House of Salt and Sorrows

by Erin A. Craig

“They were on the first floor with Lenore.” I prayed they’d not ventured upstairs.

  The fire traveled fast as we fled down the stairs, a monstrous orange fist trying to smash us. Bursting out into the garden, we choked back smoke. The storm raged across Salten, whipping sharp flakes into our eyes. It should have been cold, but the blaze threw off so much heat, we were in no danger of frostbite.

  People gathered around the fountain, huddling together for warmth and comfort. I sobbed in relief as I spotted Lenore, Honor, and Mercy pressed together under a blanket.

  “Camille? Annaleigh!” Hanna cried, seeing us. “Thank Pontus! The main staircase was already in flames when we tried to go up for you. I was so scared we’d lost you both.” She pulled us into a painfully tight embrace. “Have you seen Fisher?”

  I stared at her dumbly.

  “Fisher!” she screamed again, as if I’d simply misheard her. “I couldn’t find him when the fire broke out. Did he go with Roland and the others to the shipwreck? Did you see him then? I don’t know where he is!” Hot tears ran down her face.

  I ran my fingers over my own cheeks, smearing soot and pushing aside the last of Kosamaras’s beguiling.

  It had been a lie, earlier in the Blue Room, one of Kosamaras’s tricks. There’d been no accident. No funeral. I was the only one who knew Fisher was already dead. Had died before ever arriving for the triplets’ ball.

  Lenore left the fountain, joining us. Her eyes were bright with tears, and the flames reflected across them, reminding me of Viscardi’s burning irises. “Where’s Papa? Why isn’t he with you?”

  Hanna let out another wail. “He helped the little ones out, then ran back in, saying he was going after Lady Thaumas. You were up with her…” She trailed off, taking in our silence. “Didn’t you see him?”

  I locked eyes with Camille. She shook her head, silent tears welling up.

  “We didn’t see him. Not since he took the baby…not since he went downstairs.”

  “We must go after him.” Hanna let go of us, looking for other servants to rally. As I squinted through the snow, I could see there weren’t many to call upon. Roland and many of the footmen were missing. Regnard and Sterland too.

  I grabbed her sleeve. “The back stairs were already engulfed as we came down. He wasn’t there.”

  As if confirming my words, there was a great rumbling crash from deep within Highmoor, a section of flooring giving way under the weight of charred wood and flames. Honor and Mercy let out shrieks, and Hanna started crying again.

  I wrapped my arms around Camille, bracing myself against her sobs. No one ever needed to know what had actually taken place tonight. We held on to each other with a fierce protectiveness and watched Highmoor burn.

  As the late afternoon wore into twilight, more servants escaped from the house, piling out the back doors and making their way to the garden. Camille joined the girls at the fountain, snuggling against them, comforting their tears. She beckoned me to come too, but I couldn’t sit still. Wandering through the groups of people, I tallied how many had made it out, who was still missing.

  Every male servant was gone. The Rusalka had truly run aground, and they’d all gone after it. Seeing Sterland and Roland in the Blue Room had just been another beguiling.

  As the flames made their way down the wing, windows shattered in the heat, raining shards of glass like wicked snowflakes. Something inside exploded—stores of wine or kerosene oil, no doubt—and a ball of fire burst free. It flew down the steps, throwing itself into a snowbank.

  It wasn’t part of the explosion—it was a person!

  Horrified, I raced over and threw handfuls of snow to stifle the flames.

  With trembling fingers, I turned the body over and saw not one but two people.

  Verity gazed up at me, flushed and smeared with soot but looking relatively unscathed.

  “Annaleigh!” She hurtled into my arms, tears streaming down her blackened cheeks. “Annaleigh, you’re alive!” She turned back to the other figure, lying motionless in the snow. “Is Cassius okay?”

  I looked over at the pile of burnt clothing, trying to see the form beneath. “What did you say?”

  “Is he okay?” She pulled away a piece of fabric, revealing his face.

  My heart stopped. It was Cassius. He was real. Verity saw him, and I could feel his body beneath my fingertips. Kosamaras had beguiled us into forgetting him. “Cassius?”

