Quenith swims around beside me. “You’re even more tender than before.” She snaps her teeth.
“Do not touch her.” Ari’s voice is beautiful yet somehow also terrifying.
Quenith quickly swims to her. “I’m sorry, my queen.”
“She’s brought me back to you, and you want to harm her?” Ari’s fury rises, the water around us growing choppier.
The other mermaid—one I’ve never seen—keeps her head bowed. Wise.
“My apologies. Please, my queen.” Quenith clasps her hands in front of her. “Please forgive me. I-I’m just overcome with seeing you like this. We’ve searched for so long, but you never came back to the water. Why?”
Ari’s anger seems to calm, the water easing back to gentle waves. “I couldn’t bear it.” She reaches out and runs her fingers down Quenith’s cheek. “I couldn’t bear for any of you to see me. But I heard your song. Every evening when the moon kissed the water, I heard you singing for me to come home.”
Quenith bows even farther and kisses her hand. “We always loved you, my queen. We always will. Come home with us. The deep waits. Your throne has remained untouched. Your crown of pearls and trident as well.”
“What do you want me to tell Wraith?” I ask.
Ari gives me a smile, one that hides a sadness that might never be tapped. “Tell him I’ve gone back to my only true love.”
Burn. I don’t know if I have the requisite cruelty to pass on that message, but I understand why she says it. Some hurts never heal.
“I am ready, my sisters.” Ari lowers into the water.
“Wait!” I step forward and almost fall.
She turns back to me.
“Spinner?” She rises again.
“Could you …” I glance out at the glittering sea and the storm beyond. “Could you search for him? Please?”
She thinks for a moment, then gives me a slow nod. “And when I find his body?”
It’s like a gut punch, like I’m watching him fall over the side of the ship all over again. Hisbody. I sway, my legs trying to give out. For once, I’m glad for the water. It keeps me afloat.
“Bring him to me,” I say as my salty tears slip into the sea. “Please.”
“You have my word.” She reaches below the water and pulls out a pearl, one of the large ones she tried to offer me that day in the town. “This seals it.” She hands it to me. “Keep it on you so I can find you once I have him.”
“All right.” I sniffle.
She pauses, her opal eyes losing a bit of their sparkle. “Remember the ocean is not kind, Moira. It won’t be kind to him either. He won’t be …” She lets the silence finish her words.He won’t be handsome. He won’t be in one piece.
I think of a million gruesome things hewillbe, but still, I need to see him one last time, no matter how much it hurts.
“I understand.”
She and the other mermaids sink beneath the surface, and it was like they were never there. Not a bubble or a ripple to mark their presence. Only the wide, unforgiving sea.
ChapterNineteen
“She can’t go in alone!” Widow yells.
She and Shiner are in a standoff at the front of the cave.
“She must. Tiger Lily said only Moira.”
“That’s bullshit.” Widow shakes her head. “There’s no way she’s going in there by herself. It’s too dangerous. We didn’t come this far and lose our Cap—” She halts, then looks at me.
