Page 35 of Beneath the Haunting Sea

She settled in front of the mirror while curly-headed Ro arranged her hair. “Have you worked at the Ruen-Dahr very long?”

“About a year,” said Ro, twisting a strand of Talia’s hair and pinning it up.

Talia grinned in what she hoped was a conspiratorial manner. “Then you know all the house’s secrets, I imagine.”

Ro laughed. “Not even the Baronknowsallthe house’s secrets, Miss.”

“But you know what happened to the Baronesses?”

In the mirror, Ro avoided her eyes. “I’m not supposed to talk about them. Lyna scolded me for what I said last night.”

“I won’t tell her,” Talia promised.

Ro shook her head and grabbed another pin. “I’m sorry, Miss.”

Talia chose her next words carefully. “What’s at the top of the tower? I thought I mightexplore the house tomorrow, but I don’t want to go places I’m not allowed.”

Ro seemed relieved at this change in subject. “Nothing up there but the Baronesses’ old suite, all dust and spiderwebs. There’s the library too, of course, but it’s locked up.”

Now she was getting somewhere. “The library?”

The maid shrugged a little. “Some sort of tragedy, I don’t know what. The Baron had it lockedlong before I came to work here.”

Interesting.“What if I need something to read?”

“Master Wendarien keeps books in the music room. You could always ask him, Miss.”

Talia grimaced—she’d take her chances with the locked door.

Ro slipped in a final pin, and stepped back, nodding in satisfaction. “You’ll make a very pretty bride when the time comes, if you don’t mind my saying so. It’ll cheerup Master Wendarien, too.”

Heat rushed through her, and she rose abruptly from the stool.

“Why does Wen need cheering up?”

“Because of the difficulty over University, of course. The Baron was so angry when he said he wasn’t going after all, and then he had the audacity to claim he knew what had happened to the Baronesses and—” Ro cut herself off. “I’m sorry, Miss. I really shouldn’t be talkingabout it.”

Talia stamped down her frustration and tried a different tack. “Do you really hear voices from the tower?”

Ro caught her eye. “If I said I did, would you believe me?”

“Yes.”

The maid’s face grew tight. “Do you hear it, too?”

She didn’t mean to say it, but the words spilled out anyway. “Not exactly. But my mother—my mother claimed the sea was singing to her. On the ship.”

“I heardabout her death, Miss Dahl-Saida. I’m very sorry for it.”

She swallowed. “Thank you.”

Ro regarded her with a shake of her head. “So much sadness in this house. I am sorry some of it has found you.”

The wind whispered against the window, and Talia heard an unearthly melody coiling up from the sea. It sang of sorrow and danger and longing. It made her feel as if the waves had already swallowedher whole, and she was just taking a long time with the drowning.

Chapter Fifteen

CAIDEN ANDWEN WERE WAITING FOR HERwhen she arrived in the dining hall, her skirts whispering about her knees. They both jerked their heads up and rose from their seats, bowing almost in unison, one light head and one dark. She felt exposed in the tight-waisted, short-sleeved gown, acutely aware of the brothers’ gazes. She strode quickly to her chair from last evening, and satdown.

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