Page 118 of Midnightsong
The fireplace roared behind her again, and Celia was wrapped in thick lounge pants and a heavy sweater, eyes swollen and lips devoid of color.
The warm, brightly lit home was a sharp contrast to the young woman it housed.
“I’m sorry about the other day,” she said before Angie could speak a word. Celia hovered some feet away, her hands in her sweater pockets.
“I get it. I pretty much asked you to turn yourself in and be at the mer’s mercy,” Angie replied.
A moment of stretched out silence. “I’ll go. I’ll turn myself in. End this once and for all.” She spoke with such fervor and resolve, taking Angie aback. She hadn’t expected Celia to agree so readily. “I want to be with my mom again.” A fresh trail of tears streamed down her cheeks. “You know she was getting scuba certified with Stefan and Ken? I’ve been wanting her to go with me for so long, and she finally agreed.”
“It was something my mom and I did together, too.” Angie still hated speaking about Mama in past tense, though she’d been gone for close to five years now. “I stopped going for a while after she passed.”
“It’s tough,” Celia murmured. “And you know she was planning on taking me out of our little town as a present for my twenty-first birthday, to meet my biological parents in Toronto?” A forlorn smile tugged at one side of her lips. “And my milestone birthday came and went without her. She was my whole world. I thought about going without her, but I couldn’t. It wouldn’t be the same.”
Angie’s heart went out to her. “I’m so sorry. I know the pain you’re going through.”
“How could you? At least you didn’t have to see your mom pass away. I saw my mom’s corpse.” Celia spat, spinning around so the two were finally face-to-face. “And it was because of them. Those fuckingfish. The queenfish took everything from me.” In a flash, her expression shifted from sorrow to anger, her jaw clenched, and eyebrows drawn tight together.
The word ‘queenfish’ struck Angie like a trident through her stomach. “I understand what you’re feeling. I do.” Her emotions were a flurry. Anger at Celia for breaking their truce, and the others who willingly went with her. Saeryn, for leading her so his sister could meet her end. Heartbroken because she knew Celia was grieving, and grief drove people to extremes.
If Kaden had died that day, two years ago, she wasn’t sure she would have been the same again, remembering the depths of despair she drowned herself in after hearing Mama was gone.
“No. If the mer don’t stop, we might be their next victim, whether your Mer-King likes it or not.” Celia took a shaky breath.
“I know.” Angie hung her head. “I was thinking about what you said earlier, too. With the merman who helped you. He is Kaden’s uncle, and the Mer-Queen was his sister.”
“So, they were related. I wasn’t wrong.” Celia stepped away, picking up an Alaska-themed mug from her living room end table, and sipped it.
“You said you met him a few months before going after the Mer-Queen. Did he say something to you? Convince you to do it?” Angie took a tentative step toward the younger woman. Who was truly responsible, here? After what Kaden told her about Saeryn and his charming facade, had he cajoled his way into Celia’s mind, too?
“He said a lot to me. He was there for me when I felt alone, we would meet at the surface sometimes, other times, he found me when I was diving, and we would go for a swim. And something about him told me to trust him.”
Angie nodded along. This was exactly what Kaden told her Saeryn was like. Gentle, soothing, appearing trustworthy. Until he got what he wanted.
Celia put her mug back on the end table beside its coaster. “He convinced me I needed to get revenge for my mother’s death.” A stream of tears snaked down one cheek, and she swiped it away. On instinct, Angie wanted to go to her, hold her hand, console her. But Celia turned away when Angie approached. “Told me he would help me, be there with me every step of the way. So, the day before, we did our final round of scouting.”
Angie stepped back to give Celia her space. “So, it wasn’t just you. The others with you, they should pay for their crime, too.”
“No, it was. The others only stayed with Saeryn to guard me and keep a lookout.”
“Did you see him again after–after that?”
Celia jutted out her lower lip. “No. He took me back to the surface, and I didn’t see him anymore, though I waited for him. Left me alone again.”
Ire blazed through Angie. “You didn’t deserve to be abandoned like that.”
“I’m used to being alone at this point.” Celia tapped her foot on the floor. “Would you come with me to the palace tomorrow? I need to tie up some loose ends here, but I’ll go.”
With her lips in a tight line, Angie gave her a single nod, invisible weights weighing on her stomach and feet as she left the house.
Fifty-One
Kaden
Kaden and Varin floated side byside, with the two sentinels who returned to guard them, putting his mind at ease.
Another seaquake hit.
“I cannot wait here to die.” Varin swam to the doorway. He hovered at the entrance and faced Kaden. “I must return to Cassia.”
