The Alcazar (The Cerulean Duology #2) - Amy Ewing Page 0,102
cave was a hot spring, the water black and steaming.
Sera was growing impatient, though. Vada and Agnes had arrived with a ship but Ambrosine had sent it off for “maintenance,” whatever that meant. They were so close to Braxos, she could feel it in her blood and in the way the moonstone shimmered against her skin, and yet she had no way of getting there without Ambrosine’s help; and for all of her promises, that help did not seem forthcoming.
Agnes had told them about Matthias and the university and Xavier showing up in Ithilia—that had come as a great shock—and Leo had told her about their own journey and the war that was beginning and the queen who was pursuing Ambrosine. Sera had added her own stories, of the self blood bond and the memories and her ability to speak human languages—Vada had been so excited to understand her at last. And she had been thrilled to learn that Agnes and Vada were together—Leo had been surprised by his sister’s newfound relationship, but admitted to Sera privately that it actually made sense to him now when he thought back on certain things from their days in Old Port. And he was happy to see Agnes happy. Culinnon felt like a little bubble, Sera thought, but its safety was a mirage. The outside world was in turmoil.
She reached the end of the dock and peered over its edge, her fingers lighting up as she called for Errol. The mertag’s head popped out of the water as if he’d been waiting for her.
“Good morning, Sera Lighthaven,” he said.
“Good morning,” Sera replied cheerfully. She’d come every morning to speak to him, before anyone else was awake. She did not want Ambrosine to know she could talk to mertags or Arboreals. It was bad enough Hektor had seen her in the grove with the sprite-Boris.
“When are we making sail for Braxos?” Errol asked.
Sera sighed. “I don’t know. I would leave today if I could. But we don’t have a ship any longer.”
Errol’s colors flashed in sad gray-greens. “No, the small boat is not in the water anymore. The humans must have brought it on land.” He cocked his head. “My family thinks I am crazy to try and take you to Braxos.”
“Why?” Sera asked. “Because it is dangerous?”
Errol let out his croaking laugh. “Dangerous? No, Braxos is not dangerous to mertags. There is nothing in these waters that can harm us. The human family who lives on Culinnon—they do not like us to leave. Keep to the waters around Culinnon, protect the island from unknown faces, unknown ships. It is all we have ever done. Not Errol, though. Errol likes to stretch his fins and explore the seas.” The corners of his mouth turned down. “That is how Errol was caught. Too far out, too far away. A foolish mertag.”
“If you had not been caught I never would have met you,” Sera said.
That made him brighten. “Too true, Sera Lighthaven!”
Sera wondered if perhaps the mertags were in a similar situation to the Arboreals—trapped on this one island when they were meant to swim the seas.
There was a creak of wood and Sera jumped. Agnes was walking down the dock, wrapped in a thick sweater with a big woolen scarf around her neck.
“I thought I might find you here,” she said with a grin.
She took a piece of dried apricot out of her pocket and tossed it at Errol, who caught it in a flash.
“Agnes is always giving Errol food,” Errol said happily.
Sera laughed. “You deserve it,” she told him. “You got her and Vada here, safe and quick.”
Errol puffed out his chest. “I would do the same for any friend of Sera Lighthaven.”
Agnes curled up beside Sera on the dock. “It’s nice here,” she said. “Quiet.”
Her brow furrowed and Sera knew what she was thinking.
“Has Ambrosine talked any more to you about her plans to rule the northern islands?”
Agnes shivered. “No. I think she realized she might have told me all that a bit too soon. I mean, I only just got here.”
“She must have been thinking about it for a very long time,” Sera said. “So it was hard for her to wait once she saw you.”
“I didn’t come here to be a princess,” Agnes said. “We’re supposed to be getting you to Braxos and here we are, touring Culinnon like we’re on vacation. I get that she wants me to feel some connection with it, but that’s not why I’m here.”