“But surely if you came a few at a time, you’d be able to make your way north unnoticed. There are so many refugees on the roads these days, you’d hardly be conspicuous.”
“Our news is controlled by what we hear at the floating market. We didn’t know about the uprisings.”
She tapped her lips with a long-nailed finger. “So ignorance is a large part of it. I see.”
I didn’t like the way she was discussing Varenian oppression like it was something to be studied. But maybe we were willfully ignorant. Yes, searching for pearls occupied most of our men’s time, but the women? I thought of Mother, how obsessed she was with the ceremony. The Ilareans had given us something else to focus on with the choosing of a Varenian princess, had even made it seem like an honor. But had the Ilareans done that, or had we? It was impossible to tell what had come first. All I knew was that in my seventeen years, the only people I’d ever heard question it were Sami and me.
“Why are you so curious about all this?” I asked finally.
Lady Hyacinth picked up a ball of unraveled yarn from a basket and began to slowly wind it around her hands. “Come now, Zadie. You must know the first rule of warfare.”
I shook my head, a voice inside of me screaming that I didn’t want to hear the answer.
She smiled, her dark green eyes glittering. “Know your enemy.”
* * *
My meeting with Lady Hyacinth haunted me. She had called Varenia an enemy, which seemed both ominous and illogical. We were firmly held under Ilarean rule and far too few in number to fight for independence. I wanted to talk to Lady Melina, to see if things had been different in Varenia during her time, but she didn’t respond to any of the notes I sent her.
On the third day, Ceren summoned me to a meeting in the great hall. I’d never seen him sit on the throne before; I’d never seen anyone sit on it, in fact. But with a dark metal crown circling his loose hair, and a cloak of black velvet over his shoulders, he looked the part of the king he would one day become.
I glanced around at the other people who’d been called to the meeting and knew immediately that something was wrong. Talin was there, with Grig and Captain Osius, along with the page, several of Ceren’s guards, and a smattering of lords and ladies. But it was the presence of Lady Melina that troubled me the most.
“Thank you all for coming,” Ceren said once we’d all gathered. “I’ve spent the past few days examining my breathing apparatus, and it has become evident that someone deliberately tampered with it. An attempt on the crown prince’s life is a heinous crime that cannot go unpunished, though thanks to my future bride, that attempt was unsuccessful.” He smiled at me, but there was no warmth in his eyes, and I felt my stomach churn as his gaze traveled to the little page.
“This boy,” Ceren said, pointing with one long finger at the child, “was the only one close enough to the device to have tampered with it, according to witnesses.”
My heart pounded in my chest as I realized what Ceren was preparing to do.
“Indeed, I found a telltale kink in the hose that is all the evidence I need to condemn this traitor to death.”
A few of the ladies gasped, and I could feel Talin’s posture go rigid next to me.
“Unless, of course, there is someone else who will take responsibility for this crime? I sincerely doubt that a boy of eleven plotted to kill his future king all on his own.”
My gaze slid to Lady Melina, and I suddenly understood why she was here. Ceren would never have invited her if he didn’t suspect she was involved somehow. And maybe she was. I had told her I couldn’t get the key the night before we went to the lake, and it was entirely possible she’d put the page up to this. Worst of all, tampering with the device had been my idea, and Ceren didn’t suspect me because I’d saved him.
“Well?” Ceren said. “No one will spare this child’s life? Very well. I’ve decided that since he didn’t quite manage to kill me, I won’t throw him from the mountain as I normally would. No, in my generosity, I’ll give him a chance to fight for his life. Guards, prepare to take him below.”
I turned to Talin. “What does he mean, fight? Where is he taking the boy?”
“There is...” He swallowed before continuing. “There is a creature below the mountain. It lives in a different lake from the one you went to. Occasionally, Ceren will feed it a prisoner, rather than having them thrown off the mountain.”
My eyes went round with horror. “A creature? That eats people?”
