Page 63

“ W hat are you doing?” I ask when I hear Grayson lay one of the wooden paddles inside the longboat.

We’re far enough now that the light from the entrance has winked out, leaving us surrounded by pitch black.

The only thing I can see is the bright blue of Grayson’s eyes as they shift through the darkness.

“The tunnel is too narrow for me to use both paddles. One will have to do for now.” I hear one of the paddles dip into the water, followed by small droplets of water landing on my pants, soaking the fabric through to my knees as he transitions the paddle to the other side of the boat.

“Don’t stand up,” he says. “The roof is low enough for you to hit your head.”

My stomach tightens. “I guess now isn’t the best time to mention that I hate being confined in small spaces.”

Grayson’s laughter brings a sense of comfort to my fraying nerves. “Then it is a good thing that you cannot see.”

“Right,” I mumble.

Time is an unmeasurable thing in the tunnel. After some while, I can’t be sure if we’ve been moving for an hour or three days. All I know is that my muscles ache from staying hunched over, making sure that my head doesn’t scrape the top of the ceiling on accident.

The longer I sit in the darkness, the more questions seem to rise to the forefront of my mind. Questions that are meant for another time—not now, when we have no idea what danger lies ahead or what ancient things might be lurking below the water beneath us.

But my boredom grows near irritating and I ask anyway, “Are you a half-breed?”

I must have taken him by surprise, because Grayson’s eyes immediately flick to meet mine. After several moments of silence I think he might not answer at all and frustration begins to rise within me. For all he knows of my past, I’ve come to realize that I know very little about his.

“What makes you think that?” he finally asks and I feel that frustration seep away. It’s not exactly an answer, but it’s not silence, either.

I shrug. “You’re immortal, but you appear as a normal man. Your eyes glow in darkness and you were able to cross the barrier without trouble. Were one of your parents Mer? Or was your mother a sea witch?”

I hear him take in a long breath, as though the conversation at hand strains him. “No, I am not a half-breed. My parents were of a . . . different race. One that was lost to this world long ago.”

“What happened to them?” I try to make my words quiet, but they echo loudly in the small tunnel.

I see his luminescent eyes shift forward again when the dip of the paddle hits the water’s surface. “They were taken away from me, much like your father was taken from you.”

My throat grows dry. “I am so sorry, Grayson.” Aching to reach for him, I lean forward and search in the dark until my hand finds the top of his thigh. He stops paddling and places his hand over mine, giving it a squeeze.

“It is the greatest sorrow,” he says, words bouncing off the tunnel’s walls. “Losing those whom you weren’t strong enough to protect.”

“It is.” I nod, knowing he can see me.

He gives my hand another squeeze before I sit back up and wipe the wet from my eyes.

We go quiet again as he starts to propel us forward. “Is that why you’re so fearsome in your protection of me?” I ask after a few moments. “Because of what happened to your parents?”

Part of me wishes I could see his face right now. That I could note the small tells that his jaw and brows give away anytime we speak. But there is something that makes us braver in the darkness. It gives us a place to hide as the truth comes to light.

“Maybe in part. But for all the terrible things I’ve done in the name of losing them, it would mean nothing compared to the wrath I would unleash upon this world if any harm comes to you. And I do not wish to be that, Rowenya. I do not wish to unveil that side of myself.”

Everything makes sense now. His battle with granting me the freedoms I desire to make my own choices—even if they put me in harm’s way—and doing his best to protect me from the evil of this world.

I haven’t made it easy on him.

Regret sours my stomach as I realize just how important my life means to him and all the moments he’s been forced to show the world that version of himself as he has fought to protect the innocent.

Grayson Tyde. The most fearsome pirate to ever exist.

For all the power it grants him, it’s a title that he would relinquish, as long as those he cares for are safe.

“Grayson—”

“Turn around, Little Pearl,” he interrupts, and I shift on the bench to look behind me.

An audible gasp leaves my throat when my eyes set upon the most wondrous thing I’ve ever beheld.

Ahead of us is a glimmering cavern filled with pure starlight.

It’s as though the heavens kissed the earth in this one sacred place, and deemed no one worthy of its significance—hiding its beauty away deep in the Solise Mountains.

