Page 28 of Beneath the Haunting Sea
Caiden shook his head. “That’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve heard in a long time.”
“That the Empress banished me?”
His dark eyes met hers. “That you would agree to marry Wen.”
“I didn’tagreeto—” she began, and then stopped herself. Because she absolutely had agreed to it a few hours ago. She feltsick.
For a few interminable moments, no one spoke. A clock ticked on the mantle. The rain lashed against the window. Wen rubbed his thumb around the base of his wine glass. The Baron chewed on a biscuit, honey clinging to his bony fingers.
And then Caiden let out a long breath, running his hands through his dark hair. “By the gods, Wendarien. I really don’t understand why you’re not on a shipto Od right now.”
“It’s a blessing he didn’t go,” said the Baron, “or we couldn’t have fulfilled the Empress’s terms.”
Caiden shrugged, flashing a wicked grin. “I could have married her.”
Talia flushed hot as the Baron frowned at Caiden and Wen clenched his jaw.
She glanced between the three men, obviously missing something. “Why would Wen go to Od?” She thought of Ayah, sobbing in the palacecorridor.What do you miss most?
“University,” said Caiden. “Wen is some kind of musical genius and they were ecstatic to have him. But he’s not going, now. Do you want to tell her why, Wen?”
“Shut up,” said Wen.
“Why? You don’t want her to know that you stayed because the gods told you to? Because they gave you a vision, just like they gave your mother, and mine, before theydied?”
“Shutup!” Wen cried.
“What, are you not sticking to that story anymore?” Caiden demanded.
“Enough!” said the Baron, shaking in his seat, wine sloshing over the rim of the glass he held tight in one hand. “We will not speak of this again.”
“Gods’ blood,” Caiden swore, and sat back in his chair.
Wen shrank into himself.
The Baron set his wavering wine glass back on the table. He seemed more unnervedby the exchange than either of his sons.
Talia took a sip of tea, which had gone cold. What did Caiden mean, a vision from the gods?
Caiden gave her a wry smile. “Aren’t we a merry bunch this evening. Forgive us, Miss Dahl-Saida.”
She gave him a hesitant smile in return.
“Tell me about yourself,” he went on, suddenly easy again. “You’re from Enduena?”
“I am.”
“What’s it like?”
Talia blinkedback images of riding with her father in the hills, of her mother telling stories by the fire. “It’s beautiful. Very hot in the spring and summer, but the nights are filled with jasmine and stars. And the rains always come to wash the dust away.”
He smiled again, and a chorus of starlings awoke in her chest. “It sounds magical.”
“It is.”
“What of your parents, Miss Dahl-Saida?” asked the Baron.“I was told to expect your mother as well as you. Did she not choose to join you?”
The air in the room seemed to close in around her. “My father has been gone nearly six years, now. My mother—my mother died on the sea crossing.”