  Verity pawed at his legs, seeking a reaction. “It was so awful, Annaleigh. I woke up this morning and no one could see me or hear me. It was like I didn’t exist. I followed Mercy and Honor everywhere today, but they didn’t know I was there. I fell asleep in the Blue Room when the storm came. When I woke up, there were flames everywhere. But then Cassius came, and he could see me! He pulled me out of the fire. He saved me!”

  I leaned over the blackened body. “Cassius?” I gently shook him, rousing him back to consciousness.

  His eyes flashed open but couldn’t focus. They were bloodshot from the heavy smoke. Had the fire blinded him?

  “You see me?”

  I pressed a kiss to his blistered palm. “I do, I do.”

  He coughed. “I wrote you that message in the dust…. I didn’t want you to think you were alone…. Is she all right? Is Verity okay?” His voice cracked, his throat raw from breathing in the noxious fumes.

  “She’s safe. She’s right here.”

  Verity ran her little hand over his ruined face, and he smiled. “You saved my life, Cassius.”

  His eyes closed for a moment. “Good. That’s good.” He fumbled for my hand, the flesh of his fingers bubbling with charred blisters. “It wasn’t Sterland, was it?”

  I shook my head. “Don’t worry about that. You need to save your strength. The bargain was broken. Everyone is going to be safe. That’s all that matters.”

  He tried to smile, though it clearly cost him. “Not everyone.”

  Tears streamed down my face, landing on his. “Don’t you dare give up! You’re out of the house, and the storm will end soon. We’ll send for your mother! There’s the wall of wishes at her abbey…. Everything will be all right.”

  He raised his hand, stopping me. “Will you take me out farther into the garden? Please? Out from under the branches? I want to see the stars.”

  Verity and I looked up into the storm. There was no way Cassius would be seeing any stars tonight.

  “It’s storming, my love. Stay here and rest.”

  For a moment, his eyes lit up and he looked like the Cassius I knew and loved. “Did you say love?”

  I pressed the softest kiss I could to his cheek. “Of course I did.”

  “Then take me out from under the trees, Annaleigh.”

  With Verity’s assistance, I picked him up as gently as possible and helped him walk farther from the house, out from under the oaks’ obscuring branches.

  A great cough racked his chest as we lowered him to the ground. Blood flecked across his lips, and I wanted to howl. This wasn’t how things were supposed to play out. Eulalie’s novels always had the villains defeated and the lovers safe and sound, ready to start their lives together.

  “Cassius, isn’t there a way to stop this? To summon your mother and—”

  He clasped my hand, his head moving with a nearly imperceptible shake. “Oh, my darling Annaleigh, remember when you let the turtles go? Some things can’t be kept.” He cupped my cheek, and my tears trickled down his fingers. “Be brave. Be strong. You’ll always have my whole heart.”

  He coughed again, his hand falling slack into the snow.

  “No!” I screamed, and Verity sobbed, wrapping her arms around my neck. I rocked back and forth, holding her as tightly as I dared. The smoke on her clothes and hair singed my nostrils, grounding me into this horrible, awful moment. I wanted to punch the ground, kick a
nd stomp and rip my shattered, useless heart from my chest.

  He couldn’t be gone.

  I waited, praying to hear the wicked cackle of Kosamaras’s laugh, but this wasn’t part of her tricks. The beguiling was over, and Cassius was dead.

  The snow swirled as the night wore on into morning, piling up on us, on Cassius, until he was tucked under a blanket of white. Hearing our cries, my sisters gathered around us, huddling together, warm and safe, the last of the Thaumases.

  As the storm cleared and the sun rose over the smoking facade of Highmoor, Camille stood, inspecting her ruined estate. She held her body stiff and erect, trying to be strong, but her shoulders shook.

  I pushed myself to my feet, knowing she needed comfort, someone to hold her hand and meet this challenge with her. But I needed to see Cassius one last time. I wanted to say goodbye while he was still just mine. Not a half god. Not Versia’s son. Just mine.

