Page 80 of Hymn of Breath and Bone

“No!” My mother shouted, startling the entire courtyard to silence. “You will listen tomefor once, Nereus. You are not totouchMarina’s mate. You are to respect her choice, which is the will of the gods themselves, if the events of this day are to be heeded. You will lay down your weapons and come to a peaceful agreement with the sirens. And you will do it all starting now!”

“Silene, I—”

My mother wasn’t finished, and the healers and soldiers looked more terrified of her wrath than they had ever been of my father’s.

“Howdareyou lock me up! Howdareyou lock your daughter up! You will send every available warrior now to the adjoining islands to call in the clan leaders. This ends now, Nereus, and you will heed me for once in your seas-blasted life!”

Her face was practically red with fury as she shouted at my father, who stood mouth agape and unspeaking.

“You heard me!” she shouted at the guards. “Move!”

It was the fastest I’d ever seen anyone run, and the first time I’d seen my mother the way I imagined her in her youth.

It was glorious.

“Take His Majesty to our room,” my mother snapped at the healers.

If they were surprised by her use of Caspian’s title, they didn’t show it. They lifted his litter and carried him into the keep as my mother took my arm in hers and bade me follow.

“We will have the best healers look at him,” she assured me, guiding me swiftly after him through the halls. “I will not let him die. I will not lose you, Marina.”

I squeezed my mother’s arm, too emotional to form words. I knew her concern was primarily for me, but the fact that she had extended it to Caspian so readily—the fact that only she had believed me out of everyone in the keep—touched me more than I could say.

My mother and father’s room—rooms, really—were far grander than my own. The bedroom adjoined a private sitting room and bathroom, and the cold stone walls and floors were draped with colorful tapestries and rugs to ward off the chill. The windows overlooked the sea, and the bed was absolutely massive. Four large warriors could easily lie abreast, and Caspian’s battered wings only hung off the end a tiny bit.

“Place him on his stomach,” I commanded as the healers made to shift him from the litter to the bed. “His wings need to be set.”

The process was unpleasant and left me nauseated more than once. I tried to remember how he had instructed me in the past, but the damage was different, more extensive in parts of the wing I wasn’t familiar with.

When Zephyr returned, I’d have to repeat the process with her. Her wings were less damaged than Caspian’s, but setting them would still be painful, and I wasn’t sure I was up to the task.

Astraios joined us eventually, reporting that the prisoners had been secured in the dungeons.

“The sea dragons seem to have decided to take it upon themselves to make sure they don’t escape,” he commented, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder as I watched the selkie healers clean, stitch, and dress my mate’s various wounds. “Such a shame you didn’t let them just eat the bastards down on the beach. They’ve earned a good meal.”

Astraios shot a grin at Sereia, who blushed and looked away.

“He needs a siren healer,” I said, unable to focus on anything but Caspian’s ruined back and body. His pain was a dull ache throughout my body now, and it was making it hard to focus on anything else. “So does Zephyr. They won’t be able to fly if their wings aren’t set properly.”

Astraios looked again at Sereia, who met his gaze this time. Seas, is this what Caspian and I were like at first? It was maddening.

“I’ll go,” he said finally. “I can be back in two days with Mira if I take a sea dragon.”

“Thank you,” I said, giving him a genuine smile. “I’ll let them know you’re coming.”

“Tell them not to eat me please,” he asked, glancing at Sereia once more. “I’ll be back.”

It was clear he wasn’t saying it to me.

The healers left eventually, telling us that Caspian shouldn’t be moved. They left several vials of medicine, some of which I’d taken during particularly bad flare ups for pain or sleep. None of them worked as well as Mira’s.

“I’ll check on Vitulus,” my mother said, rising from the desk where she had been writing s to the ladies of all the noble selkie houses explaining what had happened. Females, she had said, are the more sensible ones about matters of politics. I couldn’t disagree as she gathered her letters and swept from the room, a true queen if I’d ever seen one.

“Sereia,” I started, needing a distraction from my pain—Caspian’s pain. I took my mate’s hand in mine, stroking the back gently as I thought over my question. In the end, I decided to be blunt as usual. “What’s going on with you and Astraios?”

She blushed and bit her lower lip. “Oh. I mean…now isn’t really the time—”

“He’s your mate,” I stated, framing it as a fact rather than a question.