Now only traitor’s truth can see
the one who sets the rivers free;
and all within Her ancient, bless’d plan.”
A long hiss of breath broke the ringing silence that followed. Alun glanced around at them all, brows pitched so high that the whites of his eyes stood out against his dark, moonlit skin.
“She predicted it all. Everything that happened to us.”
“So far,” Ceri added darkly. “Arewethe “drown’d clan?” Or is that Daithí’s kin—”
“It’s aprophecy,” said Os, in the slow, patient voice of a parent clinging to their last shred of sanity. “It’s little more than a fairytale. They only hold as much meaning as you give them, andyouassign that meaning.”
“Os,” Ceri said flatly. “Years and ice and sorrow? A frozen heart must bear the price?”
Adeline’s swallow was so harsh that Ceri heard from across the circle and shot her a remorseful glance. Kai’s warm grip contracted around her hand. Os gave the tension but a moment to stretch its limbs, then barrelled on adamantly.
“We’ve never known the Elders’ prophecies to hold weight before,” he pointed out. “Never paid them any mind, not under Kai’s rule.”
“We haven’t,” Kai agreed slowly. He turned to meet his cousin’s eye, and though Adeline couldn’t see his expression, something in Oswalt’s dropped, dragging at the edge of his lips and his brow. “But you didn’t see her, Os. Eda. She was barely there; she didn’t evensoundlike herself. This was—it was something else this time. I don’t know what it means, but it’s not like the folktales.”
“So we’ll figure out what it means,” said Ceri. Her voice was so full of grit that it hardened her soft hazel eyes to steel. She set her jaw and stared around at them each in turn. “Eda says we can save the Laune;set the rivers free. So let’s do it.”
Though they didn’t so much as glance at one another, Adeline felt Kai’s arm tense against her own, his fingers jerking in her grasp. He was, she knew, recalling the same awful argument that had so painfully cleaved them apart.
How could I ever trust that you won’t watch Eisalaan drown to save the Laune?
In her mind, her past self was vicious, her voice airy and shrill with indignation. She had been soangrywith him for deceiving her; so scared of what Selma might do if she’d found out; so preoccupied with her mother’s legacy, the legendary Queen of Snow and Silver. But now, Selma was gone. Edward and Mareda had devolved into hatred and degraded themselves with unforgivable violence, an attempt on their lives. And the Thaw was no longer just about Eisalaan; it never had been. The Merrow had lost their power, magic had all but disappeared from the entire world. If the story was true, if the Pearl was reallydown there, its pulse frozen mid-beat, how could she expect the world to stop turning just so her Silver Kingdom might thrive?
I wouldn’t do that to you,Kai had said.
But he had to.Of course,he had to. Adeline lifted Kai’s hand to her lips and brushed a soft kiss to the backs of his fingers.
“How do we set them free?”
“Adeline—” His voice was a low and urgent murmur in her ear, but she turned away with a gentle squeeze of his hand.
“A heart of pretty stone,” she said, speaking now to Ceri. “Is that the Pearl?”
Ceri’s gasp was so loud it sent a ripple through their little circle, each of them jerking back in minor shock.
“Oh,Adeline, you beautiful genius.”
She scrambled to her knees, leaning over so she could snatch the scrap page from Oswalt’s hands, the paper slicing through the air and, judging by his wince, through her cousin’s fingers too.
“Mother— Ceri, I’mbleeding.”
Ceri went on as if he hadn’t spoken, eyes moving in a blur as they pored over the inked verses.
“I thought it meant Avette, but the pearl—that has to be it.Mother’s tears already known, now hide a heart of pretty stone, and pretty hearts revive the drown’d clan.”
Her voice rose as she read until the last few words thinned out in a high, excited squeal that had them all wincing. She bounced on the spot, and Al’s slow roll of laughter tumbled beneath her own.
“That’s us! We’re the clan! We’re goinghome.”
“Ceri, that’s not—” Kai cut himself off at the abrupt fall of his sister’s face. His eyes closed for a moment, and he inhaled through his nose. “I’m sorry. I know. But we have a lot to process. Let’s just—we’ll revisit it in the morning. Let Eda get some sleep, and we’ll ask her more about it when she wakes. Go enjoy the music. Drink some of Pike’s stolen wine.”
Ceri sank back to her cross-legged seat and snatched up the discarded bottle, watching her brother pointedly over the heavy glass bottom as she drank. Kai raked a hand through his hair.
