Page 3 of Beneath the Haunting Sea

But the year she turned eleven, he died in an accident on the road and the second half of her life began.

His scent faded from the book room in Irsa, and her mother packed theirbags and moved them to Eddenahr for good. Talia was left with a raw, aching emptiness where her father had been. Her days were consumed with countless lessons and Eda’s never-ending derision. She lived for the moments she could steal to herself: riding on the plain or climbing about on the maze of palace roofs like a monkey escaped from the Emperor’s menagerie.

She thought about her father asshe sat tucked under the roof tiles, hugging her knees to her chin and trying to understand what her mother had told her. What the Emperor had told her.

Talia wasn’t like Eda, desperate for any sign of affection from the Emperor, straining to see echoes of her own features in that wasted man. The thought thatTaliamight be the Emperor’s illegitimate daughter had never even entered her head.

It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be.

And yet—

“Talia?”

She jerked her head up to see her mother hauling herself onto the roof, then coming gingerly toward her across the slippery tiles. Her mother sat down beside her and peered at her with dark eyes.

Talia turned away, rubbing her thumb over the jagged edge of a broken roof tile. The tile cut into her skin and she flinched. “I don’t have anythingto say to you.”

“Let me explain.”

“What is there to explain?” Talia wiped her bleeding thumb on her skirt and faced her mother. “You couldn’t have spared even asecondof your time in the last sixteen years to tell me that my father wasthe Emperor of Enduena?” Her shout echoed among the roof tiles, and her mother winced.

“I didn’t want to hurt you. Especially after Celdahn died. And I didn’tthink it mattered. Not when the prince was alive and well.”

Bile burned in the back of Talia’s throat. “And now that he’s dead you find you have use for me.”

“Talia.”

“I loved my father! How can you take that away from me?” Tears nearly choked her.

Her mother bit her lip, moisture gleaming in her own eyes. “Celdahn loved you dearly. But he wasn’t your father.”

“How could you do this to me?To my father? Were you the Emperor’smistress?”

“No.”

The fierceness in her mother’s tone refocused her, and Talia angrily scrubbed the tears from her eyes. “What then?”

Her mother squared her jaw, and for the first time in her life Talia realized her mother might not be the impenetrable marble queen Talia had always thought she was.

“The Emperor is not to be denied. What he asks for … hereceives.” Her mother lifted her shoulders and let them drop again, the careless gesture belied by the shake in her voice.

“Did my father know?”

“Of course he knew.”

She let out a breath—she couldn’t have borne it if her father had only loved her because he thought she was his.

“Talia, you have to listen. Perhaps I should have told you a long time ago, but the Emperor and I wanted to protectyou. No one else knows, and no onecanknow until the Emperor makes the announcement. You can’t tell anyone—not even Ayah. It’s too dangerous. Courtiers will try to manipulate you, maybe even try to harm you. Promise me, Talia.”

She felt blank and dull and numb. She didn’t understand how that even mattered. “Were there others like you? Is Eda my sister?”

Her mother frowned at the unexpectedquestion. “Perhaps, but that doesn’t matter now. You have to promise me. If anyone asks about your party, it is only to celebrate your coming-of-age. Do you understand?”

Talia stared out beyond the rooftop. Heat rose in waves from the sprawling city below her. A crane winged its way across the sky, glinting silver in the sunlight.

“Talia. Will you promise me?”

She attempted to gather the shatteredremains of herself, and turned her eyes to her mother. “I promise.”

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