She doesn’t turn as I step into the room, though I know she hears me. Her eyes close briefly, as though she’s irritated by the disturbance.
I feel tears prick at the sides of my eyes, but I don’t let them out. Not yet.
I try to speak, but it turns into a cough when the words stick.
She looks at me then, and those green eyes show such surprise, they confirm my suspicions that no one has ever seen her in this room aside from my father.
I try again. “What’s your name?” This time the words are clear, but they seem too loud somehow.
“Ava-lee,” she says in a voice as beautiful as the rest of her. She brings a hand up to cover her gaping mouth, then lowers it, fingers trembling. “Are you Alosa?”
This time the tears come. I can’t stop them, nor do I have a desire to do so.
She stands in one graceful movement. Before I know it, she’s holding me so tightly I can scarcely breathe. The embrace is strange, something I’ve never quite experienced before, but it is exquisite. Such a simple thing, but it says so much without saying a thing.
A thousand questions fight their way to the front of my mind, desperately trying to be first.
Whyseems the most important.
“Why are you here?” I ask when I can calm my tears.
She steps back to survey me from head to toe. “You’re beautiful. You don’t look like him at all. Blessed ocean.” Tears fall from her own eyes, and she touches them as though she doesn’t know what to make of them before focusing on me once more. “Oh, my sweet girl. At last.” She crushes me to her again, and I marvel that something so frail can be so strong.
Someone clears his throat from behind us. I panic for a moment, until I remember it’s only Riden.
“I’m going to wait back in there,” he says, giving us some privacy. I’m sure he’ll be able to hear the whole exchange, but it’s kind of him anyway.
“Who is that?” my mother asks.
“That’s Riden. He’s … a member of my crew.”
“I’m the captain of my own ship.”
She smiles, but it looks painful on her. “Of course you are. You were always meant to rule. It’s in your blood.”
A silence fills the space, and I remember then how desperate I am for answers.
“Why are you here?” I ask again.
She brushes a hand over my hair, stroking its lengths while still clutching me to her. It’s oddly soothing. “He locked me in here after you were born. It’s been over eighteen years. Eighteen years without you or the sea.”
“But why?” I pull away from her again, needing to see her face. Suddenly words tumble out of my mouth. “He told me you left me. You didn’t want me. You’re supposed to be at the Isla de Canta. You’re a mindless beast with no humanity.” I’m crying again because of what it all means. My father has been lying to me ever since I was born.
She shrinks back at my words. Her voice turns faint. “Please don’t think such things of me. I tried to escape this room many times and come to you. I swear it upon the lives of all those I’m sworn to protect.”
My heart aches and my face turns downward in shame. “I’m truly sorry for believing him. I don’t anymore.”
It is a strange thing to be so torn apart from the inside. I’m overjoyed to have found my mother, but that joy is pressed right up against the sting of my father’s betrayal.
I dare to look up again. “Why did he put you in here?”“He’s never said so, but I think he didn’t want me influencing you. A mother would split your loyalties.”
“Then why didn’t he kill you?” She looks away from me for the first time.
“You don’t want to know.”
I’m afraid I already do. “Please, tell me. I think I need to know.”
She seems to mull it over for a moment. “You’re already a grown woman.” Her face falls at missed years. “He wanted more daughters. More sirens to control and manipulate as he’s done to you. More power.”
Despicable bastard. But I put a hold on cursing his name for a moment.
“Do I have sisters?” The thought is both exciting and horrifying, now that I know what my father is truly capable of.
“No. I have been unable to give him any more children.” She looks sad at the thought, and I find that most peculiar.
Her perfect lips turn down in a look of disgust. “With him? I don’t want to be touched by him ever again. But I would have liked to have many daughters. I wanted to raise them and teach them. To see them grow. He took that from me.” She touches my shoulders gently. “But I’m pleased beyond words to see you now.”
