Chapter 65

“Oh, wow,” Anton says, straightening from his place at my side to gaze out over the black lake, shimmering like a flat expanse of rippled obsidian before us. “That’s…incredible.”

And he’s right. I stare in awe at the sight before me – the lake, ringed by a wide expanse of dark pines, shining with the orange and blue and silver light of three moons hanging above it. An incredible sight – the sort of thing to which photography or paintings could never truly do justice.

“Yeah, it’s pretty,” Orion says with a proud smile, crossing his arms over his chest.

Our serene moment is interrupted by Laila’s loud and rather wild shout of joy as she claps her hands together and makes a dash for the lake.

“Whoa,” Orion says, watching her. I have to admit, my response is the same.

“She’s a seal,” Anton says with a shrug. “She likes water.”

As we watch Laila shifts the instant her foot touches the water, instantly taking her seal form and diving low beneath the surface. She disappears from sight in an instant.

“Um…” I say, looking anxiously up at Orion. “There…there’s nothing in there that can like…get her, right?”

“Probably not,” he says, looking down at me with a shrug and a frown.

“Probably!?” I gasp.

He just grins and shrugs. “We swam in there all the time as kids, Juniper. But, I mean, it’s a really deep lake,” his voice drops low and spooky, “who knows what lurketh in its depths.” Then, laughing, he turns from us and waves over his shoulder, indicating that we should follow him a few steps away to a little pavilion lit by firelight, where there’s a barbeque waiting alongside all of the hampers that Laila packed.

“Damn,” Anton says, looking longingly at the waiting meat. “I mean, I’m not ever hungry? But damn does that make me wish I could eat.”

“If only you could smell it,” I say, glancing up at him as we both start after Orion. “It’s incredible.”

“Cruel,” Anton growls, narrowing his eyes as he smiles down at me.

“Oh, you like me for my cruel wit,” I sigh, turning my face away, partially to hide my smile.

“Cruel wit, pretty face,” he murmurs. “Your list of positive attributes goes on and on, Sinclair.”

I clench my teeth against my smile, because even though I know Anton is just flattering me for fun…well. Deep down I have to admit that…I do hope he thinks I’m pretty.

The sound of breaking water draws our eyes to the Lake’s edge as Anton and I arrive under the pavilion. I laugh when I see the world’s cutest little seal, her dark eyes shining as she flops out onto the shore, waving to us with her flipper, clearly inviting us to enjoy the water with her. I laugh and shake my head at her because – honestly – with the threat of something lurking in the depths? It’s a no for me. A hard no.

Laila sighs and then shifts back into her human form, pushing her wet hair back from her face as she pouts at us and walks over to the pavilion, her clothes miraculously dry. “You are all no fun, it’s amazing in there!”

“Take Anton,” I say, waving a hand at him as Orion gets the barbeque started and I sit down at the little wicker table waiting for us, settling into my chair’s luxurious cushion. “He’s your lost Selkie prince, after all.”

“No thanks,” Anton says, settling into the chair next to me as Laila turns an excited smile his way. “Like I said, I’m a wolf, and my wolf isn’t nuts about the water.”

Laila pouts and reaches for him. “Come on, Anton! You didn’t even try! You could eat a ghost fish! It would be so delicious!”

“There are ghost fish in there?” I balk at Laila.

She turns to me and nods eagerly, her hands still extended to Anton. “They were beautiful! And real fish too. Big ones, like the size of my arm –“

A hard shudder runs through me and I vehemently shake my head. “No no,” I say, holding a hand up and beginning to sort through the hamper that Laila packed. “Leave me here with the charred meats and the divination supplies. The fish are all for you.”

“I’m on team charred meat,” Anton murmurs.

Laila mumbles something about us all being big silly cowards but sits with a sigh and conjures up a big vat of some kind of spicy fruit wine, which does a goes a long way towards improving her mood.

Honestly, the evening unfolds beautifully from there. Orion impresses me the most with how…personable he is. I catch him a few times, as he serves us the barbequed meats and attempts to join in on the banter, when he falls back on his Princely manners. But at each turn he works to check himself, to be more authentic, to not hide who he is under the veil of the person he’s been instructed to be his whole life.

And the Orion who comes forward is…lovely. He laughs easily, and responds well to Anton’s teasing, and seems genuinely curious about what Laila and I have to say. God, when he’s not trying to be the Prince of the Underworld and be all scary and serious and bachelor-y, he’s…kind of a dreamboat.

Even more of a dreamboat than he was before.

Which is…dangerous.

