Breakwater

by Catherine Jones Payne

  I nodded.

  He stroked my wrist with his thumb, and a tingle shot up my spine.

  “I’ll find you at Pippa’s.” He drew me in close and ran one hand through my hair as he kissed me. A volcano erupted in my chest.

  “Come as fast as you can,” I whispered. “The Guard could arrive at any moment.”

  He released my hand, and I trembled as I turned away from him and darted down the canal toward Pippa’s house.

  Chapter Twenty

  “What the depths, Jade?” Pippa demanded, arms crossed and face unsmiling. “It wasn’t safe earlier today, and it’s certainly not any better after dark. I told you to leave.”

  “The Guard are coming to put down the protests,” I said. “Alexander is out warning the naiads he finds in the canals.”

  Her nostrils flared. “You’re sure?”

  “I don’t know details. Just overheard Mother telling Aunt Junia. It’s happening soon. Mother said that after the king was done, the naiads wouldn’t ever revolt again. I’m scared they might not only target the rioters.”

  Pippa blinked at me a few times and held her head high. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Do you think you can get out of the quarter in time, before you’re caught up in it?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I can’t leave until I know Alexander is safe.”

  “It’s happening tonight?”

  I nodded. “And sooner rather than later, I believe.”

  “So, we don’t have time to get out of the city,” she murmured. “We’ll have to stay behind locked doors and hold on to hope. That’s served us well so far, hasn’t it?”

  She chuckled. Probably to keep from sobbing.

  “I’ll be back with Miriam soon. Her door was broken yesterday by a gang of mer, shortly after William . . . ” Pippa trailed off, tracing the edge of her ethereal dress.

  “I heard,” I said.

  “Anyway, her house isn’t secure. So she should wait it out here with us. When Alexander gets back, you two should get out of the quarter.”

  “We’ll try,” I said. “You should come with us. We can all go to my mother’s house.”

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Xander knows where to find you?”

  “Yes.” I set my hand on her shoulder. “Be careful, friend.”

  She faltered a moment. “You too. If things go badly tonight, I’m sorry.”

  I chuckled. “And if things don’t go badly?”

  “Then I’ll stay angry a little longer,” she said with a wink.

  “Well, then I hope we don’t make up just yet.” I smiled.

  She squeezed my hand. “I’ll be back.”

  After she closed the door, I tried to fight my rising panic, swimming back and forth from one end of the house to the other.

  When that didn’t work, I ran my hands along the walls and sparse furnishings, trying to focus on how the different textures felt against my fingers. Maybe if I could shift my attention away from the sounds of shouting seeping through the cracks around the door, I wouldn’t worry so much.

  I don’t know how much time passed before Pippa returned—it seemed like hours, but I was too distracted to tell for certain. The key turned in the lock, and she spilled through the door with five naiads in her wake.

  I recognized Miriam among them and Juliana, the water dancer who had mesmerized me. I vaguely remembered meeting the other three on the day Pippa had shown me around the quarter.

  “The Guard are moving into place. We saw a whole battalion slinking through a canal. Is Xander not back yet?” Pippa asked when she saw my clenched hands.

  I shook my head, and my gills flared.

  She walked over and rubbed my back. “Xander is the most conscientious person I know. I’m sure he just wants to make sure that everyone knows. He’ll be back soon.”

  “But if the Guard are already here—”

  “Then there’s nothing we can do about it,” she said. “Here. You know Miriam, of course.”

  I nodded.

  “And you might recall meeting Juliana, Sara, Quentin, and Westin.”

  “Yes.” I tried to steady my voice. “It’s very nice to see you all again.”

  “If only it were under better circumstances,” said Sara. Her curly brown hair was pulled back into a bun, and her lovely, oval face looked tired.

  I glanced around the room. We all looked tired.

  I opened my mouth to reply, but pounding on the door interrupted me.

  “Pippa! Jade!” Alexander’s voice called.

  I closed my eyes in relief as Pippa rushed to let him in.