He took my arm as we fell in line behind Ceren and his guards. Lady Melina was behind us, talking to one of the ladies. “I’ve never seen it,” he whispered. “No one but Ceren and his guards have. He calls it Salandrin.”
“We can’t let him do this,” I said, unable to keep the hysteria from my voice. “He can’t feed that poor child to a monster!” Oh Thalos, I should have let Ceren die in that lake, no matter what Varenian ethics dictated. I had spared him just so he could take the life of a child.
The tunnels leading to the bottom of the mountain became too narrow for us to walk side by side, and I crept along behind Talin, his back the only thing I could see in the darkness. The boy was weeping softly up ahead, despite the guards’ orders that he keep quiet. Every now and then I heard a grunt or a cry, and I knew they were beating him into silence.
The closeness and the lack of air here were making me light-headed. I reached out to brace myself on one of the walls and was surprised to find it rough and muddy, not at all like the finished corridors elsewhere in the mountain. And then I realized this was not a manmade tunnel at all. Whatever lived down here traveled through these holes.
I was starting to think I might faint when we finally reached our destination—a cave bathed in eerie blue light. I looked up expecting to see lunar moss torches and gasped when I saw what was creating the effect. There were thousands of tiny lights above us, shining like pale blue stars.
“What is that?” I asked Talin.
“They’re glowworms. They hang from the ceiling of the cave.”
Their beauty was shattered by the screams of the page. Two of the guards walked to a rocky outcrop ten feet above the water, dragging the boy with them. The lake was dark in places, but in the areas where the light from the glowworms reflected on the surface, I could see that the water was deep. Something white and massive swam past before disappearing again into the shadows.
I let out a startled cry and ran to Ceren, grabbing hold of his cloak without thinking. I heard the lords and ladies behind me murmur in disapproval.
“Please, don’t do this,” I pleaded. “He’s just a boy. Show him some mercy.”
“If not for you, I myself would be dead,” Ceren said sternly. “Don’t you think the punishment should fit the crime?”
In Varenia, we had a fairly simple system of justice. If you committed a crime, you were either forced to right the wrong—returning a stolen item, nursing a person you’d injured, disqualified from the ceremony if you harmed another girl’s chances—or, if the crime was severe enough, you were banished. We never killed anyone for their crimes, even though we all knew banishment was tantamount to death. A man had been banished a year earlier after trying to poison his brother with puffer fish meat. Fortunately, the poisoned man had lived. His brother was never seen again.
“I think considering the boy’s age, and that his brother died during one of your experiments, you should be more lenient than you might otherwise be,” I suggested. “The people here are terrified of water. To make those boys go into the dark lake below the mountain was cruel. Even the guards were afraid at Lake Elwin.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, and I realized I’d just admitted to following him to the other underground lake. “I gave everyone the opportunity to speak on the boy’s behalf,” he said, looking past me to Lady Melina, who stood among the other lords and ladies, her face blank. She was not goin
g to sacrifice herself for the page, that much was clear.
My mouth went dry and my pulse raced, as if my body knew before I did what I was about to say. “I’ll go,” I blurted. I was terrified of whatever was in that water, but I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do. Stopping Ceren had been my idea, and I’d promised Lady Melina I was willing to pay for the consequences of my actions.
Ceren’s brows knitted together. “What do you mean, you’ll go?”
“In the lake, with the monster. You said you’d give the boy a chance to fight for his life. Let me fight on his behalf.”
He stared at me in disbelief. “Don’t be ridiculous. That boy doesn’t stand a chance against Salandrin, even with a weapon.”
“So you’ll give me a weapon?”
“I’m not letting you go at all.” He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me farther away from the others. “Why are you covering up for Lady Melina? I know she was behind this.”
“How do you know that?” I asked. “How do you know it wasn’t an accident?”
“That woman has always despised me, and I checked the device right before we left New Castle. There’s no way the hose got kinked all on its own.”
