“I’m sorry, Mother,” I told her tearfully. “We just didn’t see it. I think it must have already been dead.”

“Did you scrape away the stingers?” Nemea asked me.

“Yes, I think so. I tried my best.”

“Good.” She opened up a small whale-bone jar full of an iridescent pink ointment and began to slather it onto Zadie’s leg. “The pearls will help heal her, but I’m afraid the wounds are too deep to ever disappear completely.”

Mother sobbed harder at Nemea’s words.

“But she’ll live?” Father asked.

“She’ll live, if we can get the fever down.” Nemea asked me to wet some cloth with fresh water for Zadie’s head and had me drip some into her bloody mouth, torn from the splinters when she’d bit down on the wood. The elder watched as I dabbed the blood away, but she didn’t ask questions. Mother held Zadie’s hands in a death grip, rocking back and forth on her knees and muttering prayers to Thalos and every other god she could name. Father paced while Nemea bound Zadie’s leg in the cloth bandages.

I could see people through our window, crowding onto our balcony. “Look, Father,” I said. Our house couldn’t support the weight of so many. He went outside and told them to go, that there’d been an accident and they would hear more in the morning.

When I heard Governor Kristos outside, telling people politely but firmly to leave, I felt a wave of relief. He came into the house with Elidi and Sami and hurried to Zadie’s side. With everyone crowded around her, Zadie was blocked from view, and Sami’s eyes fell on me first.

“Nor, what happened?” he asked, crouching down next to me.

“We were swimming. She was stung by a dead maiden’s hair. I got her home as quickly as I could.”

He pulled me into his arms, and I let myself be comforted for a moment. Sami would take care of Zadie, no matter what happened.

Mother was weeping in the corner, with Sami’s mother murmuring quiet words while Governor Kristos talked to Father. Elder Nemea had finished bandaging Zadie’s wounds and was pouring water into a pot. I watched her put a handful of herbs and several globs of the pink ointment in and stir.

I rose with Sami’s help and went to light the fire in our clay stove. “What are you doing?” I asked Nemea.

“The cream will help her injuries, but the broth will help with the fever.”

When the mixture was steaming, she asked for a bowl and ladled some of the broth into it. Father tried to prop Zadie up a bit so she could drink, but she was as limp as a sea cucumber. I thought I saw her eyelashes flutter, and she managed to swallow some of the broth, but she didn’t wake up. It was probably better if she slept—the pain had to be terrible.

Nemea called my parents over. “This girl needs rest. She can’t go to Ilara in this condition, assuming the prince will still have her at all. I will call an emergency session with the elders tomorrow and we will discuss what is to be done.”

“She’ll be fine,” Mother said, straightening her spine. “She was born to be a princess, and she will go to Ilara in two days as planned. You chose her. You can’t take that away.”

The elder’s gray eyes narrowed. “As I said, we will discuss it in the morning. For now, everyone should get some rest. When the girl regains consciousness, she will be in a great deal of pain. Continue to give her small amounts of the broth. If the pain is unbearable, she may drink some wine, but only a little.”

“She’ll be fine,” Mother said again, but Elder Nemea didn’t respond.

“Take me home,” she said to Sami, who didn’t balk at taking orders from an old woman half his size.

“I’ll be back in the morning,” he called up to me as he descended through the door. “Take care of her.”

I nodded, wrapping my arms around myself. I was still wearing only my wet nightgown, but I knew that the cold seeping into me wouldn’t go away, even after I was dry. “I will.”

* * *

We were all awake by the time the sun rose, as red and angry-looking as Zadie’s wounds. She hadn’t spoken yet—she just sobbed as Mother rocked her and brushed her hair away from her face. Her fever hadn’t broken, but the fact that she was conscious was a good sign. I was able to get her to take small sips of broth, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. Father continued to pace around the house.

“They can’t change their decision now,” he said. “Surely the king will understand a few scars on her leg.”

I bit my tongue, though the scar on my cheek tingled when he spoke. It seemed so insignificant now, compared to Zadie’s wounds. But I understood Zadie’s logic—she’d needed to do something drastic to her appearance without altering her physical capabilities. A scarred woman could still provide for her family.

“Don’t be foolish, Pax,” Mother chided. “A few scars? The girl is ruined.”

“Calliope,” Father hissed. “Enough.”

She turned away from him to me. “How could you let this happen?” she asked for the hundredth time. “Two days before she was supposed to leave? She’s spent her entire life protecting her beauty, and one stupid decision has cost us everything.”

I was too tired to hold my tongue any longer. “Not everything. I am still going to be the governor’s daughter-in-law.”

I’d expected her anger, but the slap caught me off guard.

My hand flew to my cheek. Mother had never hit us, which I always suspected had more to do with her fear of maiming us than out of love. Her eyes widened for a moment, as if she had shocked even herself, but she didn’t back down.

“This is all your doing, isn’t it?” she accused. “You’ve always been jealous of your sister. You’ve never been content to live here. You’ve always thought you were better than the rest of us, that Varenia was too small for you. But you are just one more insignificant, dull little fish floating in our waters. Do you really think they’ll choose you over Alys?”

Father came to stand over us. “I said, enough.”

I had feared some people might suspect I did this to Zadie on purpose, but my own mother? Did she really believe me capable of such a thing? “I love Zadie more than life itself,” I said, trying to mask my hurt from her and failing miserably. “I would never harm her so I could take her place! You must know that.”

She turned away from me. “I don’t know you at all.”

Father took my hand and led me out to the balcony. “Tell me the truth, Nor,” he said when he was sure the waves were loud enough to muffle his words, even for Mother’s sharp hearing. “Was it an accident, or did Zadie do this to herself so she could stay and marry Sami? I know she loves him, and I’ve seen the way he looks at her. Did she ask you to help her?”