Solomon snorted at the sight as his brothers-in-arms huddled closer around him, their backs to one another at the encroaching opponents. He glared at Rupert. “A word with her, then? That’s all you want?”
“Well, more than one, I’m sure,” said Rupert. “In private too. But, yes. I should very much like to have a conversation with the princess before you fulfill your orders to the Blackfin. Oh, you may run along and fetch your master too, if you like. The princess and I should be finished with our conversation by the time you return for her.”
Sydney thought her Orc captor took his time before responding.
“On with you, then,” said Solomon gruffly, nudging Sydney toward Rupert. He turned to his fellow Violovar next. “The rest of you wait here with these blow-holes. I mean to return with the Lord Blackfin shortly.”
Rupert chuckled at that. “Lord Blackfin now, is it? Curious . . . I had not heard the king honored him with such a title.”
“Perhaps you ought to clean the muck out of your ears then, m’lord,” said Solomon. “That, or find some better rats to deliver you news, for it won’t be the last title bestowed upon our liege. The Lord Blackfin has already proved himself twice over now more valuable than you and your shimmered lot.”
Rupert smiled in response, but said nothing further. With a nod, his Merrow soldiers cleared a path for Solomon to exit their circle.
Sydney watched Solomon carry on quickly past the tunnel and vanish beyond. No sooner than he was gone, she had the thought to rush toward Rupert and beg him to help her get away.
He was already coming to her, however, his hand light upon her upper arm as he guided Sydney beyond the Merrow soldiers and the Orcs. Rupert led her back through a series of doors she had originally entered through before finding him. A moment later, his guards closed the nearest doors behind them, affording some little privacy in the crypt-like tunnel.
Once the doors were closed, Sydney threw herself at her friend, wrapping her arms around him, hugging him close as she could. “Rupert, oh my God! I need you to help me!”
“Help you?” Rupert asked, reaching for Sydney’s wrists and gently prying her grip free so that he might back away from her.
Sydney looked up at him with tear-stained eyes, expecting the same warm smile she had seen when the king had introduced them to one another. The same smile she witnessed each and every day he taught her to ride her seahorse, Roselani. Instead, there were questions aplenty in Rupert’s gaze. No small bit of hurt either.
Rupert’s brow furrowed. “I tried to help you several times before, Sydney. The last of those that I recall was right before you ran off with a Silkie and left me unconscious to wake up in an empty stable. Aye, say nothing of the fool I appeared to be afterward for my trying to speak some sense to you. Who was that Silkie stablehand to you, Sydney? One so precious as for you to trust and run away with, abandoning me to scorn and jeers from those who discovered me later?”
Yvla. Sydney thought her name, but would not say it. “A friend of my mother’s,” she answered his question. “She tried to help me escape the city.”
“She failed, then,” said Rupert quietly.
No. Sydney thought to herself. She showed me what I really am. Who I am.
Rupert cued on her silence. “Why would you need to escape, Sydney? It’s your mother the king wanted to embarrass. Not you.”
“Rupert, you don’t understand.”
“Help me in understanding, then,” he said. “Tell me what I am to take away from this entire situation, Sydney. Aye, why my friendship, our rides and time together . . . what am I to take away from your leaving me behind, other than I meant nothing to you?”
“Rupert—”
“Do you know what the people are saying, Sydney?” He interrupted. “The rumors flying across the whole of New Pearlaya and beyond?”
How could I? Sydney wondered. I’ve been locked away in an oubliette all this time.
“No . . .” she answered his question.
“They’re saying your mother is a traitor to not only the crown and the king, but to her father in the east and the whole of our collective people too. They say your mother has betrayed all Merrows, Sydney.” His lip curled in disgust. “They’re accusing her of betraying the king and their marriage in favor of fornicating with a Nomad. And not just any savage stalker, I don’t mind telling you. Worse, that your halfling, bastard brother is the true reason why the queen did not bring the supposed prince back to the Salt with you and her after having sworn to leave forever in favor of swallowing the anchor instead.”