“So you have no proof, and yet you’re willing to kill a child?” I cried. “You’re alive, Ceren. That’s what matters. Send the boy back to his family. They’ve already lost one son.”
Ceren was quiet for a moment, and a spark of hope lit in my chest. But then he shook his head. “I can’t let him go now. I’ve accused him publicly.”
I shook my arm free of his. “Then I’m going in his place. I couldn’t stand by and watch you die, and I won’t let the boy die, either.”
His eyes darted back and forth, searching mine. “You’d really risk everything for some servant boy? His life is worth nothing compared to yours.”
“My life is worth nothing if I ever believe that.”
He shook his head. “You’re a brave girl, I won’t deny that. But I need you alive. I’m sorry.” He turned away.
“I’m the one who planned it!” I yelled, loud enough that all the lords and ladies could hear. “I put the page up to it. I’m the one who should be punished.”
Ceren whirled back to me. “Stop it!” he snarled. “You saved my life. No one is going to believe you did this.”
“I had a change of heart,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “And now that I’ve admitted it in front of witnesses, you can’t hold the boy accountable.”
The other members of the court rushed forward. “I always knew she couldn’t be trusted,” one of them said.
“We should have an Ilarean queen,” a lord muttered.
“She must pay for what she’s done,” another said.
I could feel Melina’s eyes on me, but she kept her silence. Apparently she wasn’t willing to sacrifice herself for me, either.
Ceren stalked up to Talin, who hadn’t said a word through any of this, though his eyes flitted between his brother’s and mine. “Tell her to stop this, Talin.”
“What makes you think she’ll listen to me?” Talin hissed.
Ceren scowled. “Oh, please. I’m not a fool. I’ve seen the way she looks at you.”
I couldn’t bear to see Talin’s reaction, not after what had happened at the lake. I kept my eyes on the page, who was crying quietly. He was all that mattered now.
I heard Talin release a heavy breath, and then his hand was on my shoulder, drawing me aside. He leaned so close his lips almost brushed my ear. “You don’t have to do this,” he said. He swallowed thickly. “I know you want—”
“It’s not about what I want,” I said. “I can’t let that child die. I’m a strong swimmer. At least I have a chance.”
I could tell as our eyes met that he saw me—me—for who I really was: stubborn as a barnacle, maybe, but someone who fought for what she believed in.
For a moment, I thought he might insist on going himself. But he must have seen the resolve in my gaze, bcause instead of protesting, he nodded and drew a knife from the sheath at his waist. “Go for the eyes,” he said as he handed me the blade. “I’ll help in any way I can.”
His grip on my shoulder remained fierce, despite his words, and I let my hair fall forward, obscuring us as I brought my hand up to his, half expecting him to jerk away at the contact. But though he inhaled sharply against my ear, sending shivers down my spine, he made no attempt to move, and I knew he felt the same spark that I did.
“I’m sorry if I’ve been cold,” he murmured. “You did nothing to deserve it.”
“Thank you.” A moment later, I gently removed his hand, but kept my eyes locked on his. Ceren might suspect my attraction to his brother, but if I was about to die, I needed to make sure Talin knew it was more than that. “Your kindness has been like the break in a storm,” I said, understanding now what he’d meant in Varenia. Life here was dark and cold and unforgiving, but Talin had made it a little more bearable.
He held my arm for a moment longer, his jaw clenched tight. “I wish things were different—” he began, but I stopped him.
“So do I.”
He released me slowly, and I could see him wrestling with what to do. I shook my head a little, telling him silently not to dive in after me, no matter what happened.
The guards were waiting for orders from Ceren, but I climbed up beside them and took the boy from their hands. “Go now,” I whispered to the page. “Leave the castle and go home to your family before anyone realizes you’re missing.”
