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Her gaze rounded, but Lachlan spoke before she could. “You’re aware that Agatha lived away from the sea for nearly twenty years too, right? You’re not the only one who’s been locked away from the rest of the world.”

Agatha went rigid. “I do not need you to speak for me, Commander Mela.”

Lachlan rubbed his jaw. “Don’t call me that, please.”

“It’s your title.”

“It’s impersonal.”

“Precisely.” Agatha’s gaze shot to me. “And you—I tried to teach you everything I knew. Have you forgotten how you shut me down every time I tried to tell you anything at all about our kind?”

I blanched. It had been difficult to learn the details of a life that I’d never thought I’d experience. Every bit she’d shared with me had felt like something to mourn, one small death after another. Ignorance had hurt less.

“And when I left Varya,” she went on, defensively, “the nekgya were very few. I’d heard of only one or two attacks. I’d never seen one. I had no idea the waters had become so infested.”

Theodore shifted beside me. “And the attacks have only grown more gruesome. They have started to go after Varians now too.”

A shudder stole over me. “Have you not been able to do anything about them?”

“I’m trying.” His tone, his look, made me want to curse him and fall quiet at once. “There are other, more pressing matters right now that we need to discuss. Like this negotiation with the empress. She’s already here. I saw her ship in the harbor.”

Lachlan gave Theodore a regretful look. “Well, your bond still hasn’t settled. You’ll have to take Imogen with you to the meeting with the empress.”

Theodore scraped a hand down his face. “You know the size of her fleet, of her troops. The contracts she’s sent are extensive and need discussing. If I waltz into that council meeting with a… woman like Imogen beside me—”

“ A woman like Imogen. ” I smoothed my undone tumble of hair. “There’s no need to insult me while I’m sitting right next to you.”

Theodore’s mouth pinched. “Bloody Gods—I’m not. I’m saying that the empress will think I’m slighting her and her daughter if I bring such an uncommonly beautiful woman with me into the negotiations.”

My cheeks warmed. “Oh.”

Lachlan and Agatha stared at us for a moment, wide-eyed. Finally, Lachlan spoke in an oddly careful voice. “I’m your right hand. Have her come in on my arm and say she’s your cousin, eager to meet her new family member.”

I shot Lachlan an unpleasant look. Meeting the princess of Obelia, Theodore’s fiancée, did not make me feel eager in the least. It made the bond in my stomach coil and strain with jealousy.

Lachlan shot me an unpleasant look right back. “You’ll have to be nice.”

Theodore huffed and looked toward the carriage ceiling. “Fucking Gods.”

“I have to agree with His Majesty’s sentiment,” I said. “Bringing his pesky current wife to meet his future one is an awful idea.”

“Vomiting on the Empress of Obelia is a worse one,” said Lachlan.

Agatha nodded. “Lachlan’s right.”

“Thank you.”

“Hush.” Agatha pursed her lips, her eyes darting between me and the king.

The look on her face was the one she always wore before she started an argument, gaze narrowed and lips quirked.

I braced myself as she took a deep breath.

“Your Majesty,” she said, sweetly. “We also need to discuss you ordering Imogen to the Mage Seer.”

Theodore closed his eyes. “Not today, Agatha.”

“Please, let me speak, Your Majesty.” But she didn’t wait for his permission. “I am willing to accompany her on her trek. It’s wretched of you to insist on sending her, but even with soldiers and a healer and me at her side, she will still be in danger.”

At her words, Lachlan seemed to fill with hollow anger.

“What’s your point?” Theodore’s every muscle had clenched.

Agatha crossed her arms haughtily. “In the event that your bond does not settle—which at this point seems highly likely given it’s been nearly three days—I’d like to know if you are prepared to accompany her yourself?”

Theodore’s face went slack. “It’ll settle.”

“What makes you think it will?” Agatha challenged. “It should be two days. The stories say it’s always two days. I expect there’s something off, I can’t imagine what, but regardless, how will you handle being on opposite sides of the island? Both of you will go mad with sickness and worry.”

Just as the palace materialized through the mist and the wheels crunched over the gravel of the wide main drive, I saw something in the king of Varya that struck me with unease: panic.

It was such a small thing. So small, I doubted Agatha even noticed—but Lachlan did.

His mouth thinned into a hard line as he watched Theodore’s chest rise and fall with slightly increased breaths.

I felt another layer of tension fall over him.

His lovely eyes widened for the briefest moment, and it made my heart slam into my ribs.

Lachlan leaned forward and casually patted his knee.

“We’ll discuss this at another time.” His smile was effortless, but there was a new trouble in him too.

He looked out the carriage window. “We’re here, so let’s focus on the first terrible task on the list, shall we?

” He clapped his hands. “Let’s go meet your fiancée. ”