. I choke back the sob forming in my throat as her thumb brushes against my skin.
Then as quickly as she formed, she slips back into the ocean, and I’m left staring at the sea with a different kind of ache in my chest. Wondering if I’ve dreamt the whole thing.
When the tide pulls back, it leaves behind two items on the shore. My breath hitches as I lean down to scoop them up. A bottle with a letter, and a necklace. Odi’s.
I grip it firmly in my hand, taking a second to breathe, as I focus on bringing my hammering heart to a steady thud.
Emotions crash through me as I glance over my shoulder to Odi who waits patiently back up the sand.
But one soft smile from me has her on the move.
I turn to face her when she reaches my side.
“Are you alright?” she asks, voice laced with genuine care.
I nod softly, holding out the necklace on my palm. “This is yours.”
Brown eyes grow wide, as she reaches for it, gently brushing my skin with her finger tips. “You found it,” she murmurs.
“I lost it.” The confession feels heavy on my tongue, but it needs to be said. Odi deserves to have the whole truth, not pieces of it.
Her brow pinches as she looks up at me. “What do you mean?”
My shoulders drop, head hanging lower. “I lost it in the kraken attack.”
“You had it all that time?” Her voice is barely a whisper.
The truth hangs heavy between us. A wall building brick by brick, but I won’t let it stand. I can’t. Not after all we’ve been through. I love her, and she loves me.
I reach for her, pulling her closer. She doesn’t hesitate and my heart rejoices in the small win. “I did. I’m sorry Odelia. When I first found it, I didn’t think it could be yours.”
She huffs softly. “Why? Because I was a Viper?”
My head dips lower. “Yes. But things changed—once you told me that it belonged to your mother, I wanted to give it to you. But it was too late. The ocean had claimed it once again. And now it’s returned it to you. In the end I was the one that got in the way. I’m sorry.”
Her eyes soften. “Thank you for being honest with me.”
I lean down to press a kiss to her forehead, lingering there for a moment. “It's you and me now, little doe. No space for hidden truths.”
She pulls back. “Who was that? In the water before.”
My eyes search the horizon. Golden waves glitter as the sun sinks deeper. The question digs into my chest. I swallow hard, salt thick on my tongue, and finally answer. “It was my mother. She left me this.”
Odi’s breath hitches as I hold up the small blue bottle with a rolled up piece of parchment inside. I work the cork free with trembling fingers. The paper slips through the neck easily, tumbling into my palm.
Carefully, I unfold it. The edges are worn, but it's untouched by water. It has a faint scent of the yellow blossoms that grow on the rocks by the ocean. I can’t help but smile. Mother always had a way of making everything so beautiful.
Odi leans in closer as I begin to read aloud. My voice wavers, but the words carry.
My son,
Words cannot express how I have mourned for the family we should have been. Your father always warned me I wandered too far, trusted too much—and when the worst happened, it was all I could do to hold onto the love tucked away in my memories.
By the time I escaped, you were older, and I was more ocean than woman. Existence as an elemental is . . . complicated. Parts of my mind had retreated to endure things I’ll not waste space burdening you with now.
For years I’ve been formless, and the sea has cradled me. She has shared your journey, your persistence, your hope. I know every league you have sailed. Everything you have fought for. The grief you have spilled into the sea. I cannot be with you in the flesh, but I am with you, always.
And I am so proud to call you my son.
This necklace is for Odelia—it belongs to her. I have known few who are worthy, and believe fewer still could capture your heart. She is the land to your ocean.
Mother xx
P.S. Tell your father the blue kelp will bloom early this year.
P.P.S. I’ll not have the strength to reach out again for some time. If you find yourself with little footprints by yours on the sand, be sure to let them wander into the water. I’ll do my best to say hello.
The letters blur as tears well in my eyes, stinging sharper than salt. I bite down hard, but it doesn’t stop the single tear that slips free, tracing a hot line down my cheek.
She’s alive.
Not whole, not unharmed, but alive, clinging fast to her memories the way I’ve gripped onto hope. How long had it taken her to write this letter, wrestling against her weakened shift? Had someone helped her? Where has the ocean kept her, and why can’t it bring her home?
I’ll not have the strength to reach out again for some time.
More hot tears threaten to spill over, the joy and ache twinning together as I read and reread. There are no more answers in the words, so much that’s gone unsaid.
Alive.
And she’d watched me, knew me. I may not have all the answers, but I know this whole time she believed in me as much as I believed in her—and for now it’s enough.
Odi’s hand comes up, gentle, brushing my tear away with her thumb. Her own eyes glisten with emotion, and it's enough to keep me grounded, reminding me that I’m not alone at this moment.
I close the letter against my chest, breathing in deep, letting the tide crash and fall around us. For the first time in a while, I feel seen . . . by the sea, by my mother, and my heart aches at the same time it feels whole.
My arm finds its way around Odi’s waist, tugging her closer into my side as we stand on the shoreline. She fits beside me like she’d been created to. I glance down and watch her fiddle with the necklace in her palm. Then she pauses.
Before I can blink, she’s twisting to look up at me. “Rune, the necklace. It’s—it’s the shape that is missing from the key!”
I feel my eyes widen at her discovery. Shoving the letter and bottle into my trouser pockets, I take it gently from her grasp to view it closer. “We have to go back.”
Time blurs by in our race for the cavern, wild grins splitting our faces when we realise exactly what this means.
The cavern yawns before us as we head down the slope.
The tide is out, so there is no need to carry Odi through the water.
I doubt she’d want me too since the injuries she sustained in the fight are still fresh, especially the slash across her ribs.
I hold my breath as she fits the necklace into the key. It glints faintly under the lowlight, sliding into place with a soft click, belonging there all this time. As soon as it settles, an arm extends from its rounded edge, a puzzle box finally completed.
She meets my eyes, brown and gold, steady with fire. Together, we guide the completed key towards the solid stone door. The ancient lock groans as we press it in, a shudder rolling the ground under our feet.
I offer Odi a grin. “On three?”
She smiles so big, I swear a dimple appears. “Always.”
“One . . . two . . . three.”
We twist.
The door trembles. Stone groaning against stone. I step back, pulling Odi with me. Just in case there is a trap we haven’t accounted for. The great slab parts slowly, the weight of centuries grinding away.
Odi gasps softly. Then my heart swells with awe, spilling onto the cavern floor.