CHAPTER TWELVE - Lysi
The Atlantic Kingdom
If we had to spend one more day in the Arctic, I would go insane. The sun taunted us, circling our heads and bouncing off the horizon without setting.
We must have travelled for half a tidecycle; it was hard to track.
When we made it south enough that twilight finally darkened the sky, I nearly cried in relief.
“I never want to see another iceberg,” said Meela.
I grimaced. Mentally, we were diminished. Physically, we were disasters—bony from the long days of exertion, and moving with the agility of a couple of sea cucumbers. Meela’s hair, like mine, was packed with plant life. It had reached the point where she could no longer undo her braids. Thankfully, her green eyes still sparkled when she looked at me.
“Is that it?” she said, running a hand up her arm. She must have been talking about the activity on the current.
“Should be.”
I tried to smile. It came off nervously. Except for my deployment to the South Pacific, which hardly counted, I’d never been to another kingdom. I wondered how much we would stick out as foreigners.
We followed the activity, nerves tightening with every stroke. And then we were in the midst of it. One moment, we were surrounded by coral, and the next, merpeople bustled on all sides. They talked and laughed and went about their business.
I gaped at Meela. We made it.
My shock gave way to awe. Ahead, kelp archways lined the main street, swaying with the current. Beyond it, stone buildings loomed so high they broke the surface. Every structure was alive with plants, starfish, coral, and algae, reminding me how ancient the city was.
Meela’s mouth was open, her eyes enormous. I let out a laugh. I was making the same face.
“Why are you surprised?” she said.
“Utopia’s nothing like this!”
As we passed a large tower that was full of grottos, I rolled onto my back to see the top of it. Merpeople climbed out and plunged back in. It opened to a plateau above the surface, and I wondered what the plaza must look like, if it was full of sunbathing mermaids.
The majority of civilians looked northern like us. I’d thought our haggard appearances would draw attention, but everyone’s style here was so different that, for all anyone knew, Meela and I looked like this intentionally. In the realm of hair alone, I saw intricacies like spikes, spirals moulded with clay, and complex braids laced with jewels. Some mermaids wore clothing, spanning everything from live sea creatures to human-made items like bikinis and fishing nets. Like South Pacific merpeople, many had piercings and gems embedded in their skin.
I’d never known Adaro’s kingdom was so, frankly, boring. Was it because Adaro had forced it to be that way? Was it about order, structure, and obedience? Or was everyone just too afraid to be different?
A noisy family with six children passed, each trailing a glowing blue squid on a leash.
“Should we ask for directions to the queen?” said Meela.
I struggled to get my brain working. One of the children with the squids stopped to stare at us. We were blatantly acting like outsiders.
“No. Don’t talk to anyone.” I scanned our surroundings. “I think we keep following this.”
The street we were on proved to be an artery that flowed through the city, with branches leading to buildings and more plazas.
“Three pounds for unlimited time!” shouted a merman at the base of a tower.
He caught my eye and grinned, motioning upwards.
“Highest open-air waterfall in the Atlantic, girls!”
Curiosity ate at me. But even if we had time to stop and lounge, we had nothing to pay with. Since being enlisted, I hadn’t seen a single coin, never mind three pounds.
We passed through a market, everyone selling what they claimed were the boldest styles and tastiest snacks and most beautifying makeup. Meela tried to politely decline everyone who waved us over, until I grabbed her elbow and pulled her along faster. “We’ll never get anywhere if you keep stopping.”
Night was falling. It must have been nearing midnight. What were we supposed to do if we couldn’t see the queen tonight? Where would we sleep?
Something loomed ahead, huge enough to block the currents beyond. I first thought it was a natural ridge in the landscape—but it was a palace. Ancient and built from stone, it was blanketed in coral and starfish. Four towers framed either side of the entrance, which was a circle large enough to fit a blue whale. Where the towers broke the surface, blurry outlines told me they rose to magnificent peaks.
I felt nothing beyond it. The impenetrable wall stretched from floor to ceiling.
Meela and I slowed as we neared the door, which was blocked by several guards. Their broad chests were encased in stone armour that looked impractically heavy. I couldn’t see any weapons, but that didn’t put me at ease.
