Mermaid Tear (The Fated #2)

12 | Suffocating

Iliana paced for what felt like hours.

The door to the bed, the bed to the balcony, then back again as the course changed nothing. Her fingers drummed against the skirt of her uselessly ornate gown. Panic strangled her chest, muffling her breaths until they felt as shallow as her patience.

They had to be discussing the fallout of Mara's actions.

Alekos' death, Melitta's assassination, Taisol's promise--all of it would be significant to Zuher. She bit her cheek as anxiety--and something else, something she couldn't place--muddled her mind, making pulling her thoughts together like fumbling across a fogged deck.

What impact would those events have on her? On Del?

Del was the crown prince of Cieon, not Eol. He had nothing to do with Alekos' death and Taisol's order of succession.

Kain.

The realization lodged in her chest as Iliana's foot caught on the doorframe. She pitched forward, scrambling for her balance as something on the gown ripped. Strangled swears escaped her lips as her knees hit the floor with an audible thud, sending lances of pain up the length of her legs.

She didn't get up. She couldn't. Her mind was too much of a mess to guide her hands anywhere but where they'd curled into fists against the floor.

It was knowledge she hadn't touched since pieces of Melitta's memories had flooded her mind. Because, in the end, it felt wrong. Like something she shouldn't have heard because of some godly magic, but instead out of his mouth.

But, Iliana had heard Taisol's words through Melitta's ears. "Place my child on this throne, Kain, and when you one day know your own, I will acknowledge you."

She wasn't stupid. Nor was she ignorant of how these things worked.

The gods didn't remove famed bloodlines from a throne just because they favored a sailor. Because, ultimately, most kingdoms were led by someone favored by one, if not more, of the pantheon. Removing them on a whim could start a war between gods. Which meant, logically, if Taisol was offering to support Kain in a claim for a throne...Kain was royalty. Or, related to royalty.

There was a story Mara had told her once.

It'd been a simple legend just like any other tale children liked. It talked about a princess of a foreign land who fell in love with a hero of the sea. Despite having been sworn into Umae's temple at a young age, and her lover's immortality, she longed to start a family with the man. Luckily, their shared god was kind and blessed them with a child outside the laws of the land.

It was the same legend Del had talked to her of. A tale of a boy born from love, who died before his first breath. Of a child who was so loved by his mother, that she made a journey across the sea to defy the gods by reviving him with a relic only previously used to return breath to the bodies of heroes.

A child who had been cursed to the sea before his first birthday, because of Shinnah and Doroi's anger, and Umae's sympathetic, protective blessing.

Kain, who resembled Del so strongly, had a shock of white hair--the color of death. Her travels with him had been wrought with occasional nightmare attacks. Then, on Inna's Cove, and even on Lykos' ship, the nightmares had swarmed.

It had to be him...didn't it?

Which meant, the reason for the meeting had to be Taisol's promise in Zuher's ears. Iliana could feel her heart threatening to break free of her chest as too many things, too many pains and panic, created a drumline behind her ribs.