Page 142 of Between Despair and Hope

“It’s not their duty or mine to explain it, but she’s his. Doesn’t matter that it took some time for him to know it. She might not have been raised near him, but gods, she is familiar.” I smiled. “Besides, you should be happy. It means I’ll never sit on the throne.”

He guffawed and slapped his knee. “You’d be a good queen. Don’t kid yourself.”

“I won’t waste my breath on arguing with you. So, have you ever met with the seaborn before?”

“Met with them? Nah. Encountered? Yeah. Rare, though. They’ve kept to themselves as long as I’ve been at sea.”

“And the Seaborn Queen? Any stories about her?”

“Just that it’s probably a mistake to seek her out. But your brother assured me you had something she’d want.”

“Someone. Her only daughter.”

“No shit?”

“No shit. The spitfire with the red hair. Mairin.”

“Why is she with you?”

“She’s land-bound. She’s been living in Vesta for the last decade. Mairin is a longtime friend of the queen, and she’s a good person.”

“But she’s seaborn. What is she? A merrow? A selkie?”

“Merrow.”

He shivered. “Ever seen her in her true form?”

“No.” Gods, I’d never even thought about it.

“Vicious creatures, I tell you. Unsettling.”

“Well, I don’t think she can shift into it without the pendant. Someone destroyed it.”

“You think she plans to request another from her mother?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. I’ve heard the Seaborn Queen has the magick to do it but rarely does. You get caught, you reap the consequences, you know?”

I nodded, but the information whirled around my mind. I couldn’t blame Mairin for wanting to replace her pendant, but it took me by surprise. Especially considering what she’d said to me the other night.

“All I know is I’m supposed to be gaining us an alliance, and the merrow is going to help me. What she does after is her decision.”

“Aye. Well, I know Brenna was waiting to speak to you, so I won’t keep you.”

I blew out a breath and rubbed both my hands over my face before standing.

“You didn’t, did you?” He raised a brow and gave me a disappointed look. “I told you to stay away from her.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Beau.”

“I told you that wouldn’t end well. I suppose I wasn’t wrong?”

“No, you weren’t.”

“You oughta listen to me, girly.”

“Yeah, yeah. Wish me luck.”

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