In Utopia, anyone who wanted to see the king had to report to Nemertes—not that anyone ever did. But we knew the procedure. What were we supposed to do here? Who did we talk to?
With no better plan, I approached one of the guards. “Excuse me, sir. We’d like to speak to the queen.”
Meela swam up beside me. The guard squinted at us.
“Do you have a summons?”
“No,” I said, at the same moment as Meela said, “Yes.”
The guard looked between us, saw Meela glare at me, and laughed. It wasn’t a malicious laugh, more like he thought we were being cute.
“I’ll check if she can squeeze you in tomorrow.”
“We’ve come with important information—” said Meela.
“Of course you have.”
“—from the Pacific.”
He stopped grinning. “You what?”
His tone should have given me pause. Maybe I was too tired from our trek, or maybe I was emboldened by Meela getting to the point, because I said, “We’re from Adaro’s kingdom and we want to talk—”
There was a flurry around us, and before I could turn, several large hands grabbed me.
“Wait!” said Meela.
The guards had closed on us. I tried to reach for Meela to pull her away from them, but it was too late. They hauled me back, gripping hard enough to make me cry out.
“We just want to talk to Medusa!” I said. “We have information on Adaro—”
Something bashed me on the head. The world became jagged. My longblade was torn from my grip.
“Take them to the cells.”
“No!” I said.
“We want to help Medusa!” said Meela.
I struggled, desperately trying to keep track of Meela. The shock of being seized so quickly settled over me. I should have seen this coming. If Adaro didn’t like anyone mentioning Medusa, then of course Medusa wouldn’t like anyone mentioning Adaro.
“Let us go, then,” I said, though I knew it was too late to backtrack. “We’ll get out of the city.”
The guards dragged us around the side of the palace. We entered an empty alley that was so removed from the rest of the city it felt as though we had entered a different part of the ocean. The floor angled downwards and into an underground cave.
“Listen to us,” said Meela. “This is important!”
They pushed us into a vertical passage. It spiralled straight down, too narrow to turn around in. All daylight vanished after the second turn. The tiny space pressed in on me. I had to force myself not to panic.
“Tell the queen we want to share Adaro’s plan,” I said. “Please tell her that.”
We emerged into a pitch black room. My senses told me the walls were rough stone, lined with cells barely large enough to turn around in. None of them were occupied.
They threw me into a cell and slid the door closed behind me. I whirled and grabbed the bars, determined to break them. They, too, were made of stone, and they groaned feebly under my efforts.
Another door slammed. They had shoved Meela into the cell beside mine.
“Wait!” I said.
But they left without explanation, without telling us how long we would be there or what they planned to do with us.
I cast my senses around and was relieved to find a pocket of air overhead. They hadn’t put us here to die. I rose and drew breath, trying to think. My head was pounding from where the guard had struck me. How had this gone so wrong so quickly?
Still, I didn’t know what else we could have done. Maybe we shouldn’t have mentioned Adaro—but then how would we have gotten in? Maybe we should have pretended we were here about something else until we were past the guards.
We obviously weren’t dispensable, considering we were still alive. Maybe they wanted to hear what we had to say before making a decision on what to do with us.
Or maybe they were saving us for a public execution.
Couldn’t they have told us anything?
In the cell beside me, Meela was panicking. She slammed her body against the door, each impact pushing air from her lungs.
“Take a breath,” I said softly. “There’s air above you.”
“Don’t tell me to take a breath!”
“Fine,” I snapped. “Suffocate, then.”
There was a resounding thud as she slammed against the stone. “We can’t be stuck here! We’re the only ones who can stop him!”
“Mee, calm down.”
“No! I came all the way here for you, Lysi.”
I ground my teeth. Was she really blaming me for this? “You didn’t come here for me. You came here because you decided this would be the best way to get your revenge.”
“What if he’s on his way to my people? My parents, my friends, even Nilus and my nieces—they’re all in danger, Lysi! He’ll kill all of them. I need to—”
“What, you need to kill him back?”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“You have a choice about how it affects you. You can kill him because you have to, but you don’t have to let it do this to you.”
“Do what to me?”
