Page 71 of Beneath the Haunting Sea
Somewhere in his distant face Talia thought she saw something else—that under different circumstances the ring would have been given to her.
“We’re to be married before the month is out,” Blaive wenton. “In three weeks, if everything can be arranged.”
She was suddenly aware of Caiden’s arm, resting easily on Blaive’s shoulders. Of Blaive’s perfume, which smelled of honey and blackberries.
Snow fell wet against her face, the cold numbing her skin.
Caiden’s eyes numbed every other part of her.
Chapter Thirty
TALIA?”
She didn’t know how Wen had found her up here, tucked into a corner of the dead Baronesses’ forgotten suite, her knees hugged to her chin. It was freezing and dark—she hadn’t brought a lamp.
“Talia?” His voice was softer this time.
She saw his silhouette against the door, hair tousled and cravat flapping loose around his neck. She hated this—the feeling of helpless, weightlessfalling, when she’d thought the ground underneath her stood firm. But it was almost a relief to see Wen.
“I’m in here.”
He stepped into the room, and she heard the scrape of a match against metal. Light flared in the dark as Wen lit a lamp.
She’d squeezed into the tightest space she could find, between a sheet-shrouded armchair and the Baronesses’ empty wardrobe, the wall cold and hard againsther back.
Wen sat across from her, studying her with his deep-seeing eyes. The lamp flame wavered on the table, and shadows played across his face.
“My father threatened to disinherit him.”
She stared past his shoulder at the flowered wallpaper. It was faded, stripped away in places.
“Talia. Listen to me. He would have lost everything—the Ruen-Dahr, the land, the title.”
She forced her glanceback to Wen, trying to focus on his words. She felt tight and strange and empty. “What do you mean?”
Wen swallowed, lacing his hands together. “Blaive told my father that she’d seen you and my brother … together.” He flushed in the lamplight, but didn’t look away.
She wished the earth would open and swallow her up.
“My father was—my father was angry.”
She chewed on the inside of her cheek.“He wanted more for Caiden than me.”
Wen’s brow creased. “He’s wanted the two of them to marry all their lives. It wasn’t about you.”
But it was, and they both knew it. Blaive had lands and wealth and social status. Talia had nothing.
Wen shifted where he sat. “He asked her to come here with that specific end in mind.”
Talia leaned her head back against the wall, staring up at the shadowedceiling. Everything seemed far away, now. Her mother. Rahn’s Hall. The cursed Billow Maidens.
She shut her eyes, listening to the wind roaring outside the Ruen-Dahr and blowing snow over the stones. If it weren’t so cold, if the ship were repaired, if she had the right supplies—if only it wouldn’t take time to prepare everything, she could leave tonight and never have to see Caiden again.
“Youwould have inherited in his place. You would have become Baron.”
Wen shook his head. “I’ve never wanted that. I don’t want it now. To be tied to the Ruen-Dahr and my father’s sorrow—I couldn’t handle it. Caiden was born to govern Ryn, and it suits him, far, far better than it would suit me. But I’m sorry, Talia. I’m so sorry.” He sounded miserable.
Talia opened her eyes. “Why?” She saw in hisface the boy who had pulled her from the temple, the boy who had showed her the answers in the mirror room and asked for nothing in return. The boy who heard music in his head, like she heard it in the waves.
