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

He thought he might always feel this way. He liked the idea of that. The shape of it, in his future.7


In the morning they went down to the shore hand in hand. The sun had come out, though only bashfully, and was playing tag with clumps of clouds. Boats rose and fell with the sea, over in the harbor. The new road stretched out, a beckoning and a welcome. Gull Skerrie wore a different face, but not a bad one. Only new.


Cadence Bell and Jeremiah Carver appeared along the path to intercept them, a paradox of pixie fashion and tall calm height coming up from construction; Cade was rubbing a shoulder, ruefully.


Chapter 49