Breakwater

“Where is he? I’d like to speak with him about his welcome.”

“He . . .” Her eyes lifted and then looked past me, widening farther. I spun, spear swirling in front of me, stopping at the throat of a beefy looking Undine. Unlike the whip-thin Dolph, the man behind me rippled with muscles and had a mouth full of teeth that grinned at me. His eyes, though, were jet black, not unlike those of the sharks we’d faced a short time past. He slid into the room, avoiding my blade.

“Ah, cousin, please. You can put your weapon away.”

I didn’t lower the spear, despite his invocation of the familiar ‘cousin.’ All elementals thought of each other as distant branches of the same family. And just like most families, we didn’t always get along. I stepped sideways, blocking him from getting to Bella. “I think I’ll keep it out until you tell me who you are and why you set your familiars on us.”

The room went quiet except for the soft moan of my sister on the table.

He spread his hands. “My familiars have minds of their own, as they all do. You would know that if you had one yourself.”

I glared at him. The insult was subtle. I wasn’t strong enough to have been given a familiar. The more familiars an elemental had, the stronger they were. We’d had three sharks trying to take us down.

Which meant this one was going to be a problem.

“I don’t care if you have a dozen sharks, you should be able to control your familiars.”

His grin widened and the resemblance between him and his familiars deepened. Yeah, this guy was not cool. “My name is Requiem. And I am about to be crowned the King of the Deep. A bastard, I’ll admit, but that doesn’t make me any less of an heir to the throne, does it . . . Larkspur?”

While I didn’t lower the tip of my spear, my mind reeled from the information, and the fact he knew me and my status. “You welcome us here, then try to kill us?”

“Your ambassador put on quite a power show causing the tsunami. How do I know she isn’t here to wipe us all out? I have to protect my people. The best way to do that is for you to put yourself into danger. Which you did quite nicely, by the way.”

He thought Belladonna had caused the earthquake. That was probably for the best; if they thought she was powerful, they would be more careful with her. We slowly shifted around the room, mirroring each other’s steps as he tried to get an open shot past me. “You aren’t getting any closer to her and you didn’t answer my question. Why welcome then try to kill us?”

“A woman with that kind of power should not be allowed to roam without someone holding her reins.” He slid his hand down and grabbed his crotch.

“Sea slime,” Ayu whispered behind me.

I had to agree.

Requiem paced closer to me, and I could feel the rest of the room shift back. They were afraid of him, the tension rising with each step he took. He reached out and touched the healer closest to him, running his hand down her neck to cup her breast, squeezing the nipple. “These are my people. I will do what I wish here.”

I didn’t back down, just shifted my stance and thrust my spear around to point not at his belly, or even his neck. I tucked it up between his legs with a swift flick of my wrist, pressing it through the material of his pants. He dropped his hand from the healer and she scuttled away, well out of his reach. His eyes dropped to the spear tip and then rose to my face. “You are a brassy one, aren’t you?”

“You have no idea, but I do believe you and I aren’t done,” I said. “Get out of here. You’re bothering the healers.”

“You can’t protect them all, and certainly not them and your ambassador. Who will you choose? I’m so very glad you are here, Larkspur. I’ve been bored, and I do believe I’m looking forward to playing with you and your ambassador.” He stepped back, his hands spread wide. “Welcome, little Terraling, welcome to the Deep.”

CHAPTER 6

After the show Requiem and I put on, the healers seemed more than happy to have me stay. Ayu brought me a steaming hot drink that was salty and sweet, and I gulped it down, pausing only for a moment to nod and say, “Thank you.”

“The least we can do. No one stands up to him, Ender. That you did, that is worthy of respect and a hot drink.” She gave me a wink, but the lines etched around her eyes showed how much strain she was under.

I looked over my shoulder, for a minute forgetting that “Ender” was my title now. “He is the bastard son of the king who died?”

“Yes, though there are rumors about how the king died—”

“Ayu, hush, you’ll get us killed, or worse, banished!” Another of the healers spoke in undertones as she tended Belladonna. We were the only ones in the infirmary, but still they all acted like other elementals listened in. Maybe they were. Ayu shook her head, her hair bound up with sea kelp and dotted with tiny starfish that danced lightly as she moved.

“It is common knowledge. The king was healthy, robust, and well loved. He went to bed one night and didn’t wake the next morning. His body was shriveled as though he were a thousand years dead, not a few hours.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Requiem took over immediately, citing the Deep could not wait for the heir to come of age.”

I downed the last of my drink and let out a slow breath. “And there is no one who could stand against him? The proper heir is too weak?”

Ayu shook her head. “I have said enough. Drink and flee. You do not want to be on the receiving end of Requiem’s games.”