40. Reina

Chapter forty

Reina

A lejandra tells the story of how Cora met her at the port town where we were dropped off. They spent the weeks while we were traveling on foot looking for the mind-controlled selkies that were patrolling the waters, then capturing them and undoing the magic. Jasper's mother was one of the lucky few who've had a week to recover and eat well. She's the one who guided Alejandra to the island and helped them navigate the mist.

Cora explains that she and Jasper's mother, Ahliyah, have known one another for a very long time. That she delivered the warning to the selkies of Opal Isle that Vansen was going to take them. Ahliyah, in her "young pride" as she says, refused to believe that they could be captured. Their relationship was still new, and she didn't trust Ki'ah Ohn.

Cora returned to her every week for a year to build the relationship and warn her. She knew even then that I would need Jasper to overcome Ashai. When the time to move on and make a new home had passed and the Opal Isle selkies could not avoid their fate, Cora told her their only chance of survival was for her son to hide and evade capture. She knew he would be drawn to me as long as he lived.

Ohksano'amai …

By the time the stories are done, and the wine is gone, we're all exhausted. It's another several hours to Cora's home, and with the hold overcrowded with refugees, Alejandra allows us to sleep in her bed—under the condition that we're respectful of how often she gets to clean her sheets. That comment has Jasper laughing and me turning every shade of red imaginable. As if I'd allow him to do anything untoward when his mother, Cora, and Alejandra would be sleeping in the same room on fold-out cots.

When the first light of the sun pours in through the window, I find that we're pulling into the shallows of a small island. Cora leads us up to the deck with a wide smile. The island is not much bigger than the first plot Jasper and I landed on after the shipwreck, but it is infinitely more wondrous.

A massive fruiting tree sprouts up from the center of the island, and built into the branches in winding layers is a home. Drawstring buckets move water up to the top level and deposit their contents into a long chute that runs into the main building of the house. White smoke pours and trickles from different rooms of the home. Rope bridges and swinging planks lead from section to section of the massive abode, painted in brilliant shades of every color imaginable. The base of the tree is obscured by other, smaller trees and foliage, but I have a feeling there's much more to the house down there.

"Absolutely incredible," I say.

Cora chuckles contently. "It is something."

Alejandra snaps her crew into order as they drop anchor and prepare the dinghies to run ashore. Jasper and I move down into the hold to help move the injured. The eksteinvas eye us warily with their strange, crystal faces as we usher them up the steps and into the smaller ships.

When all the captives are finally free on the island, it's our turn to depart. I look at Alejandra with fondness and gratitude swelling in my heart. I reach out with my foot to tap hers. "We'll see you tomorrow, but thank you for everything you've done. We're in your debt."

She bumps my gnarled bridal shoe with her boot. "I'll be calling on that favor soon enough."

"And we will answer," Jasper says, tapping his foot against hers as well.

We load into the boat and bid our saviors farewell, but not for long. Alejandra will be taking us back to Hammon in the morning, but we get to see Cora's beautiful home first.

My heart races the closer we get to the island. I want to tour the entire house, every room, branch, and bough. Everything! But more importantly than that, I'm ready to meet the rest of Jasper's family.

A man and a young woman in flowing clothes are waiting on the beach. Cora waves to them brightly and shouts something in Illyan. The man comes wandering into the crystal-clear shallows with a determined, needy look on his face, one I've seen on Jasper a few times. When he reaches the boat, Cora leaps out of it into his arms.

He holds her tight in the waist-high water and our rower goes on, leaving them behind as they kiss and whisper to one another. My heart warms at the sight of their love. Will Jasper and I still be like this in twenty years?

The girl on the beach—I'm assuming Cora's daughter—is smiling with tears in her eyes. It makes me wonder just how long Cora was away orchestrating all of this. We run ashore, and before I know what's happening, Jasper scoops me into his arms. I yelp and grab onto him as he jumps down. He sets me on the fine, warm sand and I kick off my shoes.

He reaches back up to help his mother, but she gives him a stern glare and jumps down on her own. I chuckle at her independence. Even after years of not seeing her son, she won't indulge him in this way because she's strong. She's their leader.

The girl greets us in Illyan, and Jasper translates her welcome, in which she explains her name is Selyn and that her home is our home. Jasper asks her something quickly in Illyan and she points up to the house, replying "something something all there."

Cora and her husband wade out of the water hand in hand, smiling and laughing. "Go up to the house, go!" Cora says, shooing us onward.

Jasper takes my hand with a smile and we follow Selyn up the winding dirt path. Bushes of vibrant pink and blue flowers line the way for a while, then comes snaking grapevines, tomato plants, summer squash, and more food than I think I've ever seen in a garden.

I look back at Cora. "This is incredible."

She and her husband just smile.

Joyous voices grow louder as we ascend. The dirt path eventually turns to stone that's been carefully laid in intricate patterns. Wooden archways woven with flowering plants create a tunnel up to the base of the house.

It's stone at the bottom, likely the foundation of the home before it grew upward and outward into the tree. Shock after shock, delight after delight. The tunnel opens to massive ponds of cool, swirling water. The buckets, which are much larger than I imagined, scoop huge bales of the water from the left pool and carry it all the way up. In the pools on the right swim dozens of selkies.