Jun. Sydney thought of her brother then, wondering where in the world he might be in that moment. Thankful, at least, that she had received no news of his whereabouts. Oh, Jun, where are you? Sydney wondered. Is everything they’re saying true? Are you like me too? Half Merrow and half Nomad?
Rupert studied Sydney close. “Still others are saying worser things, Sydney. They claim that perhaps your mother birthed the king not one alone, but a pair of savage bastards . . . that their marriage has been meaningless all this time.”
Sydney stared back at him, hurt lingering in her eyes.
Rupert scoffed at her continued silence. “All those claims against your mother and you have nothing to say?”
“What would you have me say?” Sydney asked.
“Deny it, Sydney,” he cried. “Tell me it’s not true. That none of these cursed rumors are true!”
He doesn’t know. Sydney understood by the cracking in his voice. The pain with which he uttered the words. He doesn’t believe that I could be part Nomad.
Rupert blinked, his voice softer as he spoke to her again. “Deny it, Sydney.” He came to her, reaching for Sydney’s hand and taking it in his. “Please . . . tell me the rumors are not true.” Rupert squeezed. “Help me to understand why you ran away, or else why I should decry all these rumors for falsehoods. As your betrothed, I swear that I will believe you.”
Betrothed. Sydney cringed at the word and the secret that Yvla had revealed to her in the stables during she and Rupert’s last meeting. She looked up at him once more, meeting his questions with some of her own. “Why didn’t you tell me that we were arranged to be married? That I was to be given to you like . . . just like Roselani was given to me by the king?”
Rupert frowned. “Sydney, it’s not the same. A seahorse is not a princess.”
“It’s exactly the same,” she said, pulling away. “And you knew all along. Even before you met me. Just like you knew that my mom was going to be taken prisoner that night at the play too.”
Rupert’s face reddened. “Sydney, I didn’t know about your mother,” he said. “I told you as much in the stables before you fled and left me behind.”
Sydney shook her head. “You knew. Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
Rupert had no answer for her, at first. Then, his shoulders sagged. Despite his glimmering armor, Sydney swore he had the expression of a shamed boy rather than the cocky façade he otherwise promoted in his daily dealings. “I didn’t know about your mother. Truly, I didn’t. As for the other bit concerning our engagement, I . . . I wanted to see if I could earn your love,” he said. “I’ve seen how arranged marriages go wrong from the start. My parents have fought with one another for as long as I can recall for just such a reason.” His gaze softened. “Much as you may doubt my intentions now and before, I have always hoped to make a better beginning for us.”
But there is no us. Sydney thought. And there never will be . . . especially not now.
Rupert sighed. “Tell me what to do, Sydney. Please? Tell me what I can do to make this right between us?” He took a knee that he might look up at her instead. “I see now that earning your love might well be beyond me, but tell me what I might do now to win back your trust, at least.”
“Why would you want my trust?”
“Can you truly not know?” He scoffed, a hint of his infamous, handsome smile dawning once more. “If I cannot have your love, Sydney, I wou
ld at least have your friendship again. A true friend, rather. Not the sort my father bought and paid to accompany me, or else those others budding up to me in the hopes of winning some title or favor from my parents, or even the king. Aye, for whatever you may think of me now, Sydney, you never looked to me with such things in your eyes as others have done all my life. In your gaze, I felt a true kinship from the start when we swam and rode together with Roselani and my Kampos. So, again, I say that if I cannot win your love, I would have your friendship again and your trust, at least.”
Sydney blushed at that, her eyes glazing over. Believing him even as a voice within urged her to doubt. But if I doubt everyone’s intentions, then what am I left with? Sydney thought to herself, again reflecting on her mother and Yvla too, wondering what they would do or argue in her stead. She looked on Rupert again, studying him and thinking back on all the times they shared, coming to her own conclusion without all the voices to plague her process. “You mean it, don’t you?”
“I do,” said Rupert, his easy smile earning one from her in return. “Tell me what to do, Sydney. If it’s within my power, I will help you.”
