“Do you love her?” Cedric said in a low, severe murmur, ignoring Arlo’s question.
My heart tripped. Love? Sure, we had sex. Which was fantastic. Incredible even. We clearly enjoyed one another’s company. But love? I cared for Arlo greatly, admired him fiercely. At least I did, before his deceit. But I only knew a fraction of him. Which was so abundantly clear now, in the face of learning his true identity.
“What?” Arlo stammered.
“Do. You. Love. Her?” Cedric repeated.
“I asked you a question first. Why my damned ship? Why send her to yourself on my ship?” Arlo demanded.
Cedric whirled on him quickly, clutching him by the arm and slamming him hard into the stone wall.
Arlo was taller, larger even, but Cedric was clearly much stronger.
“Why do you think?” he hissed.
Arlo stood stunned, eyes racing across his brother’s face. Understanding that I lacked washed over him.
“Exactly. So you better be sure thatthisis what you want. Once you take on this responsibility, there’s no forsaking it. Because if you do, I swear, brother, I will hunt you down and kill you myself.”
A chill ran down my spine. Cedric meant every word of whatever nonsense he was spewing.
I marched out of the cell and wedged myself between him and Arlo; he was so needlessly barbarous.
“It does not matter if he loves me or not. We care for one another. That is enough.”
Cedric looked down at me. His visage was prettier than Arlo’s; pale and smooth from years spent lurking in the shadows of court. But aslew of feelings twisted his pretty features. Was it disgust? Or was hatred tightening his strong, rounded jaw?
Finally, he ripped his emerald gaze from me as Arlo spoke.
“Did you know?” His voice cracked. “That Catarina was alive? That mywife—”
It hurt. Hearing him say it. The pain he must be in. Angry with him or not, I felt for him. His world had been flipped upside down. As had mine.
Cedric’s lip twitched in a grimace. “I knew, but she’s not the same girl I watched you marry in the forest in secret. She’s a—”
“Monster,” Arlo said for him.
A single tear traced a path down Arlo’s cheek, navigating past the rugged whiskers cultivated in Naiadon. He’d spent the past few weeks in the same castle as her.
Arlo cuffed that sadness away.
“The queen made her into the monster she is now. As she will make both of you, if you do not flee this instant,” Cedric said swiftly.
“I have a skiff waiting for you,” Cedric called ahead of us, his voice hardly audible over the crushing waves roaring louder as we descended stone step after stone step. “From there, if you hug the coast south, you will find my men. They will collect you, and by tomorrow evening, you’ll be out of the country.”
But then what? Anonymity? There was so much left to fix. The sirens, the war, protecting the people of Oakhaven and my brother. We were winding down the steps too fast, whirling toward an uncertain future. Then I heard it. Siren song.
Arlo and Cedric continued ahead, but I stopped and turned to the sound, drawn to it like a moth to flame.
The song was a vision calling to me. The vision and song I already knew. I was a part of it once. Each note inscribed upon my heart.
The song of a woman with eyes like the ocean who loved the king of the sea.
“Don’t go in there,” Cedric cautioned, but he sounded lifetimes away and my hand was already on the sea-sprayed door, pushing it open.
I stepped into the dimly lit, damp room. At its center was a large vessel filled with water, its blown glass warped and rippled, distorting the view, but inside I could make out a figure suspended.
Slowly, I approached it. The song grew. The vision became clearer. I leaned closer, pressing my forehead against the cool glass, needing to discern the person within.
