“Don’t go getting any ideas. The only thing on the other side of this cave is rocks and angry waters,” Breesha scolds when she catches me looking to the mouth of the cave.
“I wasn’t—”
“There’s no sense lying. I just thought you should know. But have a look if you don’t believe me,” she offers, hitching up her skirts so they don’t get wet before walking further into the gardens.
My curiosity bests me, and I follow. We pass a fire where a fae stands, watching something boil. I notice a few others seem to be filtering something out of the buckets of water that the fae male near the mouth of the cave hauls up the side with a rope on a pulley.
“What are they doing?” I ask, unable to quell my need for answers.
Breesha just smiles softly. “They’re filtering the sea water. It’s a process, but the salt yield is worth it.”
I stop dead in my tracks, jolted by her words. I’ve never seen the ocean, and I never thought I would get the chance.
“The sea?”
Breesha nods and then watches me as I inch closer to the edge. My stomach flips when I look down, and I have to sink to my knees in order to stop the vision in my mind of flinging myself off the cliff. Far below, black water crashes against the rocks, producing a white foam that reminds me of the soap left over in the tub after a bath.
The sea. We are so much further from home than I had imagined. Escaping feels more like a fool’s errand than ever.
Raiden
Konnor stares at me blankly from the other side of his stone-carved desk.
“She will never forgive me for this. No explanation will ever be good enough,” he says.
It’s been weeks, and the old man can’t stop stewing on the way Arina had looked at him in the throne room. I think perhaps he thought she wouldn’t know who he was, and that he would have time to get to know her.
I don’t pry, and I’ve allowed them both space to decide what they want to do next. The thing about snakes is, they don’t like to be cornered.
“You don’t know that. If this works, the curse could be broken very soon. Then everything will be worth it. And, Konnor, shewillforgive you.” I don’t think either of them will forgive me, though.
“You’re really going through with this, then?” he asks, standing from his seat and pacing the worn path behind his desk.
“I’ve put things off long enough. And I guarantee Dolan was not the only one getting impatient. He was so willing to take things into his own hands. He put us at great risk. We need to give them hope. The Smog’s grip on this land will end.”
He scrubs his face with one hand. “You believe this will work? You trust them to stand up to their end?”
“I have no reason to believe they wouldn’t. They are all just as fed up with the inconveniences caused by the barriers as we are. Trade routes must reopen, and the gods will not forsake us in this.” I won’t give them the choice. “Besides, our scouts tell me Lukasian soldiers were spotted too close for my liking. We must move forward.”
“When do you leave?” he asks, knowing there’s no point in trying to convince me to stay.
“There is a Clestrayan vessel ready and waiting.”
Konnor gives me the same unamused look he always has when he knows I’m keeping something to myself. The man practically raised me and watched over the Rhiza for me when I could not do so myself.
He sacrificed his family when I called on him to help me in the pursuit of restoring our kingdom. Again, I am reminded that I owe him everything, but I cannot bring myself to tell him that his daughter is my mate.
Maybe he can sense it in me somehow. I couldn’t stand knowing how much it might pain him to discover that she will never be whole in that way. That, in order to win back Lukasia and save our people, we must make this sacrifice.
The thing I think I adore her for the most is how much I know she would agree with me on this, should she ever find out.
There is an additional ache in my chest when I consider how much of Arina’s trauma has been my fault. I make myself a silent promise to give her whatever I can once the curse has been broken. We may not get to be together, but I can make her life comfortable. Whatever it takes. She will want for nothing.
“You’re ready?” Konnor asks.
I only nod.
“Let’s not delay any longer, then. Just say the word, and we shall see you off.”
