I giggled. “I missed you, too.” Then I moved my palms to his face and searched his eyes. “Do you feel different?” I asked, my voice low.
“I feel whole.”
“Me too.” My lips pursed. “Your immortality?” I whispered.
“I don’t know.” He pressed a small kiss on my forehead. “Don’t worry about that. I made my choice and I would do the same again.”
I didn’t know it was physically possible to feel this amount of love in just one moment in time.
Aegir slid us back into the bath, into the water that now only reached up to his knees. I realised then that the rest of it was flooding the floors, wetting the furniture.
He sat us on one of the lower steps, then laid me into the water before him, my head resting on his lap. He grazed his thumb along my jaw and down to my freshly bitten skin. It no longer stung, but when I reached for my neck, I could still feel the twin scars against my fingertips.
Whispered words left me. “You were never going to remove it, were you?”
“I had only meant to heal it, not take it away.” My eyes stung.
He reached for one of the many glass vials and poured its liquid contents onto his palm. The smell of lavender and jasmine lingered around us as he gently washed my hair. Then he asked softly, “Did you know that Cordelia means daughter of the sea?”
I eased open my eyes. “For over ten years, I thought it only meant heart, but now, now I remember the intended meaning, yes.”
“I want to hear about everything. I want you to tell me how you felt, what you felt, when you could not remember, and now that you do. I want to know how all of this is possible. I wish that I had been worthy of you, that you had opened up to me, shared your burden with me. Will you tell me now?”
“I—I really wanted to tell you. I was going to tell you that day—I want to tell you still. I don’t know where to begin.”
“Do you want to go to b—” My stomach growled so loud, he stopped midsentence. “Are you hungry?”
“Very much.”
“Wait here. I’ll go get us some food, and then we can talk for as long as you’d like.”
I nodded. “And check on Marshen, will you?”
“Of course.”
My soul frowned at his absence. I reassured it and myself that he would soon be back. I went to grab another vial of soap and washed myself. Then remained hovering, floating in the middle of the bath.
I remembered.
I remembered who they were.
I remembered who I was.
The daughter of a Water Nymph, my beautiful mother, the Queen of Ilma, and the daughter of a Water Wielder, my father, the King of Ilma.
Was Marshen right? Did I indeed inherit my father’s gifts? Was I truly the cause of the delicate rain? My core thrummed and throbbed as if in answer. But when I lifted my hand, ordering the water to move at my command, it remained still. And another question remained. How could I have possibly wielded when the connection with the moonstone was severed?
My mother had told me that it was the source of our powers, that it acted as a mediator between us and our goddess, Thalassa. But then I realised that my power could have perhapsbeen fuelled by my mother’s necklace.Mynecklace, a piece of Thalassa’s moonstone itself, which now shone blue.
Then I wondered if I was also like my mother.
Will I shift into a Water Nymph if I try to drown myself?Am I immortal? Areweimmortal?
My mother had told me about the Confirmation. That I would partake in it once I came of age. I shifted my arm and turned myself around, my face now immersed in the shallow water. I held my breath and for some reason started counting.
I felt Aegir’s approach and shot to my feet, wiping my dripping face. He entered the bathing room and knelt near the landing, “Cordelia, my brother wants to proceed with Marshen’s execution.”
“Take me to him. I want to speak to him.”
