“Business? What business?”
“Smuggling.”
Sienna’s jaw dropped, and she looked between the two men, searching for any sign that they were in jest. Both wore perfectly serious expressions on their faces. An unpleasant thought followed Jem’s revelation.
“Is that why you’re here?”
“In a way.” Casper’s voice was quiet, and his eyes were unfocused as they stared into the crackling fire in the hearth.
Jem rolled his eyes. “And by that Casp means that we do our best tostopthe illicit trade. We were actually watching for a ship to come through the breach a few nights ago, but it got away while we were helping your father.”
They were quiet for a moment, the only sound to be heard was the distant, muffled song of the sea. Sienna struggled to wrap her mind around it all.
Casper and Jem are human. There is a way to travel between Faerie and the human realm without using one of Drosselmeyer’s gates, and it’s being used by smugglers to bringsomethinginto Faerie, which they apparently have been hiding in the caves. But that doesn’t explain why Papa was so upset when he found out that I was there. Unless…does he already know about it somehow? But if he does, why wouldn’t he say something?
“Can you show us where you found the crates?”
Casper’s voice interrupted her musings. She looked up, meeting his eyes. They were a confusing mixture of guilt and muted hope, resignation and longing, and she suddenly found herself wishing she could peel back the prickly layers around his heart and find out what made him so guarded.
He’s in a strange world chasing criminals. There has to be some kind of story there.
“Sienna?”
Belatedly, she realized that she had yet to answer his question. “Oh. Um. I can, but you’ll have to wait for a while. The tide is too high right now for us to get inside without magic, and I can’t really help you in that department.” She laughed humorlessly. “If Devri or Papa were here, it would be a different matter, but you’ve been stuck with me, I’m afraid.”
“You mean we are granted the pleasure of your company,” Jem corrected her gallantly. “Isn’t that right, Casp?”
Her human fiancé was studying her with narrowed eyes, as if he could see past the indifferent, self-deprecating wall she had thrown up to the place in her heart where the sharp edges of Erik’s words still stung. After a long moment, he turned slowly away to face Jem.
“That goes without saying. She’s far better company than you, at least.”
“Ouch. Tell me how you really feel.”
“I did.”
“Is this because I said you should smile more? Because I’ll have you know, my jokes arefunny.”
“As your dear old Mormor used to say, ‘Laughter echoes loudest in the head of a fool.’”
Jem threw a hand to his chest dramatically. “How dare you use dear Mormor against me!”
Casper rolled his eyes and gave his attention back to Sienna, who was doing her best to stifle her laughter at their antics. “I don’t mind waiting. In the meantime, why don’t you help me come up with a list of ways to put this fellow to work?”
Chapter twelve
Echoes of the Past
Sienna
Despite the way he worded his request, Casper did not shy away from joining Jem and throwing himself wholeheartedly into whatever tasks Sienna found for them to do. Considering the fact that she had one arm out of commission, she had to admit that it was more than a little convenient to have two strapping young men ready at her beck and call to do things like chop more wood for the pile, or carry the buckets of replacement oil up the steep lighthouse stair, or dust all the surfaces that were above her eye level and therefore forgotten most of the time. They worked quickly and efficiently as she supervised, with easy banter and teasing volleyed back and forth through the day. Casper’s serious, dry manner was asharp contrast to Jem’s buoyant nature, and Sienna often found herself laughing along with them.
At times, Casper would meet her eyes, and the sparkle of humor in them would do funny things to her insides before he seemed to remember himself. His expression would abruptly close off, and he became stern and impassive until Jem managed to draw him out again.
There was something troubling him. Something to do with her, and the more time Sienna spent in his company, the more she wanted to find out what it was.
After a simple supper, they armed themselves with lanterns and set off for the caves. The air was cold and bracing, and the dark waves sparkled with moonlight. A rare, cloudless sky was blanketed in brilliant stars, drawing Sienna’s eyes upward on more than one occasion during their walk.
“Careful!” Casper gently caught her waist as she tripped over the sand, distracted by mapping out the constellations. He dropped them almost immediately, as if embarrassed to touch her.