Rescue my mom and kill the Blackfin, maybe? Sydney snorted at the thought. Oh, and murder my dad too? She shook her head, reminding herself once more that the king was not a true father, nor had he ever been. Sydney looked around the tunnel, listening anew to the sounds of the crowd beyond the tunnel walls and ceiling. “What’s coming next?” she asked Rupert. “What are they going to do with me and my mom in this trial?”
Rupert’s forehead wrinkled. “You?” He asked. “Why would you think that you’re on trial, Sydney?”
He doesn’t know. Sydney thought again, staring into his eyes. How can he not know what they’ve done to me? Where they’ve been keeping me and what I am?
Sydney shook her head, feigning a show of embarrassment before Rupert could inquire on her further. “No, I know that I’m not on trial,” she lied. “I just wondered, you know . . . if maybe I was in trouble for running away.”
Rupert chuckled. “If they held a trial for every royal who had ever tried to run away from this cursed city, Sydney, there would be no royals left. Including me.”
Sydney forced a smile. “Right. I’m just . . . worried about my mom. You know?”
Rupert nodded. “I do.”
“So?” Sydney asked, wetting her lips with her tongue. “What do you think will happen? To my Mom?”
Rupert’s face tightened. “Hard to say with all the rumors flying around. The commoners thumb their noses at both king and queen by running with the story of your mother siring your brother as a bastard son. Meanwhile, many of the royals I’ve spoken with who know both king and queen believe that your father would never truly harm her, despite all he clamors to do in these trials.”
“Then why put her on trial?” Sydney asked. “Why humiliate her?”
Rupert shrugged. “If you believe the royals, they would argue even a king is still a politician,” He scoffed. “And a politician must play to his base when the people demand it. A grand lie, so to say. A show of equality for the people that no one is above the law. Truly though, I think your father means only to shame your mother into giving him any news of your brother’s whereabouts. It’s one thing to deny someone in private, but to deny a king on a royal stage in view of his subjects?” Rupert shook his head. “No . . . no, I think your mother will tell him the real truth now. Then, all of this can be done with and the rumors of her past put to rest for good and all after the people have had their show.”
Or not, Sydney thought then. Because we’ve already him the truth about Jun . . . and maybe Darius plans to use me as leverage against Mom. A shiver ran through her at the idea of the king putting her on display for Nattie and in front of all the people as he had done to her in the oubliette with only the Blackfin and his Orcs around to witness.
But then Darius would have no choice, Sydney argued with herself. If he showed everyone that I was part Nomad, then he could never take that back. He would be forced to convict Mom.
Sydney tried to banish such notions to the back of her mind by calling on the face of her brother instead. “And Jun?” she asked Rupert. “Do you know anything about him? Heard anything?”
“Nothing of note,” said Rupert. “Only that the king and the Blackfin have not rested in their search for the supposed prince.” He sighed. “Much as I am loathe to admit it, you and your Silkie guardian may have been wise indeed to have fled the castle when you did, Sydney. Your father has been manic in his efforts to secure any morsel of information on your brother ever since your escape. And the Blackfin’s reputation precedes him too, I fear. I trust it won’t be long until his seawolves find someone to give up a word of where your brother might be, either here in the Salt, or else ashore.”
“But they’ve not found him, then?” Sydney asked again, her voice breaking. “Jun is safe?”
“As best I know,” said Rupert.
Sydney breathed a momentary sigh of relief.
Then came a worser idea. All the more reason they’ve dressed me up like this. She thought, cementing the idea in her mind that the king meant to use her current safety as leverage against her mother to obtain information of Jun.
Sydney glanced down at her royal gown. A part of her wished to rip at the fabric, to claw at her hair and scrub off her makeup then, all to ruin whatever plans and role the king and the Blackfin held in store for her during the trials.
Rupert was watching her still. To judge the concern on his brow, Sydney gathered he may have even spoken to her.
“Did you say something?” she asked.
“Aye,” he said. “I asked you if any of the rumors are true?”
“What rumors?”
