“I cannot know more than you and Queen Imogen do…” She kicked at a pebble. “Your Majesty.”
“Halla, tell us.” The gravity of his voice made me stop in my tracks. “I am ordering you—”
“Ordering me? I am your wife, not your servant.” Theodore seethed, but Halla fixed him with a withering look that would have made her mother proud. “I only know that Eusia resides in a deep pool,” she finally offered. “She must always be in the pool.”
I thought of my most recent visions. “Have you seen the pool she used in Obelia?” I asked, gripping the banister.
“No.” Her resentment was palpable. “All I’ve seen is a painting of the offering sanctuary. The pool in it was small and round. It sat in the very center of the room.”
As if deciding that was the end of the conversation, Halla scanned the modestly dressed hall. The dust-covered tapestries were so faded there was no making out what they’d once depicted. The candelabras were empty. The center hall gave way to a westernand eastern wing, with a narrow set of stairs leading to the upper level of each. Her gaze locked on the darkened entrance to the eastern wing and narrowed.
“I will help you search,” she said distractedly, and started toward the hall. “You’ll take the westerly half, won’t you?”
We both watched as Halla disappeared through the shadowy doorway. Theodore looked up at me, brow furrowed with suspicion. “I’ll watch her,” he mouthed.
I gave him a grateful nod.
As I made my way up the dust-strewn stairs, I found it difficult to pull air into my chest. I’d had my sights so set on Eusia and Agatha I’d forgotten entirely that when I found Eusia, I would also find my mother—or what was left of her. Her bond with Nemea, though weak, had still been intact when I’d killed him, which meant she was still alive.
I reached the top landing. Heavy cobwebs draped a round table and empty shelves. Half-burnt candles still sat in their metal holders. There were no footprints in the dust and dirt. “Agatha?” Save for the distant sound of gently lapping water, the keep was so upsettinglyquiet.
Frantically, I searched chamber after chamber, knowing full well that I was the first person to open their doors in ages. With the cry of every rusty hinge, and the subsequent emptiness, my panic built until it ached like a wedge in my chest.
I made my way back down the stairs, despondent. I stared out at the lagoon through the open front doors. TheEleuthioswas barely visible through the shifting mist, but there was no missing the wall of black clouds that sat on the horizon behind it. Wind screamed through the doors, pushing against the front of me. There would be no leaving this place until that coming storm passed.
I whirled, ready to continue searching until I found Agatha orcollapsed trying, but stopped when I noticed a dark shape in the mist of the back garden. Tall, and lanky, and slightly stooped. I knew it could not be him, but for a moment, I saw Nemea.
Every muscle in my body tightened. Every nerve screamed for me to move. Torun.But I only stood there letting my mind fill in the missing pieces of the obscure form, showing me Nemea’s gait, making me hear the particular rhythm of his steps. The figure kept coming through the mist, until my eyes finally showed me the truth.
Lachlan stood on the threshold. He looked like he’d been carved out, sword point hanging dejectedly toward the ground.
I let out a shaking breath, trying to banish the fear that clogged my throat. I was beginning to wear too thin. “What did you find?”
“There’s nothing out there.” His voice was shattered. “The footprints and wheel marks led me to where they turned to head back toward the lagoon. I searched all the surrounding buildings too.” He glanced up the stairs I’d just come down. “Nothing up there either?”
I shook my head. “But it’s too early to give up.” Nausea curled through me. “I thought Eusia’s pool might have been built above the ground, like a large tub, but…”
The vision of Ligea and Eusia as very young women flashed into my mind. The hole dug into the earth. The spell to pull water up into it. “We need to look low.”
And so we did. All four of us searched for hidden chambers, for hatches in the floors, inside and out of the keep, for so long that the tallowy light began to go amber and the storm clouds that had been far off were upon us.
Still, we found nothing. Once every room and corner had been inspected, we all gathered in the center hall once more. The storm gusts swirled through the doors, whipping Halla’s now filthy gownaround her ankles. She remained quiet, only shaking her head to confirm that she’d found nothing at all. I only believed her because I’d checked every room she had, just to be sure.
Theodore’s concern for Lachlan was unmistakable. Lachlan had descended into an awful melancholy, his optimism grinding down and bleak lines etching his face.
I knew his pain. “Lach—” I reached for him, but he pushed past me for the keep’s front doors and sat on the front steps, attention on the coming storm. To see him stop moving… to see him give up… split my heart in two.
Theodore followed after him as lightning flashed bright white. Thunder rocked the building’s stones. Halla yelped and wound her way into the protection of the hall of the lower eastern wing, leaving me alone.
And now I truly was. Alone. For so long I’d staved it off, but it had finally found me. Losing Agatha sent pain cutting through me like a heated knife. My eyes blurred. Another boom of thunder, another flash of blinding lightning. It lit every shadow of the center hall, letting me see the whole room in glowing white.
Shock rocked through me. I wiped at my eyes, making sure that I’d seen clearly.
I’d thought the curving wall beneath the stairs had held the outline of a very small door. I couldn’t see it at all now in the low amber light, only the mortar lines of the stacked stones. I walked toward it, the sound of pelting rain filling my ears. Set my hands to where I’d seen the shape, and then I pushed.
With a low groan, the stone facade gave way.
A wall of black greeted me. Cautiously, I stepped through and was welcomed by the very distant scent of seawater.
