bait,” I muttered. “If Saint wanted to use me to get Zola to Holland, he knew where I was. He could have come to get me from Jeval any time.” Clove kept pace beside me, silent. “Why now?”
Clove glanced over his shoulder, looking to West again, and I stopped short, the skirts slipping from my fingers.
“So, I was right.” I glared at him. “This is about West.”
West looked between us, but he said nothing. He’d likely already been thinking the same thing.
Saint had been working against Zola for some time, but when he realized I’d used him to help West, he’d seen a way to solve not one problem, but two. He’d get Zola to Bastian and me off the Marigold.
“That bastard,” I growled, gritting my teeth.
West watched me from the corner of his eye, the muscle in his jaw ticking. Once, he’d said he’d never be free of Saint. I was beginning to wonder if he was right.
We took two more turns before we were standing at a wide set of doors that opened to an enormous solarium. Walls of glass rose to a ceiling that framed the blue sky, making the light so bright that I had to blink to let my eyes adjust.
At the very center of the room sat a decadently dressed round table, where Holland was waiting.
The belt around her waist was studded with trailing swirls of emerald, the same stone that hung from the gold chain around her neck. It caught the light as she faced the windows looking over the city, a teacup in her hand.
West studied her, an undecipherable question in his eyes.
Our escort stopped at the door, gesturing for us to enter, and I stepped into the room with West at my side, Clove trailing behind.
“Good morning,” Holland said, her eyes on the golden landscape before us. “Sit, please.”
The solarium was filled with plants, making the air warm and humid. Wide leaves and choking vines crawled up the windows, and blooms of every color were scattered along fronds and branches.
I reached for the chair but a young man appeared from behind us, pulling it out for me. I sat cautiously, taking in the contents of the table.
Pastries and cakes were arranged in ornate patterns atop silver platters and stands, and fresh berries were piled into white porcelain bowls. My mouth watered at the smell of sugar and butter, but West and Clove kept their hands in their laps. I did the same.
“Like looking into the past.” Holland gingerly set her cup onto the saucer before her. “You’re a perfect rendering of your mother.”
“So are you,” I said.
That made her mouth twist a little, but it was true. I could see my mother in all of her angles, even with her years and silvered hair. Holland was beautiful in the same wild, untamed way Isolde had been.
“I take it she never told you about me.” Her head tilted to the side inquisitively.
“She didn’t,” I answered honestly. There was no point in lying.
“I admit, when Zola sent me a message saying he was bringing me Isolde’s daughter, I didn’t believe him. But there’s no denying it.” Her eyes ran over me again. “I’m still trying to figure out how you slipped my notice. Nothing happens on the sea that I don’t know about.”
But I knew the answer to that question. No one but Clove knew who I was, and I’d spent four years on Jeval, far removed from anyone’s curiosity. For the first time, I wondered if that was one of Saint’s reasons for leaving me there.
“Isolde was a stubborn girl,” she breathed. “Beautiful. Talented. But so very stubborn.”
I stayed silent, paying close attention to the corners of her mouth. The shifting of her eyes. But the surface of Holland gave away nothing.
“She was seventeen years old when she left on the Luna without so much as a goodbye. I woke one morning and she didn’t come down to breakfast.” She picked up her cup, and it shook in her hand as she took another sip of hot tea. “If her father hadn’t already been dead, it would have killed him.”
She selected a pastry from the platter, setting it onto the plate before her as the doors opened behind us. A man stepped into the room, his jacket buttoned all the way up to his neck and his hat in his hands. It took me a moment to place him. The harbor master.
West seemed to realize it in the same moment, turning just