Sea Dweller (Birthstone Series) (19 page)

“You’ll be protected.”

I offered a slight nod,
unable to acknowledge his assurance any more than slightly. I didn’t feel
protected no matter what Perin claimed. I just felt confused.

“So what next?” Sai asked,
sensing my lack of desire to speak.

“Enter into sea dweller form,
jump in the water, and these men will take you to your kelpies.”

Gripping my gem, I allowed
its power to flood my veins. Within a moment, I was back in my sea skin. “Will
I be coming back here soon?” I asked, as I stepped closer to the water lapping
at the ledge.

“It’s likely,” Perin said.
“I’m glad you came.”

Sai snorted and jumped in the
water. I moved to follow but paused when I realized I still had one unanswered
question.

“Perin, when my mother found
her stone, what was her greatest desire?”

Perin’s eyes flickered with
some unspoken emotion, and he cleared his throat once before speaking.

“She tried to convince
herself that her greatest desire was something she could use to destroy the
king. Physical strength, cunning, an ability to always win. But the stones’
connection to humans is immense and they bond to truth rather than the lies we
tell ourselves. Their power allows them to understand someone better than that
person understands herself.”

I raised my eyebrows, waiting
for him to continue.

“Although Paelor told herself
she would never want to birth a child with all the bloodlines, she didn’t take
into account that her greatest desire was still to be a mother. Her heart
wanted a child, Aylen. Her greatest desire was to have you, whether she wanted
to admit it or not.”

I fought back the warm tears
threatening to spill down my cheeks.

“She’s done much to preserve
your life. Not because you are the girl of many bloodlines, but because you are
her daughter.” Perin paused. “It’s called the Fertility Gem. Of course, only
you and your mother have the bloodline to use it. And although it wasn’t the
stone Paelor had planned on, it still created a way to destroy the king. It
produced you.”

I clutched the box with my
mother’s stone tightly and pressed it to my chest. “Thank you, Perin,” I
whispered, turning again toward the water.

Perin placed a hand on my
shoulder. “You have nations waiting to support you.”

“It won’t matter.” I said,
glancing at him from the corner of my eye. “At least not until I have
her
support.”
I shook his hand away, stepped forward and dove into the water. As I reached
Sai, already mounted and angrily holding onto the mane of a kelpie, I realized
I could leave Perin and his city far behind, but the burdens he had thrust onto
my shoulders were riding with me back to Vairda.

I had never in my life felt
so exhausted.

Chapter 15

It was late evening by the
time Vairda’s shore was in sight. Our guards had left us not long before we saw
the distant mass basking in silver moonlight on the sea’s surface. With them
went the kelpies. Sai had been happy to see them go and once the guards were
out of sight, he visibly relaxed.

“As if I can’t protect you,”
Sai thought in my direction, his hand holding mine as we coursed through the
water.

“As if I can’t protect
myself,” I thought back. “How does anyone expect me to save nations if no one
can even trust me to get myself home?”

“That’s beside the point,”
Sai joked. “I’m the best spear fighter on the island. Doesn’t that mean
anything to those people?”

“Nethrans,” I said, putting
as much cheerful disdain into the word as I was able.

“Kelpie lovers,” he said
back, thinking it as though it was a dirty word. I nearly snorted.

When our feet finally brushed
Vairdan sand, we were physically spent but didn’t waste any time releasing
ourselves from the gems power. Sluggish, we trudged onto dry ground.

“My parents must be crazed
with worry,” I sighed.

Sai chuckled. “Mine won’t
care.”

“Want to trade?”

Sai responded by grabbing my
hand again and walking with me through the forest. Eventually he asked, “What
does your mother’s stone do?” I wondered if he sensed my guilt at having asked
him to trade parents.

“It’s called the Fertility
Gem.” When Sai remained silent, I explained. “Her greatest desire was to have a
child.”

“That’s quite a compliment,”
Sai said.

“How so?”

“Well, in my family I’m just
the last of many. Sure, my parents love me, but I doubt their greatest desire
would be to have another child if they could have anything they wanted.”

“That’s different though,” I
insisted. “My mother didn’t have any children at the time.”

“Even so, she must really
love you if you were all she wanted after such a journey.” Sai smiled at me
reassuringly.

“Yeah, well she’s probably
changed her mind about that tonight. She’s going to be furious.”

Sai laughed. “What will you
tell them?”

I thought for a moment before
taking a deep breath. “The truth,” I said. “Or at least most of it.”

“See you sometime next year
then. I doubt they’ll let you out of their sight for a long time.”

“They no longer have a
choice.”