I check myself more than once from staring at him rather blatantly as he laughs, concentrating instead on my dinner plate. But that doesn’t sufficiently distract, because it just reminds me that he can cook too. Damn it.

“Seriously, though,” Orion says, smiling at Laila – I see her melt a bit at this – and nodding towards Anton. “You think that guy is your lost prince?”

“Yes!” she says, sitting straight and nodding eagerly, pushing away her finished plate of grilled fish and vegetables that I suspect Orion prepared specifically for her. “I mean, the legend of the Prince who can again breathe underwater has long been foretold in our culture –“

“That’s me,” Anton stage-whispers, leaning close to Orion, who smirks and nods to him.

“But!” Laila continues, putting up a finger. “We had a Prince who was born to one of my aunts go missing about twenty-three years ago.” She looks significantly at Anton here. “He was a lovely baby, apparently, and then poof! Disappeared from his cradle. The only one who didn’t panic was my aunt, who said he was taken by a woman shrouded in divine light and that she always knew he would be taken. That he was never meant for our world.”

“I mean,” I say, grimacing a little with doubt, “isn’t it more likely that the baby was just kidnapped? Or killed?”

Laila shrugs, taking up her glass of fruity wine and taking a sip. “Probably. But, I prefer to trust my aunt, and if she says a divine being came and took my cousin for a higher purpose, then I’m going to choose to believe that.”

I nod and raise my glass to her, respecting that. Laila clinks her drink against mine and we both take a sip.

“Wait, so, what’s the connection?” Orion asks, leaning forward, intrigued. “Just because there’s a missing baby around Anton’s age and Anton can breathe under water…what makes you think it’s him?”

“Oh, people just started conflating the stories,” Laila says as she leans back in her chair. “The long-awaited Prince who brings back one of our most treasured magics? And the missing Prince? I guess it was just too good of a tale to resist. But Anton’s definitely him,” she says, turning to grin at my ghost. “I just know it.”

“Well, I’m convinced,” I say, leaning back in my chair. “You’re a ghost seal. You’re going to spend the rest of your life eating ghost fish.”

“Can’t wait,” Anton says, likewise lounging back and grinning at me. “Only problem is, I’m a wolf shifter.”

“And what a pretty wolf you are, baby,” I say, giving him a little wink that makes him smile and then laugh. I laugh too, thinking that perhaps the wine is going to my head a bit.

“All right, as fun as it is to consider Anton’s mysterious origins, and how pretty he is as a wolf,” Orion says, leaning back to peer around pavilion’s roof and ascertain the location of the moons in the sky. “I think it’s time to do that divination. Moons are right, and if we wait much longer they’ll be out of sorts again.”

“Ohhh!” Laila coos, clasping her hands beneath her chin, excited. “Yes, let’s do it!”

We all work together, then – all except Anton, who just continues to lounge like he’s the spoiled Prince now. We clear the table of everything but our drinks and I toss Laila the bag of divination supplies while Orion conjures a scroll out of the air.

“We’re not supposed to make maps of the Deadlands,” he says, glaring a little at Anton and I. “So, we’re destroying this the moment after we find out where Booth –“

“Blythe,” I correct, a bit between my teeth. Anton laughs.

“Yeah, Blythe,” Orion says, giving me a wicked little smirk that suggests he did it on purpose, “is.”

“Fine, fine,” I say, nodding my agreement. “As long as we have a location then I’m good with it.”

Orion nods and begins to spread out the map on the table as Laila pours out the supplies in her hand, beginning to sort them on the table into a very special order only she understands. Orion begins to anchor the curling sides of the scroll with some of our meal supplies – his drink, a spare fork – when suddenly he does a double-take and stares out into the darkness beyond the pavilion.

“Oh, crap,” he sighs, his shoulders slumping a bit.

“What?” I ask, going rigid, peering into the darkness. Anton sits up too, alert, reaching out a protective hand that he wraps around my arm.

“Nothing,” Orion says, glancing at us and beginning to roll the scroll again. “It’s not a real problem, just a…bother.”

I shift my eyes away from him and again look into the darkness, going rigid when I suddenly see two dark figures approaching our pavilion – the shorter of the two taking long and confident strides.

“See!” A girlish voice calls out. “I told you they were real.”

“Hey, Midnight,” Orion says on a resigned sigh, propping his chin in his hand as he drops the scroll down amongst our hampers. “Who’s your friend?”

But my mouth drops open, my face going deathly pale as the figure who walks a few steps behind the girl finally steps into the light.