Page 90 of Beneath the Haunting Sea

Alone.

She couldn’t tell Wen the truth about the Ruen-Dahr—how it chose guardians, how it had chosen him—not if she wanted to save him. He would try to stop her. Aigir’s tears, he would take his role as guardian too seriously and try tohelpher. And then her visions would come true.

“Talia?” His eyespierced through her.

By all the gods who ever walked the earth, she wanted to save him. “You could still go to University,” she said, forcing her voice steady. “It isn’t too late. You deserve a chance to share your music with the world. A chance at happiness.” The words hurt, and she didn’t know why.

“Gods,” he swore softly. “You don’t understand at all, do you?”

“Understand what?”

The intensityin his gaze was hard to bear. “I could never be happy anywhere without you.”

The admission startled her so much she almost told him everything. But instead she asked him, “Did you see me in the mirror?”

He looked away.

“What did you see?”

Wen put his head in his hands. His voice came rough and ragged, and she knew what he would say before he said it: “I saw you sailing from the coast of theRuen-Dahr in a ship with patchwork sails.”

“What happens?”

For a moment he was silent, and the world seemed to suck in a breath, waiting for his answer.

He lifted his face and his eyes were wet. “You drown. Just like my mother.”

“You said the future isn’t written yet,” she said fiercely.

“Then don’t go. Stay here. Change your fate.”

He didn’t understand—how could he? The gods themselveshad woven together the threads of her fate and were pulling them tight. She was the descendant of the sea god Aigir, the only one who could even attempt to confront Rahn and free the dead. If Wen’s vision was true she would fail. But if she stayed Wen would die, and all the world with him.

There wasn’t even a choice for her to make.

Wen was still waiting for her answer.

“I’ll stay,” she promised.

She went back to the Ruen-Shained, her mother’s note burning a hole in her pocket, Wen’s knowing gaze burning a hole in her heart.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

SHE STOOD ON THE FRONT STEPS OFthe Ruen-Dahr and looked out into the night, a cool wind rushing past her face. Clouds were knotting over the stars, but there was still enough moonlight to see by. It shouldn’t delay her.

Music drifted from inside the house, fiddles and drums, a flute and the faint sweet notes of a harp—Blaive’s party was just getting started.

She ought tobe on her way. She’d gotten what she came for, the two items tucked safely in the leather knapsack slung across her shoulder. The rest of her supplies were waiting in the cove: books and sea charts, the compass and sextant, a knife and matches and a waterproof tarp, rope and fishing equipment, salted meat and dried fruit.

She’d been busy the last few weeks, plotting out her course through thesea, reading and rereading the myths, making all the necessary preparations. She’d cross-checked the dates of the myths with her ancestor’s account, coming to the same conclusion over and over again. Nearly nine hundred years ago, Rahn had cursed the Billow Maidens to sing their haunted melodies and gather the dead in their terrible nets. That’s why the Waves were calling her now: Talia was the onlyone of Endain’s bloodline left to stand against Rahn, before the goddess used the power of the Star to curse them anew.

It was the final piece of the puzzle, the last knot in the weave of her fate.

The Waves were calling, and it was time to answer, time to save her mother and Wen and the world. To save herself.

But the thought of Wen kept her standing there.

He’d only visited her once at theRuen-Shained after she’d lied to him. He told her the date of Blaive’s party. Asked her if she would come.

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