Page 23 of A Sea of Vows and Silence (The Naiads of Juile #3)

Selena

“ W hat happened to you two?”

Pheolix regarded Cebrinne and me with a raised brow, hood thrown back over his shoulders, too much humor in his eyes.

My skin hadn’t returned to its normal color, still pale and clammy from the evening before, and the center of my forehead felt as though I’d spent the night pounding it against the dancing crane statue outside our rooms.

“Did you forget what happened the last time you annoyed me?” I asked, shucking my stockings off and rolling them into a neat ball. The sun drizzled across the surface of the water, sparkling madly. On such a rare day, I was loath to dive in and swim to cloudy, moody Paria.

“That’s what you do when you’re annoyed?” He pulled off his cloak, hair flying as it whipped over his head. He smiled at me through the strands. “I’d love to see you furious.”

“She’s a kitten when she’s furious,” Cebrinne supplied. Eyelids heavy, shoulders slack, she looked as though she was powering through the midst of the world’s worst hangover.

Working my skirt off my hips, I paused to throw a glare at her.

Pheolix glanced at Cebrinne. “You look just as worn out as she does. Wouldn’t have anything to do with the moray eel on the fish menu last night, would it?”

I stopped. My head swiveled slowly to look at him in deadened disbelief. “You knew what was on the menu?”

“Of course I did. Why do you think I didn’t request any for myself? ”

Now in her underthings, Cebrinne also halted, premeditated murder in her eyes.

My stomach rolled. “Why didn’t you say something?”

Pheolix shrugged. “I had planned to, but then you went to leave and tried to kill me instead. Failed, though.”

“A mistake I won’t make again.”

“Here’s hoping.” Shirtless, he thrust his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “Try all you want. Anything that encourages you to touch me.”

“I’m going to be sick,” Cebrinne said, wading out to the water. She dove in, her outer layers packed in the canvas bag cinched over her shoulder, leaving me alone with Pheolix at the murky river’s edge.

I glared at him in disbelief, determined not to let my eyes wander over his hard chest or the inked lines that framed his abdominals. Smooth, liquid heat poured into my veins. “You’re disgusting.”

“Agreed.” He motioned to the water, the movement flexing a vein in his sculpted shoulder. “Shall we?”

I wrenched off the final layer of my dress, marching to the gray shallows. Tiny smelt fish darted away, vacating the water like fractured glass struck by a stone, little gray shards disappearing into the sludge.

Four days of swimming in this muck, then one more of swimming in the sea before we met Aegir in Paria.

Theia help me, I wasn’t sure if I’d survive another minute with this Naiad.

“I’ve spent the last few days scouting.” Aegir slid his finger down a sketched map of the Parian colony.

“There are a few passages here that are crumbled. I think they might be where the island surface connects internally to the sea. The underwater entrance is easy enough to find once you know where it is, but I haven’t found how Pheolix managed to pass through yet. ”

“I bribed the Fates with indecent favors.”

“Pheolix,” I snapped. “Don’t lie about such things. The Fate of Truth will steal your soul.”

He shrugged. “Maybe she already did.”

Unable to look at his face without wanting to rip it off his skull, I glanced around the cave instead.

Black-bear pelts lay in an overlapped circle around a stone fire bed, more of them stacked in the corners.

Two large pots sat nearby, recently scrubbed clean.

A pile of wood and a second pile of knives.

An axe leaned against the rock beside an oil lamp near the back of the cave, one of its glass panes broken.

Fishnets hung crudely from a jut in the stone, wavering in the sea-ward breeze.

I cocked a hip. “You’ve been busy, Aegir.”

“There’s a shipwreck not too far from here.” Hands on his hips, Aegir stood back and scrutinized his own map. He’d drawn it on the back of what looked like the lower corner of Cressi, thick ink lines visible through the parchment.

“Did you find any rum?” Pheolix asked.

We all glanced at him.

He smirked. “For medicinal purposes. Cleaning wounds or fire-starting.”

Aegir frowned back at his map. “Didn’t look.”

“Of course not,” Pheolix snickered.

“Let’s begin,” I said, clasping my hands together. “We only have three days. Thaan asked if we could be back in Calder for the Queen’s Starlit Bloom Masquerade, and he’s suspicious enough without us defying his requests. ”

Cebrinne rolled her eyes as though she’d forgotten about the yearly spring ball. Aegir lifted a brow. “What’s a Starlit Bloom Masquerade?”

Pheolix wandered to the cavern edge. “It’s a pig show, Aeggy. All the farmers in Calder bring their prized heifers to the palace and the shiniest one gets a blue ribbon. It’ll be fun. You should come.”

I frowned. “A heifer isn’t a pig.”

“It’s not?” Pheolix glanced back at me. “Sounds like one.”

I crossed my arms. “Where exactly does beef come from, Pheolix?”

“Selena’s right,” Cebrinne said, falling into step behind him. “They bring their prized boors .”

Pheolix smirked at her, but she stared flatly back at him.

“Before we dive in,” Aegir said, ignoring them both. “I’ve been exploring as much as I can. The tunnels run deep.” He hesitated. “So deep, they play tricks with your mind.”

Pheolix raised his brows.

“What kind of tricks?” I asked.

Aegir rubbed the back of his head. His mouth parted, but he didn’t say anything, though thoughts flashed behind his eyes. Secrets he didn’t want to share.

“They whisper,” he finally said. “They whisper Darkness .”