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“I hadn’t thought of it that way. That’s a beautiful sentiment.” I reach for her hand, and she recoils, keeping it pressed to her chest as if she’s afraid I’ll try to take it again.

“Let me be clear, I’m not looking for a love match.”

This can’t be the same woman who would row out to our secret cove just to read poetry to me. “I don’t understand.”

“What’s there to understand?” she asks. “We just met. Do you want me to tell you I think we’re soul mates because you pulled me from the sea?”

She told me she loved me the night I met her. “Yes.”

Her lip curls, and a sliver of doubt attaches itself to my faith, a barnacle corroding the hull of an unsinkable ship.

“This matter with the stoor wyrm will raise even more concerns about my ability to protect our shores, and Aunt Nell believes an expedited marriage will assuage some of them, so I’m going to be frank since this is a time-sensitive subject.” She arches over the back of the bench, shoving her hand into her pocket to pull out two rings. “I’d like for you to be my wife. My heart is off the table, but I can promise you wealth, status, and the protection of my family’s name. If that’s enough, I hope you’ll marry me.”

The silver rings shine in her palm, looping into matching hearts around red gems.

This is a transaction, no different from the political arrangement my father was planning. I’ve never wanted that.

Still, I hear myself saying, “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

There’s no real choice in it. If I refuse, I’ll break my deal with the sea witch.

“Then we’re betrothed.” She slides a ring onto her finger, then does the same to me, pointing the bottom of the heart towards my first knuckle. “Aunt Nell suggests that we should engage in a whirlwind courtship while she plans our ceremony. We’ll exchange vows in front of the Isles’ nobility when they visit for the next council meeting.”

“When will that be?” I ask, keeping my deadline in mind.

“We always meet on the day of the full moon,” she says. “We’ll ask them to stay until sunset. I know it’s short notice, but it will be lovely.”

I fake a smile like I’ve been trained to do in these situations. “So lovely.”

Hours later, I spin my ring around as I pace the floor of my bedchamber, unable to sleep. There was no struggle to convince Darcy to marry me. I have the full support of her family.

I should count my blessings, but I’m trapped in this place with the bones of the Undine. This isn’t where I’m meant to be.

Moonlight spills in through the windows. I throw them open, and the salt-laced air blows out the tapered candles beside the bed as I climb out onto the narrow ledge.

Waves crash against the rocks below, but I’m not looking at them. I lift my face to the sky, the tears I’ve been holding back all night flowing freely.

“I’m sorry,” I say to the moon. The roar of the ocean hitting the cliff is the only response I get.

A sudden gust knocks me back. I grasp for the frame, but the window swings on its hinges, its panels blowing into the room before I can get a grip.

My heel slips, and my weight shifts toward the steep drop-off, pulling my body over the ledge. Air rushes into my mouth, pushing my scream back into my lungs.

I scull my arms, but there’s no viscosity. The motion does nothing to stop my descent to the sea.

I’m falling. The concept is still new to me.

The ocean is a womb. The ocean is a tomb.

I’ll end at the beginning. It’s the last cohesive thought I have as the water opens up to take me home again.

7

ZEPHYR

Music pours out of the tavern’s open windows as I lie back on a roof and look up at the full moon.

I know Cordelia is doing the same thing.