With Tide and Tempest Read online

  With Tide and Tempest

  Secrets of Itlantis #3

  Other books by Kate Avery Ellison

  The Curse Girl

  Once Upon a Beanstalk

  Frost (The Frost Chronicles #1)

  Thorns (The Frost Chronicles #2)

  Weavers (The Frost Chronicles #3)

  Bluewing (The Frost Chronicles #4)

  Aeralis (The Frost Chronicles #5)

  Of Sea and Stone (Secrets of Itlantis #1)

  By Sun and Saltwater (Secrets of Itlantis #2)

  For Wreck and Remnant (Secrets of Itlantis #4)

  With Tide and Tempest

  Kate Avery Ellison

  Copyright © 2014 Kate Avery Ellison

  All Rights Reserved

  Do not distribute or make copies of this book, electronically or otherwise, in part or in whole, without the written consent of the author.

  For Judy.

  With Tide and Tempest (Secrets of Itlantis #3)

  Free or not, life beneath the sea in the republic of Itlantis is less idyllic than Aemi might have imagined when she'd been just a surfacer slave. She's been accused of spying for the enemy thanks to her connections with the traitorous Nautilus family, not to mention her own tangled and mysterious family history. Her mother has arrived, and is determined to take over her life. Oh, and someone is trying to kill her. Again..

  When Aemi receives word that her best friend might still be alive in a village on the surface, she and a crew of friends set out to find him, regardless of the danger from Nautilus's men patrolling the open sea and the mysterious threats on her life.

  But the sea is not the only thing that holds secrets.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Acknowledgements

  CHAPTER ONE

  WHEN I WAS a little girl and still a thrall in the Village of the Rocks, I used to hide in the hollow place beside a ledge of stone, outside my mistress Tagatha’s window, and watch as Nealla combed Tagatha’s hair. The wind would stream through my hair, bringing with it the scent of saltwater and sunlight, and as I waited, I listened to the things rich girls talk about—jewelry and dresses, dinners with the elder families, trips to other islands. I’d shut my eyes and dream about what it would be like to eat roasted crab legs with an elder family and his handsome sons, and take a boat to the Green Isles that were half a day’s journey to the west of the Village of the Rocks. I would dream, and smile.

  When they’d gone, I would sneak inside through the window open to the sea breezes and run my fingers over her silk scarves, especially the purple ones, colored from the dye made from shellfish. The material was as soft as warm ocean waves across my skin, and once again, I would close my eyes and pretend that they were mine, that I was a mistress with servants to comb my hair and weave it with pearls, that I had scarves and dresses as soft as lagoon water to wrap my body in, that I was free and powerful and happy.

  Then someone would shout for me, and I would shove the scarves back in their place and run from the room, my bare feet slapping the stone floor. Then that night, my mother would comb my hair with her fingers, and whisper stories and secrets in my ear, and braid my hair into a four strand braid that she said she’d learned in Perilous, her home.

  Once I was caught playing with Tagatha’s things. She slapped me, and I spent the next hour crying beside the water until my best friend, Kit, found me. He drew pictures in the sand until I was laughing again, and then later that day, after the sun had begun to set, he brought me a scarf of my own that he’d gotten from the market.

  Kit always knew how to make me feel better.

  ~ ~ ~

  The air smelled like seawater and sunshine. I knew it to be a dream, but I did not want to wake up. I lay on my back, staring at clouds, feeling the warmth of the light on my skin. Wind brushed at my hair and arms, and I was happy. I wore Itlantean clothing even though I was in the Village of the Rocks, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tallyn sitting on a ledge of stone, eating a piece of fruit.

  Someone else stepped to the edge of the water and joined me on the sand. My mother. The woman I’d known as my mother. She was laughing, and her hair hung in a thick braid down her back. She looked at me with love dancing in her eyes. “I’ve missed you,” she said. “You’ve grown up.”

  “I thought you were dead,” I said, and then I was embarrassed, but she only laughed again.

  “I am dead, but I am still here.”

  We lay awhile on the sand while the sun warmed us. She played with my hair, and hummed a song under her breath.

  “Why did you take me away?” I asked.

  She didn’t answer. I turned to look at her, and she was gone. A hollow place marked where she’d sat in the sand.

  Sadness seeped into my skin and wriggled down to my bones. I called for her, but the wind snatched the words away.

  I turned and ran to the water. It was warm as it splashed around my legs, and then I clasped my hands above my head and dove into the crystal deep. The waves closed over me, and my clothing grew heavy. I kicked, swimming deeper, determined to swim back to Itlantis. I wanted to find my father and ask him why he’d been executed for treason. Why he’d been arrested. Why he’d let me be stolen away in the first place.

  The water grew colder and darker the deeper I swam, and I began to feel afraid. Something large and black rose from the depths, a creature with tentacles and a gaping maw. I thrashed, surging upward, reaching for the surface as the monster followed me.

