Page 97 of A Forgery of Fate

I drew in a thin breath when Elang paused. “Don’t tease me like that. That can’t be the end.”

He almost smiled, stretching his arms behind his head. “Her husband and her children searched for her for years. Finally they came to a temple dedicated to worshipping the sea, where her children prayed for their mother to return. While they prayed, luminous pearls showered upon their heads. They were Liayin’s tears, aglow with her love.

“The king and queen of Nanhira took pity on her and said that if she could weave a cloth that would surround and protect the merfolk realm, then they would allow her to be with her mortal husband and children again. It took her many years, but the strength of her love endured. Liayinwove the Cloak of Nanhira, which still protects the merfolk realm today, impenetrable even for the Dragon King.”

“Was she reunited with her family in the end?”

That was what mattered most to me, and I was relieved when Elang nodded. “She returned to the mortal realm, where they lived happily for the rest of their days.”

“I like that story,” I murmured. “I’ll tell it to my sisterswhen I go home.”

“There’s a little more. At the end of the war, the merfolk sent Liayin’s tears to light Ai’long’s waters—as a gesture of peace. It is a tradition that has continued.”

“The Luminous Hour,” I remembered. Mailoh had mentioned it on my first tour. “It’s a few days before the Resonant Tide, isn’t it? That’s soon. Will it come to Yonsar?”

“I expect so.” His gaze shifted downward. “I should like you to have one fond memory of your time here, before yougo.”

What a strange thing for him to say.

“My time here hasn’t been all bad,” I allowed. I tickled the moss in my hair. “Some things are growing on me. The garden, the clothes, Shani, even.”

One sprig came undone and started to float away, but Elang caught it. “Moss isn’t your favorite flower, is it?”

“Moss isn’t a flower. You should know that.”

“What about chrysanthemums, then? Lilies? Orchids?”

“Waterbells,” I replied.

“The New Year flowers?” His brow pinched. “Because the bells look like gold ingots?”

I laughed. That was why A’landans bought them during New Year’s, to welcome prosperity into their homes. “I find them interesting because they’re born in the dark, yet onlybloom in the light. Seeing them reassures me that better times are ahead. Besides, they’re never anyone’s favorite.”

“Not like peonies.”

Everyone always says their favorite flowers are peonies,I’d told my sisters on the day I’d left for Ai’long. I’d been certain Elang had been eavesdropping, and he had.

I hid my amusement. “When I was little, I used to think their bells made music, and if you rang them, golden coins would come sprinkling out of the petals. I even tried to grow a garden of them because I thought I’d make my family rich. But we Saigas sisters all have the killing touch when it comes to plants.”

Elang was quiet for a moment. “It helps to talk to them,” he said. “The flowers.”

“Is that your secret to growing sanheia?” I teased. “What do you talk to them about?”

The faintest smile bloomed across his lips. Then he said, “It’s late. Even half dragons have to sleep.”

He didn’t look tired. His yellow eye burned like a torch, and moonlight caught in the other, turning its gray into silver. There was something familiar about that one. Usually it was dark, resembling smoke from a flame blown out. But under the glaze of the evening tides, it was different. Paler. I couldn’t shake the sense that I’d seen it somewhere before—a specter of the past.

Impossible,I told myself, pushing the thought away. Yet still it preyed on me, a small annoyance—like a pebble in my shoe.

“Good night, Tru,” he said, oblivious to my thoughts. He placed the moss in my palm. “Don’t stay up too late watching the moon.”

When I opened my hand, the sprig of moss had turnedinto a single waterbell, blue petals abloom. I set it beside my bed with a smile. “Good night.”

In the morning, we returned to Yonsar, accompanied by Queen Haidi.

I hadn’t expected a welcome party. But it never crossed my mind that we’d face an ambush.

Sharks were everywhere, barring entry to the castle. There were hundreds of them, sectioned into groups. Swarms, I assumed, until I realized that they were divided into formations, tactically positioned for attack.

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