Page 67

Snow fell lightly on the sea.

It was five days after the chocolate oranges, and Terlu was in the middle of sorting through Laiken’s journals in the sorcerer’s tower when she spotted the sea serpent out the window of the workroom. Grinning, she pulled on her coat and hurried down to the dock.

If the sea serpent was back, Marin and Ree wouldn’t be far behind.

She waved when they came into view and then watched as Marin steered the ship toward the dock. Ree the myrtle was scurrying up and down the rigging as if he were born to it.

“Welcome back to Belde!” Terlu shouted as Marin tossed a line around one of the dock pilings, then hopped off the boat to secure the knot.

With a wide smile, Marin waved back as Terlu trotted down the dock to greet her.

“Any letters?” she asked.

“As a matter of fact, yes, one,” Marin said, as she pulled a letter out of the bag at her side, “though it wounds me that you aren’t happy just to see me.”

“And me!” Ree shouted.

“Of course I am. It’s great to see you both,” Terlu said, but her eyes were fixed on the letter.

It was tied with a multicolored ribbon—red, yellow, and orange, matching the paint on her family’s home.

She took it, lifted it to her nose, and inhaled.

She could smell it on the paper, the faint odor of citrus and salt water.

Home. She wanted to tear it open and read it right now.

No, she’d wait until she had a moment alone.

She’d waited this long; she could wait a little while longer.

“Thank you.” She clutched it to her chest.

“Not a problem. I was coming here anyway.”

“You were?”

“Told you I’d be back in time for Winter Feast, remember?

” Marin said. “I keep my promises. Especially when they’re paid for with rubies.

I’ve got your gardener’s usual supplies, as well as a few special additions.

” She stepped aside as the ship began to disgorge people: a couple with a child, all of whom had soft tawny fur and tiny antlers poking out of their hair, as well as an elderly woman with silvery scales instead of skin.

“Refugees from Alyssium. You’ve got room here, right? ”

“Yes, of course.” The words were out of her mouth before she even thought about them, but how could she say no?

Especially since they were looking at her with frightened, tired, hopeful eyes.

And there were only four of them. Surely, they could fit four more on Belde, couldn’t they, especially when one was a child?

She greeted the new arrivals and directed them up the road toward where Birch, Rowan, and the others were, and she hoped they didn’t mind that she’d just said yes to four more residents.

“Third cottage on the right,” Terlu said.

“You’ll find some people who should be able to help you find a place to stay. ”

The more, the merrier, right?

Unless they were going to cause problems with all the magic use. It wasn’t just her anymore. It was all the talking plants, as well as several of Yarrow’s cousins and his aunt Rin, who’d helped fix the cracks in the glass.

As the new arrivals left the dock, Terlu lowered her voice so they wouldn’t hear. “Only thing is whether they’ll be comfortable living near an enchanted greenhouse. There’s a lot of spellwork here…” She trailed off, careful not to say who was casting it.

Marin shook her head. “Can’t see that being a problem. Laws are changing right and left, and no one is going to flinch at a little spellwork on a sparsely populated island, so long as it doesn’t cause any harm. Causing harm is still illegal. But the law that got you statue-ified—”

Terlu took a step back. “You know about that? About… me?”

“Who do you think brought you here?”

“I…” She hadn’t known. But if Marin had been the sailor who transported her as a statue, then of course she must have known instantly who she was the second she saw a living, breathing person on the dock who exactly resembled the wooden statue she’d had in her hull.

She’d chosen not to say anything. Unsure how she felt about that, Terlu gawked at the sailor. “You knew all along?”

“Sure.” Marin shrugged as if it was a minor detail, not the most pivotal (and traumatic) event of Terlu’s life.

“I don’t blindly agree to transport criminals without knowing what they did.

I knew, and I sympathized. Anyway, the law that got you turned into a statue has been struck. Thought you might like to know.”

It… What?

All her worry. All her fear…

And the law had been struck down miles and miles away?

If she hadn’t talked to Marin, she might never have known and continued to live in anxious fear of an imperial investigator swooping down on her island and ripping her away from everything and everyone she’d grown to love. “The imperial investigators…”

“Disbanded,” Marin said.

“And who… How…”

Marin flapped a hand in the general direction of Alyssium.

