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

Jeremiah had moved out very shortly, into Lilah and Catie Parr’s guest house; he’d found a partner, that same steady fisherman’s son Peter Jones, though they seemed in no hurry for anything more than casual comfortableness. Jer tried to come over and visit, from time to time; Richard tried to say yes to the visiting, but more often than not they did not speak.


Richard had never understood people who saw conversation as easy, weightless, without effort; each word had forever been a boulder, a burden, a frightening uncertainty. The right choice? The wrong one? Too little? Too much? The wrong timing? He stumbled over thoughts and hid behind solitude; even when he’d been a boy that’d been the case.


Chapter 64