  “They’re here,” he gasped as she closed and locked the door behind him.

  My eyes flew open and stared at his anguished expression.

  “They’re sweeping through the quarter, arresting anyone they catch out in the canal. One naiad shot a harmless plume of water at them to give himself an extra moment to get away.”

  “Foolish,” I whispered, swimming toward him.

  He nodded, agony etched across his face. “They killed him with their clubs. Right there in the canal. I don’t think he was more than thirteen.”

  I reached out and took his hand. “I’m so sorry you had to see that, Alexander.”

  “Don’t be,” he muttered. “Be sorry it happened.”

  I moved backward like he’d slapped me in the face.

  “No, I’m sorry,” he said, reaching for my hand. “I didn’t mean for it to sound that way. I just . . . ”

  “You don’t have to talk about it,” I said. “We just have to get through the night. We’re stuck here. There’s no way we can get out of the quarter without getting caught up in that mess.”

  “They’re going into some of the houses, too,” he said, “belonging to naiads they believe to be troublemakers.”

  “They won’t come here,” said Pippa. “Not unless they’re loyal to Felix.”

  “Some of them might be,” I said. “Tor was popular in the Guard.”

  “Well,” she said, tightening her lips, “we’ll just have to wait and see. Let’s not use any light tonight. No need to draw attention to ourselves.”

  She covered the bioluminaries on the walls with a black curtain, and we sank to the floor in the darkness. Alexander’s strong arms wrapped around me, and I leaned into the crook of his neck.

  Screams sounded in the canal outside, and we stiffened, listening for any signs of the Guard. I squeezed Alexander’s hand and prayed for it to end, but it kept going on and on and on.

  “Do you remember your twelfth birthday?” Alexander murmured in my ear.

  “That was a happier day,” I said, the smallest smile playing at the corner of my mouth. “Mother was so angry with you when she found the puffer fish in the shell of kelp. It puffed up when she opened it and scared her to death.”

  “That was one of my more inspired moments. But that’s not what I remember most about the day.”

  “What do you remember?” I asked, running my hand along his forearm.

  “You were wearing a garland of shells in your hair, and you just looked so beautiful. And all of a sudden, I knew I was in love with my best friend.”

  Another scream sounded in the canal, this one close to the house.

  “Say something, please,” I whispered. “Anything.”

  “What do you think Marbella will be like?” he asked.

  “Better than this, I hope.”

  “It couldn’t be worse,” he said with a dark laugh.

  “Aunt Junia says there’s hate in every city. In every person, really.” Numbness crept over my entire body. “Maybe we can’t escape it no matter where we go.”

  He held me tighter. “We’ll figure it out—together.”

  None of the Guard tried to enter the house, and we held each other in silence until dawn.

  By the time sunlight began filtering into the city, silence hovered over the naiad quarter. Alexander had fallen asleep with his arms around me, and I didn’t want to distur
b him by moving.

  Everyone else had fallen into an uneasy slumber at some point during the night except for Pippa, who sat still, awake but looking at nothing in particular.

  “I guess you still get to hold that grudge against me after all,” I whispered.

  She chuckled. “I guess so.”

  “I’m not going to marry Tor. Or even pretend that’s the direction things are heading. No matter how the king tries to pressure me.”

  With a half-smile, she gestured at Alexander. “I think you’d disappoint someone if you engaged in that charade.”

  “I think I would,” I said, rubbing his arm. “After things have had a chance to settle down—in a month, maybe two—we’re going to swim off. To Marbella, I think. Or maybe one of the seven kingdoms beyond the drop-off. No one would follow us there.”

  “Maybe I’ll come with you,” she said. “I’ve heard that naiads and mer and sirens and kelpies all live alongside each other in Marbella.”

  “I don’t know if it’s true or not,” I said. “The merchants who travel back and forth don’t talk about it much, but it’d be wonderful.”

  We sat in silence for another few minutes.

  “Why didn’t the naiads go to Marbella to begin with?” I asked. “Why stop in Thessalonike if there are already naiads in Marbella?”

