“Mother?”
She stands in one graceful movement. Before I know it, she’s holding me so tightly I can scarcely breathe. The embrace is strange, something I’ve never quite experienced before, but it is exquisite. Such a simple thing, but it says so much without saying a thing.
A thousand questions fight their way to the front of my mind, desperately trying to be first.
How?
When?
Why?
Why seems the most important.
“Why are you here?” I ask when I can calm my tears.
She steps back to survey me from head to toe. “You’re beautiful. You don’t look like him at all. Blessed ocean.” Tears fall from her own eyes, and she touches them as though she doesn’t know what to make of them before focusing on me once more. “Oh, my sweet girl. At last.” She crushes me to her again, and I marvel that something so frail can be so strong.
Someone clears his throat from behind us. I panic for a moment, until I remember it’s only Riden.
“I’m going to wait back in there,” he says, giving us some privacy. I’m sure he’ll be able to hear the whole exchange, but it’s kind of him anyway.
“Who is that?” my mother asks.
“That’s Riden. He’s … a member of my crew.”
“Your crew?”
“I’m the captain of my own ship.”
She smiles, but it looks painful on her. “Of course you are. You were always meant to rule. It’s in your blood.”
A silence fills the space, and I remember then how desperate I am for answers.
“Why are you here?” I ask again.
She brushes a hand over my hair, stroking its lengths while still clutching me to her. It’s oddly soothing. “He locked me in here after you were born. It’s been over eighteen years. Eighteen years without you or the sea.”
“But why?” I pull away from her again, needing to see her face. Suddenly words tumble out of my mouth. “He told me you left me. You didn’t want me. You’re supposed to be at the Isla de Canta. You’re a mindless beast with no humanity.” I’m crying again because of what it all means. My father has been lying to me ever since I was born.
She shrinks back at my words. Her voice turns faint. “Please don’t think such things of me. I tried to escape this room many times and come to you. I swear it upon the lives of all those I’m sworn to protect.”
My heart aches and my face turns downward in shame. “I’m truly sorry for believing him. I don’t anymore.”
It is a strange thing to be so torn apart from the inside. I’m overjoyed to have found my mother, but that joy is pressed right up against the sting of my father’s betrayal.
I dare to look up again. “Why did he put you in here?”
“He’s never said so, but I think he didn’t want me influencing you. A mother would split your loyalties.”
“Then why didn’t he kill you?”
She looks away from me for the first time. “You don’t want to know.”
I’m afraid I already do. “Please, tell me. I think I need to know.”
She seems to mull it over for a moment. “You’re already a grown woman.” Her face falls at missed years. “He wanted more daughters. More sirens to control and manipulate as he’s done to you. More power.”
Despicable bastard. But I put a hold on cursing his name for a moment.
“Do I have sisters?” The thought is both exciting and horrifying, now that I know what my father is truly capable of.
“No. I have been unable to give him any more children.” She looks sad at the thought, and I find that most peculiar.
“Do you want to?”
Her perfect lips turn down in a look of disgust. “With him? I don’t want to be touched by him ever again. But I would have liked to have many daughters. I wanted to raise them and teach them. To see them grow. He took that from me.” She touches my shoulders gently. “But I’m pleased beyond words to see you now.”
Perhaps it should take longer than a few minutes to turn against the man who raised me. To switch sides so easily. But how can I do anything else when I know what he’s done to my mother? A mother who is not a mindless beast.
A wave of anger washes over me, smothering any loyalty I once had for the pirate king. “I had no idea you were in here. You must know, if I had known, I would have come for you immediately. I’m only in here tonight by accident.”
“Don’t blame yourself. There’s nothing anyone can do. I’m merely a woman when I’m away from the sea.”
When the torrent of bitter anger finally clears, resolve takes its place. “Well, I’m not. I’m getting you out of here. Now. Riden!”
He’s back in the room in an instant.
“Can you carry her?” I ask.
“Of course.”
This is such a dangerous situation—it must be handled carefully, but my mind is pounding, so full it’s fit to burst.
My father lied.
My mother isn’t a monster.
She’s a prisoner.
I have to get her out.
But what if we’re caught?
It doesn’t matter.
I have to try.
“You will not spend one more night in this room,” I promise her.
“What can you do against him? I’ll not put you in danger. So long as he doesn’t know that you know, you’re safe. Get away from here. From him. Don’t worry about me.”
My aching heart soothes at her words. They remind me of a conversation, or rather an interrogation, between Riden and me.
There are different kinds of fathers. Those who love unconditionally, those who love on condition, and those who never love at all.
My mother doesn’t know me, but she is putting my life before hers. Is that what it should have been like between me and my father?
I scan the room quickly, looking for anything that will help us secret her away. There isn’t much. An unmade bed with a feathered mattress. A chaise. Paintings on the walls. Some books on a shelf.
She must have gone mad in here.
I grab one of the blankets from the bed and wrap her in it, taking care to brush all of her hair away from her face and tuck it out of sight under the blanket. I am known for my red hair. If anyone were to see her, it would arouse the wrong kind of curiosity.
“She needs to keep her hair covered,” I say to Riden.
He nods, and in one motion, he sweeps her off her feet and holds her easily in his arms.
We’ll need to set sail right away. It’s fortunate we just restocked all the supplies after our last voyage. Where can we go where the pirate king won’t find us? Land? I can’t give up the sea. I’d go mad.
“Alosa,” Riden says.
“Yes?”
“Look at me.”
I do.
“We’ll get her out of here. She’ll be safe. Then we can plan our next move.”
It hits me then just how remarkable Riden is being about all of this. Didn’t he tell me my father was despicable? That I was a fool for following him? That he didn’t truly love me?
But now, when it’s all proved correct, he’s not menacing or condescending.
He’s still helping me.
He’s holding my mother so carefully, and the sight gives me the strength to do what I need to do.
“Let’s go.”
Chapter 7
SORINDA DOESN’T SAY A word when Riden and I exit my father’s study. She doesn’t even look surprised.
But Athella—