  My head broke the water, and I saw a boat. Kit stood in the boat, a spear in his hand.

  “Quick,” I gasped, spitting water. “There’s a monster behind me!”

  Kit reached out his hand for mine, and I reached for him, but he disappeared into a puff of smoke. I choked on water as I tried to shout. Another hand seized mine and hoisted me from the waves. I collapsed at the bottom of the boat, coughing, looking up to see my rescuer.

  Nol.

  I smiled at him, and he looked past me, speaking to someone else. “I’ve got her,” he said, and then I realized we were surrounded by the Dron, all carrying weapons. As they stepped forward to bind my hands, I turned my gaze back to Nol with furious words burning on my lips. I was unable to speak them. I could only stare at him, aching to know why he had betrayed me.

  I woke abruptly to the sound of knocking. The dream clung to me, a web of dark feelings that made me feel like I was strangling. I sat up as my servant, Lua, slipped inside the room.

  “Tallyn is asking for you,” she said as she pulled open the curtains of the windows that looked out into the undulating blue of the sea. “He says you have a visit to make.”

  I fell back against the pillows and scrubbed my hands over my face. The horror of the dream lingered, and then I remembered why I felt as if something black and terrifying was following me.

  I climbed out of bed and dressed grimly.

 
Today, I would be visiting my former betrothed.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Remember,” Tallyn whispered in my ear as we approached the gates to the prison. “Chin up. Look directly into their eyes and speak clearly and firmly. They won’t question what you’re doing if you don’t give them space to. They’ll look at your clothing and your badge. They won’t recognize your voice.”

  Nervousness rioted in my stomach despite his reassuring words, but I embraced the fear instead of running from it, as I was learning to do under Tallyn’s tutelage. I straightened my spine and lifted my chin as he’d instructed. I adjusted the gauzy veil that wrapped around the lower half of my face and shrouded me from recognition. I straightened my cloak—a purely fashionable item, since the interior of the capital city of Primus was warm and temperate—and approached the gate.

  Gold filigree climbed up the doors of blue. Statues of scowling guards stood over the live ones, who looked more sleepy than imposing. The weapons in their hands, however, made my stomach clench.

  “I am here to see a prisoner,” I said to the guard, and showed him my medallion. “On behalf of Senator Annah.”

  It had been her idea to use her medallion and name at the gate. I, Aemiana Graywater, survivor of Celestrus, former surface dweller, former betrothed of Valus, and favored demigoddess of the New Dawner cult, had developed too much notoriety to make this visit under my own authority. I had become a scrutinized and whispered-about figure in Primus, and my reputation wavered on a knife’s edge. But more than that—my life was in danger. And the prisoner we were about to visit might have information I needed regarding who might want me dead.

  Traveling incognito was a necessity.

  The guard scanned the medallion and stepped aside. The gates slid open with a whisper of air and a clank of metal, and Tallyn and I stepped inside.

  No glass windows looked out upon the sea in this place. No skylights let in light and shadows of fish. The walls and ceiling pressed close, heavy with shadows as if they had absorbed the darkness into their pores. Every surface seemed to be made of metal or black stone. Rusted pipes crawled up the walls and hissed steam. Doors lined a long hallway to my left, with slits in the bottom. Dread seeped into my stomach as I took a few steps inside.

  A shrill alarm sounded in the distance, followed by the clanging and rattling of metal doors being shut, and the bark of guards echoed through the halls. A flashback rushed through my mind—my hands bound, a weapon shoved into my back, Itlantean soldiers shouting orders as they herded their prisoners into a tiny room, our prison cell on the ship as we were taken captive below the sea.

  I blinked and it was gone, but the sick feeling the vision had brought remained. Any minute, I half-expected a guard to seize my arm and drag me to a cell.

  I took a deep breath and let it out, focusing on the way it left my lips as a calming measure.

  “You’re doing well,” Tallyn said quietly, speaking for my ears alone. “Now, look imposing. The warden is approaching.”

  I straightened and thought of Cress, and my eyes narrowed to a squint. I looked at the warden the way I’d seen Tagatha look at anyone she thought was beneath her.

  The warden was a slender, pale man, with eyes of shocking blue and long fingers that twitched like spiders, fidgeting against the ends of his uniform sleeves. He slid his gaze over me and fixed on Tallyn.

  “We need to see a prisoner,” Tallyn said. “Number 786.”

  “Number 786?” The warden’s eyebrows lifted. “Access is restricted unless—”

  “We have the proper clearance.” I said sharply, as if annoyed at how he had ignored me. I extended the medallion that marked us as working on a senator’s behalf, and he glanced at it and straightened almost imperceptibly.

  “Ah,” he said. “Why didn’t you say so?”