  She stared at her fingernails. “Marbella was farther, and the journey had already been hard. The king assured us we’d be welcome, that the city would benefit from our ability to manipulate water. By the time we realized the truth, we were already settled here in the quarter. It’s easy to move on when things are so bad that you can’t stand them anymore. It’s harder when they’re just mediocre.

  “Besides, what if Marbella isn’t actually any better? What if they started worrying about our magic and wanted to sequester us just like you did? We’re river creatures, and we float with the current, but that doesn’t mean we want to wander endlessly.”

  “No,” I said, staring at the latched window, wondering what lay beyond it. “I don’t suppose it does.”

  Alexander shifted, and I slipped out of his arms.

  “Is it alright if I open the window?” I asked Pippa.

  She nodded. “It sounds like everything’s settled down now.”

  I wriggled out of Alexander’s arms, flipped over to the window, unhooked the latch, and pulled the shutters inward. My hand flew to my mouth. A half-dozen bodies littered the canal.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “What is it?” Pippa asked.

  My voice croaked when I tried to answer.

  Alarmed, she stood up and rushed to the window. She let out a shriek, awakening the others, who crowded around us. For a long time, nobody said anything.

  The bodies were all naiads. One was a child. I clutched my stomach.

  Alexander rested his hand on my shoulder. “It’s time to go,” he finally said. “You need to get back home. Your mother must be worried.”

  “She might not even know I’m gone,” I murmured. “I lay down early pleading a headache.”

  I couldn’t think about anything except the scene in front of me. Who killed them? The Guard? The liberationists?

  My gaze lingered on the child’s body. I thought about Mother’s claim that the naiads would never revolt again.

  Was this planned?

  And then came the worst thought of all—

  Did Mother know?

  “He’s right,” Pippa said, her voice flat. “You should get out of here. You too, Xander. Stay away from the quarter for a few days. I—I can’t imagine the aftermath of this will be good. The liberationists . . . ”

  I turned toward her. “Come find me later today or tomorrow if you can. I want to know what really happened, not just whatever story the Guard feeds to the city.”

  “I’ll try. If they’re letting naiads out of the quarter.”

  “Tell them you’re picking up some mending from my house,” I said. “That should get you through. The nobles would throw fits if the naiads weren’t allowed in to conduct their errands.”

  Pippa pursed her lips. “I’ll do that. Stay safe out there, Jade.”

  Alexander floated next to me, fiddling with a string that had come loose on his wrap. His arms and face flushed red. “I can’t leave the quarter. I don’t have anywhere to go. My friends are all here, and—”

  I placed my finger over his lips. “You’ll stay with Mother and me until it’s safe to come back.”

  “She can’t—”

  “And I’m going to tell her today that we’re engaged. That is, if you’ll have me.” I gave him a sad smile.

  His face lit up, and his protests died in his throat.

  “Yes. Yes! Let’s get married.” He grabbed my hand, but his smile faded when he looked out the window at the dead naiads.

  Pippa cleared her throat. “Okay, lovebirds. Get out of the naiad quarter before the liberationists start looking for blood. This won’t be the only canal with dead bodies in it.”

  The rebuke in her statement stung more than I think she meant it to. She was right, though. It felt wrong to plan our future while overlooking the sight of a massacre.

  Would it have been any better if we’d been giddy before, in a city that didn’t care if a captain of the guard killed a servant? Perhaps it’s better to find joy in the rubble rather than celebrate in ignorance.

  We’d try again in Marbella. Perhaps we could make a new life together. And if not, it couldn’t get much worse than the volcano our lives had descended into here.

  I hoped the tides wouldn’t take that as a challenge.

  “Come again?” Mother sat at the table late that morning, her gills flaring. “You can’t get engaged, today of all days.”

  Alexander and I held hands, uncowed by her fierce expression.

  I’d slipped through my window shortly after sunrise. Alexander came to the door not long after and told Mother that he’d spent the night sheltering with Pippa and a few other naiads but leaving out my involvement.

