The Siren and the Deep Blue Sea - Kerrelyn Sparks Page 0,50
an ancient continent here called Aerland. I wanted to see for myself if any of it remained.”
Cahira’s hand shot out and gripped Maeve by the chin. “Were you drawn to the legend? Did it speak to you?”
Maeve attempted to pull away, but the queen’s fingers tightened, digging into her skin.
“Answer me,” she hissed.
Maeve recalled how she had lost an entire afternoon while immersed in the old book, how she had understood the ancient language and felt the terror of the catastrophic end. “Yes. It drew me in . . . as if I was there.”
With a slight smile, the queen released her. “Good. It’s in your blood.”
“My—” Maeve began, but was interrupted by Alfred.
“I don’t think she’s being entirely truthful,” he muttered. “She failed to mention that she was asking about the Embraced army.”
Cahira stepped back. “She did?” Her voice rose in anger. “Did you come here to spy on me? Are you working for those evil queens on the mainland?”
Maeve shot Alfred an annoyed look, then faced Cahira. “Those queens are my adopted sisters. I love—”
“No! They are nothing to you! They are beneath you,” Cahira hissed, then pointed at Maeve. “You are the last descendant of the ancient race of Aerland. You have the blood of noble sorcerers in your veins.”
Maeve gritted her teeth, fighting to remain calm. “How would you know anything about me?”
Cahira scoffed. “I know more about you than you do, you silly child. Do you actually believe you were born on the Autumn Embrace?”
Maeve stiffened. “Of course I was. Being able to shift is my Embraced gift.”
“You’re not Embraced.”
Maeve jolted and stumbled back a step. “Th-that’s not true. My sisters and I are all Embraced.” It was the one thing they had always known for sure. They hadn’t known if they had family. They hadn’t known why they’d been abandoned. But they had always agreed that they were all Embraced. “It’s not true.”
Cahira waved a hand impatiently. “It is. You were born a month before the Autumn Embrace.”
“No!” Tears burned Maeve’s eyes. This one belief had been the bedrock of her childhood, the only fact that she could count on. “It’s not true! How else would I be able to shift?”
“You inherited the gift from me.” Cahira shoved her hood back, and Maeve gasped.
The queen looked like an older version of herself.
Cahira smirked. “I can shift into any sea creature I desire.”
“Then . . .” Maeve gave the tank a wary glance. “You were the seal? And the octopus?”
Cahira nodded, her mouth still twisted with a smirk. “Apparently, you inherited only a small portion of my ability.” She grasped Maeve by the shoulders and turned her toward a mirror. “And a small portion of my beauty.”
A shiver crept down Maeve’s spine. Good goddesses, no. Not this woman. “You’re my . . .” Goddesses help her, she couldn’t even bring herself to say it.
“Yes.” Cahira released her with an irritated look. “I’m your mother.”
Chapter 10
The sea was so close, yet so far away, Maeve thought as she peered out the window of her new bedchamber on the third floor of the castle. She glanced back at the open door, where Alfred was standing in the hallway, giving instructions to an armed guard.
Was she a prisoner here? she wondered as Alfred marched away. If she was, then her cell was a beautiful one, not anything like the dungeon where Gabby was being held. Maeve could hardly remember the walk from the tank room to this room, for she had been too stunned by the things she’d heard from her mother.
Her mother. Good goddesses. It would have been shocking enough to simply find her mother, but no—her mother was hiding the Embraced army! If Lord Morris had sent the Embraced children here to her mother’s island, then she must have been in league with him. How involved was she with the Circle of Five?
This was terrible, Maeve thought with a groan. Now she knew how Gwennore must have felt when she’d learned that her mother had been allied with the Circle of Five.
“Welcome to Aerie Castle,” a servant said as she walked into the bedchamber, carrying a large tray filled with plates and a pitcher. “I expect you must be hungry from your long journey.”
It was the same old woman who had brought a tray to Gabby in the dungeon. How ironic, Maeve thought, that she was receiving a warmer welcome from this servant than she had from her mother.