Grayson propels us forward and I look over the side of the longboat to see that even the water shimmers like thousands of stars painted in the midnight sky.

“How?” I turn around to see Grayson smiling broadly at me.

“There.” He points behind me to a far corner of the cavern where a single stream of light beams through a hole in the ceiling. The ray bounces off a large white crystal, peppered with flecks of black. Acting as a mirror, it illuminates the rest of the cavern in twinkling starlight.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” I whisper, in awe. Leaning over the side of the boat, I trail my fingers along the water’s edge again, but this time it looks as if I’m sweeping my hand across the heavens.

Turning, I see Grayson taking in the beautiful space with a serene smile on his face and I feel a sense of gratitude wash over me. No one else gets to see him like this. Without a fraction of that stone mask in place. He’s just him . And he’s even more beautiful than the starlit walls around us.

His gaze drops down to meet mine. “What?” He tilts his head to the side and smiles wider.

I shake my head and grin back. “I was just thinking about how thankful I am for this moment . . . even with the uncertainty that lies ahead.”

He answers with a look that sends a jolt of warmth straight to my center and I know he feels the same.

I turn back around and take in the final stretch of the cavern, feeling an absence settle in my chest as we near the end and find ourselves in front of another small tunnel that leads us further into the mountain.

At least this one is a little taller than the first. I don’t have to crouch quite as low.

“We’re almost there,” Grayson says once we’re in total darkness again.

“How do you know?”

“Feel that draft? Coming from in front of us?”

I still for a moment and focus. Then, I feel it. There’s a slight shift in the air and a gentle breeze catches the ends of my hair, sending whispering touches along my neck.

“Yes,” I finally say. “I feel it.”

“There’s a bend up ahead, so if you hear a scraping noise it’s just me using the paddle to direct us around it.”

I huff. “Thanks for the advanced notice. It’s honestly terrible not having the ability to see in the dark. You should consider yourself quite lucky.”

“Oh I do, Little Pearl,” he whispers right next to my ear before planting a kiss on my cheek. “Very much so.”

A giggle rasps against my throat. Then, I hear the scraping sound he prepared me for and the boat shifts to the right.

Or at least I think it’s the right. Not being able to see anything makes it difficult to tell which direction I’m actually moving in.

But it’s not long when a faint green light glows just ahead.

The closer we get, I see that it’s coming from the walls where images are painted in some kind of luminous paint.

“What is that?” I ask, as we grow closer.

“It appears to be some kind of glyph. Look there.” He points to the right and this time I can see the faint outline of his outstretched arm.

Painted with the same incandescent material is an underwater scene filled with bright corals and countless fish that all seem to be swimming in the same direction.

Further ahead is another image of a Mer female holding an oyster in the center of her joined palms, with a pearl nestled in the bed of the oyster.

The Mer’s face is ethereal. Pearls and other gems line the crown she wears atop her head with long lustrous locks of hair flowing all around her.

“She’s so beautiful,” I whisper, reaching out to touch the image. Cold stone meets my fingertips as I glide them over the oyster and pearl. As I draw my hand back, I rub the tips of my fingers together, feeling the cool wetness left behind. “Who is she?”

“The first Mer Queen. Her name was Indra Kythaela Shalana.” He dips the paddle into the water and the boat continues moving forward at a leisurely pace.

“She certainly looks like a queen.” I watch the painting of her drift away as we continue down the path. “But I thought the Mer Queendom resides off the coast of Indra’s Maw—the island named after her. Why would there be paintings of her here?”

Grayson’s eyes shift to the wall. “The Solise Mountains are memory. It is not only the line of Mer that are depicted here.”

Following his gaze, I take in the next set of images. Every creature known to the Southern Realm is depicted. Vampyres. Sea witches. The Dark Moon coven. Humans—seafaring folk and land dwellers, alike.

We wind through the passageway and I take everything in.

“I feel like I’m a child again, lying in bed as my mother tells me stories of our world’s past.” Reaching out again, I run my hands over a painting of the ocean meeting the sunrise.

“Every night my father was away, she would start a fire in the hearth and we’d stay up into the early hours of the morning.

She’d read to me from these giant tomes she’d said were passed down from her family. ”

“Is she the one who taught you the old language?”