Page 68 of Those Fatal Flowers

I brace myself for the rage that’s certain to barrel toward me like a horse bitten by a fly, but it doesn’t come. Raidne’s eyes are locked on me, but where Pisinoe’s held fury, hers hold only hurt.

“I don’t understand,” she says softly. “Why did you keep this from us?”

“Because Proserpina told me to.”

A loud gasp tears from Pisinoe’s throat, and I flinch beneath the doubt it holds. But the sound doesn’t break Raidne’s focus. She’s appraising me once more, just like she did when I told them about the lily.

“So tell us now, then.”

“I found him on the beach the first time we went salvaging. But when I started to call for you, I heard her. She told me not to. I’ve been hiding him ever since, waiting for her to explain why she wanted me to save him, waiting for her to reveal his purpose—”

“And has she?” Pisinoe interrupts, and my cheeks burn crimson.

“No.”

Pity draws the corners of Raidne’s lips up into a sad smile, and only now does she turn to Pisinoe. The two conduct the next part of the conversation in pointed looks, as if it’s a language I don’t understand.

Has she gone mad, Raidne? What are we going to do?

The only thing we can.

She’ll never agree to it!

Raidne sighs softly, and she reaches her delicate fingers to cup my chin. “What about the women, Thelxiope? Why would Proserpina want to save someone capable of such brutality?”

Her voice is surprisingly gentle, and when I meet her stare again, so are her eyes. The care she takes brings mist to the corners of mine, and I blink back tears as I remember the wraiths from my dreams, as I remember their anger.

“He said he didn’t know anything about them,” I answer, but the words sound so foolish spoken out loud. My chest tightens at my naïvety, at my willingness to be deceived. Of course that’s what he said, and I accepted his lie readily. But even if they’re right, even if Jaquob is as much a monster as the other sailors who washed ashore here, I refuse to dedicate him to the Mother of the Fields.

“You should have told us,” Raidne continues. “We could’ve been done with this weeks ago.”

Anger brings the sour taste of bile to my tongue, and Iscoff. “If I’d told you weeks ago, he’d either be ash on the wind or salted meat in our stores. He wasn’t fit to sacrifice until I healed him!”

Until I healed him.The ground tilts beneath my feet as understanding prickles across my skin, raising the hair on the back of my neck, nearly stopping my heart. I can’t breathe, oh, gods, I can’t— Of course!Of course!

Raidne’s right: Proserpina wouldn’t want to save a man capable of such brutality, not unless…

“Thelxiope? Are you—” Raidne reaches for my swaying frame, but I raise a hand to silence her.

“He wasn’t a fitting sacrifice until I healed him,” I repeat. A shaky laugh rises from my depths, and I can feel my gaping mouth curl into a slow smile. “But he is now.”

Yes, Thelia, yes…!

That voice makes my head fall back and my eyes roll up to the heavens. Above me, the night sky twinkles with the brilliance of infinite stars, their light smearing together through the tears that now fall freely. I open my arms to them, ecstatic, as relief spins me in circles across the cliffs. She speaks, she speaks. My queen finally speaks.

“Did you hear that?” I call to my sisters as their blurred forms draw together. They must think me mad, but I don’t care—let them. “I know what he’s for!”

Yes, tell them…

“All those years, it was Proserpina sending us ships. And all those years, we gave their spoils to Ceres. Don’t you understand?”

All I can do is clap my hands in giddy excitement as I watch Raidne solve the riddle, her gray eyes bright as the answer comes to her.

“So instead of Ceres…”

He’s mine…

“Yes.” My mouth is hers as my taloned feet carry me to my sisters, my arms extended to find their hands. Pisinoe grins as she accepts one, and though it’s not as large, Raidne’s smile is just as fiery, lit by the thrill of defiance. “The Queen of the Underworld is owed her due.”

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