Tial’s announcement that Elyssa had been sighted beyond the old ruin electrified Kadir’s mer. Not only Adviser Creo. The rest of them reacted also.

Surprise and relief blanked Faier’s face. Gailen straightened eagerly. Nilun swam to Tial and demanded to know her location and how certain he was it was Elyssa. As if more brides might be heading this direction instead.

Shouts outside preceded her arrival. Benji rushed to the entrance.

Soren entered first. He caught Kadir’s penetrating gaze and turned aside. The sling he would have carried Elyssa with was wrapped in his hands as though it hadn’t been used.

Where was she? And why was Soren appearing to be defensive, acting so odd?

Balim swam to Soren and they began conferencing. It was too far for their low words to cross, but from the gestures and Soren’s flashing reaction, Balim was clearly relaying the reports of the last hours, including the pronouncement by Adviser Creo.

Then, Elyssa entered and all other thoughts fell away.

Silence swept over the inner courtyard.

Her fins unfurled and she kicked languidly. Her eyes sparkled. She greeted the small orange house guardian, and then she continued on, skimming over the gathered crowd to him. Their gazes locked. Her light intensified.

His chest squeezed.

She kicked for him, arms out. “Kadir.”

He braced himself. She would hit hard, but he needed her contact, even if it was slamming into him. Her eagerness lifted his chest and his pain eased. She had returned willingly.

He opened his arms. “No sling?”

“They said I was keeping up enough, especially on the way to the surface.” She abruptly stopped just before she reached him and kicked hard, puffing up sand in his face and hair. “Oh. Sorry. My bad. Sorry.”

Why did she not embrace him? “Elyssa?”

“Ah! Sorry. That’s the last time I’m apologizing. Sorry.”

He grabbed her hand.

She did not return his touch. She did not look him in the eye.

Unease slid over the courtyard.

He tugged her close.

She refused the closeness but finally sat beside him carefully. Her fingers ghosted over the taut bandages. “You look awful. Are you okay? Should you be up and about already?”

“I am improved.” He rested one hand on her back, stroking her shoulders.

She eased away. “Let me say hi to everybody.”

His chest turned cold. She was upset with his treatment of her. Why else would she turn away? “As you wish.”

She greeted everyone, one at a time. The warriors glowed with her attention, and Adviser Creo glowered in pointed warning. Kadir panged at her distance. He needed her for himself. And she kept looking at him in fear and confusion, as though she wished to ask him something privately.

Faier asked her an important question. “Queen Elyssa. Your journey. It was hard?”

“Not really. On the way up, I got into a fight with Soren. But don’t worry. We worked it out.”

Faier’s brows almost slid off his face. “You fought against Soren?” He looked at her other guards. Iyen, Ciran, Lotar.

The warriors who had accompanied her nodded.

Kadir’s chest tightened. How had Soren failed in his duties to protect her and instead sought her destruction? He gripped her shoulders. “Soren touched you?”

“Oh, no. Sorry. We argued.” Elyssa held his gaze. Her cheeks reddened. “I yelled. He yelled. I yelled back. No biggie.”

His jaw ached. From clenching. If Soren were closer, Kadir would have his own words.

The other warriors were equally shocked. No one threatened a bride. Not their own, and certainly not another male’s.

“Seriously. Guys.” Elyssa rubbed Kadir’s bicep and tried to ease her shoulder free. He did not release her. “I should have started a fight on the way back. I’d have been home yesterday.”

Faier rubbed his jaw. “You fought against Soren and you won.”

“Not fought. Disagreed. And I don’t think either of us won.”

“Her light was infinitely brighter,” Ciran confirmed, and Iyen and Lotar nodded again. “It remained so for most of the trip.”

She held up her hands. Her heart thumped rapidly. Was she embarrassed? “Forget I said ‘fight.’ It wasn’t my best moment, to be honest. Anyway. I’m supposed to ask you all how deep we are right now.”

“Fifteen songs,” Ciran said, looking surprised that she hadn’t asked him on the journey down. “Depending on the strength of the current.”

She bit her lip. “Do you know it in feet? Or miles? Or, uh, fathoms?”

No. Those measures were unrelated to their lives.

“Okay. Thanks.” She tapped her ears. A dark chunk of dead metal was in each one. She squeezed her eyes shut, shifted abruptly away from Kadir, and then faced him head on. Her eyes opened on desperation. “I’m so sorry. You would never have been hurt except for me. I explained the Sea Opal problem to my cousin. The company is really desperate for more Sea Opals. Apparently, it can cure cancer!”

So.

Her people had changed her loyalty. She cared for the Sea Opals and no longer resonated for him.

His heart contracted into a cold, hard ball.

He rested his fist on his bruised thigh. “Atlantis honors the agreement. We will search the old city.”

“I’ll help.”

“No.” Perhaps he had been approaching her wrong all along. “You will remain here where it is safe.”

Her brows folded. She looked down and brushed her cheek. “I understand.”

Now he would no longer have to worry about her injuring herself.

Her sadness seeped into his veins like poison.