Jasper rushes forward with a laugh, carrying me along with him. Two selkies, an older male and a younger female rush up to the edge with broad smiles.

"Ehan!" the girl exclaims with open arms.

Jasper slides through the grass and dirt on his knees, throwing his arms, and mine, around the girl. Jasper whispers to her in selkie, then pulls the older man close, too. Ahliyah comes up behind us, completing the embrace. Love tingles through every fabric of my being. A family reunited, complete.

And I'm part of it.

My eyes burn and my throat constricts as they whisper to one another in soft voices full of longing and heartache. I'm not sure how long we're like that, but eventually we break apart. Jasper introduces me in selkie as his soulmate and I smile, feeling my ruddy cheeks bunching as I laugh.

"Emial," says his father, dipping his head and touching his heart.

"Maarie," his sister says with a bright smile. She grabs my hands and says more, but I shake my head with a shrug, and look at Jasper.

His eyes shimmer as he grins at me. "She's glad to finally have a sister. Brothers are the worst."

We all share a laugh, and suddenly, the last months seem worth it.

So worth it.

We spend the day healing the sick and helping Cora pick food from the gardens. I leave Jasper to catch the chickens—I don't really have the heart to murder the poor beasts.

Selyn guides me up to the house's first level, the one constructed of stone around the massive trunk. It's all warm light, and green with life. The kitchen is on the second level, so she leads me up through a winding staircase against the trunk.

The walls are mostly wood, but some light stone too. Weaves of garlic are braided against the window where vines wrap their way in. Little flowers sprout along the vines and bring color to the beautiful, rustic kitchen.

A huge firepit sits at the center with two massive metal bowls sitting atop it. Little clay pots of pepper oil hang overhead, and other seasonings line the wall behind the cooking station. It's just absolutely extraordinary…

Though we don't speak a common language, Selyn teaches me how to prepare bread while she teaches me more Illyan. Maybe one day I'll speak it fluently. Cora comes in with five plucked chickens and gets to work cutting them apart as if she's done it a hundred times. She probably has.

They're so comfortable here. I'm suddenly envious of their lives, so quiet and far from the horrors Jasper and I will have to face. So much sooner than I'd like.

As the sun draws closer to the horizon and the scents of roasted meat grow unbearably delectable, Cora calls us all to dinner.

She catches me on the way out the door and ushers me into the pantry. "You're going to need this," she says, holding a bottle of sparkling lilac liquid out to me.

I've seen fertility blocker circulating in court among the young men enough to know that's exactly what this is. I take the potion from Cora with a little smirk. "I guess babies aren't part of the prophecy?"

She shrugs. "I didn't say that."

I can't tell if she's joking, but I very much do not want to be pregnant while fighting to overthrow a goddess. Plus, it's much too soon. I have things to accomplish, and such.

I down the bottle with two big gulps and hand it back to her empty. "That's good for a month. You'll need more when you get home. Now, let's put this out of mind and enjoy your victory."

I smile and offer her my arm. "Yes, let's."

We exit at the bottom floor to picnic-style blankets that have been set around the selkie pond. Cora opens her arms to the people gathered and says something in Illyan that sounds like an invitation to begin. A veritable feast of grapes, coconut, pineapple, boiled eggs, roasted chicken and fish, and fresh bread with an herb dipping oil is laid out. I could cry.

Wait, I am crying.

I wipe my cheeks and sniffle as Jasper comes up behind me, putting an arm on my shoulder. "What is it, love?"

"I'm so excited to eat," I murmur through my tears.

Jasper laughs and kisses my hair. "Then eat your fill, so I can take you to bed."

His promise awakens another hunger, one that burns all the way down to my core and has only one solution.

He groans against my ear. "Are you imagining what I might do to you in that bed?"

"You know I am," I whisper.

He squeezes my sides. "Let's get you ready for the evening's activities."

We join many families, some of whom can't yet leave the water, and break bread. We tell Alejandra's tale, and then Cora speaks of the prophecies she's collected over the years, including the one that brought Jasper and I together. Such a tragedy, but Ahliyah didn't want to hide anything from her people.

There is mourning but understanding. Ki'ah Ohn have never been trusted, but now things are different. The loss of years, and of life, is memorialized in the trunk of the tree with a carving of runes. Symbols of love and protection, of remembrance and loyalty. This is forever their place of honor.

When the wine—much better than sailor's wine—is drunk, and the food gone, Cora pulls out an assortment of instruments. Drums for her husband, a flute for herself, and a viola for Selyn. They play a somber tune, and the selkies sing, their haunting, hypnotizing harmony whispering out into the night like a dirge.

Jasper joins them, his voice deep and resonant in my soul. I feel his pain, all of their pain. It burns in my throat, my eyes, and my chest. I let my tears fall, as does everyone else.

When the song is over, Ahliyah whoops loudly, joyously, and the selkies holler with her. The music picks up to something upbeat, full of love and excitement, and those with legs begin to dance while those with tails begin to swirl and dive.

As the sun sets, Jasper laces his fingers in mine and draws me away from the celebrating crowd. "They gave us the room at the top, farthest out. It's a little tricky to get to, but…"

I bite my lip as I smile. "I'm sure it has an amazing view."