I took the long way again, turning a corner, crossing the bridge, darting into a darkened corridor—and almost slammed into Selena. The Naiad gazed in surprise at me, her cerulean eyes dark in the faint light.
“Out for an evening walk, Maren?” Selena asked, the richness in her voice returned after her tense words with Thaan.
My foolish mind raced for a reason to be here, so close to the advisory. But I came up short. “Yes.”
Selena studied me for a moment, intense eyes burning into mine. I straightened, raising my chin, and met Selena’s gaze head-on.
“Well, the south-west side of the palace has better views. It’s just farms and treetops from here. Though, sometimes you see cows.” Selena turned away, graceful hands sliding up the railing as she climbed the stairs. “I like the cows.”
I watched her go, strangely certain Selena had been amused.
34
“We’ve added to your name,” Selena told me a few days later as we finished our breakfast of buttered crab, sunny eggs, and cherry tomatoes. My attention snapped up to her.
So, this was the part of the conversation with Thaan I’d missed. “Am I no longer Maren?” I asked, not shielding Selena from the small bite in my words. Nothing in my contract stated I had to endure a name change.
Selena raised her eyebrows at my sharp tone. “We will present you to court as Nikolaos’s future bride a week from now at the palace’s summer solstice soirée. We can’t simply announce you as ‘Maren.’ A backstory has been crafted for you. A delicate challenge, as you must have noble blood to be introduced. All the nobles in Calder know each other, and they know you’re not one of them. We could make up some false heritage for you from a foreign land. Illuskia or Krava. But it’d be difficult to convince anyone you were from those countries, since you don’t speak their language.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek, quietly annoyed. Why should I have to hide my background from anyone?
“We’ll use Leihani to our advantage,” she continued. “It’s unique, as it is a territory of Calder rather than its own country. Because of this, it provides a census each decade to Calder. So, we’ve gathered the archived files and traced your ancestry on your father’s side all the way back to your great grandfather several times over.” She flipped the page of her book, leaning back and squinting to read her own handwriting. “Hee-apo Inno-ha.”
“Hiapo Inoa,” I corrected. I was familiar with my forefather, who had leveled the land down along a section of beach no one had claimed. Leihaniians wove long chants for our ancestors with the threads of their life stories, and I’d memorized Hiapo Inoa’s memoir when I was still very young.
“You recognize it?” Selena asked.
“Yes.”
“We’re interested in his name. We noticed most Leihaniians don’tuse a surname.” Letting the unasked question settle, Selena crossed her hands over the table.
“It’s not a surname.Inoameans ‘namesake.’ It’s an extra name children are given when they’re named after someone, the way Calderians use a name likejunior, but it falls off later in years. Hiapo was probably named after his father.”
“How would you feel about using Inoa as your surname? For social purposes.”
I considered it, hooking my thumbnail between my teeth. “I wasn’t named after anyone, though.”
Selena considered me quietly. “You weren’t? How did you get your name? It’s not a Leihaniian name. Don't chew your nails.”
I ejected my thumbnail from my mouth. “You’re right, it’s not a Leihaniian name. My mother named me, but I don’t know what it means or why she chose it.”
“I thought your mother couldn’t speak,” Selena said, raising a brow.
I lifted my shoulder, though to be honest, I’d often wondered about it as well. It’s not as though I remembered when she’d named me. And I'd always been cautious when discussing the topic of my mother with my father. The other islanders’ opinions of her had left him protective of her memory, even with me.
Perhaps she’d written it for him in the sand.
“Hmm. Well, unless you want something else?” Selena waited until I shrugged again. Nothing sprang to mind. “Inoa is an easy fit. It exists in your family. Thaan has already added it to the generations following Hiapo, which is quite a large task. Since your father is a landowner, he qualifies for a title, so Thaan has also added a lordship to his name, and that of his family tree, dating back to Hiapo. You are now Maren Inoa, Lady of Leihani.”
“Except I’ll never return to Leihani,” I said, smiling, though the humor was absent in my voice. My belly tightened.
“No.” Selena said unapologetically. “Sit up straight. As a lady of the court, you will need to convince the council, advisory, and the royal family that you’re a worthy choice. It’s useless toincantthem. You may no longer slouch in your seat.” She gathered herself to her feet, opening her bag for her book and feather pen, swallowing the last of her tea.
“What do you mean, it’s useless toincantthem?”
“If we sang to humans, gained control over them, and told them to remember something different from what they know, it would wear off after they fell asleep.Incantationlasts until you release the person under your power, by sayinggo home,orgo away,or simply, I release you.If you don’t release them, they’ll wake up in the morning back to themselves.”
Selena reached for her emerald cloak, facing me to say goodbye. But I wasn’t satisfied. The thought ofincantationunnerved me. I thought of Pike’s empty eyes. His hollow voice, the way he seemed to float on his feet. The scent of burning chemicals, as thoughincantationmelted him from somewhere inside his mind.
