Page 33 of The Unkindest Tide

“You didn’t say that at the last gathering,” said Elizabeth peevishly. “None of you had a kind word to say about the idea of sharing waters with the sea witch when we weren’t getting anything out of it. This is shameful. You shame yourselves.”

“Be quiet,” snapped Isla. “We all know what you did to earn the Lady’s favor.”

She seemed to realize what she’d said a beat too late to stop herself from saying it. Her mouth snapped shut, her eyes growing wide in her suddenly pale face. Elizabeth looked away, staring fixedly at the waves while the tips of her ears burned red.

And the Luidaeg smiled.

“I always wondered when my past would come back to haunt us,” she said, in a conversational tone. “Yes, Elizabeth Ryan was my lover, and yes, I would have kept her with me for as long as her mortal bones could have borne it. I would have lain her to rest in Summerlands soil, in a place where no one would ever disturb her remains, and I would have gone to visit her every sennight until the moons fell from the sky and the sea forgot what it was to sing. But she chose a Selkie’s life, and with it, became one of my children in image if not actuality. And if she keeps that skin tied around her shoulders now, if she doesn’t set it aside, she’ll be mine forever. So no, the Ryan clan has not had my favor for these past thirty years, because the Ryan clan stole my heart when they draped my lover in a stolen skin and called it the sea witch’s blessing. She had my blessing and my bed, and she gave them both away to be exactly like the rest of you.”

She paused, long enough for her words to fully sink in, before she continued, “But you’re right: here, at the ending of all things, it seems only fair that all clans should be treated equally.”

Elizabeth went pale. I knew the bargain the Luidaeg had made with her: in exchange for teaching Gillian, who wasn’t technically a member of any Selkie clan, and whose continued association with Cliff and Janet made her a threat to Faerie, the Luidaeg had given the Ryans eighteen of what they called the “Lost Skins,” Selkie skins that had, through one mechanism or another, found their way back into the Luidaeg’s hands and had not been redistributed. It was a gift beyond price, and I could understand why the other Selkies were jealous, even as I could understand why Liz looked so alarmed. If the Luidaeg wanted to take those skins back . . .

“In two days, the ritual will be performed to strip the Selkies from the sea,” said the Luidaeg. “At that time, anyone who has a skin will be bound to it, and no longer be able to pass it to their descendants. That was the Selkie way, and the Selkie way is ending. But to be bound to a skin, they have to hold it.”

Of the five clan leaders, only Liz seemed to realize what the Luidaeg was saying. She gasped, a small, sharp sound, and looked to me, like I could somehow stop this. I couldn’t. All I could do was stand with the rest of them and listen in numb, mounting horror.

“From now until I stand with you once again, I swear that I will neither intervene nor demand satisfaction over any accusation of theft between Selkies. Knock each other down and steal the futures from one another’s shoulders. It does no harm to me. The only limit is this: you will not touch the children, and you will not involve any other Selkie’s human kin. They aren’t yours to endanger. Run and hide and rob each other down to the bones. You have two days. Pass your skins willingly or pass them because you can’t protect them. I no longer care. The Convocation is called. When I return, I will have my satisfaction.”

The Luidaeg turned on her heel and began marching away down the beach, leaving the rest of us standing stricken and silent.

Liz broke free of the spell first. She ran forward, seizing my hands in hers like she thought she could make me see things her way if she just held on tightly enough.

“Gillian,” she hissed. Before I could ask her to clarify, she continued, “Gillian is a damn Selkie now, and she’s the least of us, you understand? She is the least of us. She doesn’t understand her powers, she doesn’t swim fast enough to get away, she doesn’t know the rules. She has no family among the clans. If this goes forward, she’s a target for anyone hoping to settle a skin upon a second child, and if she loses her skin, she dies. You have to make Annie realize what she’s doing to us. You have to make her understand what she’s doing to your daughter.”

I was still gaping in open-mouthed horror when Joan and Mathias stepped up and pulled Liz away, yanking her backward until she lost her grasp on my hands. Still she reached for me, straining against the empty air.

“Please,” she said. “Please, you have to make her understand, please.”

“This is no concern of yours,” said Mathias, eyes settling on my face. “The Lady is leaving. Her protection goes with her.”

“A true Firstborn would find a way to protect her people, no matter what,” muttered Isla. Liz was still staring at me, silently imploring me to take her warning seriously.

And I did. I just wasn’t sure what I could do about it without offending the Luidaeg. Not that offending the Luidaeg had ever stopped me before.

“Oh, to hell with it,” I muttered, and took a step forward, back into the reach of Liz’s hands. Mathias was taller than me, but I still did my best attempt at looming over him, drawing myself up straight and arrogant, just like my mother taught me. “Gillian Marks-Daye, of the Ryan clan, is my daughter. She’s a Selkie, and I swear to you, if anyone touches her, I will rain down fire upon whichever clan has done it. I’ll make you regret ever choosing the sea, because I will drown you in blood. By the root and the branch, the fruit and the thorn, you will regret having ever been born if you so much as look at her too long. Have a nice day.”

I smiled, broad and bright and borderline feral, before I spun on my heel and stalked off after the Luidaeg. Tybalt followed me, leaving the Selkies alone with their own problems, standing in the shadow of their own future.

NINE

WE WALKED AWAY FROM the artificial beach in silence. Only once the surface beneath our feet had shifted back to bare dock did Tybalt say, “That was impressively vicious of you. Had I not fallen in love with your ladylike charms long since, I think I might fall in love now, out of sheerest self-defense.”

“You’re cute when you’re trying to placate me.” The Luidaeg was up ahead, in sight if not yet in hearing range. “Why the hell did she need to change my clothes if that’s all we were going to do? I could have stood there and listened to her make threats in a T-shirt and jeans. I’m good at standing around in a T-shirt and jeans. I’ve had practice.”

“Yes, but a T-shirt wouldn’t have been nearly as flattering to your figure.”

I stopped walking in order to fix him with a baleful eye. He didn’t even flinch. “Are you seriously going to stand there and talk about my tits when things are this messed up?”

“Be reasonable, October; I could have been talking about your ass.” Tybalt looked at me haughtily. “My interests are far more versatile than you give me credit for.”

I blinked at him slowly. Then, almost against my will, I started laughing, great, gasping gales of laughter that evolved, a bit at a time, into sobs, until he stopped smiling smugly and gathered me close, surrounding me in the comforting musk and pennyroyal scent of his magic, which always clung to his skin like mist.

“Ah, little fish, I would take this from you if I could, you know I would,” he murmured, holding me so that his mouth was close to my ear, and his words were mine alone. “You never deserved any of this, and neither did she. It seems the sins of our parents are forever destined to be laid upon the shoulders of our children, generation on generation, until we grow weary of the whole affair. But you will do your best to do right by her, no matter how fiercely she rejects you, and I will be here throughout the whole sordid affair, by your side, to cheer you on.”

I sighed, pressing my face into his shoulder and letting the warm fabric of his shirt absorb my tears. Then I pulled away and offered him a wavering smile. “We should catch up with the Luidaeg before she decides we’ve been kidnapped and comes looking for us.”

“As if anyone here would dare?” Tybalt waved a hand airily. “More likely she’ll decide we’ve gone off to have sex somewhere, and come looking for us solely so she can interrupt at the worst possible moment.”