“This …” I waved a hand. The right words escaped me. In truth, Meela had been scaring me lately. Except for a brief time when we’d swum with the narwhals, her aura had become so dark.
“Obsession,” I said. “You don’t care what sacrifices you need to make to get to him.”
She didn’t respond.
I waited, wondering if I’d been too harsh. Was she that oblivious to the way she’d been feeling and acting lately? Or did she really not care who she lost in the process?
After a moment, she said, “You think I like what this is doing to me? It’s like my mind is spending so much time with the thing I hate most that I’m starting to hate myself, too. It’s eating me from the inside.”
I couldn’t think of anything comforting to say. Her confession didn’t surprise me.
“I need you,” she said. “You’re the balance that keeps me sane.”
“Is that the only reason you want me in your life? You need a balance of love and hate to keep you from going insane?”
“That’s not what I mean.” She hesitated. “I don’t even think hate is the opposite of love anymore.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean … they share too many traits to be opposites. Both are all-consuming, keep you awake at night, give you this crazy feeling in your gut. You know what I mean?”
Maybe it should have been sweet, if she was describing what love did to her—but it wasn’t, because she was putting me on the same plane as Adaro.
“You’re saying it’s all just obsession,” I said.
“I don’t know. Never mind.”
I let it drop, my heart aching too much to continue the conversation.
In the never-ending blackness, I couldn’t tell how much time passed. Stomach pains told me we’d missed several meals. My eyelids grew heavy. I might have dozed off, though there was little difference between closing my eyes and the pressing darkness.
Finally, activity flowed down that spiralling well. I jolted into alertness. A pair of mermen entered.
The water stirred as Meela rushed at her cell door.
“Listen,” she said. “We’re working against Adaro. Our names are Metlaa Gaela and Lysithea—”
“Quiet,” said one of the mermen.
“—and we’ve come here to tell Medusa what we know. We weren’t sent by anyone, and—”
“Mee, shut up!”
She did shut up, but I suspected this was because they’d begun to open her cell door.
A scuffle told me she tried to flee past them. At this, my anxiety reached a point where I thought I might throw up.
“Her Majesty wishes to see you,” said a guard.
“She does?” said Meela.
I let the other guard grab me. They hauled us out of our cells. Medusa wanted to see us? I couldn’t decide whether to be excited or afraid. Had something convinced her to hear us out? Maybe the guards had relayed our purpose to her, after all.
Still, the idea of a public execution floated at the back of my mind. If we were in Adaro’s kingdom, maybe—but I hoped I was right in thinking Medusa was better than that.
We spiralled back up the passage and into the world. The daylight, though dim, was blinding.
Rather than turn back to the entrance, they pulled us towards the palace wall. We passed through a stone door, small and hidden beneath weeds. Two guards flanked the other side. They nodded as we passed.
My heart pounded. We were inside the Atlantic Queen’s palace. Never in my life did I expect to be here. A thrill of excitement ran through me despite the trepidation I felt. I wished I could tell Spio, or my mom and dad, or my brother, or anyone. I committed every detail to memory. If we ever got out of here, I would want to remember it.
The palace was a maze of hand-built stone walls—rough, ancient, impenetrable. Even the outside noise was muffled, so only our movement and the crackling coral on the walls tickled my ears.
We rose two floors through more of those spiral wells. Some were exposed to the daylight above; others were speckled with holes and had tiny jellyfish in the ceiling so we were never plunged into blackness.
We passed by windows, which tapered so they were easy to see through but wouldn’t be obvious from the other side.
Corridors branched off in all directions. I glimpsed vast rooms with dozens of merpeople inside, meeting or working or whatever they were doing. I tried to catch some of their conversations, but we were moving too quickly. We took turn after turn in a pattern I would never remember.
“Let me do the talking,” I whispered to Meela.
“You think I’ll say the wrong thing?”
It sounded like a real question, not an accusation.
“Yes.”
First, as far as I was concerned, she had entered crazy mode and I had no idea what she would blurt out. Second, the way she interacted with others was still too human. I’d never thought of human culture as being so different, but now that Meela and I had spent more time together, I realised how much adjusting she had yet to do. I couldn’t quite describe it, but something about even the simplest interactions was different, like the way she saw authority, and relationships, and freedoms.
