The three of you’ll live in the boathouse for a time, till we can build something more substantial. Or better, maybe I can toss that old bastard Soter out and you can have his shack. That’s roomier.” He turned to his wife. “Yes, that’s what we’ll do. We’ll get rid of him in the bargain, won’t we?”
When neither woman said anything, he gave a shrug, took another bite of his food, and with his mouth half full added, “This is the opportunity for our family finally to join the village. This imbecile—call him what you want—your children will be their children. You’ll have to guide him in that, too, won’t you? But he’s equipped.” He smiled and chewed. “You ask him and he’ll show you. Happy he is to show you.” He laughed and shook his head.
Softly, almost kindly, Dymphana rebutted, “They won’t see it your way in Tenikemac. They won’t bring us in.”
“Of course they will. They’ll have to.”
“How long have you been working at this, Uncle? All the little things you’ve said, the funny little looks—you’ve been winding up this woman’s hopes for weeks now. This didn’t just happen tonight.”
His eyes narrowed although his smile remained. “I don’t know that I care to be accused, my girl. Especially with all I’ve done for your future. You’d see that if you—”
“Liar,” she snapped. She rose to her feet, and now her control deserted her. She heaved the bowl of rice into his face.
Gousier erupted from his seat with a howl of anguish. “My eyes!” His hands swiped at the rice stuck to his cheeks. He shook his head, pressing palms into eye sockets, and lunged all at once across the table, knocking over a pitcher and a bowl, which shattered, spreading more rice underfoot. But his hands closed on nothing.
Leodora’s place was empty.
He blinked and squinted. “I’ll kill you, you ungrateful bitch, I will!” His words burst the walls, sped through the night, pursuing her like a maleficent spirit. “Get done with your petulance, girl—the ceremony’s in two nights and I’ll deliver you to it if I have to carry you there in a net like one of their catches! Two nights hence!” Then she heard his laugh, and she knew she’d been right to run. There’d been a knife right in front of her on the table. If he’d hit her, she would have stuck it through his eye.
She fled to the boathouse but not to her garret. If he followed, Gousier would have her all but trapped up there. She went halfway up the steps instead, ready to jump if the door opened. She stuck her head into the room above and called, “Tastion?” The silence of emptiness answered her.
She took a seat on the lowest steps, with the boat close by. If Gousier came in, she could squeeze through the rotten hull of the esquif before he even saw her.
She stared through the hole in its side. She and the boat were identical. Both helpless, trapped here at her uncle’s whim. Kept from the life they were meant to live. The boat was meant to be on the ocean—it should have been on the ocean. The boat had no recourse; but she did. She must.
Again she wondered where Tastion was. Twice today she’d needed to talk with him and he’d failed her. Now she had to concern herself with the prospect of bidding him farewell. Whatever had bound her to Bouyan before, whether it was the thing that called from across the sea or the impossible hope that she and Tastion might find a life together, it couldn’t hold her any longer. Tastion would marry his chosen wife just the way he was supposed to, and the dark, slithering call would have to find a new listener. There was—
The boathouse door swung open.
Leodora slipped from the step and through the hole in the boat. Footsteps skittered past—too quick to belong to her uncle. Then she heard her name called, her name sharp with excitement. Had he heard about the arranged marriage?
He came back down.
“I’m here, Tastion,” she said through the hole.
He jumped back against the stairs. “Zarya’s teeth! That’s a mean trick to play. What are you doing in there?”
“Hiding from Gousier.”
“Oh. What have you done this time?”
“Thank you for your confidence.”
“I didn’t mean—I meant that he always blames you for everything. The bastard looks for excuses to beat you.”
“I know that’s what you meant.”
“Right now you have to come with me,” he insisted.