Chapter 22

Morning found me waking slowly from a deep, soft bed into a cheerful room decorated with a green bedspread and yellow curtains. It took a minute to remember where I was, and why.

I sat up and felt the leviathan slide over my skin. He’d slept on my collarbone. Would I ever grow accustomed to this?

A small mirror hung over the washbasin. I was horrified to see how dirty and disheveled I looked. But a dress lay draped over the chair for me to borrow, and my stockings had been washed and left for me. The basin was full of warm water, and a mound of soap and a cloth had been silently provided as well. Countless blessings upon Mrs. Rumsen, Aidan’s master’s wife, who had taken me in, fed me, and led me straight to her daughter’s bed.

I came downstairs to find them all at the breakfast table—bald Mr. Rumsen, plump and cheerful Mrs. Rumsen, their daughter Dolores, Aidan, and a skinny apprentice of thirteen. I felt shy as they greeted me. Dolores Rumsen was a pretty girl, with bright red hair, charming freckles, and striking green eyes. Her mother, I could tell, had looked very much like her in her day. Dolores might be a year older than me. She sat by Aidan and sliced him a piece of bread.

“Good morning, Miss Pomeroy!” Mrs. Rumsen rose to greet me, which made the curls poking out from under her cap bob. “Our Aidan here’s been telling us more about your misfortunes along the way. What a frightful journey you’ve had, my dear!”

I took the chair she offered me and sat down. Our Aidan. Aidan practically belonged to them now, after six years’ apprenticeship. Once he looked like that pimply apprentice.

“Say good morning to Miss Pomeroy, Henry.” Mrs. Rumsen prodded the young apprentice, who obliged with an unintelligible sound. He was too busy stuffing what looked like half a dozen eggs into his mouth to bother with visitors.

The homey smell of hot eggs and toasted bread overcame any awkwardness I felt about accepting help from strangers. We’d made it to Chalcedon, to friendly, smiling faces. The king would assist me, and I’d be tucked away in a cozy cubicle at the medical college by tonight.

“As I was saying, Moreau,” Mr. Rumsen said, waving his toast at Aidan, “you’re ready to go it on your own now. I’ve been thinking it over, and I don’t see any point in you staying here.”

The Rumsen women made little peeps of displeasure, but said nothing. I watched Aidan to see his reaction, but whatever he felt, he mastered it well.

“Your work’s excellent,” Rumsen went on. “But we don’t need two masters here. I don’t aim to retire anytime soon. You’d best find a post and make your fortune.” He swallowed a drink of coffee. “Time you did, if you plan to set up housekeeping of your own.”

Here his gaze moved to his daughter, and hers to me. I looked away. Not to be ignored, she passed me the platter of eggs. “Aidan tells me you and he are neighbors back home?” I couldn’t miss the thousand meanings tucked into her inflection on “Aidan tells me.” Tells me all his secrets, tells me anything I ask him, tells me my bright red curls are the prettiest in all Chalcedon. Oh, stop, Evie, stop!

“Yes,” I said, spooning myself some eggs. “We’ve known each other forever.”

Food? said a little voice inside my head. Strange fish?

“Not now!” I whispered into my hand, resolving to save my leviathan some scraps when I cleared away my plate.

“Well, we think our Aidan is as fine a young man as they make nowadays,” Mrs. Rumsen said, patting her husband’s huge hand. “Don’t we, Everard?”

Mr. Rumsen gave a grunt as he chewed his bacon.

“Nowadays,” I repeated, unwilling to concede this point entirely. Undoubtedly there had been better young men, once upon a time.

This left an awkward silence. Dolores was the first to fill it.

“Such a commotion since you’ve been away!” she said brightly. “You probably haven’t heard, Miss Pomeroy. It’s just been announced, two days since, that King Leopold is getting married, and soon. To Princess Annalise of Merlia. They say she’s desperately beautiful.”

“They’re strange folk, those Merlians,” Mrs. Rumsen said, cutting her ham with deep disapproval. “But I suppose it doesn’t matter if you’re strange, if you’re beautiful.”

Food, Mistress. Food.

I stroked my collarbone as though I had a slow itch and thought of King Leopold and his sparkling teeth. Married? It should come as no surprise. Too bad for all girls like Prissy who could no longer dream of the bachelor king.

“Sounds like a rushed business,” Mr. Rumsen said. “I don’t hold with rushed marriages.”

“I met the king,” I said, to my horror, “when he came to Maundley last week. He presented me with a school prize.”

Dolores giggled slightly, and Aidan looked away. I wanted to crawl under the table. I never said such boastful things! It was that infernal redhead that flustered me so.

“Isn’t that nice?” Mrs. Rumsen served Aidan a second slice of fried ham. “It must be a treat for the provinces to get a peek at His Majesty. Of course, for us in the city, it’s not so rare.”

Of course not. The eggs in my mouth turned to rubber.

“I heard some interesting talk in the marketplace myself this morning,” Mrs. Rumsen continued, and I blessed her for it. “It concerns your ship. What was it? The White Flagon?”

“White Dragon.” It was the first peep I’d heard out of Aidan all morning.

“Just so,” said the lady of the house. “I heard that when the ship capsized, several passengers claimed they were rescued by a hideous sea creature!”

Henry’s mouth gaped open, revealing a good portion of half-chewed breakfast.

Dolores smiled. “You can’t believe that, Mother.” She gave me a wink, as if humoring credulous mothers was a hobby we shared.

Aidan’s eyes met mine for a moment. Was he worried that I might speak?

Under my dress, my leviathan scuttled his head back and forth. I’m not hideous. Other males envy my size and color, and my … 

I nearly choked on my glass of water.

“Are you all right, Miss Pomeroy?” Mrs. Rumsen threw down her napkin and rose to help me, but before she could, Mr. Rumsen thumped me vigorously on the back.

“I’m fine,” I said, before the elder stonemason could whack me into kingdom come.

“They said it was like a giant snake in the water.” Mrs. Rumsen took her seat. “Laws, but I despise snakes! Stomp on their tails whenever I find one underfoot in the back garden.”

“Now, Betsy, I’ve told you before … ”

I didn’t listen to Mr. Rumsen’s defense of snakes. “It’s all right,” I whispered under my napkin, for now my leviathan was nearly frantic. “Stay calm. Please. I won’t let them hurt you.”

“But surely, Miss Pomeroy, you can lay the matter to rest, can’t you? Aidan tells me”—there was that little smirk again—“that he was unconscious on the beach after his ordeal in the water. Did you see the monster everyone’s talking about?”

I kept my eyes on my plate. “Everyone?”

Skinny Henry broke the silence. “Did you, miss? Did you see a foul beastie in the sea?”

Food, Mistress. I must have food soon.

“I saw no foul beast,” I said firmly.

Dolores looked surprised by my tone of voice.

Aidan seized on a sudden idea. “It was dark anyway,” he said.

Now I was the one surprised.

“Well, thank heavens you didn’t see it,” Mrs. Rumsen said.

“I think you’re disappointed, Mother,” Dolores teased. “You were fascinated by it.”

I slowly raised a fork of ham to my mouth. Would this torturous conversation never end?

“I most certainly was not.” Her mother blinked indignantly. “If I thought there were such horrid creatures in the ocean, I’d never sail again.”

“Fortunately, there are none,” said Dolores.

Strange fish!

And, poking his head out from my collar, my leviathan snatched the ham from my fork.