Salt Storm: The Salted Series: Episodes #31-35 Galvin, Aaron (classic fiction txt) 📖

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 asked 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.”

Rupert nodded. “And this brother of hers . . . Quill? Where might I find him?”

“I don’t know,” said Sydney. “We were hiding in Catcher’s Corner for the longest time, but—”

“Catcher’s Corner is no more,” said Rupert. “It was burned down by the Blackfin and—”

The great doors behind them swung open suddenly, and the soldiers crossing the threshold did not bear the same shimmering armor as Rupert did. Those who joined them now came armored in plate black, save for their leader who bore a swirl of white to cut through the darkness of his armor.

Malik Blackfin smiled easily at finding Rupert and Sydney together. “Speak of the devil . . . and he shall appear.”

Sydney shuddered at the sight of him, Solomon, and a host of other seawolves as grim in face and demeanor as their two leaders.

Rupert moved in front of her. “What are you doing here, Blackfin?”

“I might ask the same of you, my young lordling,” Malik replied. “The crowd anxiously awaits the arrival of royalty. The king too longs impatiently to have the princess at his side. Call her pretty face a comforting presence for the awful times that lie ahead.”

No. Sydney thought. He wants to see me suffer too. To see it up close.

The Blackfin continued. “And that is to say nothing of the king’s ongoing concern for his daughter’s safety after her recent disappearance.” He cocked his head to the side, studying Rupert. “If memory serves, I heard a certain horse-lord was with the princess before she was taken, no? Aye . . . all before he was