The corridor widened into a vast, empty cathedral. It smelled earthy and green, every surface teeming with plant life except for the far wall. Into its bare stone were carved dozens of faces: mermaids, with serpents in place of hair. They looked eerily alive in the soft blue beams of sunlight rippling in the water. In the centre of the wall was the face I recognised from artwork: the original Medusa. Her mouth was open in a scream—just wide enough to fit one at a time.
My heart thudded faster. I knew who waited for us on the other side.
Meela’s guard went in first, pulling her through after him.
Meela hissed, yanking her hand away. “I’m coming, for gods’ sakes!”
My guard pushed me through and followed close behind.
We emerged to an enclosed grotto. It felt like being inside a giant egg with clay walls. The upper half, above-surface, was flecked with holes to let in daylight. A continuous roar against the surface told me waterfalls ran down the sides.
I wondered if there was a secret passage somewhere in the walls. There must have been. I couldn’t imagine having this high-security room with a single entrance.
The guards led us across the grotto, keeping close to the floor.
“Your Majesty,” said Meela’s guard. “Metlaa Gaela and Lysithea from the North Pacific.”
At the back of the room was a throne, pure black and shaped like a massive lion’s paw shell. In it sat Queen Medusa.
She was northern, her greenish-brown tail draped over the edge, fin fluttering on the current. To call her beautiful would have been like calling a blue whale “kind of big”. Beauty seemed to emanate from her bronze skin, tangible and absolute.
Her black hair was done in dreadlocks that brought her lineage to mind. Jewels and kelp buoys were braided into the ends, which swirled like snakes in the passing current. A translucent crown sat atop her head.
Her eyes, a vibrant orange-brown, raked over me and Meela. I had the impression that meeting her gaze would, in fact, turn me to stone. When she spoke, I half-expected a forked tongue to emerge.
“I understand you come with news of Adaro.”
“Your Majesty,” I said, finding myself breathless. “King Adaro’s troops are—”
“Why?”
I hesitated. “I beg your pardon, Your—?”
“You risk your lives coming to me. I could easily have you killed. Barring that, you are now traitors to Adaro’s crown and risk capital punishment.”
I forced myself to meet her eyes. “King Adaro is a danger to the rest of the world. Something needs to be risked in order to stop him, Your Majesty.”
“And you want me to risk something?”
“No,” I said quickly—though I was unsure if it was true. “Your Majesty, you’re the only one who can stop him.”
“Adaro’s war is happening on the other side of the world. It does not affect my kingdom.”
“Your Majesty, his armies are stationed at the Ice Channel, South America, and in several places east of here. He’s preparing to invade—”
“You think I do not know that he surrounds the Atlantic?”
I clasped my fingers together, resisting the urge to fidget. “Of course, Your Majesty, but I thought you might be able to use what I know from my time in his service.”
“I am aware of the inner workings of his army.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
My stomach churned. So she didn’t care what we had to say about Adaro’s army. That was one piece of information rendered useless.
But why would she bring us here? She must have wanted to hear us out.
I tried to read her aura but got nothing. I felt Meela’s gaze on me like the sting of iron.
The queen inclined her head to the guards who’d brought us in. They backed away. She watched them until they disappeared back through the entrance, and then returned her attention to us.
“I hear he has the Host of Eriana.”
I opened and closed my mouth. So the queen had known about it.
“Yes, Your Majesty. It’s under his control.”
Medusa shifted, tail rippling on the current. “How is Adaro doing? Does he seem well?”
“Um …” Does he seem well? That was an odd question to ask of the merman who was violently seizing every kingdom.
Meela gave a low scoff, which I felt more than heard.
The queen turned her orange-brown eyes onto her. “How many have died at his hands?”
Meela glanced to me. I gave a slight nod.
“We don’t know,” said Meela. I was relieved to hear a gentle tone. “He’s been attacking the coast but we have no indication of numbers.”
“Surely, as a former human, you have some idea of how many of your people have been lost.”
I felt the jolt in Meela’s pulse. Her eyes flicked to me, and back to the queen.
