‘And what do you want me to do? Indulge her? Lie to her?’
‘I want you to do exactly what you’ve already done. To find something, to find Ys. Mémé believes we need to find evidence of the city, whatever it really was.’
‘How will that break a curse that doesn’t exist?’
He shook his head. He couldn’t answer that. But it might put Mémé’s mind at ease. So he ignored the question. ‘I will fund everything. Whatever you and your brother need, you will have it. Finance is no object. I’ll deal with the universities and the officials, with all the red tape. But, in return, I need you to stay here and find the lost city.’
He couldn’t tell her why it had to be her. He was sounding deranged enough as it was. What could he say anyway?I dreamed about you. You saved my life.I know that you are the one person who can do it.
No. Mémé might believe that. Something in his subconscious must have just picked it up. It wasn’t real. None of it could be real.
But why did it feel so important that she stayed and helped find Ys? He was a rational man and he didn’t believe in the legends and stories the way his great-aunt did. Logic told him anyone could do it. Anyone with her qualifications and experience. He could employ the very best in the world.
But looking at Ari right now, he knew that wasn’t true either. He just knew.
Maybe she was the best. Maybe it just had to be her.
Every instinct told him that she was the only one. She had come to his rescue right from the start, even if he hadn’t needed rescuing. He had dreamed about her and for the first time ever that dream didn’t end with him leaping to his death. Somehow he just knew he needed her to stay, to help him solve this mystery.
Ari shook her head. He knew she would and he could hardly blame her. ‘I can’t stay. I need to get back to my job. I’m sorry. Jason and Nico will find your myth if there’s anything to be found. But not with me. I’m sorry, Rafael. It isn’t possible.’
Final words. She was just as stubborn as he’d thought. But she had lost someone too. Here. Why couldn’t she understand?
‘And what if you could find out what happened to Simon? He died here. Drowned. What if the curse took him as well?’
She sucked in a breath and the colour drained from her face. When she found her voice again, it was shaking slightly, still strong, still determined, but masked now in defiance. ‘Why? Was he your brother too?’
Rafael shook his head, realising he had gone too far. He just couldn’t help himself. ‘We were not related, Simon and I, or at least not directly, not to my knowledge. We’re a small community, and we share lives, history, and possibly blood. But while my family bears this curse, the sea takes many people on this coast. Those who stand with us. If you look at the war memorial in the cove, there’s a Poullain and a du Lac listed side by side. They died there together. Every family will have a story, at least one, usually many more. A child, a son, a father, a brother. They blame thegroac’h, the water witch, and hermari-morgens, or simply the sea itself. And they blame us too. We’re meant to protect them.’
‘Protect them how?’
He winced. It was another old tradition, that was all. It often made him uncomfortable, to be honest. And yet, he knew that they all thought it.Noblesse oblige. The bloodline always came with obligations to the people sworn to it. Whether he liked it or not, he was the Mac’htiern,the head of a clan, the lord, the prince.
‘My family held this land, protected it. There are still echoes of that lingering on. More than echoes. It’s expected. And the story goes that if the sacrifice isn’t made…the sea takes what it wants.’
The sea always took what it wanted. And here in Sainte Sirène, when that happened, people expected a response. He had a duty. And the sea expected a price.
There were only so many du Lacs, and they rarely had many children. One of his ancestors had written that it was hard to have a son knowing what would happen in so short a time. Mémé had never had children of her own. Rafael understood now, the fear, the knowledge of fate hanging not just over you but over your son as well… He’d never believed it, but now…now…it seemed perilously close. It made his heart ache, just the thought of it.
For a moment, Ari just stared at him. He could see her running her thoughts through her mind, unable to articulate them. For a moment, he hoped…
‘Simon died in an accident.’ Her voice came out clipped and cold, so very firm.
‘An experienced diver.’
‘It happens,’ she growled. Her hands had balled into fists at her sides and he was sure the nails were digging into the skin of her palms. He’d never seen anyone so possessed of a cold fury.
He’d made a terrible mistake goading her about Simon, he realised. But he couldn’t stop now. He knew he was right. ‘I don’t take no for an answer, Dr Walker,’ he told her.
‘Well, you had better get used to it,’ she replied and as if the spell had finally shattered, she stalked from the study, grabbed her coat and headed out into the night without a glance back at him.
Rafael hurried after her, to the open front door. It was dark out there and the wind was rising. He hadn’t noticed the weather deteriorating from inside the house. But Breton weather was notoriously changeable. It could be glorious sunshine one moment and torrential rain the next.Don’t like the weather?– the joke went– Just wait a minute.
He couldn’t let her go out in that. The roads could be dangerous on foot and the cliff paths even more so. Cursing to himself, cursing himself, he grabbed a jacket and headed after her.
‘Rafael? What are you doing?’ Laure called from the dining-room door.
‘I’ll be back later. Tell them…just… Fuck it, Laure. I don’t care what you tell them.’