  We took a lift down, and with every shudder and bump, I thought of the layers and layers of cells around us. The light illuminating the lift flickered with every lurch. The warden said nothing, but he smiled with his mouth in a way that made me think of a predator. His teeth gleamed. Tallyn said nothing either.

  When the doors opened, we exited the lift into a narrow hall with only two doors at the end of it.

  “The lowest level,” the warden informed us. “For the most important prisoners.”

  The cells were labeled 786 and 787. The warden produced a key and inserted it into the lock of 786. The key scraped and clanged, announcing our presence.

  Something groaned behind the door of 787, a rasping, eerie sound that made my hair prickle. I shifted and stood closer to Tallyn.

  The sound came again, softer now.

  “Who’s in that cell?” I asked, pointing to it.

  The warden shook his head. “None of your concern,” he said, and yanked open the door to cell 786.

  “Look alive,” he said into the gloom inside. “You have visitors, traitor.” To us, he said, “You have a quarter of an hour only.”

  A figure stirred in the corner of the cell. I caught a glimpse of dark eyes and matted hair.

  My former betrothed, and the most infamous person in Primus.

  Valus.

  CHAPTER TWO

  THE WARDEN SHUT the door behind us, and I waited until his footsteps had faded before I opened my mouth to speak.

  Valus beat me to it.

  “I’ve said it a thousand times,” he said, “but you seem to want to hear it again. I had no knowledge of my father’s plans to attack Celestrus, and I have no knowledge of his plans now. He’s left me here to rot, and the same to him, I say. Would you like me to be more colorful in my denouncements? Would that please you? Because I have nothing else to say.”

  He sounded proud, but wounded, a rich boy brought low by justice. I was not sorry for him.

  “We aren’t here about that,” I said.

  Valus turned, and I recoiled. His face was covered in bruises, and his lip had a bloody seam where it had been split and then mended. His chin was scabbed as if he’d been dragged across jagged stones.

  Maybe I was a little sorry for him.

  “Ah, a girl,” he said. “That’s new. So far it’s only been masked men with raspy voices and big fists.”

  “I’m not here to interrogate you,” I said. “Just to ask some questions.”

  He leaned back against the wall as a chuckle crawled from his throat. His teeth flashed in the imitation of a smile. “So you’re going to be creative with your questioning, eh? You must be new interrogators. The others have gotten tired of words. They just beat me now, especially whenever my father does something particularly bad and word reaches the city. But I’ll let you have your try, because you sound like you’re pretty.”

  Tallyn made a sound that promised punishment. I laid a hand on his arm and addressed Valus.

  “I’m not here to beat you.”

  He crossed his arms and nodded at Tallyn. “What about him? I suppose you’ll do the talking, and he’ll do the beating?”

  “He’s here with me. He isn’t going to touch you.” I directed the last bit to my etiquette teacher/bodyguard, who cracked his knuckles in response. “I’m the one who wanted to talk to you,” I continued. “So I’m in charge of this meeting.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “No names.” So far, it appeared that he didn’t recognized me by my voice or eyes. I wanted to be sure it remained that way.

  “Something about you is familiar,” he said, his eyebrows drawing together. “But I can’t quite—”

  “No names,” I repeated. The warden would be returning before long, so we didn’t have much time. “But if you answer my questions, I’ll have a doctor look at those cuts.”

  Valus smirked, and the act of smirking seemed to pull his lip in a painful way, for then he winced. “Well, then. Ask away, Angelfish.”

  I ignored the nickname. “I’m here to ask you what you know about the Azure Institute.” The Graywater butler, Cress, had tried to kill me. He hadn’t admitted who’d hired him, but he
had a tattoo on his arm that matched the symbol for Azure. I was sure it meant something.

  Valus laughed. He sounded genuinely startled. “I honestly can’t see what this has to do with my father.”

  “Focus, traitor,” Tallyn said. “Answer the question.”

  Valus exhaled loudly and rubbed his face with a dirty hand. “The Azure Institute. They’re...uh...the fellows from Arctus? I was always bad at my history studies, but I believe they are scientists.” He paused and gave me a sly smile. “There. Do I get a prize for playing along with your game?”

  “Why would they want someone dead?”

  “Probably to dissect the body? I heard once they collected whale carcasses—”

  “No,” I said. “A person. Why would they want a person dead?”

  “I haven’t the faintest idea. Do you want to ask me why the Primusean governor likes sleeping in the nude? I’m sure I could come up with a more interesting answer.” He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “I know a lot of delicious secrets about the Itlantean elite, Mermaid Mouth.”

  One more nickname and I was going to strike him.

  I took a deep breath and let it hiss out between my teeth. “I’m not doing this because I find it amusing. I was told to ask you why the Azure Institute wants me dead,” I said.

  “So I’m the city scapegoat now, is that it?” His eyes narrowed, and he paused and took a closer look at me. “Who are you anyway? Somebody important, I’ll wager.”