Pheolix’s jaw churned as though he was suddenly nervous to be around me. “I’ll wait for you in your apartment,” he said to Selena, rising to his feet.
“Thaan knows I’m Queen. You might as well stay.”
“I heard him say the word.” Selena breathed. “I didn't realize what he meant. Queen of the Juile Sea? You killed her? How?”
“An icicle.”
“Anicicle?”
I found a wooden groove in the surface of the desk and ran my fingertip along it, my voice falling to a murmur. “I think she let me win.”
Selena rocked slowly from one heel to the other. “Was it an easy fight?”
“No,” I sighed, my jaw taut. “No, it wasn’t.”
“Then why do you think so?”
My teeth found the inside of my cheek.
“If you fought her to the death, you’ve earned the right to take her place,” Selena said softly. “Don't doubt that you deserve—”
I shook my head. “It's not that.”
Sidra’s face flashed in my head, close to my body. Closer than she’d needed to be to drown me inside of a watery serpent. Close enough for me to grab hold of.
She’d seen me reach for the icicle.
She hadn't moved away.
And I'd caught the triumph in her gaze when she’d read my vows. That they’d end when I became queen. And then, the pride in her eyes when I’d killed her. She might have made me fight for my crown. But she'd planned to lose before I’d even challenged her.
Nori and Olinne hadn't betrayed her by freeing me. She’d ordered them to.
I hadn't yet had the time and space to unravel how I felt about it. About all the ways in which my life had changed in the matter of three days. But it had. And it left a sinkhole in the pit of my stomach, something deep and endless and blackened by shadow, ever growing into the depths of the unknown. I swallowed, shoving it away for now. “In case you’re interested, your lessons were faulty.”
“Were they?” Selena opened a small broom closet, leaning her tools against the wall inside.
“Kye and Icordaedon Neris Island.”
She dusted her hands, brows tightening. “In Leihani?”
I nodded.
“How?” But a light flickered behind her eyes, a sudden awareness in her gaze.
“How?” Pheolix echoed. I ground my teeth together. I’d have to choose my words around him more wisely if I didn’t wantThaan to know Kye and I hadcordaed, though I imagined he assumed we would be eventually.
Selena sent me a look that plainly said, only speak if you want to.
“You don’t have to tell me.” Pheolix sent the words into the heavy silence. “It might be better if you didn’t, anyway.”
“He came to Leihani in a rowboat and almost drowned. I pulled him to shore and gave him my breath.”
Pheolix blinked, puzzling out my words. “Ah.” He took a slow sip from his cup. “Haven’t heard of that before, but it would do it.”
I crossed my arms. "You told me once thatincantationwon't work on acordaedhuman," I said to Selena, lilting my voice to offer the words as more question than accusation.
Selena quirked her mouth. "Incantationrelies on oxytocin. That protection only exists through a mating bond. Your protection might be completely different, strung through a preservation bond. Something arbitrary, like when other Naiads threaten his safety."
