A step behind Aegir, Pheolix chuckled. Selena shifted uncomfortably, sinking her attention into the walls, suddenly captured by the intricate celestial carvings across the interior canvas of the shell.
But diplomatic tact had never worked its way into my arsenal of communication. Grazing the surface of anything using only polite words and courteous avoidance never revealed the heart of a problem. I was too unbothered. Too careless. Too impatient.
And maybe, at the core of it, a personal fight within me reared its head at the thought of a maleVideretelling a femalePrizivac Vodewho she could and couldn’tcordae.
Aegir leaned against a hand, his hard expression that of someone who had just been ordered to scrape all the algae from the sea. “You think I should allow my sister tocordaewhoever she wants?”
“Of course that’s what I think. That’s the reason I’mhere.”
His mouth twitched as he considered saying something and promptly decided against it. I wondered if he’d ever entertained the notion that a Naiad mightnotwant tocordaewith him.
“Even if the match is a terrible choice?”
“It’s not your place to decide what’s terrible for her.”
Aegir laughed, a low warning in the roll of it. “It is when I’m her monarch.”
“Do you decide who all the members of your colonycordae?”
“Ceba,” my sister whispered sharply.
But Aegir settled his weight to lean against a second arm, viewing me with a comfortable scrutiny I could have spent the entire day testing. His mouth crooked, and something in my chest fizzled at the warped line of it. “Let’s talk about the stones.”
“The ones that will kill Thaan, or the ones in this room?” Pheolix asked.
“Thaan,” Selena said, sending him a look that threatened violence. “Theia said we could use the two crystals to reverse Thaan’s trade with Darkness. The Breath of Safiro stole Sidra’s lungs, but the Scale of Safiro took Thaan’s tail. He has no use for Sidra’s stone, but if he were to find his own, he could finally reenter the sea.” She paused to gnaw the inside of her cheek. “If he did, we’d be at his mercy. All of us. Every Naiad alive.”
Pheolix gave a low whistle. Aegir’s eyes flicked to him and then me. “Where are they?”
“Sidra’s is on an island in the Juile Sea, according to Theia. It’s where Thaan was born. Thaan’s is in a cave somewhere below the surface in a territory that once belonged to Paria.”
“Neutral waters,” Aegir said.
Selena crossed her arms in consideration. “Yes.”
“Finding Sidra’s stone would involve requesting access to their waters. And I’m assuming if we found her stone, she’d want to keep it. If we’re going to search for one, let's start with Thaan’s.”
Selena nodded, throat tighter than it had been the moment before. My hand covered hers, and I squeezed.
“I’ve never been to Paria before,” Aegir said quietly, watching us.
I released a slow breath, gaze heavy as I met Selena’s vivid blue eyes. “We have.”
16
Cebrinne
The island of Paria sat off the distant coast of Cypria. Our home.
Uncharted by sailors, it was more giant rock than habitable landmass. Caves left the surface of the island riddled with holes, many of them sinking below the water level and carving deep into the island itself. One of them tunneled directly to the sea, where the Parian colony used to lie, though we’d never learned where its mouth lay.
Thaan had entered the island by ship, remaining on the rocky beaches above the sea. The Parian Queen, Ursa, had been apprehensive of him at first. But herDomushad dwindled, her Naiads more old than young, and she’d made a gamble to trust Thaan after he swore fealty to her with a blood vow.
She’d gambled wrong.
It should have taken weeks to reach Paria. Cutting upriver to bypass the Juile and Anatoly Seas had only cost us five sunsets, but with the return trip, we had only four days to search before we’d have to return to Calder and replenish my supply of blood betrayal.
We climbed onto the haggard shores of Paria like four eels, the black rock a serrated edge against our tails. I transitioned first, shoving my head into my silk dress without even trying to hide my body and tossing the spools of twine we’d brought ashore. Aegir followed, as tall and severe as the rocks. Pheolix helped Selena stand behind us, his hand lingering on her waist after she’d fully emerged.
