The shell works.
I heave a silent sigh of relief. I hadn’t realized the mental toll it’d been, constantly trying to shield my thoughts. Worrying what might escape. For the first time in weeks, it feels as if my mind is mine and mine alone.
“Thank you for the explanation,” I say. Lucia nods. I wonder if she really believes I found it sufficient or not. Luckily, there’s no chance for her to ask.
“We’re here,” Fenny announces. Lucia quickly unwraps her arm from mine before her sister looks back.
A pavilion stands amid a coral grove. Schools of fish swim in a lazy circle, encircling the central structure like walls. We swim over them and down through the hole in the center of the pavilion’s ceiling.
Large clamshells padded with sea sponges are positioned in a somewhat free-form oval. In the middle of one side is an especially adorned shell, decorated with silver gilding and sea fans that extend from the back like massive wings. I can assume who will sit there.
The shell directly across from what I am assuming is Ilryth’s is the second most opulent. Instead of sea fans, bright coral grows from the beds that surround the pavilion to frame it with almost crown-like points. It is empty, as is the shell directly to its right.
I would assume this is the space for the lady of the manor, Ilryth’s spouse or second-in-command. What kind of a person would that be? I assume one does not exist, given that I’ve yet to hear or see anything suggesting otherwise.
The rest of the shells are full. Five women stop all movement from the moment I arrive. They are all shapes and sizes, some fair-skinned, some dark, some with short hair, and others with long, flowing tresses. All their skin is adorned with paint, the markings far more delicate and carefully drawn than my own, but each is of a different color and design. The only quality they all share is that they are all immensely beautiful.
“You will sit here.” Fenny motions to the empty shell at the right hand of the second most adorned shell.
Poise and grace. Poise and grace, I repeat to myself as I propel myself through the water. I am a beautiful dolphin, elegant and sleek. I will not vault into this shell like a flopping seal. By some miracle, I think I manage it. The sponges cradle me.
To my surprise, Fenny sits in the large shell next to me. This further supports my working suspicion of their family—both of the three siblings’ parents have passed. The mother, I think, was sacrificed. Father is an unknown. But I know for sure that Fenny is not Ilryth’s wife. Nor is she his mother. Which means she’s sitting in the shell for the lady of the house because she would be the individual with the next most authority and claim to the duchy after him.
“Go and see to the meal, please,” Fenny says to Lucia, taking on an air of superiority.
I shift in my seat. There’s not really an uncomfortable position to be in. It is made of the same sponge my bed is. So soft it cradles me, and yet, supportive at the same time. I wonder why no one ever thought to make beds back home out of the stuff. I’ve certainly never heard of divers pulling up sea sponges large enough to lie on. But perhaps they exist only in too deep waters.
Home… A pang of longing shoots through me. I knew I would be taken, but I never imagined I’d live long enough after to miss it. I imagined Ilryth consuming me and picking his teeth with the smallest finger bones. Not keeping me in his manor, teaching me, being obsessed with ships and humans or anything close to kind.
It’s been over a month now. Dennow will have realized our ship didn’t arrive on schedule. They’d probably give a grace period with the backup at the mines and the Gray Pass being what it is. But Charles would’ve been watching from his lighthouse. He would’ve seen my ship go by and not come back. Even if the council gave me the benefit of the doubt as the great Captain Victoria…it will only last so long.
Which means, my family should know by now. Or they will very soon.
They have mourned me once before and I imagine that will make this time worse because they might hold out hope that someday—a week, a year, several—I will emerge from the sea foam and return to them. I will defy all logic and reason and turn up alive, because I did before.
My hands ball into fists. Their pain is a wound on my soul. But, at least, thanks to Ilryth, they will be taken care of.If he keeps his promise.
We’ll have to move quickly. The amount of time that’s passed is hitting me all at once. As soon as Charles finds out I’m dead, he’ll begin trying to claim I deserted my responsibility again. He’ll fight until he’s destroyed everything I ever loved.
“So you are Duke Ilryth’s sacrifice?” A woman with bright yellow eyes jars me from my thoughts. The rest of them stare at me expectantly. I didn’t realize until now that I am the center of attention.
I nod. “I am.”
“That much is obvious, Serene, by her markings,” another, with brown hair braided thickly, says dryly.
“Even without her markings, how many humans do you see in the Eversea?” Another laughs.
“You honor us with your presence today, Your Holiness,” a woman across and to my right says.
“Just Victoria is fine,” I try to offer politely.
“Oh, even as a human, we could never disgrace you as such.” Serene waves a hand. I resist glancing at Fenny to see if I upset her with my attempt at being casual. “You have the markings of Lord Krokan upon you. We must show you the utmost deference.”
“Is it true that Duke Ilryth himself has anointed you with his own song and hand?” the woman seated at what I assume will be Ilryth’s right asks.
“Yes…” Now I’m fighting not to think of his hands running over my body again. Coaxing me with an index finger dragging up my throat to hit the highest of notes.
“How lucky! What an honor.” Her eyes flutter closed as if the idea is akin to the sweetest dream.
