“It’s different for each of the three.” Merrick folds his arms.
I cannot fathom it. Cannot fathom choosing to give up something so irreplaceable to create a pair of boots for a stranger. My heart thumps inside my chest. She’s so still.
I find myself kneeling beside Esme. “I’m so sorry.”
Rio glances at me. His head shakes, the tightness in his face softening. “You owe no apology. She wanted to do this. Even though I strongly advised against it, I might add.”
“We all did.” Callan sighs. “ButEsmerayis stubborn.”
“Never listens,” Rio grits out. “Stubborn as a mule.”
“Two mules.” Callan’s lip is lifted when I look up, confused. “Maybe she’ll forget how stubborn she is.”
A low hiss comes from below me, and the knot in my throat loosens, allowing me to breathe more steadily. Esme’s eyes are open, if narrowed. “You’re giving me a headache with your flapping. I’m fine. Get off me.”
“No,” Rio snaps. “You’re insufferable. Tell me your name.”
“Esme.”
“Close enough. How did we meet?”
Panic crosses his face when she hesitates. He tosses the questions at her, so many questions, one after the other as if they’ve done this a hundred times.
“They can’t always find it,” Merrick says softly. I turn to where he stands at my shoulder. The older male meets my eyes. “The possibilities are endless. But Rio persists, every time.”
“Where are the tunnels?” Rio breathes. His eyes flicker to me and away.
In his arms, Esme frowns again. Opens her mouth. “I…”
Callan isn’t smiling anymore. “Smee? The tunnels. Think about it.”
A crinkle appears between her brows. “I don’t… what?”
Rio presses his lips together, eyes squeezing closed for a second before they open again, something between relief and fear settling in. He takes a deep breath. “That’s the one, then. Could be worse.”
Behind me, Merrick’s sigh of relief brushes past my cheek. “Thank the gods.”
“It’s fixable, at least.” Callan holds out his hand, but his words are gentler than I’ve ever heard. “Walk it off, Smee. We found it.”
Esme grabs it, letting him haul her upright with Rio’s help. He scrambles up, hovering next to her as she bends down to pick up the abandoned clothes.
She holds them out to me. “Here.”
I feel more unsteady than she looks. “Why would you do that? When it costs you so much?”
Esme swipes at the faint sheen glistening on her brow. “You’ll need boots in Asteria. If not me, it would have been another peristi. And this was something I could do. It felt only fair.”
Our eyes meet.
“I cannot change what happened to you.” Her voice drops. “But I could do this. It’s just some clothes, Selene. Take them.”
But it’s not. It’s there in the panic that still lingers in Rio’s eyes, in the way Callan steps closer in case she falls, and in Merrick’s worried fussing behind me as he hands her a flagon of water.
Memories are the most precious thing I own – the only thing. And she gave one up, so that I could have clothes that would fit.
I reach for the trousers, the boots. “Thank you.”
Her smile is soft. Then Rio is steering her away, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and walking with her down the deck as I stare after them.