“I’ll try to think of a way to help you here.” She rubbed her head. Her hair floated free.

Something was different. “Where is your flower?”

“Hmm?” Elyssa put her hand to her hair. The flower was not there. “Oh. I gave it to my cousin.”

It took a minute for her words to register.

His warriors looked equally shocked.

Adviser Creo’s chin lifted. “Betrayal. As I told you. Because you forced her to have so much freedom, she has committed another treason.”

“What?” She turned to Kadir. Confusion was on her face. “Why? Because I gave the flower to Aya? But it was already removed from the Life Tree. Like a Sea Opal or the blossom in Florida, the one I drank the nectar from.”

The warriors watched her desperation. Stone-faced. Silent.

“Is there a problem?” Elyssa looked up at Kadir with big eyes. “Was it wrong? Actually wrong?”

She had done it. She admitted it. She still didn’t understand it.

“Yes,” he said heavily. “Those other items were dead already. You gave a still-living blossom to your cousin When you injure a living piece of the Life Tree, it also injures me.”

“But the blossom already died, actually. I had to bring it back to life again. Am I injuring you every time?”

That was an oddity. Kadir had seen the blossom die twice, and she had brought it back to life both times. He hadn’t felt injured. Had he?

The rules in this strange case were all new to him. He checked with the other warriors, but none reacted as though bringing the blossom back to life was as extraordinary as he found it to be. So, the old ruling of treason by causing injury to the Life Tree must hold.

“You cousin cannot return it to life. When it dies the next and final time, a mark will appear as a bruise somewhere on my body.”

“An actual bruise?” She covered her mouth. Concern and horror flashed. “Sireno’s king survived.”

Pelan answered. “The old king was already dead.”

Everyone turned to him.

He stiffened, relying on nearby Nilun’s impassive correctness to anchor him. “The new king was not yet chosen or else he would have died.”

“The king bears the brunt of an injury,” Ciran said, taking over the explanation. “The entire brunt, with no young fry sons or other relatives to share his burden.”

“So if this Life Tree got chopped down…”

“I would die,” Kadir confirmed.

She covered her mouth with both hands. “No. I didn’t know.”

“It is a blood tie.”

She reached for Kadir and twined her hands in his, finally focusing on him with her whole glow. “Tell me how to fix this. How can I heal you and the Life Tree?”

“Stay away.” Adviser Creo flared boldly, his deepest proclamations finally justified. “Do not display yourself or risk injury. Seek the protection inside this castle and force its king to act as is proper.”

She unfocused, staring somewhere over Kadir’s shoulder. “I can stay inside. Will it really help?”

“Dismiss your guards,” Adviser Creo ordered. “Empty the castle of threats. Otherwise, your next visit to the surface may be your final journey.”

Her brows folded. Her light dimmed. “If that’s what you need, I can do it.”

Would this really resolve the treason?

No. Her treason was accidental. He overlooked it. It was unpunished.

The adviser laid out basic safety mechanisms Kadir had long refused to implement. Perhaps now was the time. Elyssa would not fight him.

“You are sad,” Kadir managed.

She shook her head, lying to his face, and rubbed her thumbs over his knuckles. Her sadness broke over him in aching waves. “I want this to work. I’ll do whatever I have to. Give me another chance and I’m fine. ”

She was fine?

Lies. All lies.

The adviser turned to the others and waved his arms. “Go now. Leave this castle to its rightful bride. Assume your duties elsewhere with true honor.”

The mer shifted.

Soren emerged from the shadows and floated in front of the exit.

“I’m sorry! Don’t be mad,” Elyssa begged them. Her desperation sliced his heart. “I understand now. I swear. I’ll make it up to you. I’ll heal the Life Tree and Kadir.”

The adviser was right. Kadir’s single-minded focus on making her assume roles that he hadn’t prepared her for caused her this grief and dimmed her light.

“Atlantis will be a proper city yet,” the adviser said as he herded the warriors out. “Now, we will charter a city with proper rules.”

Soren floated in front of the exit and laughed. “Rules? There are no rules in Atlantis. Right, Gailen?”

The orange-tattooed mer jerked.

Soren sneered at the adviser. “Just what kind of a city do you think we are?”

The warriors shifted uncertainly.

“Calm,” the adviser growled. “Exit, first lieutenant.”

“First lieutenant?” His great mouth curved in deadly amusement. He slammed his flat hand against his breastbone. “There is no first lieutenant here. I am the disgraced warrior of Dragao Azul. An outlaw. Rebel. Unfit. Unworthy!”

Each label was punctuated with a gut-level growl, hurling the insults through the air with such force Soren somehow twisted them into marks of honor. They penetrated the other warriors’ chests. The warriors all glowed.

Except for Nilun.

“Stand aside, unworthy disgrace.” Nilun flushed a deep red as he shouted. “Your queen demands we leave.”

“I heard no orders. She swears to heal the Life Tree. And Kadir.”

The other warriors milled in surprise.

Soren snapped at the group. “All of you, shut it. We have not heard how she will perform this healing.”