Page 38 of Tale of the Heart Queen

I pray again that Bain keeps up his end of our meeting.

I enter the throne room to find everything cast in a soft blue glow from the massive water tank. The air is still, suggesting some type of barrier must be in place to keep the wind and rain out.

My breath expands with relief when I see Bain staring up at Coral with his hands clasped behind his back.

I scurry towards him, and he turns at my approach.

“Lor,” he says warmly, giving me a kind smile, and guilt twists in my chest. But I won’t hurt him or anyone else. I just need to talk to Coral. Surely that isn’t a crime. I ignore the reproving voice reminding me that I also plan to rob Cyan if I get the information I need.

“Hi,” I say. “We ready?”

Bain’s eyebrows furrow. “You’re sure you can talk to her?”

“I’m sure,” I say.

I’m not completely sure, but he doesn’t need to know that.

He scans me up and down, his eyebrows crumpling.

“Why are you wet?”

He didn’t ask who I was earlier, which is curious. He had to have seen West and North trailing me. He saw me with Cyan. Either he doesn’t care, or he’s oblivious. If it’s the second, I probably should keep my current not-so-trusting relationship with his son to myself.

“Just went for a walk,” I say, tugging a dripping piece of hair out of my eyes.

“In this weather?”

“Got caught in it. Had to run back.”

“So late?”

Gods. How many questions is he going to ask?

“Was killing some time before our meeting. Should we talk to Coral now?”

He nods, a light sparking in his eyes at my deflection. He really wants this, and I am a terrible person for taking advantage of his hope.

“Come with me.”

He turns, and we make our way around until we reach a door. Bain swings it open, revealing a curved glass tunnel that burrows into the center of the tank.

He gestures for me to follow. It feels like I’m walking straight through the ocean, thanks to the surrounding wall of fish and sea life teeming with color.

We walk towards another door, and then Bain stops, pulling a key from his pocket. He inserts the end into an ornate keyhole and then twists. With a soft whoosh, the water around Coral swirls and churns into a cyclone before it drains away.

When the water is gone, Bain opens the second door and I enter the massive chamber formed by a high wall of rippling waves.

“Can I touch it?” I ask, staring at the water, and Bain nods.

“Yes.”

I thrust my hand through the surface, marveling at how it remains upright. At once, a dark shape charges towards me, and I scream, yanking my fingers away, just as it comes to an abrupt halt.

“But I wouldn’t,” Bain adds, and I scowl.

Floating on the other side is the same type of creature Atlas used in the trivia challenge. The same mottled blue skin and nest of black hair and sharp, very sharp teeth. It snarls at me as I stare at it with my wet hand clutched to my chest. I think of how I punched its friend when I rescued Marici and hope these things can’t gossip with one another across the miles.

“Can it get to us?” I ask, eyeing it warily.