Page 21

CORDELIA

Breathe. Get through this.

I repeat the affirmation to myself as the maids escort me to the dining hall. A pair of men in grey uniforms reach for brass handles shaped like tentacles and swing two mahogany doors open for me.

I’m greeted by the warmth of a fire crackling in the hearth, but my blood runs cold at the sight before me.

A banner hangs from the wood beams running across the ceiling, an emblem of a tentacle wrapped around a spear stitched into the forest green fabric. Plaques of shark mandibles and deep sea fish heads are nailed into the section below the dark crown molding, hunting trophies decorating the painted frieze.

A series of bones are arranged on the blank blue wall behind the table, the skeleton’s claw-tipped phalanges touching the top corner. I sway on my feet as I run my eyes down to where the long line of a spine curves into a mermaid’s tail.

I’m going to faint if I don’t look away. I lock my attention on the dishes, my stomach roiling with nausea as a savory aroma rises from the slabs of roasted meat waiting to be eaten.

“There she is. Everyone, meet Dee,” Darcy says, pushing her chair back. She takes my hand and brings me over to the seat next to hers. “The angel who saved me.”

She introduces me to her Aunt Nell and Uncle Malcolm first, then makes her rounds to her cousin James, his wife, Alice, and their two children, Benny and Clara, before she lowers her voice and gestures to the slight woman with a blue eye patch seated away from everyone else. “And this is Bijou de Jolie, high priestess of the Lunar Tide Coven.”

I’ve seen her pale, freckled face before. Tonight, her red hair is wrapped into a tight bun beneath a sheer white veil, but last night it was a mane of flames as she ran down to the shore.

“Call me Bijou,” she says, bowing her head. “I’m so thankful you were able to pull my dearest friend from the sea.”

Aunt Nell sets her goblet down at the head of the table. She resembles Darcy, but her thick black hair has gone grey at the temples. “Yes, our island owes you a great debt for that. But I do have questions about how you did it.”

Large jewels shine on her ringed fingers. I watch the candlelight bounce off their sharp facets and give her my rehearsed answer, “I was out on the water when the serpent attacked. Darcy managed to hit it with her harpoon gun, but her boat flipped over, so I swam down and got her.”

“And why did you leave once you got her to safety?” Uncle Malcom asks, his mouth a thin line beneath his thick white mustache.

Bijou’s light green eye watches me closely.

How much did the priestess see before I swam off? Did she notice me kissing Darcy’s face in the midst of the chaos?

“She probably didn’t want to get caught after curfew,” Benny says.

James tousles the boy’s light brown hair and wags a finger at me. “I’d wager that’s it. Lots of folks sneak off to go fishing after the sun sets.”

“I didn’t want to get caught,” I admit, although I have other reasons for that. “I knew she’d be ok when I heard people running down to the beach.”

Mirroring Darcy, I take a sip from my goblet. The liquid is slightly sweet and goes down easily, dulling my anxiety.

I gulp down two more mouthfuls.

“Easy on the wine,” Zephyr whispers, an invisible figment in the loose waves brushed out around my shoulders. “It’ll make it hard to think clearly.”

“That must have taken a lot of courage to go after her. I’m sorry you felt you had to run off to avoid the consequences.” Bijou’s gloved fingers curl beneath her chin. “Darcy mentioned you’re from Seshly. Do you have a way to get back to your family?”

I spread my napkin over my lap like everyone else has and wonder if my grandmother has realized I’ve gone missing. “We’re not speaking. I recently came here to start a new life in the Heartbreak Isles.”

“Then you’re in luck because my dear cousin is in desperate need of a wife,” James says, winking at me. “We can be your new family.”

I lick a wine droplet from the corner of my lips, unable to tell if he’s joking. Darcy mentioned they might pester us about marriage, but surely this is an odd way to go about it, even for humans.

“Leave Dee alone.” Darcy rests an elbow on the table and drops her head in her hand. “Nothing has been decided yet. I don’t even know if she likes women.”

Her blouse sleeves are rolled up, revealing lean muscles twining along her forearms. They flex as she rubs the space between her eyebrows, and I let my guard down for a second.

My love will protect me. She’ll get me out of here.

“I do.”