My eyes filled with tears as I took in the torn, mud-splattered hem of my gown and the snarls in my hair. I smelled like lake water, which, out of context, was not exactly pleasant. But the worst part wasn’t that Talin had discovered the truth—it was that he had looked at me the way Mother looked at me after the incident. Like I was a stranger.

Ebb gasped in horror when she came in behind me. “Milady, what has happened to you?”

I turned around, feeling weary down to my bones. “I’ll explain everything. Just please have my bath prepared.”

She nodded, her blue eyes round with surprise, and darted off down the hallway to fetch a maid. When the bath was ready and we were alone again, I told her about Ceren.

She sat unblinking, her mouth slowly falling open, as I recounted his near drowning.

“For Thalos’s sake, Ebb, would you stop looking at me like that?” I said when I finally finished and her expression hadn’t changed.

“I’m sorry. I’ve just never heard anything like it. You saved him from the water spirits. You brought him back from the dead!”

I rolled my eyes and motioned for her to help with the buttons on my dress. As her fingers deftly unfastened them, I thought of Talin, my stomach twisting with a mix of desire and hurt. “Of course I didn’t. If he’d been dead, I wouldn’t have been able to save him.” I could already see how this story would go with the servants. Rumors that I’d resurrected a dead man would be flying by dinner. “You can’t tell anyone, Ebb. Prince Ceren will share the story when he’s ready.”

“Yes, milady.”

“I mean it. If I hear a word of gossip about this because of you, I’ll start making you empty the chamber pots every day.”

She stifled a giggle. “I understand. Let’s get you out of these wet clothes and into your bath.”

I stayed in the tub for a long time, scrubbing away the smell of lake water with lavender-scented soap and combing out my waist-length hair. Ebb had suggested cutting it to make it more manageable, but I wouldn’t allow more than a trim. I knew that Zadie would never cut her hair, and I didn’t want to look different from my sister. My reflection in the mirror would be the only way I had to watch her grow old.

When the water started to get cold, Ebb helped me out of the tub. She handed me my towel and held up the little bone jar.

“Shall we cover up your scar, milady?” she asked. “The stain must have come off in the water.”

Shame washed over me as I realized that she’d likely known about my scar and the stain all along. Why had I thought I could fool everyone? And to what end? Zadie had said people in Varenia hardly noticed my scar, and Ebb didn’t seem at all disgusted or concerned. But I remembered the way Talin had looked at me just hours ago and felt my eyes well with tears.

“Would you mind leaving me for a moment, Ebb?”

“Of course,” she said gently. “Just ring if you need me.”

When she left the room, I let the towel fall and went to stand before the mirror. Without the fancy gowns and hairstyles, I looked so much like my sister I didn’t know if our own parents would be able to tell us apart. Except for the scar.

My mother had never even thanked me for saving Zadie. She’d made me believe the scar was a source of shame, an imperfection that would define the rest of my life. I’d always thought it was a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things. Without it, I wouldn’t have been permitted to dive as much as I had, to become a strong enough swimmer to save a grown man. Zadie wouldn’t have been able to do what I’d done today. And yet I knew that my mother would be more upset that I had exposed my scar than proud of me for saving Ceren.

I ran my finger over the slightly raised skin on my cheek, then down to the crook of my neck, remembering the feel of Talin’s hands—how delicate they’d been against my back, how strong and sure they’d felt on my waist. He may have guessed before, but I was sure Talin knew who I really was now. Would he feel compelled to tell his brother? Ceren had made his concerns clear, and they revolved around my ability to produce a healthy heir, not my beauty. But after today, it was clear Talin felt more loyalty to his brother than I’d originally believed. My only hope was that Ceren’s gratitude was greater than his anger would be if he ever learned the truth.

I dabbed the stain on my cheek and said nothing when Ebb returned to dress me in another beautiful gown. As she arranged my hair, I remembered the handkerchief with the note for Sami inside. In all the commotion, I had lost the handkerchief and completely forgotten my mission. Some spy I’d turned out to be.

I was late for the evening meal by the time I reached the dining hall, and every eye in the room turned on me as I entered. I feared the rumors might have already circulated without Ebb’s help, and sure enough, there were murmurs of “she saved his life” and “some kind of magic.”

I wanted to shout at them that it had nothing to do with magic, that I’d merely breathed air into his lungs, but I went quietly to my place. Talin and Ceren were nowhere to be seen. I ate as slowly and methodically as I could, unwilling to allow the other lords and ladies to see me ruffled.

When dinner was finished, Lady Hyacinth approached. “You’ve created quite the stir,” she said as she took my arm. “Everyone is talking about the accident.”

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. Whatever I said now would quickly make its way through the castle. “Are they?” I asked.

She grinned and patted my hand. “Discretion. I can appreciate that. Will the prince be all right?”

“Yes, I think so. What exactly did you hear?”

She guided me to a bench in an alcove where we could speak more privately. “We heard he was swimming in the lake and a water spirit disguised as a giant snake pulled him under. But you dived in and killed it with your bare hands.”

I laughed. “Please don’t tell me you believe that.”

“No, of course not,” she said. “But you did save him, didn’t you?”

If everyone knew that I’d saved Ceren, perhaps he’d feel more pressure to be kind to me, even if Talin told him the truth about who I was. “I did. He was drowning, and I pulled him out of the water and breathed air into his lungs because he didn’t have any.”

“Where did you learn to do it? No one has ever heard of such a thing.”

“I spent my entire life in and on the sea. My people risk their lives every day diving for the pearls your people seem so obsessed with.” I gestured to the pink pearl pendant hanging from her neck, unable to keep the edge from my voice. The Ilareans treated me like a child, but they were as ignorant as I was when it came to anything outside their own experience. They probably had no idea where the pearls even came from.