  “I’m already engaged,” I said.

  “If the city found out—”

  “We don’t have to announce it right away.” I tried to keep my voice soft and reassuring. “We don’t even have to announce it at all. I . . . ” I trailed off.

  Aunt Junia rubbed Mother’s back. “Cleo, you need to relax for a moment. All the stress is getting to you. Would public opinion have kept you from marrying Augustus?”

  I found my voice. “Mother, you said before the trial that you’ve come to respect me. Can you respect this decision? I swear I haven’t arrived at it lightly.”

  Mother thrust her hands up. “Well, I suppose Alexander can stay the night. Pippa was right to send him here—it isn’t safe for him in the quarter.”

  There’s my opening.

  “What did happen in the naiad quarter last night?” I asked. She didn’t yet know that I’d gone there, and I hoped I could keep it that way.

  She sighed. “The Guard went in. I knew they were planning to put down the riots . . . forcefully. But I don’t think even the king himself was prepared for the result.”

  I raised my eyebrows.

  “Over a hundred dead,” she said.

  Even though I’d seen hints of the massacre that morning, her words punched me in the stomach. “H-how? So many?”

  She rubbed her temples. “I don’t know. That was never the plan. There were supposed to be mass arrests. Maybe a few beatings. Not deaths. Certainly not on that scale. The captains went so far beyond their mandate that I can’t even fathom it. Perhaps it was some twisted retribution on their part.”

  Retribution? The thought turned my gut. “What will the king do?”

  “What can he do?” She scoffed. “Reprimand them formally and appear weak? Like he couldn’t even control his own army? His pride wouldn’t allow it even if everything else were simpler.”

  “So, they’ll just get away with it,” I murmured, my heart sinking.

  “What did yo
u expect? He was willing to ask you to marry a skub.”

  Alexander shot me a questioning look. I squeezed his hand and said firmly to Mother, “Well, it was wrong of him to ask. Besides, Alexander and I are engaged now, and we will be getting married.”

  Aunt Junia smiled at me, covering her mouth with her hand.

  Mother shot her a sharp look. Then she waved her hand at Alexander and me. “We can talk about that later. Alexander, I’ll have George make up the spare room in the back for you. Jade, don’t forget that we’re expected at Lady Regina’s party tonight.”

  “I can’t go to a fancy party,” I exclaimed. “Not after hearing about what the Guard did to the naiads!”

  She tightened her lips. “Regina should have canceled it. It’s poor form to host a party on such a tragic day. But she did not cancel, and we must go.”

  “No.” I folded my arms, and revulsion welled up in my throat as I thought about the bodies I’d seen in the canal.

  “Jade,” said Aunt Junia, “it’s for the greater good.”

  I didn’t say anything.

  “I don’t think you understand the political dynamics at play,” said Mother. “For the family’s sake—for your brother’s sake as much as for your own—we have to take this step back toward normalcy. You don’t have to stay at the party long. You don’t have to enjoy yourself. But you must go and smile and start to ingratiate yourself back into the good opinion of the nobles.”

  “Alexander and I aren’t staying in Thessalonike,” I blurted out.

  Alexander grimaced.

  Probably not the best time to make that particular announcement.

  Mother shook her head. “I don’t have the energy to have this fight. Be ready for the party on time. You will visit with the most important guests for a full hour, and you will avoid any controversial . . . ” Her eyes lingered on Alexander. “. . . subjects.”

  Alexander said nothing but kept his eyes trained on my mother. “Lady Cleo, may I speak?”

  She sighed. “If you must.”

  “All of this must be as hard on you as it is on Jade. Perhaps even harder, given the great degree of responsibility you feel for advising the king appropriately. I know you take your duty seriously. And I know it isn’t easy to hear that your daughter is marrying a man whose status is so far beneath her, especially when that means she’s going to need to leave the city. But I want to do what I can to set your mind at rest. I’ve always loved your daughter.”