She shook her head, a bitter laugh breaking from her.
“But what, daughter of the sea, does he want with it?” she asked.
An excellent question.
“And I suppose you will simply just tell us?” Bash said.
“Sit, and maybe I will,” she challenged.
She was a woman who knew who she was so much that even Captain Sebastian Flynn bent to her will. He took a seat at her table, and the rest of us followed suit, waiting as she grabbed five cups before pouring steaming water that I could have sworn hadn’t been there a moment ago.
With deft fingers, she placed a combination of tea leaves into the worn white cups and distributed them all before taking her seat and sipping her own tea.
“Well, how did he bind you?” she asked, staring at me expectantly.
I lifted my sleeve, showcasing the serpent eating its own tail that marked my skin. For unknown reasons, it was quiet now. No burning or pulsing like it’d been prone to lately.
She reached across the table and ran her fingers over the ink, a tear dripping down her face.
“To use my people’s magic to bind another–” her voice broke as she snatched her hand back and pressed her fingers to her lips. “What are the terms of the bargain?”
“I have to bring him the Abyssal Conch in about two weeks, and he leaves me and mine alone,” I said.
“Foolish girl,” she whispered. “You will die.”
Well, that was optimistic.
“I was kind of hoping you could help me not do that,” I said.
She pointed to my tea, a wild rage playing under the surface of her skin.
“Drink and let me tell you what you’ve agreed to,” she said.
No one said anything. Instead, I drank from the tea and waited.
“You are from the North Sea,” Dilly said.
The woman’s blue eyes met hers, and I didn’t envy the attention Dilly faced at that moment.
“Iamthe North Sea, girl,” she snapped.
Chills erupted over my skin as a pulse wrapped itself around the air like power incarnate.
Dilly, true to her character, did not flinch. Her need for answers and to simply know outweighed any survival instincts she might have. So she reached into her satchel and pulled out Edmond’s journal. The woman physically recoiled as if burned.
“Put it away,” she ordered.
Dilly did as she asked, and the woman physically relaxed, though she continued to eye Dilly’s satchel.
“I was born of the North Sea. I swam its waters and knew each and every one of her children well. From the smallest fish to the largest whale. But I was young, and as the young are prone to do, I believed myself wiser than my elders. They told me to stay away from the humans, but I was curious.”
Proving she truly had no concept of self-preservation, Dilly spoke, “You were a selkie.”
The woman tilted her head and leaned forward, but Dilly did not flinch. “You are just like the rest of them. You consume knowledge of the deep with the hunger of a starving serpent, but you are too busy gorging yourself to ask the cost.”
Dilly dipped her head, cheeks flaring red, “Forgive me.”
Maybe it was because no one ever had to wonder if Dilly was sincere, but the woman leaned back in her chair, tapping long, white tipped nails on the table.