His eyes widened, but he nodded and scrambled off the rocks. I set down the knife and pulled off my gown to more gasps. My shift only fell to my knees, but I needed to move freely. I studied the lake for a moment, ignoring the murmurs of the crowd. The water would be cold, but at least I’d be able to see with the light from the glowworms. I’d need to stay away from the shadows. As I peered over the edge, the finned back of the creature sailed past again. It had to be twenty feet long, bigger than the great man-eating sharks that lived farther out to sea.
Ceren looked horrified, but Talin held him back. Fear coursed through my veins like it had the day of the incident, when I’d thought I might lose Zadie. But fear could be useful. It could be turned into strength. I grabbed the knife, nodded at Talin once, took the largest breath my lungs could hold, and jumped.
* * *
As the frigid water closed over my head, I opened my eyes to take in my surroundings. Here, the lake was about twenty feet deep. From what I’d seen of the beast, it looked more fish than lizard, but if it had created the tunnels down here, it had to be able to breathe on land as well as in the water. I kept my back pressed against the rock and the knife in front of me as I searched for the creature.
When I broke the surface several minutes later to take another breath, I felt something brush against my feet. “Look out,” Talin shouted, and I dived back down to see the creature’s white tail disappearing into a crevice on the other side of the lake.
The head appeared a moment later from another crevice. So that was Salandrin’s lair. My first impression of the beast was that it was similar to the giant cave salamander, with thick white flesh and short legs ending in clawed feet. But the head was longer and more tapered, like a moray eel, and when it opened its mouth, I saw dozens of razor-sharp, cone-shaped teeth. It swam past me, back into the shadows. I counted three sets of legs, though the hind legs were small, probably vestigial.
I’d also noticed that it had tiny red eyes, like the salamander. If I had to guess, the creature was blind.
But it knew I was here. It had sensed me when I went to the surface for air. It could likely feel the vibrations in the water. I moved away from the wall, just a few feet, and the creature came rushing out of the shadows, its mouth wide-open. The water around me began to surge forward, as though I was caught in a tide. Salandrin was sucking me into its maw.<
br />
I reached back for the rocks and grabbed hold, wedging my fingers as far into a crack as I could, but the force of the suction was incredibly strong. My head was inches from the surface and I was running out of air, but if I let go, I’d be sucked right in.
Instead, I put the sheath of the knife in between my teeth and turned to grab the rock with my other arm, rising just long enough to fill my lungs. When I went back under, the creature was swimming past. I grabbed the knife and slashed at the last stumpy leg, slicing it clean off. Salandrin writhed in agony, and dark blood filled the water instantly, blinding me.
When it cleared, the monster was gone.
Most likely it had gone back to its lair. I didn’t want to play its cat-and-mouse game; waiting was just making me colder, and I was risking hypothermia the longer I stayed in the water. If I was going to die, far better to get it over with quickly. So I took another breath, propelled myself off the rocks, and swam directly toward the crevice.
The head emerged when I was still only halfway across the lake. I dived toward the bottom, where a crop of stalagmites thrust up into the water like an underground forest. I pulled myself down between them just as the monster swam past, using its strong forelegs to reach for me. The claws met stone and Salandrin shot forward, circling back around for another pass.
Now my choices were greatly diminished. I had only three or four minutes of air with my adrenaline pumping this much, and the moment I went to the surface, the beast would come. In open water, I was as good as dead.
Go for the eyes, Talin had said. He was right. It didn’t matter that the creature wasn’t using its eyes to hunt me. The eyes were the gateway to the brain, and if I stabbed deep enough, the monster would die.
As it passed overhead again, I reached up and took hold of one of the clawed feet on the second pair of legs. The talons dug into my flesh, but I held on with all my strength as the creature writhed in the water. It turned to snap at me, but I was too far back for it to reach me. I stabbed the knife into the thick flesh of its side and let go of the talon, my own blood mingling with the monster’s. Wedging my fingers into the soft flesh, I withdrew the knife and stabbed again. Hand over hand, I made my way toward its head.
Crown of Coral and Pearl Page 24
