“Have you seen what your captain has completed for you?” I followed Hylos’s hand to the virginal beside him on a dais, in perfect splendor. I knew Arlo had spent all day working on it, but to see it in its glory, I’d realized just how much work it really took. My fingers longed for its keys. My soul begged to hear its sound. It was a lovely instrument.
I turned to Arlo and kissed him on the cheek.
“It’s beautiful,” I said.
“I am glad you like it. Hopefully it will do the job.” Arlo said, with a nod.
“Are you ready for its debut?” Hylos asked, sipping from his chalice. His jaw was clenched; something agitated him.
Calypstra was nowhere to be found.
“Where is she?” I asked pointedly.
Hylos cut me a glance, lips tight, knowing exactly who I meant. “She is not in Naiadon.”
She’d fled. Was it an admission of guilt? Hylos would figure it out one day. That he’d let a snake into his bed. But soon it wouldn’t be my problem anymore.
“I’d like to play for you all, to give thanks to Nymphaea, for bringing me here,” I said, steeling my features.
A glint of true happiness glimmered in Hylos’s eyes.
“If that is fine withYour Majesty,” I added, smiling at the siren king regent.
“Oh, please call me Great Ruler, Your Majesty is my father,” Hylos joked with a genuine smile.
Perhaps in another life Hylos and I would have been friends and not enemies. But it seemed fate had other plans.
Hylos continued, “Come on, let’s hear it, Princess.”
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.
