Page 44 of Whispers of the Starlit Sea
Her words sank in, as cold as the water soaking her dress. She drew back. “Youknew?”
“I suspected.”
“And you said nothing. How could you?”
“Now, now. I needed to find out for sure, to find a way to free them.”
Sorcha turned to stand, her feet sliding on the wet rocks. “Free them. I…why didn’t I try to free them?”
Her aunt caught her arm. “You can’t. They have guards.”
She fell back, staring at her aunt in horror. “How many…? How long?” She couldn’t even ask what she so desperately needed to know.
“All of them. Ciara’s fiancé, Ewan, was the first.”
Sorcha clamped a hand over her mouth as another cry threatened to escape. “That wasmonthsago. You let Ciara believe he was dead!”
“I thought so, at the time.” She hesitated, as though unsure whether she should share more. “You have to understand —”
“No, I don’t!” She wrapped her arms around herself, sobs choking her.
“Sorcha —”
“I want to go home,” she signed, unable to speak against the tears. To be home. Safe. Surrounded by her sisters, her parents.
“You can’t. Not until the bond is broken.”
“I don’t want to be bound to him. He lied.” Her fingers formed the words.
“Well, you are bound to him.” Maeve was now signing as she spoke, as if to emphasize her words. “Only he can break it. And it must be soon.”
Sorcha didn’t want to hear it. She scrambled back up the rocks, out of her aunt’s reach. A vice wrapped around her chest, far worse than when Arick left her behind.
“Leave me be!”
“Listen, child,” Maeve shouted. “You only have until the next full moon to break the binding. Or else you’ll turn to sea-foam.”
“Go!” she screamed, not listening to her aunt’s words. Nothing the older mermaid said was worth listening to. “Go!”
Magic filled her voice, but not the warm embrace of healing. A jagged edge cut her throat. Waves twisted and crashed, and rocks tumbled from the cliffs above.
Her aunt looked ready to argue, then an odd look crossed her face, and she dove beneath the waves.
Sorcha collapsed on the rocks.
Arick had betrayed her.
Her aunt had lied to her.
She had nowhere to go.
Arickhurriedalongtherocky tunnel after Sorcha. What had made her so upset? Why had she looked at him like that? As he stepped out of the darkness of the tunnel, Arick froze in place, certain his eyes were deceiving him. Sorcha huddled on the hard ground, speaking to a woman in the water.
No, not a woman. A mermaid.
And they understood each other. Sorcha’s hands formed a series of signs, her shoulders shaking with sobs. The mermaid replied, repeating one of the signs. Arick copied the motion, committing it to memory.
Whatever the older mermaid said only angered Sorcha more. She screamed, her voice harsh and desolate. Full of agony. Arick flinched, knowing he was partly to blame. The mermaid looked up and spotted him as loose dirt from the cliff showered around him. She vanished in the tumultuous waves as he ran forward.
