Page 41 of Beneath the Haunting Sea
She swept around to her usual chair and sat down. Wen and Caiden resumed their seats as well. “Apologies, sir. I lost track of the hour.” She’d bolted from the library, slipping the keys back onto their nail a moment before Dairon found her in the kitchen. She’d used another excuse, inquiring about a bath. Dairon eyed her darkly and said she oughtto learn to use her bell—didn’t they have those in Enduena? But she’d kept the library key. It was tucked inside a dancing slipper, shoved in the deepest corner of the wardrobe. She hoped Ahned wouldn’t notice it was gone.
The Baron grunted a little, and Lyna and Ro came in with dinner—more roasted fish, with hot, honeyed apricots, and a cold cucumber soup.
“Did you have a pleasant day, MissDahl-Saida?” asked Caiden as she cut off a piece of meat.
“Tolerable. I—” she cast around for an explanation of what she’d been doing that had made her late. “I was out in the garden for much of it. Until it started raining, of course.”
“Were you?” said Wen beside her, speaking for the first time. “I didn’t see you there.”
She eyed him coolly. “You must have been wrapped up in your music.”
“On the contrary: I worked in the garden much of today.”
Talia gave a careless shrug. “We must have missed each other. What about you, Caiden? How do you avoid boredom in the Ruen-Dahr?” She wanted to ask if he’d forgotten his promise to go riding with her, but she didn’t quite dare.
Caiden laughed, his teeth flashing white. “Still going over the review with my father, I fear. Lots of thingsto sort through after three months on the road.”
“What do you do other days?”
“I work on the accounts. I go riding—sometimes all the way to Wen’s holding, sometimes to the village, sometimes just down to the beach.”
She knew she shouldn’t, but she said it anyway: “I thought the sea was forbidden.”
Wen tensed beside her and Caiden’s forehead furrowed. The Baron seemed to go even paler thanusual.
Caiden tried to laugh it off. “I stay well away from the sea, of course. You know that, Father.” He patted the Baron’s arm.
“Why is the sea forbidden?” Talia looked straight into the Baron’s gray face. “What are you all trying to hide from me?”
“Talia,” said Wen.
“Why are there so many secrets in this gods-forsaken house? You can’t lock everything away or dam up the sea and keep itfrom flowing. Why do you still live here if the Ruen-Dahr has caused you so much pain?”
Tears welled in the Baron’s eyes and dripped down his cheeks.
She pitied him suddenly, but she didn’t take back her words. “I was sent here against my will. I deserve to know what has happened in this house if I’m to be forced to stay here. There’s so much you’re not telling me, and I need to know why.”
The Baron blinked at her, tears still falling.
Rain beat against the darkened window, the fire cracked and popped on the hearth. Caiden stared at his plate.
“My mother drowned,” said Wen softly. “She tried to go sailing in a storm. The wind and the waves were too much for her to handle, and she barely made it away from the shore before her boat capsized. By the time they pulled her from the water,it was too late.”
Talia stared at him, horrified.
“My father does not wish the sea to take anyone else.”
She glanced back at the Baron, mortified that she’d upset him. “I’m so sorry, sir. Forgive me. I didn’t know.”
The Baron wouldn’t look at her. He rose shakily from his seat, pushing his chair back. Caiden leapt up to help him, putting one arm under the old man’s shoulders.
“I am very tiredthis evening,” he whispered. “I will retire early.”
As Caiden helped the Baron from the room, Wen jerked up from his seat. “Raiva’sheart,Talia, what’s wrong with you?”
“You wouldn’t tell me anything. Why shouldn’t I ask your father?”
“Because he can’t handle it!” Wen paced over to the fire. “We don’t—we don’ttalkabout things like that. It upsets him too much.”
