Page 2 of Hymn of Breath and Bone

“Cas?” I asked, dagger arm faltering.

“He’s joking,” Zephyr said loudly, giving Caspian a meaningful look. “Get a grip, Cas.”

Caspian shook himself, turning to me with a scowl. “Dagger arm up, I said.”

I frowned back, lifting my arm. It was already shaking with the effort of keeping it raised, and I cursed my weak muscles and lack of training.

“Good,” Caspian drawled, examining every angle of my stance as I struggled. “Your arms are weak.”

“I’m aware,” I gritted out, already feeling my breaths grow thin. “Is this all you’re planning on teaching me today?”

“Patience, Urchin,” Caspian teased, putting his hands on my hips and shifting me slightly. My heart thumped at the contact, and he grinneddown at me as if he felt it. “I’m assessing the best way to teach you. We may need to start with basic self-defense and build up to daggers.”

He tapped my arm, allowing me to lower it. It shook a bit from the effort of holding the dagger aloft. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly, biting my lip as he raised a brow at me. “I wasn’t allowed to train back home.”

Caspian’s raised brow became a glower. “Never apologize for the near-sightedness of others,” he said quietly, placing a comforting hand on my lower back. “I intend to arm you if you’re to fight in this war at my side.”

“I thought the point was to avoid a war,” I said as he squared himself before me. I waved the dagger. “Tonotneed these.”

“Thatisthe point,” he agreed, a grin curving his lips. “But better to be safe than sorry. Let’s start with where to hit an attacker.”

Caspian led me through several moves he deemed simple enough for me to master. He pointed out the sensitive areas of a male attacker, Zephyr chiming in with her own thoughts about female attackers. We had to stop after thirty minutes, my lungs becoming too tight to continue.

“The medicine takes time to bring control to your lungs,” Caspian said, flying me back to his room as the sun began to set. “But in a few weeks, you’ll be able to go longer. Do more.”

I didn’t reply, watching the glimmering sea below us, trying not to get my hopes up.

“There’s another meeting tomorrow I want you to attend,” he said as we arrived at his rooms. He pushed the heavy curtain that blocked light, cold, and wind aside so I could pass. “Then I’ll show you around the cliffs.”

“Will the meeting tomorrow go as well as the one today?” I asked, arching a brow.

The meeting today had been with Caspian’s council, most of whom regarded me with suspicion, if not outright hostility.

Caspian had explained that the council was composed of only four sirens, each representing one direction of the compass winds.

Arctos, a bent-over male siren who appeared to be five thousand years old, was Lord of the North Winds. Eos, a female siren with dark skin and hair as white as her wings, was Lady of the East Winds. Mesembria, the only member of the council who looked upon me with something close to a grandmotherly smile, was Lady of the South Winds, and Hesperus, the youngest of the council at only three hundred years old—not young at all, really—was Lord of the West Winds.

“It simply cannot be done,” Arctos had croaked out, his wings puffing out behind him in a plume of gray feathers. “Sirens do not mate selkies. Not since the Exile.”

“Marina saved my life.” Caspian squeezed my hand in a silent command to stay quiet. “The gods choose our mates, and they have chosen Marina for me.”

“He can’t marry anyone else,” Mesembria pointed out with an apologetic wince. “The people know now. The king must marry his mate.”

“The selkies will use this to their advantage,” said Eos, regarding me with steely distrust. “It would be better for us all if you remain unmated, My King.”

“That is not an option,” Caspian said firmly, still holding my hand tightly. My heart thumped wildly as he added, “I am in love with my mate and I intend to marry her. You allknowwhy separation isn’t an option.”

The council had cast each other dark looks at this, but Caspian hadn’t explained further, even when I had given him a pointed tug on the arm.

The debate went on for almost an hour with no agreement reached. Hesperus had been the only council member to reserve judgment, and I hoped I could turn him into an ally somehow. Caspian eventually called the meeting to an end and stormed from the room, pulling me along with him.

Despite the failure of my first council meeting, Caspian’s words had stuck with me all day:“I am in love with my mate.”

Ran told me Caspian was in love with me, but I hadn’t believed him. Now though…Weweremates, a bond that went deeper than love or marriage or handfasting. We were united in our souls, even if he couldn’t feel it yet. How much of his declaration was true, and how much was an act?

“Probably,” Caspian sighed, bringing me back to the present as he flopped onto a sofa in the part of the cave-dwelling that served as a common room. “But this one is about ship movements and ocean routes. Astraios and Zephyr will be present, as well as the council, and I want you there to listen and advise.”

“Advise?” I asked.