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

There’d been songs from an entire oceanic orchestra: the otherworldly calls of the whales of the deep, the glittery sound of dolphin melody, the harmony of the Sea King’s personal palace chorus. Choral recitation of poetry—epic, historic, profound—was part of the world of the sea, Cadence said when discussing rehearsals. They’d wanted to bring that to the land-folk; and the high clear voices and the low ocean-floor undercurrents and the sweeping voices soared and plummeted and caught everyone’s breath.


Aquatic acrobats and dancers leapt through hoops, spun on poles, danced through nets of ribbon. Cadence Bell, playing host for the night, stepped out among water and light to explain and introduce each act; he was, in emeralds and rolled-up Court breeches and bare feet upon wave-splashed stone, having the time of his life, visibly so.


An entertainer, Peter thought. The center of stories. Our stories.


Chapter 56