“Coelum Cadere,” the tallest of the threesome—Nymira if the old sailors’ tales were correct—shouted inside my head, spiking a sharp pain through my brow that made me wince. There was no eldest. All three had sprung from a cuttlefish at the sea titan’s command. “Why do you pledge your fealty to a god ofthe land when it is through our blessings that your magicks are amplified?”
“My Lady, I pledge no troth to any other than you. I kneel before no other gods. I whisper no other names but yours. If I could take a knee before you, I would.”
By the witches teats, my voice was weak.
“My sisters and I hear you, yet we witness you leaving the sea for the land. Know this, young Cadere, the lucent that your family has carried for generations untold is a gift. A blessing from the gods to the family that showed the most devotion to the sea. That endowment was given with a promise made by your ancestors. Your line is of the ocean, your gifts from the titan’s daughters, your skills honed by the knowledge passed onto your family by us. A most generous largesse, would you not say?”
“Aye, a gift most generous. My life is on the sea, as was my father’s, and his father’s, and his father before him.” My heart thundered in my chest as I struggled to dredge up some of that famed cleverness Le’ral kept telling me I possessed.
“And yet you abdicate that vow and its meaning to stand before a god of the land! You revile our blessing by allowing those on the shore to place a crown on your head. A crown of ore and mined gems, not of abalone, pearl, and azure coral. We see the encroachment of the land walkers into our realm, the poison they dump into the waters, the nets that drag our creatures to the surface in numbers so great they grow rarer and rarer. We witness this disregard for our divinity as our faithful leave us to kneel before a god of intellect! We bore witness to you doing the same. Your duplicity has angered us, Coelum Cadere. We ask little in return for the bounty bestowed upon your bloodline and then you turn from us!” Air bubbles exploded from the small gills on the sides of their long necks as she railed. “You bow to a god of land while carrying our boon upon you. Nay, do not thinkto speak for your sins against us are many. We grow weary of our children treating us with disrespect. All we ask from those we grant bequests to is loyalty, yet you deny us even that!”
Fukkate.“May I reply, your most gracious and benevolent goddess of the deep?”
Her pale green eyes darkened. She turned to her sisters. They gave a nod. Nymira leaned forward on her throne, a pale white fish settling into the moving tendrils of her hair to hide.
“Plead your case, Cadere,” she said, froth floating to the rounded cavern ceiling.
“I had no plans to bend a knee to the land god. Nor would I ever. My heart, my life, my existence is on the sea, serving you three as best as a mere mortal can.”
“Then explain the things that we have seen through the eyes of the lucent.”
Shite. I had no clue they could see through that damned orb. “I sailed to Celear to meet my half-brother. You know of my lineage.” They nodded. Of course they did. Everyone but me knew I was noble born. Well, half noble born. No, poorly born but possessing fifty percent noble blood. My father had omitted a great deal of information from me over the years. “Surely you would not deny me the chance to know my sibling?”
They said nothing, just continued to glower at me. Being sisters themselves, they would not bicker on that point. I drew in a breath. How they had encapsulated the throne room at the bottom of the sea cleft in an air bubble, I had no idea, but I was not about to question their generosity. Perhaps they simply wanted to ensure I had enough air to grovel before they fed me to the sharks. “If you’ve been bearing witness, then you know I’ve been saying to one and all that I would return to the sea once the Cloud’s Shame were seaworthy.”
“Aye, we have heard your words, but your actions speak of a male who is tempted to remain on the land. Did you not takea lover who is bound to the earth? Are you not growing fond of your brother and his family? Did you not accept lands, titles, and a circlet of silver? Is that not the sign of a person turning his back on those who have given him so much?! Tell us, Coelum, where does your heart linger?”
“My heart lies with the sea, with your generous divine guidance, and with the waves that carry me to distant shores.” They weren’t buying it. All three sneered. “Parlay!” I blurted out in a last-ditch attempt to save my arse.
The trio drew back as if I’d slapped them across their scaly faces with kelp.
“Youdareto bargain with us?!” they snarled in unison.
“Aye, I seek parlay. That is the law of the seas, written in blood and foam by the finger of the titan himself for all who sail under the red banner in his name.”
“Your temerity knows no bounds. Speak then. Place before us a trade of such value that we may reconsider washing the land walkers you have grown so fond of into the depths as we reclaim that which was ours.”
My mind spun as they waited impatiently. It was time to do what I did best. Be charming and spew bullshite with aplomb.
“The sea made me, made all the Cadere men, who we are. WhoIam. Being on the ocean is part of me and always shall be. But there is also another side of me that has come to light. A side that was born of soil and rock. What I propose is this…” I inhaled a breath of salty air, the salt so thick it clung to my lips so that when I wet them, the tang of salt burned my tongue. “I can do more good ruling the coast as a prince than sailing the seas stealing and hiding. If I can be allowed to rule the lands of Renedith, I vow I will use my power to protect the sea.” All three narrowed their eyes as I spoke. They’d not torn me into bits for eel treats, so perhaps I was making headway? By the titan’s soggy sandals, I prayed it so. “A pirate merely survives. Aprince changes laws. Let me stay as a bridge between land and sea. I can offer coastal protections, sacred harbors, a ban against overfishing, offerings and festivals in your honor. I can teach the fishermen who have wandered from your grace to revere you once more in action and prayer. I can build a temple to you on the coast of the vills of Renedith.” That last offer made their eyes glow a deep green. A temple. That would be a tall order but given the severity of the threats of the sisters, a small stone altar seemed the least the kingdom could do to save their arses. “That is my vow and offer to you, goddesses of the deep. What say you to this proposal?”
Nymira studied me intently before replying. “We did not gift you to cage you. We blessed your line with our lucent to aid the cause of those who were faithful to us and our father, who took from the mainlanders who poisoned our waters, killed our fish without thought, and turned from the gods of the land, sea, and air to one of cold intellect.”
“Then let me be a Tidebound royal. Let me serve both sides.”
“How will you spread our gospel?”
“I’ll sail to new lands. Find the uncharted places, visit kingdoms far away, spread the knowledge that we—elves, humans, dwarves—can only survive as long as the sea survives.”
They sat stock-still, not moving or blinking, not even when a deep red squid swam past, leaving a cloud of ink in its wake. My arms had gone numb, as had my feet, and the cold was now seeping into my marrow. I worried that I might never be warm again.
“So be it,” all three said in syncopation inside my throbbing head. The lucent in my pouch flared to life, humming with magicks returned to the orb. “We will watch over you, Tidebound Prince.”
“And you won’t sink this island?”
“For now. But know the seas are ours to command, but yours to protect. You have seven moons to show us that your troth to us is true. If we do not see a temple on the shore of Renedith by the rise of the eighth moon, the land walkers you have fought so heroically and passionately for will be washed into the ocean with a wave so large that none who breathe air will survive. We do not take vows broken lightly. Seven suns, or the kingdom of Melowynn shall rest at the bottom of the sea as our plaything.”
Seven suns to build a temple?!Were they mad?!I needed more time.
