In the Veins of the Drowning

Theodore provides Imogen with a dress that fits much better than King Nemea’s had. Imogen’s night is filled with sleep made restless by separation sickness. When Theodore doesn’t return the following day, she searches for him. Lachlan is tasked with looking after her. During their time together, Imogen questions him about Agatha. He wants to rekindle their romantic relationship, but Agatha is hesitant. When Lachlan tells Imogen that Theodore is busy looking over his marriage contracts, she has an odd flareup of jealousy that Lachlan informs her is because of the blood blond.

At Imogen’s request, Lachlan tells her a story Theodore finds embarrassing. When he was a new king, he took the ship they’re on and hosted a pleasure cruise full of his men and beautiful women. Though it was relatively tame, Theodore is embarrassed about how he wasted the crown’s resources on such a thing. Imogen finds this ridiculous and deems Theodore “duty-bound to his core” (114).

Theodore arrives, and Lachlan suggests they hug if they get too nauseous, as the blood bond settles quicker with proximity. In privacy, Imogen asks Theo if he’s eager to meet his bride. He simply states it’s a matter of political duty. Imogen doesn’t understand how he is content simply fulfilling a duty rather than chasing his own desires. When Imogen goads Theo into complimenting her dress, he admits she’s beautiful but that her purpose and power mean more to him. This rankles Imogen.

Theo informs her that he believes she is the daughter of the Great Goddess Ligea and that she will help him track down and kill King Nemea’s water deity, Eusia. Theo recognized Imogen at Fort Linum because she looks like the sculptures of Ligea. Imogen is reluctant to believe his theory, but Theo assures her she will learn the truth when she visits the Mage Seer. He believes hunting down Eusia is her divine duty, but Imogen doesn’t care about duty—only freedom to pursue her own desires for once. When she begins crying, Theo is rendered speechless and offers an embrace that Imogen rejects.

Nearly two days later, the ship reaches Panos Port. The bond between Imogen and Theo still hasn’t settled, which confuses and worries Agatha and Lachlan. As they near the dock, Imogen notices humanoid forms moving in the water that look to be decaying yet alive. Imogen unwittingly begins to climb the rail as if to jump in before she is restrained by Theo, who informs her the creatures are nekgya—creatures that hunt sirens. They used to be spotted rarely, but the waters around Varya have recently become infested.

Because the bond still hasn’t settled, both Theo and Imogen would be sick if they separated. Theodore reluctantly decides she must attend his meeting with Empress Nivala instead of visiting the Mage Seer. Agatha asks Theo if he will go with Imogen to the Mage Seer if the bond doesn’t settle. He assures her it will, but Imogen detects underlying panic in his features.

When they arrive at Theo’s castle, Imogen notices the yearning between Lachlan and Agatha and urges Agatha to rekindle things with him. Theo’s Chancellor, Eftan, greets them. Agatha requests rooms near Lachlan, and Theo discreetly informs Eftan that Imogen will be staying in his chambers. The palace dressmaker, Antheia, visits to take Imogen’s measurements for a wardrobe.

Imogen offers Theo her engagement ring as payment for rescuing her from King Nemea, telling him that every relationship she’s ever had—aside from Agatha—has been based on transactions. Theo refuses the ring, informing her that there will be no more transactions between them. On the way to the meeting, Imogen notices a statue of the Great Goddess Ligea that significantly resembles herself and nearly cries because the truth might chain her to a divine duty.

Imogen and Lachlan attend the meeting between Theo, Empress Nivala, and her daughter Princess Halla—who is the antithesis of Imogen. They negotiate for hours. Imogen learns the blood offering—Leucosian binding—required by Varya’s marriage traditions allows those descending from the Great Gods to share power. While this is true for Imogen and Theo, Princess Halla’s family does not descend from the gods, so she would not share Theo’s power. The Empress decides the firstborn child of Theo and Halla will be her heir and moves the wedding timeline up. Rather than a two-month engagement, she demands the wedding take place in a fortnight. Eventually, the jealousy caused by the bond prompts Imogen to dismiss herself from the room. To ensure Theo doesn’t get sick, Lachlan suggests they all take a break and go for a stroll in the gardens.

During the walk, Halla speaks with Imogen. Leaving her homeland for Varya has been intimidating, but Halla appreciates the comfort her mother and Theo have provided her. Halla asks what Theo is like and Imogen describes him as observant, caring, and gentle. When Empress Nivala calls for them to return to negotiations, Imogen refuses to join them. In privacy, Theo bargains with her: He will come with her to the Mage Seer if she returns for the meeting. Imogen points out that he’s reneging on his promise not to bargain. Chastised, Theo tells her he will visit the Mage Seer with her, but she need not return to the meeting with him.

Imogen returns to the meeting anyway. Afterward, Theo and Imogen pack and saddle horses for their journey. Theo, now in a sour mood, tells Imogen that he is doing his best to retain control of himself and keep his distance, but he is increasingly drawn to her. Agatha and Lachlan see them off. Agatha tells Imogen that the severance ritual is dangerous, and she fears Imogen will not survive if she doesn’t let Theo help her. Lachlan hints that Theo is just as scared as Imogen is about the Mage Seer but doesn’t disclose why.