We drew closer to my parent’s
property and I squeezed Sai’s hand.

“Thank you for staying with
me and wanting to help me in all of this.”

“I’ll come with you to talk
with your parents,” he offered.

“No. I should talk with them
alone. But come by tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be making a trip to see Aluce first
thing in the morning, but we can meet afterwards.”

“Aluce?” Sai questioned.

“Yes,” I said firmly as I
dropped his hand. “I have some things I want to say to her before I start
searching for the necklace.” I stopped walking and rubbed my arms. “I’m almost
home. You can head back.”

“Are you sure?” Sai asked. He
looked down and shuffled his feet, as though stalling for time.

“Positive. Besides, Faema is
probably waiting for you somewhere in the village. You need to go and make up
some excuse for being gone all day long.”

Sai chuckled. “I didn’t even
think about that. Thanks for the reminder.”

“I’m a good friend that way,”
I said, gently shoving him.

Sai caught my hand and pulled
me to him into a tight embrace. My heart nearly pounded out of my ribcage as he
crushed me against his chest. My mind raced, trying to recall when he’d ever
hugged me like that in the past but it came up blank, either from the shock or
because he never had. Probably both.

“You’re my best friend,” he
whispered into my hair.

“I know,” I answered. “You’ve
told me a few times.”

“There were a few Nethran men
watching you today. The younger ones.”

“I’m sure I looked strange to
them the way I do in Vairda.”

“I don’t think that was it,
Aylen. It bothered me.”

I pulled away and searched
his eyes. “Why?”

Sai didn’t answer. Instead,
he just looked terrified. In spite of this, he placed one warm hand on the back
of my neck. I tried to ignore the blood pounding in my ears as he leaned in
closer. I could feel the heat from his face, only inches from mine and his
breath fluttered softly on my cheek as his lips came closer. I closed my eyes.

“Aylen, are you out there?”
my father’s voice suddenly rang out through the trees. 

My eyes flew open and Sai’s
hands snapped back to his side as though he’d been slapped.

“I’m sorry,” he mouthed.

Sorry for what? I wondered.
For almost kissing me? Or for not being able to finish it again? I didn’t have
time to ask. The sound of my father thrashing his way through the trees like an
angry boar halted any response I might have conjured up. I turned from Sai and
ran the rest of the way home, completely unprepared to deal with the rage
awaiting my arrival.

“Where have you been?” my
mother cried, hugging me when I arrived home with my father.

“With Sai,” I answered, not
bothering to mask the icy fatigue in my voice.

“That’s not a real answer and
you know it. Where could you have possibly gone for so long?” My father said,
his arms folded stiffly across his chest.

I pulled away from my mother
and met his gaze with an aloof look of my own. “Do you really want to know the
truth? Or should I make up some convenient story for everyone’s comfort?”

“What is that supposed to
mean?” my mother demanded.

My eyes flitted back and
forth between the figures staring me down. I’d always done what they’d told me.
I had always tried to obey them and . . . and . . . they had always only done
what they’d thought was best, I realized. I sighed, my anger abating somewhat.

Reaching into the pocket of
my shorts with one hand, I pulled out my Sea Gem. Unfolding my fingers I
allowed it to settle in my palm where my parents could see it.

“Where did you get that?” my
mother asked, grabbing for it. Quickly, I snapped my fingers shut and pulled my
hand away.

“I found it.” I winced,
knowing I needed to be fully honest. “Someone put it where I would find it.”

“Aluce!” my mother spat,
surprising me with the venom in her tone.

“At least she told me the
truth.”

“Of course she did!” my
father yelled. “As much truth as will serve her purposes!”

“It’s no different than you
lying to me to serve your own!”

“We were protecting you. You
have no idea the danger we all faced,” my mother sobbed.

“It was going to catch up
with me sooner or later,” I said, blinking away my own tears.

“What have you been told,
Aylen?” my father asked, his voice tight.

“Everything. What happened to
you on the mainland. Who you are. Who I am.” My voice broke on the last word.
It was all too much. I had planned on being strong when confronting them, but
standing before my lifelong protectors had turned me back into a scared little
girl.

“Did Aluce tell you
everything?” Mom asked, her voice dull.

I sank to my knees and knelt
there, unmoving. “Perin did. I went to Nethra today.”

“He wouldn’t,” she whispered.
“Perin sent us here to keep you safe. He’d never betray us.”

I looked up and met her gaze.
Her eyes traveled downward, resting on the small box in my hand. Quietly, I
placed it on the earth and pushed it toward her. The sound it made as it
scraped across the ground shrieked in the silent room.

