Page 36 of Beneath the Haunting Sea

Wen and Caiden resumed their seats, and Lyna swept in carrying dinner: roasted fish with wild pears and a spicy-sweet sauce.

“Is the Baron not joining us?” Talia asked, in order to have something to say.

“My father is very tired,” Caiden told her. “We’ve been holed up nearly since breakfast, going over the accounts from my review. He’ll have his dinner upstairs in his rooms.”

“Is he—”Talia cut herself off and glanced down at her plate, then back at Caiden. “Is the Baron ill?”

Wen fidgeted beside her and a hint of tension flicked across Caiden’s face. “Our father has not beenwellsince …”

“Since my mother died,” said Wen quietly.

She looked at him. His face was open, his eyes seeking hers.

“Grief is not an illness,” she said.

“Isn’t it?”

“You are not ill. Caiden is notill. I am not—” she swallowed and brought her hand up to her forehead “—ill.”

Wen tapped his finger on the handle of his knife. “I think it’s more to the point that our father does not wish to be well. And so he is not.”

“He makes himself older than he is,” Caiden agreed. His gaze locked with Wen’s for a moment until Wen shifted uneasily and looked away.

For a while the three of them lapsedinto silence, focusing solely on their plates. Talia kept stealing glances at Caiden, watching the way he cut his food or admiring his long fingers wrapped around his wine glass. He would fit in nicely at the Enduenan court, and she couldn’t help wishing both of them were at the palace in Eddenahr, eating sherbet out of crystal glasses. They would dance at some elaborate party; he would ask her togo walking with him through the gardens in the starlight. She would marryhimin the spring, diamonds in his hair and gold thread in hers.

She realized Caiden was talking to her, and she jerked her attention to the present. “I’m sorry?”

He quirked a grin. “I was just asking you why our esteemed Empress banished you to lowly Ryn. I can’t imagine you having done anything to offend her.”

Taliafiddled with her knife handle. “She found out that the Emperor intended to name me his heir, instead of her.”

Caiden’s eyebrows went to the top of his head. “Aigir’sbones.”

“You were going to be Empress?” said Wen, shocked into speaking. “Why?”

“Because—well because I’m the Emperor’s daughter.” She stared at her plate, her food turning sour in her stomach. “The man I thought was my fathernearly my whole life … it turns out he wasn’t. My mother only told me a few days before Eda seized the Empire.”

Wen shook his head and Caiden swore again. “Why don’t you go back to Enduena? Raise an army of your own and take back the Empire? It’s yours by birthright!”

The fire was making her too warm, and the neckline of her dress itched. “I have no money, no army, no support, no way to evenmake the return journey. Eda will kill me if I show my face there again.”

Caiden leaned toward her across the table. “So find a way! Gather support, raise an army. Ryn would stand behind you.”

“It’s not that simple, Caiden. And besides—I’m not sure I even want to be Empress.” She imagined sinking onto the Emperor’s ivory throne, a crown on her head. She imagined Eda, groveling at her feet. Butnone of that would bring her mother back.

Caiden shrugged. “I just don’t think you should dismiss the idea entirely. It’s worth thinking about, anyway.”

She tried to smile. “Perhaps.” She scrambled for some way to change the subject. “I saw you out riding today. You have a very fine horse—is he of Enduenan stock?”

Caiden toasted her with his wine glass. “You have a good eye! He’s half Enduenan,like me.” He grinned. “Are you much of a rider?”

She nodded eagerly. “I won races back home. Beat all the boys. I wasn’t technically supposed to even compete, but I did anyway.” Two years ago she’d skipped out on a week of history and dancing lessons to attend the Festival of Uerc and ride in the desert races—with Ayah’s help, of course. Traditionally, girls were not allowed to enter. Her motherhad scolded her roundly afterward, but Talia could tell she was secretly proud. And there were more girls in the races the next year.

Caiden laughed. “You’ll have to try my gelding. Fastest horse in Ryn—not many people can handle him.”

“I could.”

He grinned at her. “Come to the stables tomorrow and we’ll see how good you really are.”

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