The queen’s lips twisted, not quite a smile. “Where are you from, Metlaa Gaela?”
“Eriana Kwai.”
For a moment, the queen looked intrigued, even excited. Then she sank back in her throne, composure regained. “Do you know how to return the serpent to Eriana Kwai, then? Is there a way to lay it back to rest?”
Meela looked to me, lips pursed.
If it were up to me, I would have told the truth about passing control. But Meela would never forgive me for giving away this secret. I hoped desperately that the queen would help us without knowing the full story.
“Meela has to kill its master, Your Majesty,” I said. “For that, we need help.”
Medusa’s eyes narrowed. “Is there another way?”
“No, Your Majesty. It’s indestructible.”
She studied us so intently that I crossed my arms over my stomach. Did she know I was withholding information? Or was she considering whether to help Meela?
Finally, she said, “I do not agree with Adaro’s position on human relations, nor with the way he governs the Pacific. But I wish to target the Host, not its master.”
“It can’t be one or the other, Your Majesty,” I said. “They’re bound by blood.”
“The Host is the most dangerous force, here. That is where I am interested in focusing my efforts.”
I bit my tongue, suppressing my outrage. The serpent was only as dangerous as its master. Did she not realise how destructive Adaro had been before the serpent came into his power? How could she think he wasn’t the core of the problem?
“Even without the serpent, Adaro’s still about to destroy the whole coast,” said Meela, the words seeming to burst from her lips.
A flicker of confusion crossed Medusa’s face.
Oh. She didn’t know about the labour camp.
“Your spies haven’t told you?” said Meela.
The queen opened and closed her mouth. She seemed to struggle with herself, too curious to be offended.
“He’s going to cause a tsunami, unless we do something to stop it,” said Meela.
The queen stared at us for a long moment. “How?”
“He’s digging into the earth, Your Majesty,” I said, heading off Meela before she got carried away. “There’s a massive labour camp in the deep sea. He’s rounding up civilians—Queen Evagore’s kingdom, former humans, anyone who opposes him.”
Medusa looked between us. Barely perceptibly, her shoulders slumped. For the first time, I saw the ordinary mermaid beneath that translucent crown.
“You must understand,” she said. “I am hesitant to offer information that would lead to Adaro’s death.”
“Why?” said Meela.
I looked sharply at her in warning.
The queen hesitated. “Because Adaro is my son.”
The words took a moment to sink in. Meela looked as stunned as I felt.
“Your son? But he’s so …” I trailed off, not sure how to end the sentence without insulting her.
“I have known for some time that my son is leading himself to an untimely end. When I heard about his South Pacific expansion and the disappearance of Queen Evagore, I feared for the Pacific Kingdom. I have tried to contact him, to send advisors, even to send troops to resist his expansion. I have come to accept that my efforts are futile.”
“You’re giving up?” said Meela.
“I will not order my civilians to fight a war that is not theirs.”
“This war affects everyone!”
I put out a hand to silence Meela, but she pressed on, voice rising.
“Whether he’s your son or not, you can’t ignore how many deaths he’s causing. These are merpeople who once belonged to your kingdom. These are the humans you claim to care about!”
Queen Medusa’s eyes flashed red. “Do not doubt my loyalties, girl.”
“Then what are you doing to protect those innocent lives? What happens when the tsunami wipes out every coastal city and you’ve done nothing to stop it?”
“Meela,” I whispered, grabbing her arm.
Yes, I’d expected more from the queen who was supposed to rule with compassion. But Meela’s tone was too severe, too dangerous to be addressing royalty.
“What she means, Your Majesty,” I said, “is that the kingdoms are all connected. King Adaro’s actions might affect our relations with humans worldwide.”
The queen looked to the far wall. I glanced back to find the entrance vacant. We were alone with her.
“While I can help you, I will not mobilise my army,” she said.
Meela opened her mouth, but stopped when I squeezed her arm and cast her a warning glare.
My heart pounded. Something in the queen’s demeanour had changed. She was less defensive, now. Was the concern she showed for her son, or for the innocent lives at stake?
She traced her hands along her throne, seeming to weigh her words.
Meela glanced between us, tense.
