Once upon a time, on a rocky island with enchantment under the ocean ... Cadence Bell left the windswept Northern Isles and his parents’ inn for the theaters and royal masques and glitter of Londre, swearing he’d make his fortune as a playwright and poet, trading fish stew and rain for fame and adoration and a place at the Queen’s Court. Now his parents are gone and Cade’s inheritance brings him back home, where he’d never wanted to return. But magic lurks beneath the waves, a stray pearl might be a key to another world, and even the quiet local schoolteacher has secrets of his own. Jeremiah Carver never meant to hide secrets. But he promised to tell no one about the other world he’s seen, and he keeps his word. Even if that means concealing magic from Cadence Bell. Which is difficult, since Cade’s not only a dazzling literary success, but also the person Jeremiah’s loved from afar since their years-ago childhood. And he’s afraid he’s falling for Cade all over again now. When Cadence falls under the siren spell of the ocean’s magic, Jeremiah has to make a choice and return to a world he’s left behind once before to rescue his heart from the sea.

Cadence and the Pearl

“Did you—do you love him?” Asking the question, Cade uncovered a spear-blow in his own chest: a pressure and a loss, a stab that left him off-balance. “Your merman. Or whatever he is. Nerein.”


“No, of course not, how could I when—” Jeremiah changed this answer mid-current, a different stream of words. One hand rearranged his hair, knocking pearls askew. “Maybe I did. In a way. The way you’d love the sea. The sky. A storm. More than ordinary. Not human.”


Cade couldn’t reply. He did not know what his expression was doing, only that it caused Jeremiah to add swiftly, “But he couldn’t understand. Why I missed Gwen’s porridge. Why it mattered that I helped your father fix the roof. Why someone needed to bring Da supper.”


“And you talk to sea-folk,” Cade said, “and you had an affair with a merman—a prince, even—and you’re wearing fish-scales…”


Jeremiah laughed, a small flustered pink-edged sound, and lifted a shoulder, dropped it: a shrug.


Chapter 20