“What time is it?” Selena murmured. She offered me a sleepy smile, holding a hand to request help.
“Almost dinner time.” Pulling the Naiad upright, I raised a brow.
Selena loosed an awkward chuckle, ignoring my unasked question, crossing her graceful arms over her chest. She dipped her chin towards the western wall, indicating a coffer built with crystal panels. “Your new glass box.”
Drawn to Selena’s figure on the floor, I hadn’t even seen it. But it was massive. It took up the entire wall. Floor to ceiling, corner to corner, it refracted the light from the sole window behind it, sending waves of blue and white across Selena’s face. I put a hand to the cold glass, wondering how she’d even gotten it through the door.
“You don’t have space to work in here anymore.” It was all I could think to say. Selena’s desk was gone, replaced with a much smaller version, a single chair the only seating option in the room.
Selena smiled, unbothered by the loss of her office. “I don’t enjoy sharing, anyway.” Her eyes roamed to Thaan’s door and dropped away.
Annoyance lanced through me. I still hadn’t worked out her true relationship with Thaan. And I was too cowardly to ask.
Like the previous box, the opening was a steel lid. A pulley had been devised so I could lift the lid when in use. Stairs had been built up one side of the wall, as the box was now taller than I was. A single horizontal glass pane was secured along one side of the interior, just below the water level, a shelf for me to step on when getting in and out.
Selena caught the look on my face. “You don’t like it? You’ll have more room to swim and practice your water calling. You’ve long since exceeded the use of the other one. This gives you more water to work with. You could even moon bathe in here.”
Sliding a finger down the cool crystal, I stared at my own reflection in the glass. My mind went to the brief meeting I’d had with Thaan, two weeks before. “What do you know about Winterlight?” I asked, not daring to meet Selena’s eyes.
“Nothing since hearing that our forces chose to gather there,” Selena answered. “What have you heard?”
I wondered whether she was lying. “Thaan told me it was attacked. Calder lost a quarter of its men.”
Selena gazed softly at me. Her chest fell as she released a long, silent breath through her nose. The scent of water lilies followed her exhale: sweet, aquatic, and floral. “Don’t worry. Put it out of your mind,” she said.
“You said I would fight in the war,” I reminded her. “You said I wouldincantour armies so they felt no pain.”
Selena inclined her head with cool grace. “I did. When the time comes, you will be a champion of Calder. A hero.”
I scoffed. “No one remembers beingincanted. I won’t be noted for helping anyone. I’ll be the phantom spirit men might only dream of before they wake up after battle—with wounds they don’t remember receiving.”
The blue light of the glass box flickered over Selena’s beautiful face. She hesitated, conflict evident in her eyes. What was she not sharing? I stilled my breath, listening for the presence of heartbeats nearby. Selena’s pulse, slightly elevated, was the only one I heard. There was no one in Thaan’s quarters.
The advantage of having caught Selena off guard offered me some courage. I stretched my back as straight as it would go. “Are you anOculos?”
“What?” Selena demanded, lurching upright. She gazed at me with deep incredulity. “Where did you hear that?”
My jaw tightened. “Are you?”
We stared for a long time. The blue and white waves whirled, casting off the walls, filling the corners of the room. Far below, the sound of the ocean beating against the cliffs reached my ears.
“Yes,” Selena finally said.
I’d expected as much, but I hadn’t expected her to be honest about it. It didn’t help the sting of betrayal I immediately felt, thebite of desperate disbelief. I shrank away, feet carrying me into the corner of the room.
Your eyes will be my eyes, your ears will be my ears. A spy for a Videre.
Every word that had ever passed between Selena and I fell through my memory, tainted by shadow. I stared wide-eyed at the elder Naiad. My friend. Myconfidant.
Selena calmly watched, pain threaded behind her ocean eyes.
“He can see what you see?” I whispered, accusation heavy despite the weakness of my voice.
Selena closed her eyes. The light strobed across her chest, her lavender dress. “It doesn’t work that way,” she said. “Everything in the Naiad world is about choice. A choice made by your mind and heart, realized by your blood and fulfilled by the bonds you keep. I’ve never pledged my loyalty, I never signed a contract, but he doesn’t trust anyone else enough to fill the position. I’ve never shared my vision with him. Not once.”
“He doesn’t trust anyone else,” I echoed. “But he trusts you. What’s the point, then? What good is anOculosif they don’t share their vision?”
A spy for a Videre.
