“Ah,” Gwrtheyrn said. “I do not believe that you have met my son and heir, Tyrus.”
Tyrus bowed over her hand, almost as handsome and charming as his brother, but with more warmth in his gray eyes and a cheerful, almost eager demeanor, despite the dire circumstances. “I am most honored to meet you, Baba Yaga. I look forward to working together for many years to come.” He glanced at his father and grinned. “Not that I will be ascending to the throne any time in the near future; thankfully, my father is still most healthy and hale.”
“I’m pleased to meet you too,” Beka said. “Although I wish it were under better circumstances.” She turned back to the King. “I’m surprised that Kesh didn’t tell me your people were still getting sicker. I guess because he didn’t mention it, I just assumed that they’d begun to improve once you removed them from the affected areas.”
Gwrtheyrn stiffened and Tyrus gave him a darting look out of the corner of his eyes, keeping his face expressionless with what seemed like a conscious effort.
“You have been speaking with my son Kesh, Baba Yaga? How did this come about?”
Beka felt like she was missing something, a feeling to which she was becoming all too accustomed. She didn’t much like it. “He hasn’t mentioned spending time with me, Your Majesty?” Was Kesh ashamed of her?
Gwrtheyrn just grunted and it fell to Tyrus to explain. “My father and Kesh had a falling-out, alas. We have not seen him in our lands in many months, as you surface dwellers mark time. We had not even been certain he remained in the area. It was thought that perhaps he returned to our original home waters off of the land of Eire.”
“Oh,” Beka said. She tried to remember if Kesh had ever mentioned a rift between him and his family; she thought not. Perhaps he was embarrassed. To creatures like the Selkies, family and clan were all-important. Or maybe he was afraid that she would be uncomfortable spending time with him if she knew he and his father weren’t talking, since she was working on a mission for the Selkie King.
No wonder he had been so persistent in his pursuit of her, and so jealous of the time she spent with Marcus. Poor Kesh, he was probably terribly lonely without his people, and she was the closest thing he could find to one of his own.
Of course, said a little voice in the back of her head, maybe he is hiding something. He already admitted to manipulating the fishing routes . . . what if he and the friends he’d mentioned were involved in something worse?
Then she felt terrible for even thinking such a thing. Kesh had been nothing but sweet to her, and so supportive about her fears of not being good enough to do what was expected of her. She resolved to be more patient with him, and somehow find time for another picnic or two, despite the pressing need to find answers to both the old problem and the new one the Queen of the Otherworld had just dropped in her lap. After all, she had to stop and eat sometime, despite her constantly roiling stomach and lack of appetite.
“Please don’t worry about him,” she said reassuringly. “He’s got plenty of acquaintances among the surfing community, so he isn’t completely alone. And we’ve become friends, I think.”
Boudicca and Gwrtheyrn exchanged another one of those weighted glances, making the air between them seem heavy with unspoken words.
“Kesh always was overfond of Humans,” Gwrtheyrn muttered. Tyrus cleared his throat meaningfully, and the King added belatedly, remembering to whom he was speaking, “Nothing against Humans, of course. I merely meant that he could have better occupied his time and energy by attending to those who looked to him for leadership under the sea.”
Boudicca sighed. “Shut up, Gwr, you old bull. Before you swallow your flippers so deeply they come out your earholes.”
Beka swallowed a smile. She so rarely thought of herself as Human these days, having more in common with most paranormal creatures than she did the race she was born to. His words hadn’t bothered her at all. This sense that they were keeping secrets from her, however, bothered her a great deal.
“I was wondering, Your Majesties, Tyrus, if perhaps you knew anything about these renegades that you hadn’t, er . . . felt it wise to share with Queen Morena?”
More guilty looks. Beka tried to channel her inner Baba and simply stared at them wordlessly, putting the force of her office, if not her own personality, behind the implacable silence.
Tyrus broke first. “Father, you really should tell the Baba Yaga all we know. How is she to help us if we keep her in the dark?”