Page 17 of Fate of Echoes and Embers (Heirs of Elydor #3)

“Your instincts were true,” I said. “It is also true even those we love are flawed. My mother…” I stopped.

It was unnatural for me to speak of this aloud.

But I had promised Issa, and it was the reason I brought her here.

“When she was alive, I thought my mother could do no wrong. She was perfect in every way. An expert diver, fearless beneath the sea.”

Issa’s brown eyes were fixed on me, pulling me in as surely as a strong tide. I swallowed, trusting her, even knowing I did not deserve that same trust in return.

“You speak of your inability to judge character as though it is a flaw. My mother… she lived over three centuries and yet, even she trusted those she should not have. Some are simply more inclined to trust than others, but that does not make them weaker. It only makes them more open… and sometimes, that comes at a great cost. But there is a high cost for trusting no one, as I do. None of us come out unscathed, Issa.”

“What happened to your mother?” she asked softly.

I looked out to the sea, trying to find the words for a story I had never told.

“She was the best pearl diver in Thalassaria. So much so that others sought her counsel. One, a man named Olivar, a respected sailor and diver, was well-known for his deep knowledge of the sea. He and my mother completed many dives together throughout the years, and she trusted him as a friend.” My jaw clenched as I envisioned his face, one that haunted me in my dreams. “He convinced my mother to dive in an area well-known for its turbulent waters. Some say, tainted by dark magic, an ancient one older than the tides itself.”

“Marek,” she said, her voice full of concern.

I turned toward the sound, oddly comforted in a way I’d never allowed myself to be with anyone. Even Nerys.

“It was rumored to contain pink pearls.”

Her eyes widened. Even humans knew that pink pearls were rare and highly coveted for their ability to bring good fate to their owners.

“My father tried to talk her out of the dive, but Olivar convinced her, with the proper precautions, they would be safe. I was on an expedition to Aethralis and only learned of her death upon my return. The moment we ported, I knew something was wrong. My father was there, which was exceedingly odd. If either of them would be standing on the docks waiting for my safe return, it would be my mother.”

“Do you know what happened?”

I shook my head. “Her body washed up on the shore days later after my father led a fruitless search.”

“I do not think… for a Thalassarian to drown?—”

“She was not just any Thalassarian, Issa. There were few more skilled at diving than my mother. And aye, it is extremely rare for a Thalassari to drown.”

“And Olivar?”

Drown him to the Depths. “Was never found.”

Her big brown eyes widened. “Did he… do you think he drowned too?”

I reached into the folds of my breeches where a small, leather pouch was tucked away. Pulling it out, I loosened the drawstring and tipped it into my palm: a single, luminous, pink pearl, unlike any found in common waters.

Issa gasped.

“This,” I said, rolling it between my fingers, “was found on her when they pulled her from the sea. So I began searching. Asking questions. First among pearl divers, then traders, then those who dealt in rare things. Eventually, my questions led me to men who asked their own price for answers. Smugglers. Thieves. Black-market dealers.” I met Issa’s gaze again.

“One thing led to another, and I found I had a talent for trade. For moving things others could not. At first, it was only a way to uncover the truth. But the truth is slow, and survival demands coin. And so… I became what I am.”

“All for answers about your mother’s death?”

I turned the pearl in my fingers, watching how the dim light of the lanterns behind us caught its strange, otherworldly shimmer. “I have never stopped looking. And I do not intend to.”

“Why… You told me your mother had died, but not… this.”

I replaced the pearl my father had given me after he discovered it preparing my mother’s body for her final voyage at sea.

“I haven’t told this to anyone,” I said, matter of factly.

Clearly, Issa didn’t believe me. “Anyone? Surely, in all these years…”

“My father knows, of course.”

“Nerys?”

I shook my head. “No one.” Then, qualifying my statement, I said, “Some know more than others about the information I seek. Bram, for instance, secured that ledger for me because he knows I pay handsomely for any information tied to the Maelstrom Depths.”

Issa’s brows drew together. Anticipating her question, I added, “Some believe the same dark magic that tainted the waters in which my mother dove also made the Maelstrom Depths so dangerous, even for water-wielders. Like other unexplained phenomena in Elydor, the belief is that an ancient ritual, tied to a time when magic in Elydor was unbound to the elements, was used for personal gain. For power. And when someone, or something, is too powerful?—”

“Elydor seeks a balance.”

“Always.”

Issa was now properly horrified. “And yet, believing they may be tied to each other, you are prepared to descend into the same Depths whose dark magic may have claimed your mother?”

“Who else should retrieve the Crystal than someone with a command of water, who has spent his life seeking the truth of such waters?”

“A truth you’ve not fully grasped.”

I could not argue that. “There is no help for that unfortunate fact.”

“Why, Marek?”

“I’ve told you, Nerys and Mev?—”

“No. That is not what I ask. Why did you tell me about your mother?”

Why, indeed?

“Because I promised you I would. And I don’t intend to break a promise to you again, Issa. Not even an unspoken one.”

She could push back. Press me as to the real reason. But, as difficult as it was to tell the story of my mother’s death, and my inability, after so many years, to piece together a puzzle that would haunt me forever… telling her the true reason I opened up to her unlike I had with anyone before?

Some truths were better left buried at the bottom of the sea.