“When I was sixteen,” said Queen Medusa carefully, “I met a human from Finland. I visited him every day. We grew serious in a short time, and he swore we would find a way to be married. Against everyone’s warnings, and against his wishes, I chose not to change him into a merman. I loved him the way I met him—from his blue eyes to his feet. I did not wish to take him from his natural state.”
Guilt squeezed my chest at these words. That had been how I felt about changing Meela. I hoped Meela would never forget that. I tried to catch her eye but she was busy staring at Medusa.
“I was seventeen,” said the queen, “when I became pregnant.”
Meela said, “You mean Adaro’s father is—?”
“A human, yes. When I told him, that was the last time I saw him. He did not meet me the following night, or the night after, although I continued to visit our beach until the day I gave birth.”
I scoffed. “What a cod.”
“I do not hold it against him, but at the time, I was hurt. Even more, I was terrified. I did not know if my baby would be born a human. I was afraid to ask for advice. My dear friend agreed to pretend he was the father to avoid scandal—but I gave birth alone, and on land, just in case.”
“Wow,” I breathed, feeling like she deserved some kind of single mother award.
She stared at us for a long moment. I couldn’t tell if she was waiting for us to say something, or deciding whether to continue.
Finally, she said, “I wish for you to understand why my son is this way. He spent his childhood trying to find his father, despite my attempts to stop him venturing near the coast. He went through too many guardians to count. At fourteen, Adaro was captured by sailors. They put him in a cage meant for livestock, intending to bring him to land. Of course, you know humans have tried to capture merpeople many times, and it always ends the same. My son escaped, and none of the sailors lived to tell about their prize catch.”
A killer at fourteen. That didn’t surprise me. Plus, I imagined the experience had soured Adaro’s opinion of humans even more.
“My son grew angry with me. He did not understand how I had fallen in love with a human, and worse, how I could be so cruel as to bring a child into the world as a half-breed. He argued with my position on human-merpeople relations, believing humans had no right to be in the seas.
“Adaro was always charismatic. He found a group of friends who felt the same about humans—I suspect after he’d convinced them so.
“At fifteen, they attempted to take over my throne. I admit, the plan was clever—albeit gruesome. He and his allies murdered a mermaid and adorned her in my jewels, then used her decapitated head to convince my council that I had been killed.
“He was on my throne when the plan disintegrated. I was on my way to a meeting and learned of the news. The pieces came together: the meeting was a setup. I avoided what surely would have been my assassination.”
“Your own son tried to kill you?” I said, barely audible.
Medusa gave the tiniest of nods. “Upon my return, I had his allies executed for treason. But Adaro was still the prince, so I imprisoned him. I assumed he was going through a nasty rebellious phase—and rightfully so, growing up without a father and suffering humiliation in his efforts to repair that relationship.”
“That’s no reason to try and murder your mother!” said Meela.
Medusa offered a wan smile before continuing.
“During his time in prison, his allies grew in numbers. A campaign of anti-human messages had amassed a following of hundreds. I did not know the extent of it. I released my son from prison after a year, believing his words of remorse.
“When Adaro was seventeen, an oil spill happened off the coast of America. It took the lives of an entire community in the Nares. Adaro used this to spread a message about humans. He promised to lead merpeople to victory against them. With this tragedy as leverage, Adaro gained a following of thousands. They grew large enough to be, for the first time in hundreds of years, a political party in opposition to the crown.
“Then the Ice Channel melted and a passage opened that summer. He left me without goodbye. He and his followers crossed to the Pacific to begin a new kingdom. My understanding is that he made a temporary pact with America while he focused on doing what he needed to secure the Pacific.”
“Yeah,” said Meela. “He needed the serpent—the Host—from Eriana Kwai.”
“I don’t doubt he had a careful plan. My son is clever. I do not approve of his war against humans, but it takes noble blood to be able to do what he has done.”
Meela opened her mouth, anger pulsing from her.
I said quickly, “And noble blood is the only thing that can stop him, Your Majesty. Please.”
A tinge of red seeped into the queen’s eyes. “I have told you what you need to know about Adaro’s condition. Now you can end the tyranny destroying the Pacific.”
