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“My pleasure.” Mer smiled at the girl, her chest heavy with the revelations of the evening. “I do have a question about your servant girl. Phia, was it? How long has she been here?”

“Before m-my marriage.”

“And you are . . . close?”

“Phia helps me stay calm when the l-lord loses his temper. She hums for me.”

Part of Mer’s soul bled at the admittance. Just what sort of hell was Duke Keventin’s keep? “Has she said how she came to be here?”

Sienna’s brows furrowed. “No. Phia is mute.”

“Mute?” Mer had never met a mute Sirenidae.

“Yes. Her tongue was cut from her mouth.”

Mer nodded, dropping Sienna’s hand so she didn’t crush the girl’s fingers in her rage.

A Sirenidae’s voice was sacred.

Someone had mutilated Phia’s.

And Mer planned to find out who and return the favor.

Chapter Twenty

RAZIEL

Each day spentin Laos was more oppressive than the last.

Duke Keventin was playing games with him. He’d taken great pains to show Mer his fleet of fishing vessels, his orchards, and the fancy part of his province. What he had neglected to show the queen were the slums and poverty that clung to his province like a disease. The Mirror Plague ran rampant among those living in the shanty worker towns.

Raziel kicked off his boots and left them in the sand as he picked his way through the beach littered with porous black rocks. He rounded the bluff and spotted his wife standing in a tidepool at the edge of the jetty. He pushed his trousers up his calves and clambered up the slippery rock, avoiding the green patches of algae.

The farther out he moved, the higher the waves became, crashing around them. Sweat dotted his brow, and his hands trembled. He forced them into fists, trying to control his fear of the water.

He edged around a cluster of sharp mussels, the thunder of waves in his ears. He paused, watching Mer as she stood in the crux of the rocks, the ocean on either side. The water lapped around her knees, her dress floating in the water, salt in her short wild hair.

A sea goddess.

It looked as though if she only lifted her hands, the ocean would obey her commands.

Every morning, she visited this spot.

Each day, he joined her.

The first day, he hung back, wary of the Lure.

The second day, she ignored him completely as he crept closer.

The third, she’d stared at him as if willing Raziel to leave.

The fourth day, the queen had sighed and silently accepted his presence when he’d gotten close enough to experience the Lure but not enough to overwhelm him.

Raz didn’t know why he kept coming back. They weren’t friends. He hated the ocean.

And yet, here he was again.

Hoping maybe she’d speak to him.