He smiles. How he loves my ocean of drops. There is no food in the world that tastes as sweet as this ocean looks to his eyes.
The screaming has stopped. Lake has fallen between the two Statues of Cold, who carry her away now. Back through the black mouth of the door. I want to call after her, but the breeze of Seth’s kiss has silenced me, has emptied me of all words. And the thorns hold me fast against the wall.
At the table where the veiled ones sit, Lake’s creature is no more. Only sputtering black candles, scattered red petals. An empty silver tray smeared with blood. The ones in black murmur behind their veils. Dab at their mouths. Through their veils I see their sins shimmering like pearls. So radiant they are now. It’s Lake’s jelly, I realize, that’s made their faces shimmer so wondrously as they do now. So lakesmooth and moonbright. They pick at their teeth.
“That was… fine,” they murmur. “That was just fine. But. We are still quite… peckish. Yes, this peckishness. It is a most unfortunate thing. Malheureusement.”
I feel dissatisfaction rising from them like a cloud of ink. Lake’s creature has only whetted an appetite that is fathoms deep.
The Queen of Snow looks panicked. Looks at Seth, who says nothing. He’s still looking at the ocean dripping from my eyes, getting his own sustenance.
“An amuse-bouche,” the Queen of Snow declares. “Only an amuse-bouche to get things started. The true Feast is just beginning. And for this next course, the next two courses, rather—the pièce de résistance, so to speak—we owe so much to our most honored and esteemed guest.” And here she touches Seth’s shoulder. But he takes one look at her hand there on his shoulder and she lifts it immediately.
“He is responsible for tonight’s main menu. Both the hors d’oeuvres and the entrée, n’est-ce pas?” And she laughs, but Seth does not laugh. The veiled ones make sounds of interest.
“Allow me to recount the story,” the Queen of Snow begins, standing at the helm of the table. “We had a most surprising Catch of late, one of our most intriguing Roses to join the Depths. Not even a Perfect Candidate, if you can believe. A paying Vessel who walked willingly through our front doors in the light of day.” Lake’s blood spatter gleams on her white face.
“And yet, when we did the extractions, what we found was quite unexpected.” She looks at me in the dark. “Quite an extraordinary story, quite a Rose we found hidden inside that Vessel.” She smiles, licks some of Lake’s blood spray from the corner of her mouth. “Of the intergenerational variety, no less. Repressed as we like it best. And chock-full of our very favorites.” And here she winks at me—does she wink at me? “Délicieux.”
The veiled ones make sounds of delight. “Chock-full. Repressed. Of the intergenerational variety. How succulent.”
“Why we have always insisted on casting the widest of nets,” the Queen of Snow jokes, winking at the Statues of Cold, who laugh a little, gripping their nets tight. Laughter too from the veiled ones.
“C’est ?a.”
“Tout à fait.”
“But unfortunately this Vessel,” she sighs, “expired prior to the last Harvest. Wandered away from us as they sometimes are wont to do. Fell upon some rocks. Rendering its delectable Rose quite uncatchable, quite lost to the Depths, ever elusive to our nets and hands. Malheureusement.” She makes a fake sad face at me. “As you well know, a Rose can only be caught by its own Vessel.”
The veiled ones make sad sounds. “Ah oui. Too true. This travesty, this wastefulness occurs at times. And it really shouldn’t.”
“Stricter security has since been put in place, bien s?r,” offers the Queen of Snow.
“Good, good.”
“What we like to hear.”
“But how lucky”—and now the Queen of Snow smiles—“how formidable for us that this prize Vessel had a daughter Vessel. And this daughter Vessel came to visit our little Maison most recently. Found its own way here. And it had a most delectable Rose too, did it not? A Rose that our most esteemed guest planted with his own hands.”
She turns to Seth, who’s staring at me.
“When we first glimpsed his signature, his mark upon its brow, you can imagine our great excitement. Hence our invitation to have him join us tonight. And he came most willingly, didn’t you?”
Seth says nothing. Still staring at me.
“It grew into quite a flower.” The Queen of Snow smiles. “Which we did manage to pluck. A Perfect Candidate, obviously, given its lineage. Repressed and full of our favorites, too. Positively brimming with them, just like its mother. Perhaps more than its mother. It has now joined the Depths. And it is our belief that this daughter Vessel should be able to catch both the mother and daughter Roses for us this evening. Ce soir! Two birds, one stone. Or rather two Roses, one Vessel. Or rather two fish, one net. Should make for a most unforgettable Feast. Inoubliable.”