  But when I looked back, the body wasn’t there.

  I pushed through the snow, brushing handfuls away, rooting through it, but he was gone, vanished as if he’d never existed.

  But he had. Verity had seen him. She was pressed against me, alive and well, because of him.

  I looked up into the sky. Had Versia somehow spirited him away, back to her moonstone palace? Back to the Sanctum? I wanted to race to the Grotto’s door and travel to the House of Seven Moons, demanding answers, but stopped short. There was no door. There never had been. I had no way to reach her and would never know.

  A great piece of the East Wing’s wall toppled over, sending tremors through the garden and gasps through the crowd.

  “What do we do now?” Lenore asked. “Where will we go?”

  Camille’s eyes, pink and watery, flickered over the crumbling edifice. “We’re not going anywhere. We’re the People of the Salt. We’re tied to this land, to these seas. Fire cannot force us to retreat.” She turned, her eyes looking over all of us, the final six Thaumas sisters. “We rebuild.”

  “Hold on tight, don’t let them go just yet!”

  “But I have my wish already! I don’t want to forget it!” Verity exclaimed, jumping impatiently from foot to foot.

  “Me too!” Honor held on to the edge of her paper lantern with just her fingertips, dangerously close to releasing it.

  “You have to wait for mine to be lit, and Annaleigh’s,” Mercy snapped. “You just want your wish to get there first!”

  A summer breeze danced around us, light with the scent of seaweed and salt, and for a moment, Mercy’s wick wouldn’t catch. It sputtered out once, twice. When it finally lit, the paper lantern filled with warm air, and I handed it off to her. I hurried to light mine before the Graces’ patience wore out.

  “All right, do we all have our wishes?” My sisters nodded eagerly, their eyes reflecting the happy glow of the flames. “Then, on the count of three, we’ll release them. One…two…”

  “Three!” we cried together, and let go.

  The little white lanterns slowly rose into the sky, twirling and twining around each other, caught in a dazzling ballet. They floated higher and higher to join with the stars.

  Was Versia looking down on us right now, on this beautiful and clear summer solstice? From our perch on Old Maude, the sky seemed dizzyingly infinite, a sparkling forever. The stars twinkled with an extra amount of radiance, as if they too knew it.

  A lump grew in my throat as I thought of my wish. I wanted Cassius here beside me on this exquisite perfection of a summer evening. Nights like this were meant to be shared, remembered, and talked about for years to come. Skies like this were made to be kissed under.

  “What did you wish for?” Honor asked.

  Verity shook her head. “You can’t tell or it won’t come true!”

  Honor sighed and turned her face back up to the sky. “How long do you think it takes for the wishes to come back?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s part of the fun, isn’t it? Every time you see a shooting star, you can be happy because someone’s wish is being returned to them.”

  We watched until the lanterns could no longer be distinguished from the stars.

  “I hope my wish comes true first,” Honor said, rather uncharitably.

  Mercy’s mouth dropped. “No, mine!”

  “Bedtime,” I announced before a squabble could break out.

  With minimal grumbling, the Graces headed back into the gallery, still sharp with the scent of fresh paint, and down the lighthouse’s inner spiral staircase. We marched back home, to our little cottage on the cliff, and they readied for bed. After a story and a kiss on their foreheads, each fell asleep with childlike swiftness, leaving me to my work as Keeper of the Light.

  After that horrible night at Highmoor—as threads of Kosamaras’s false memories came back to my sisters—it became clear Old Maude would need a new Keeper, and quickly. Camille, as Duchess of Salann, gave me her blessing immediately, sending the Graces with me. With all the construction going on at Highmoor, they’d been hopelessly underfoot, and I think she was glad to have them out of her hair as she settled into her new position.

  Now that the weather was warm again, Lenore visited often, bringing Hanna and baskets of treats from home. Each time she came, her eyes looked a little less haunted, a little more present. During her last stay, she’d mentioned she was thinking of leaving Highmoor once the renovation was complete. She wanted to stay and help Camille but felt trapped under the weight of memories. She didn’t know where she wanted to go but was excited to discover more of Arcannia.

