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

Peter caught the mug, set both of them on the closest corner of table, caught astonished hands in his. “I thought you didn’t. I thought you couldn’t. Someone so ordinary—”


“Nothing you do is ordinary!” Nerein said, and all at once they were holding hands and laughing, holding hands and holding on to each other, under the dance of fire and the skip of rain. “I kept wanting more. More of you. More time with you. I thought it must be magic, and then I thought it wasn’t. But it is. You are.”


“I’m fairly certain,” Peter told him, “I’ve been falling in love with you this whole time,” and leaned forward, nearly a kiss. “I’m not sure about the etiquette here, being that you’re a prince and all—”


“But I’m thinking I’d love to kiss you. If you’d like that.”


Nerein stared at him, said, “I want everythingwith you,” and dove forward.


The kiss landed clumsy, laughing, sudden and unpracticed. It was the best kiss of Peter’s life.


Chapter 47