‘She definitely considered it.’
‘And yet she did not act? Knowing it will cost her crown?’
‘She is my sister.’
‘Sisters betray each other, sometimes.’ I think of Phineus and my father, his ugly, deathbed resentment.
She blinks at me. ‘Amphitrite and I would not.’
‘Does your master know? Does he know what has happened?’
She is silent. She cannot speak it. She nods. I see the apology, the regret in her face; I too am literate in her lines.
‘You had to tell him. The attendants would have seen the bed linen. Word would have spread and you would be in trouble for not going to him first.’ I straighten and tread the water, revelling in what is left of this day, this life, this glorious life so close to the sun.
‘When will he come?’
‘We will go to him, at the Erythraean coast. It will take five days to travel. Then he will come.’
‘Hmmm.’
‘Meda. I will say no.’
I laugh drily. The salt stings my skin but it is soothing. The water is neither warm nor cold but the exact temperature of my blood, and it is easy to forget that I am in it and not rippling through air.
‘Oh? Are you so fickle, worm? You see me bleeding and sick and find me not so beautiful after all?’ I turn my head to face her, expecting to find her similarly wry and angled. It is not what we wanted, but it will be as it is. I will choke down my fear because we will, at least, be together. But I notice the firm, resolved line of her lips.
‘Ceto?’
‘I will lie.’
I am grateful for my buoyant naiad blood and the sturdy base of the water. I might have drowned at her words.
‘No.’
‘Yes.’
‘You will not!’
‘You will not convince me. I am decided.’
‘I said,no!’
‘I will not watch you marry him!’
‘I will not see you punished for breaking your oath! Not on my account.’
Her eyes are wild, she drags her shaking hand through her hair. The Cetus shadows around her. ‘I can crush any others that harm you and I will, but he is too much. I will not allow you to condemn yourself to an eternity as his pet! His subject! You will not be allowed to say no, ever, you will belong to him even more than I do!’
‘You do notallowme to do anything. You will not take from me what choice I have and damn yourself in the process.’
‘Do not start this again! Not this old lie, Meda, not to me! It has never been your choice—’
‘It is now!’ I grip her wrists to prevent her ripping chunks of hair. ‘I did not want it, I did not ask for it, but it is mine and I must face it. Phineus died because I would not, should I lose you too?’ I am in her face, I show her my teeth and she growls back at me and we are both crying because we are tangled and there is no untying us. ‘I do not want my mother to die. If you lie, if you say no, her life will be forfeit also.’
‘I do not give a fuck about your mother. Should I betray you for her sake?’
‘You do not betray me. You made me no oaths.’
