Chapter 3

Cassian's claws pressed against my pulse, and his eyes were colder than the deep trench.

“Don’t push your luck, Nerissa.”

I forced the words out through his grip.

"That stone is his voice. Take it, and you might as well cut out his tongue."

The pressure on my throat eased a fraction.

"Give me one month," I said. "I will teach him to speak."

Cassian studied me, his hand dropped away from my throat.

“Fine, one month. If you make him worse, I end this.”

I lowered myself until my eyes were level with Cael’s.

He was still sniffling, both arms wrapped tight around his stone.

"I know you can talk," I told him softly. "And you can wait until you want to. No one here will force you."

He stared at me through wet lashes, and slowly his breathing evened out.

Later that day, I took Cael to the coral garden, but two armed guards followed us.

Cael kept glancing back at them.

“They’re making him nervous,” I told Cassian. “You’ve seen me help him sleep and eat. If you want me to teach him, give me some space.”

Cassian reluctantly waved the guards away.

"Stay within sight of the east tower."

In the garden, I pointed out seahorses, starfish, and tiny crabs while Cael wrote every name without making a sound.

And I did not rush him once.

His tail had started to sway, which I knew meant he was happy.

Then the horn came.

It rolled through the water from the palace walls, deep and huge.

I looked up toward the sound for one second.

When I looked back down, Cael was gone.

My heart slammed so hard I could feel it in my throat.

"Cael?"

I searched the nearest groves and called his name louder than I should have, but he had vanished into the open water.

Cassian came the moment he received the news.

"You lost him."

The words were quiet, and that made them worse. His black claws sliding from his fingertips.

“Seal the palace. No one enters or leaves until my son is found.”

Then he turned to me, and there was nothing in his eyes but murder.

"If anything happens to him, you will not outlive him."

Everyone in the palace joined the search for Cael.

Every minute he stayed missing was a minute he spent terrified and alone, and it was my fault.

I made myself breathe and think like a therapist instead of a dead woman.

After being overwhelmed by noise, a child like Cael might instinctively seek somewhere quiet, enclosed, and away from people.

“Stop looking in the open,” I said. “He may be hiding anywhere the noise and people can’t reach him.”

We searched deeper into the coral garden, where dense coral blocked the palace from view.

Near the far end, I caught a glimpse of a silver tail inside a narrow coral cave.

“Don’t shout for him,” I warned the guards.

I moved closer and softened my voice.

"Cael, it is safe now. The horn is gone."

A small figure was curled up inside the cave, trembling.

"Take your time. Come out whenever you are ready."

After a moment, Cael slowly edged out of the cave.

I gently pulled him into my arms and stroked his hair.

“It’s okay. It’s over.”

Over his shoulder, I saw Cassian watching us, his expression unreadable.

He checked Cael for injuries and gave me only one sentence.

“There will not be a next time.”

Once Cael recovered from the scare, I resumed our lessons and kept working with him over the next month.

Every day he came a little faster, and every day he stayed a little longer.

That was when I started lying to him on purpose.

"Look," I said, pointing at an octopus. "A whale."

He grabbed his stone.

THAT IS AN OCTOPUS.

Then I pointed at a branch of coral.

“Barnacles.”

NO IT IS NOT. ARE YOU BLIND?

I pretended not to see a single word and called the next fish a jellyfish.

He wrote faster and faster, and his corrections grew larger and angrier every day.

Then I pointed at a sea turtle and called it a crab.

“No!”

The word hung in the water between us, small and clear and real.

We both froze.

Cael’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Then I broke into a smile and clapped.

“You made it!”

The next second, I looked up and saw Cassian standing beyond the coral arch, staring at Cael with his lips parted and his eyes slightly red.