“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Riv said as he took in the sight of me. I was wearing riding leathers, and my tan had faded slightly from weeks in the mountain, but he definitely recognized me. “The little Varenian princess.”

“Apologize, Riv,” Talin ordered sternly.

Riv ignored him. “I’m surprised your brother didn’t marry her right away, so he could—”

One of Ceren’s guards pushed me behind him at the same moment Talin reached for his sword. I watched them for a moment, my heart pounding, before I realized this was my chance. They were all so distracted they weren’t even looking at me. I backed up a few steps until I was in the aisle I’d been in before, and then I turned and ran.

      28

   I ducked between stalls and darted around carts until I came to a small clearing, where women were selling necklaces and other decorative baubles on blankets. There were no canopies here. I looked up and smiled at the sight of a large orange and yellow bird kite swooping overhead. I shaded my eyes against the sun and tried to follow the string down, but it was too bright.

“Where is the kite stand?” I asked one of the women selling jewelry.

She held out her hand, never raising her eyes from her blanket.

“I’m sorry. I don’t have any money. I just need to know where the kite seller’s stall is.”

She flicked her eyes up to me and scanned my body. Satisfied that I had nowhere to hide a purse, she scowled and pointed across the clearing.

I rushed back into the throng of people and stalls, afraid I was moving too slow and Talin and the guards would catch me, or that I would get lost, or that I’d miss Sami. It was possible he wouldn’t even make it today, and all this had been for nothing. I twisted and turned between the rows, growing more and more convinced that I was lost, when suddenly the kite seller’s stall appeared in front of me.

The man behind the stand was stooped with age, and a few strands of silver hair poked out from beneath his flat gray cap. The stall itself was a shabby wooden thing, with smaller kites laid out on the table in front and others tied to the frame of the stand. There were no customers, and the man was watching me expectantly, perhaps hoping to make a sale to a wealthy lady. I should have asked Talin for some money before coming. The sun was high overhead, but Sami wasn’t here, and I might only have a minute until the guards came.

“Can I help you?” the old man asked, gesturing me forward.

“I’m just...looking,” I said. “You have beautiful kites.”

“Perfect for a day at the seashore,” he said, turning to look at something down the row of stalls. I followed his gaze and gasped. There, at the far end of the row, I could just make out a sliver of turquoise winking in the sunlight. The ocean.

My knees started to buckle when I felt an arm at my waist. A lump formed in my throat at the realization that Talin had caught up to me, that I hadn’t completed my mission after all. I wouldn’t be able to warn Sami, and by the time of the next market, Ceren could have many more of his breathing devices.

Worst of all, I would have to marry him, possibly this very week.

“Nor,” said a familiar voice at my side, and the lump in my throat turned to a sob.

“Sami?”

My friend pulled me into his arms and held me against him, and I let myself go. I knew I didn’t have time to waste on tears, but the relief at seeing a face almost as familiar as Zadie’s overwhelmed me. He smelled like home, like saltwater and the spices we used to cook our fish, and the flowers his mother sometimes bought at market, perfuming their house until the blossoms dried out and she could use the petals for tea.

“You made it,” I whispered against his neck.

“I would have come every month for a hundred years if that’s what it took.” He stroked my head and smiled. “But I’m not too ashamed to admit what a relief it is to see you.”

I laughed through my tears and leaned back so I could look at him. He was wearing a rough tunic and a hat similar to the one the kite seller wore. “This is your disguise?”

“It’s never failed me before. But if people see us together they might start to wonder.” He led me toward the back of the kite seller’s stall. There was a small tent behind it, and he ducked under the flap as though he’d done it many times.

“Who is he?” I asked, referring to the old man.

“He’s one of the people I trade with. Don’t worry, he’s a friend. We can trust him. Now,” he said, taking a seat on a wooden stool. “What in Thalos’s name are you wearing?”

I glanced down at my dusty riding leathers. I was so used to being stuffed into dark, restrictive clothing by now that I’d forgotten how strange I must look to him. “We came by horseback from New Castle.”

“New Castle?”

“The mountain where the castle is. It’s a long story, Sami, and we don’t have much time. How is Zadie? Are you married yet?”

The look on his face told me he’d been dreading this question.

“What happened?” I asked, a note of anger in my voice. “Please tell me you’re at least engaged.”

“I’ve barely seen Zadie since you left,” he said. His scowl was so full of resentment it reminded me of my mother. “My father has forbidden it.”

“What? Why?”

“Because after you left, Alys’s mother turned the entire village against your family. She insists that her daughter was cheated out of her place in Ilara, and she’s demanded that I marry Alys as recompense.”

“You haven’t agreed to it, have you?”

“Of course not!” he exclaimed. “But I can’t very well marry Zadie, either. It’s a mess, Nor. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s the truth.”

“At least tell me Zadie is healed.”

His face softened. “She’s doing much better. The scars aren’t as bad as we’d feared, and she’s able to walk and do some diving. But your father isn’t catching enough fish to make up for the lack of pearls. He’s been going farther out to sea, to dangerously deep water, and the traders refused to sell them drinking water last week. They’re hungry and thirsty. We all are.” He lifted his tunic, revealing the lines of his ribs.

“Thalos, Sami,” I breathed. “How did it get so bad so quickly?”

“My father has insisted that all the families bring their pearls to him. The profits are now being divided evenly among every family. He thought he was making things more equal, but the families who were working harder to bring home more pearls resent those who don’t pull their weight, and this past month they made a point of diving less. So now we all suffer. I give whatever extra I can get at the port to your family, but as I said, I’m not allowed to see Zadie. We meet in secret sometimes, though,” he added, blushing.