Because Imogen doesn’t know how to ride a horse, she shares the saddle with Theo. The forced proximity causes attraction to stir between the two. At Imogen’s prying, Theo admits he’s visited the Mage Seer only once. To dispel the tension between them, Imogen suggests they share their gripes with each other aloud. Theo complains about her passivity in life—how she accepts her circumstances instead of fighting against them. In return, Imogen calls him self-righteous and callous because he lacks empathy for people like her but has never experienced true powerlessness before. She believes his sense of duty doesn’t allow him to see nuance. Imogen tells Theo that she has courage, just not the form he seeks, and insults him by claiming he “could use a Godsdamned fuck. A good, long one” (165).

Afterward, they both feel worse. Theo shares his bottle of wine, which he admits comes from the vineyards he gardens. Lightheartedly, Imogen mentions the story Lachlan shared about his ship parties, which prompts Theo to admit that, back then, he would have bedded Imogen and “[thanked her] for tearing [him] to ribbons with those pretty talons of [hers]” (168).

They eventually stop at a caretaker’s cottage for the night. When one man there offers to help Imogen down from her horse, intense jealousy flares through the bond, and Theo warns the man not to touch his wife. As they wash at the well, Imogen admits that unlike Theo, who had his period of frivolous debauchery, she has always been afraid. The darkness of Fort Linum terrified her, but she’d brave it each time she accidentally stayed late in the study because she wanted the comfort of her room. Imogen notices Theo is less surly outside the palace, free from his responsibilities. As they unload the bedrolls from their horses, Imogen spots four of Nemea’s ships off the coast.

Instead of sleeping, Imogen and Theo travel a few more hours to get a lead on Nemea. As they travel, Imogen asks for Theo’s help in learning to control her power. She then mentions seeing a necklace around Princess Halla’s neck during the marriage negotiations that matches Imogen’s ring from Evander. Theo deems it a coincidence.

After a few hours on horseback, they reach a vineyard, where they lay out bedrolls to sleep. Imogen asks him about a stained-glass Siren she noticed on his ship. Theo tells her about his father, who fell in love with a Siren that sunk one of his ships. He then immortalized her likeness in a stained-glass window on his new one. Because he was expected to have an heir, he married Theo’s mother but kept the Siren as his mistress and flaunted her around at court. One day, the Siren disappeared in what they assume was a nekgya attack, and Theo was born a year later. When Imogen calls their love story tragic, Theo states “when the blood of the Great Gods runs through your veins, you don’t get to have what you want” (181). His father thought so, but it made him callous and indulgent. Theo has tried to be his opposite, but Imogen has called him the same things.

Theo helps Imogen use her power to curl nearby vines around her hand. The lesson brings them closer. Before they become intimate, they are interrupted by a distant scream. They rush to the source, where they discover a Siren lying on the shore with one wing partially severed and crying for her daughter. While Theo heals her, Imogen rushes into the water to save the woman’s daughter from the nekgya.

A nekgya emerges and speaks with the same strange voice that spoke to Imogen just before she drowned Evander. The nekgya tells Imogen they are bound in blood and words and cannot harm each other; the dead bodies of her kingdom are reanimated by the power she receives from Imogen. Imogen realizes with horror that the nekgya is Eusia.

Imogen delivers the girl to her mother, mind reeling at her discovery. She heals the daughter, drawing onlookers’ curiosity about her magic. Theo is forced to reveal she is their queen, his blood-bound wife, and shares in his magic. He seals the declaration by kissing Imogen to protect her from the superstitious and zealous villagers, who might harm her if they don’t understand her magic’s origins.

In the privacy of a hut they’ll stay in for the night, Imogen grapples with the fact that she has sustained Eusia’s terrible kingdom of nekgya. She blames herself, but Theo blames Nemea for using her since she was a child. While he once believed Imogen cowardly and weak, he now sees the bravery it took for her to survive Nemea’s cruelties.

After two days of travel, they arrive at a rocky coastline separating the mainland from a cluster of islands. They must wait until sunrise, when the Mage Seer will appear to part the waters and allow their crossing. Theo becomes uneasy and reluctantly explains his history with the Mage Seer to a persistent Imogen. Though his father had weak magic, Theo’s was strong. Seven years ago, his father brought them to the Mage Seer to transfer what little magic he had to Theo, but the spell took his life. In his grief, Theo stole a bottle of the Mage Seer’s poison and drank it after leaving the hut. He survived only because he was found by an older couple—Hector and Antonia—who nursed him back to health.

Imogen decides she will go inside the Mage Seer’s hut alone to spare him the painful memories, but Theo is determined to accompany her. They share a kiss that nearly turns into more before it’s interrupted by sunrise and the arrival of the Mage Seer.