Condition? She hadn’t mentioned any—
It dawned on me. My heart skipped a beat. But how did this help us? What was I missing?
Meela looked at me sharply. “What?”
“He’s half-human,” I said.
“So?”
I lifted my gaze to the queen. “I knew someone. She had a baby with a man—but it was stillborn.”
“Adaro was not expected to live past infancy.” Medusa closed her eyes, a heaviness about her. It seemed as though it cost her a great effort to speak her next words. “His body was born wanting to be human, but he is cursed with a mermaid’s venom. When the tide pulls strongest, his body will attempt to complete a transformation. He must seek the protection of land until the venom transforms him back to a merman.”
A silence hardened between us like ice.
“When the pull is strongest,” said Meela weakly. “You mean, during king tides?”
The queen dropped her gaze.
Meela whirled to me, her pulse so strong I felt it on the current.
My mind raced back through time, making other connections. His disappearances. His hatred of humans. What about our failed assassination attempts?
“Your Majesty, is this why he’s resistant to iron?”
“I presume his human genes have to do with it. He discovered it when he was captured by those sailors. He had, of course, spent his youth under the assumption that it would affect him the same as anyone else.”
Maybe he couldn’t be killed as a merman—but did this mean what I thought?
“So when he’s in human form …” I said.
“He is vulnerable,” said the queen, barely a whisper.
All this time, we had assumed he was invincible.
This was how we would kill King Adaro.
Behind us, activity stirred in the entrance. I turned to find the guards who had taken us from our cells.
“You have what you need to make peace in the Pacific,” said Medusa. “Now you will be escorted back to the Ice Channel. I implore you not to attempt to enter the Atlantic again.”
“Wait,” I said, feeling like I was trying to shove a giant boulder around in my brain. “What about Adaro’s armies? What about the labour camp?”
“I have nothing to gain by helping you further,” said Medusa. “I will not be burdened by this.”
“You can’t ignore what’s happening,” said Meela. “When the Atlantic is being invaded, you’re going to regret—”
“That is enough!” Medusa rose from her throne, stretching to her full and considerable length. Her eyes shone red, her dreadlocks resembling snakes more than ever.
A hand seized my arm. I whipped around to find the guards closing around Meela and me. I raised my hands in surrender.
“These maids are not permitted to stay in my city,” said Medusa. “Take them to the Ice Channel.”
They dragged us to the door. I twisted to face the queen, panicked.
“No! Wait!”
Sure, we knew how to kill Adaro, but we were no closer to getting to him. He still had an enormous army, and we had no way of stopping it.
We had one last piece of information to bargain with. It was our one option. Letting Medusa have the serpent was better than not getting her help at all.
“Control is passed by blood,” I shouted from the door. “You can be its master if you kill him.”
Queen Medusa raised a hand, and the guards stopped. Meela shot me a blazing glare. Her lip curled, like she was ready to bite.
“It can switch allegiances?” said the queen.
I nodded stiffly.
“But it should be destroyed,” said Meela, struggling against her guard. “It’s too dangerous.”
“With the wrong master, perhaps,” said the queen.
“If you help us, you have the option to control it,” I said. “If you don’t, you’re leaving it to him—or to us, and we intend to destroy it.”
There it was. Our last, desperate hope.
A long, heavy moment passed. I avoided Meela’s eye—though I could feel her fury. Whatever she thought, this was essential. This was our one chance with Medusa, and we needed to share everything we had.
The queen drifted back to her throne. She caressed the edge of the shell with long, webbed fingers. Her demon form was equal in terror to the beauty I’d seen moments ago.
When she spoke, her voice was calm.
“I stay by my decision. I am concerned enough by my son’s actions to help you restore peace to the Pacific—but I will not join your war.”
My insides plummeted. The guard pulled me onwards.
“No!” I said, struggling. “Please, Your Majesty. Any day, Adaro’s going to invade the Atlantic, and then it will concern you. Why not get ahead of him?”
The queen sat back, settling into her throne.
“You can’t just sit here while humans and merpeople kill each other in the Pacific,” I shouted. “It isn’t right!”
She raised a hand in farewell. “Good luck, Metlaa Gaela and Lysithea. Give Adaro my best when you find him.”