Rupert hesitated. “When you and your mother abandoned the shore and returned to the Salt . . . did you leave your brother behind because you knew that he was half Nomad all along?”
No. Sydney thought, cursing herself for ever having decided to leave the Indy Zoo with her friends in search of Garrett Weaver and the Selkies who had taken him. I left because I thought it was brave and the right thing to do. Her breath came rapid and quick as she looked into Rupert’s eyes and wondered what lie to give him, even as she thought of nothing but the truth. Mom only came back because she was looking for me . . . to save me.
Sydney glanced away from Rupert rather than allow him to see her fighting back more tears. Because she knew . . . She pictured her mother’s disappointment the night that Nattie Gao had found and rescued Sydney and her friends, Amelia and Owens. The same disappointment Sydney remembered hearing from her mother when they came to New Pearlaya too, and for every time thereafter when Sydney did not believe her mothers’ continued warnings about the king and his intentions. Mom came back to the Salt because she knew . . . Sydney closed her eyes, a single tear staining her cheeks. She knew what I was and what it would mean for our family if anyone else found out.
Rupert shuffled behind her. “Sydney? Are you all right?”
“Yes.” Her bottom lip quivered. “I-I don’t know whether Jun is a Merrow or part Nomad,” she said honestly. “I’ve never even swam with my brother. Mom never told him our family secret and where we come from. She never said anything to Jun about us being Merrows, or that we could shift a dolphin tail and swim beneath the waves.”
“But it was a dolphin tail she mentioned,” Rupert insisted. “Not a shark tail?”
Sydney barely heard the question. Her mind was racing with the notion that her mother might have kept still more secrets from her also. That perhaps the primary reason Nattie had never allowed Jun to swim with them at the Indy Zoo was due in part because he was half Nomad, like Sydney, and would shift a shark tail if the shifting were forced upon him.
And what if he is? Sydney shuddered. What if all the rumors are true? She turned back to Rupert then, hesitant to voice the question that had haunted her in the oubliette, yet needing an answer all the same. “What is his name?” She a
sked Rupert, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Whose name?”
“The Nomad,” she said. “The Nomad everyone says that my mother . . .” Sydney bit her tongue. “The one they claim my mom had an affair with.”
Rupert’s face darkened. “They claim he has many names, and all of them often whispered in fear. The one I hear most often is of the savages calling him No Boundaries.” He frowned. “Fitting too, I should say, if the rumors about his relationship with your mother are true. The commoners believe there is no place he cannot go. No rules or mercy to his savage madness. Aye, nowhere, or nothing beyond his reach . . . not even a queen’s heart, I’ve heard some romantics say. Most say worse.”
Sydney ignored the last comment. No Boundaries . . . She toyed with the name in her mind, not recalling whether she had heard the name before or no, wishing that she could ask Yvla or Quill for more information on her supposed father. While the thought of Yvla threatened to bring more tears to her eyes, the idea of Quill spurred on a different track. Sydney clutched at Rupert’s hands. “You said you would do anything to help me?”
“I would,” said Rupert. “If it’s within my power.”
“Could you send a message to someone?” she asked. “Or find out if they’re alive?”
“I-I suppose so,” said Rupert. “But who? I’ve searched the city for your Silkie friend, Ellie, in the hopes that she might have some knowledge of where you went. That she might lead me to you, but—”
“Not Ellie,” said Sydney quickly, not wanting to drag another friend into her mess. “His name is Quill.”
Rupert shied away. “Quill? A secret male companion of yours?”
“No,” said Sydney. “It’s not like that. He is Yvla’s brother.”
Or was. Sydney’s conscience reminded her of the last time she saw him, watching Quill fend off the Orcs as she and Yvla fled to the sewers.
Rupert shook his head. “Who is Yvla?”
“The stable-hand I escaped with before,” said Sydney. “But . . . she’s dead now. The Blackfin, he . . . he killed her in Catcher’s Corner right after his Orcs found us.”
Salt Storm: The Salted Series: Episodes #31-35 Page 16