“Nymphaea brings lost souls here to be saved,” Lumina added.
Tears pricked my eyes, but I blinked them away behind their backs.
“Yousavedme,” 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 theconnected 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, myliege,” 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.