“Laws are being rewritten. The provisional government is still figuring out which foot to put which shoe on, but yeah, the empire fell, which means a lot of changes, for better or worse, but this is one change for the better that I think will stick. You’ve heard about the magic storms plaguing the outer islands, haven’t you?

Or have you? You’ve been pretty sheltered, first in the library, then on Belde.

” Marin paused for her to reply, but Terlu was too flabbergasted to do anything but stare at her.

“Well, anyway, as it turns out, one of the side effects of the emperor’s hoarding magic has been an increase in terrible storms. So everyone’s happy to not return to the old ways. Less death and mayhem, you know?”

She had no idea there had been death and mayhem while she’d stood frozen on her pedestal, but less…

Yes, less sounded good. Terlu felt as if her mind was whirling.

Marin knew all along that she’d been a statue?

And she’d approved of Terlu not being a statue, even though there had been a trial, complete with judgment and sentencing? “You were willing to risk…? For me?”

“Yeah, well, what’s the point of sailing free, choosing your own horizon, if you won’t choose what’s right over what’s easy?” For an instant, Marin’s smile faltered, and she looked out at the horizon.

Terlu opened her mouth and then shut it, unsure what to say.

Ree swung on a line, holding on with his branches, and then released, soaring in an arc off the boat and landing on the dock with a thump as his root ball impacted on the boards. “Hey, Marin, did you see that? I did it!”

Marin cheered. “Flawless. Like always.” Lowering her voice, she said to Terlu, “First dozen times he tried that, he overshot.” She mimed a bush sailing over the dock and splashing into the water.

“Luckily I’m—”

“—a halophyte,” Marin finished with him, fondness in her voice. “Yes, we know.”

“Welcome back, Ree,” Terlu said to him. “Where’s the other sailor who was with you?” She didn’t remember his name, but he’d had diamond horns. He’d looked at home on her ship; she’d assumed he was a permanent addition.

Marin shrugged. “He’s back on land, where he belongs. Not everyone’s made for the sea like Ree here.” She smiled affectionately at the shrubbery.

Ree fluttered his leaves like a bird preening.

“Your friends will be happy to see you,” Terlu told him. “Glad you made it back for Winter Feast.”

“Ooh, speaking of…” Marin dug into the bag at her side and pulled out a thin book with a green cloth cover. “I brought you a feast present. Happy solstice!”

A present. Terlu felt as if she’d already been gifted with the greatest present she could have ever imagined: her life, free of fear. And a letter from her family, which she was still clutching to her heart. “I didn’t get you anything.”

“You gave me a very big ruby, remember?” Rolling her eyes, Marin handed the book to Terlu.

“It’s a new spellbook that’s circulating, written for ordinary people.

Supposed to have a lot to do with plants and gardens and such, and since, you know, the whole greenhouse thing…

I thought it could be useful. Found it in an adorable jam shop, and I couldn’t say no. ”

“The laws have changed that much?” Terlu gawked at the book. It was titled simply Spells from Caltrey . She wasn’t sure where Caltrey was—it wasn’t an island name that she recognized.

“Yep,” Marin said.

This was proof, here in her hands. A spellbook for an ordinary person.

“Brand-new world out there. A second chance for a whole lot of people, not just you.”

“Oh.” It was a lot to absorb. Terlu had spent so much time afraid that she’d be forced to be a statue again, and all it took was the overthrow of a thousand-year-old government.

All it took—hah! She began smiling. This book in her hands was undeniable proof that what Marin said was true.

If the imperial law still stood, it would never have been printed.

She hugged it to her chest, along with her family’s letter, both so precious.

“This is an excellent solstice present.”

“My pleasure. Now am I invited to the feast?”

“Absolutely.”

From the ship came a voice that Terlu recognized: “Am I invited as well?” And the head librarian of the Great Library of Alyssium, the woman who had fought for Terlu’s life and lost but still found a way to save her anyway, stepped out of the hold.

“Rijes Velk!” Terlu chirped. She then bowed. “I… oh… Oh, wow.” She felt tears brimming in her eyes as she turned to Marin. It was all so very much. First the letter, then her freedom, now this? Her knees wobbled. “You found her? How? Wow, this is… Wow.”

“It was a really large ruby. And it helped that I knew where she was.”

Shaking his leaves, Ree said, “Told you she’d be surprised! Whee, we did amazing!”