Mom sank to the ground, her
face whiter than sea foam. Slowly, she picked up the box and lifted the lid.
Tears slid down her face as she gazed at the jewel inside. Shaking her head,
she placed it back on the ground in front of her, leaving the lid flipped open.

“Perin gave you this,” she
stated. I nodded.

“You weren’t sent here just
to keep me safe,” I said, “although that played a part in it. The real reason
was because the Nethrans hid the necklace somewhere in Vairda. You were sent to
raise me where I would eventually have to face who I am.” I shrugged,
emotionally spent. “And Aluce came here to start the process. All she needed
was an opportunity.”

“We were deceived? By our
allies?” Dad said, with a clenched jaw.

“Think of how I feel,” I
muttered. “It was awfully fun to learn my parents have been lying to me.”

“We didn’t entirely lie,” my
mother disagreed, her voice hoarse. “And we didn’t want this responsibility
resting on your shoulders. We still don’t. We’re getting off the island
tonight. We won’t let you be used by Miranasch rebels. Your life is not theirs
to claim.”

“That’s right,” Dad said. “You
can both use Sea Gems. I’ll have to follow in some other way, but we can leave
Vairda now.” My father scrambled to the trunk where my parents had always kept
what they’d salvaged from the mainland.

“No,” I said.

“What?”

“I’m not going.” I reached
over and picked up the box holding my mother’s jewel. Standing, I slipped my
Sea Gem back into my pocket and walked toward my partitioned area of the hut.
“I’m going to face this. I
need
to face this.”

“I won’t have you sacrifice
yourself for those people,” Mom cried out.

“If it had been you, Mom,
would you have sacrificed yourself?” She didn’t answer so I continued. “We both
know what you would have done. It was my entry into your world that changed
your mind about everything. I made you vulnerable.” I paused, knowing how much
she would hurt over what I was about to say.

“I’m not willing to sacrifice
an entire nation in my behalf. You shouldn’t be willing to either. Besides, my
grandfather will find us eventually.” I nearly choked on the word
grandfather
. “Even if he doesn’t find us, I don’t want to live a life
hiding from him. And I don’t want that for
my
children. I’m ending this
or I’ll die trying.”

“The stones will kill you
first, Aylen,” my mother said. “You don’t understand their power.”

“But I do understand. More
than you think,” I said, standing again. I walked toward my partitioned corner
and entered my private space. Opening my trunk, I began to rifle through
clothing and childhood possessions until I found the small satchel I
occasionally strapped to myself when I needed to carry small items. Quickly, I
fastened it over one shoulder and under the other arm. Inside, I placed the
small box containing my mother’s jewel as well as my Sea Gem for safe keeping.
I didn’t want my parents attempting to take them from me now that they knew I
had them.

Once they were safe, I
entered the main living area of our hut. Mom was still where I’d left her,
quiet and pale, kneeling upon the floor. My father paced the room.

“I’m not leaving Sai right
now, either,” I announced. “I know the day will come when I’ll have to, but
he’s the only friend I have. I’ll need his help.”

“We’re your family. You need
your parents,” Dad said.

“Of course I need you. But
I’ve made a decision to stay and deal with this. Right now I need you to support
me in my choice.”

“Why are you doing this,
Aylen? You have no ties to the mainland - no obligation to anyone.” Mom’s eyes
pleaded with me to bend my will to hers.

I looked at her, mirroring
her expression. “I’ve always known there was something more for me. I always
felt that I had a purpose besides being laughed at by Vairdans or doing
everything my parents told me.” I took a deep breath, attempting to gather my
thoughts. “The Sea Gem was the first thing in my life that made sense. It
offered the first bit of true freedom I’ve ever felt and it seemed to complete
some part of me that was missing.”

“The more stones you use, the
more confused you’ll become. You’re only connected to one type of stone now.
You connect yourself to all of them and you’ll destroy your ability to reason!
To think!” My mother grabbed for my hand but I pulled away.

“I have to try,” I said, my
voice struggling to remain steady. “If I don’t, I’ll hate myself for being
afraid of one more thing. There are people that have faith in my ability to
help them. The least I can do is to try to accomplish what they ask.”

My parents silently observed
me for a moment. I straightened my shoulders and attempted to arrange my
expression into one of resolve. When my lower lip quivered, I knew I was
failing.

Mom shook her head slowly.
“We have done everything we could to keep you from having to make this
decision.” She stood, easing herself to her feet, wincing as though it caused
her pain. She walked to her trunk. After removing the key tied around her neck,
she unlocked it and pushed the lid open.