  I understood how she felt. I’d always love my childhood home, but I was glad to be free of it. Though the work on Hesperus was often hard, I felt flush with purpose and woke each day with a happy heart. I often imagined Cassius working alongside me, hauling oil for the flame, tracking ships and the tides. His absence lingered, filling me with an ache deeper than anything I’d ever known. I knew I’d spend the rest of my life pining for him.

  As I made my way back to Old Maude, a friendly breeze played with my braid, inviting me to go off course. It was too pretty a night to go back inside just yet. On our afternoon walk, we’d spotted several sea turtle nests on the beach, great mounds nearly as wide as Verity was tall. The sand on top of them shifted as we watched. The hatchlings would soon be ready to go out to sea.

  Wandering down to the black sands, I kicked off my shoes. The warm waves washed over my bare feet, tugging at the thin linen of my dress, pulling me out to deeper water. Cicadas hummed in the trees farther inland, competing with the soft lapping of water against the shore. I closed my eyes and drank in the wonder of this night. The ocean’s brine filled my nose, my lungs, my whole being, and I breathed it all in, completely at peace.

  A disturbance in the water broke me from my reverie, and I opened my eyes in time to see a shooting star streak across the dark sky. I smiled as it raced toward the horizon. Some lucky person was about to have their wish returned to them. Hearing another splash, I turned, hoping to see a little army of hatchlings making their way down the beach and into the waves.

  I froze, spotting a tall figure standing ankle-deep in the water, silver starlight caught in his wayward curls.

  Cassius.

  Every fiber of my being longed for it to truly be him, not a fantasy haunting my eyes as he did my heart. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be.

  But he looked so very real.

  A seagull cried out overhead, and for one intoxicating moment, the stars seemed to glow brighter, dazzling the sky with an unnatural luster. A small sliver of hope sparked inside me, burning brightly. Had Versia received my wish? Was that shooting star for me?

  “Cassius?” I dared to whisper, half certain this was a dream.

  Don’t wake up….

  When he moved, wading into deeper water, my breath caught in the hollow of my throat. He wasn
’t going to reach me. He’d open his mouth, but I’d never hear his words. I would wake up in the watch room of Old Maude, all alone, all over again. My heart panged in anticipation of the painful disappointment to come.

  Don’t wake up….

  With a smile that began deep in his sparkling eyes, Cassius pulled me into a close embrace. I ran my hands over his arms in wonder. They were impossibly covered in smooth skin, without a trace of burns.

  It was a dream. It had to be.

  Then he ran his thumb across my cheek. His eyes were bright with a heated joy, and his lips parted, about to speak.

  Don’t wake up!

  When I didn’t, I reached up, my fingertips tracing the back of his neck, feeling his curls against them. Cassius released a murmur of pleasure before sweeping me into a kiss. His mouth was soft against mine before his arms tightened around me, pulling me into a more intimate kiss, a sweeter ache.

  “You still taste like the Salt,” he whispered.

  “Is this actually happening?” I breathed. “Are you really here?”

  Cassius nodded. “I’m really here.”

  “For how long?”

  His grin deepened. “For as long as you’ll have me.”

  My fingers trembled as I cupped his face, looking up to meet his eyes. I wanted to memorize everything about this miracle in front of me. “Truly?” He nodded. “How?”

  “Of all the wishes tonight, yours was almost the loudest, nearly the most hopeful.” He smiled. “The second easiest to grant.”

  A chorus of splashes sounded from the shoreline. We turned and saw a dozen small sea turtles paddling into the sea, swimming out into open water. One brushed my leg, giving my ankle a friendly tap with his flippers before heading off into the blue unknown.

  “Almost?” I asked, looking up at the night sky. Starlight rained down around us, and I couldn’t imagine a more achingly perfect moment than the one I was in now, nestled between the stars and the salt with the man I loved, who was equal parts both.

  “There was only one louder,” he murmured before his lips descended once more. “Mine.”