John cursed himself for nine kinds of fool as he tried to politely shove past the oblivious humans thronging the narrow tunnel. He had allowed himself to be seduced by the innocent pleasures of the day, by the taste of ice cream and his mate’s smile. Now, unforgivably, he had permitted an enemy to come within striking distance of the Empress-in-Waiting.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! he raged at himself. He had never imagined that even the Master Shark would dare to attack Her Majesty so openly, in the sight of so many mundane witnesses. But he had underestimated the simple, direct brutality of a shark’s mind.

Neridia clutched his arm, shrinking against his side. “John!”

He’d already spotted what she’d seen. Walking at an unhurried pace, cold gray eyes fixed unerringly on them, the Master Shark was coming.

There was no mistaking him, although John had only ever seen him from a distance before. His broad, muscular form stood at least a head taller than any of the surrounding humans, putting him only a few inches short of John’s own height. Even dressed in a plain shirt and jeans rather than his usual utilitarian, iron-gray armor, he still exuded a sense of power.

Humans parted before him, their deepest monkey instincts making them recoil from the monster hidden under his white skin. He cut through them as easily as if swimming through still water. Sharks circled above their master’s head, a crown of teeth.

Their own path was still blocked by a tour guide and a dozen children. He did not dare tell Neridia to run, not when the Master Shark could have dozens of his kind stationed at the exits. All he could do was thrust her behind him, shielding her from the approaching peril with his own body.

The Master Shark stopped, just feet away. Despite the crowd all around, a small circle of isolation surrounded them. Humans hurried past with quick, nervous glances at the looming predator in their midst, giving him a wide berth without really understanding why.

“Peace, Knight-Poet of the First Water.” The shark lord’s voice was as flat and dead as his eyes. “I am not here to fight. I only wish to speak with the Emperor’s daughter.”

“Your mere presence is an outrage to Her Imperial Majesty, traitor,” John snarled. He had never wished more to have his sword in his hand. “You will not insult her ears with your worthless words. Stand aside.”

The Master Shark stared through him, speaking to Neridia directly even though he couldn’t see her. “Despite what you have been told, I am not your enemy. In fact, your father was my greatest friend.”

“How dare you address-“ John began, his fists clenching—but Neridia pushed his arm back down.

“Don’t, John.” She stepped round to his side. He could feel her shaking with fear, but her gaze was steady on the Master Shark. “I want to hear what he has to say.”

*My mate, no,* John sent to her telepathically, unable to bring himself to break protocol by arguing with the Empress-in-Waiting out loud in front of others. *Whatever net he is weaving, do not swim into it. Remember who he is. Remember what he did.*

From the small shake of her head, he knew that she’d heard his mental plea. Nonetheless, she didn’t back down. “You claim you were friends with my father?” she asked the Master Shark.

“More than that.” The shark lord fixed her with his penetrating stare. “Do you know what it means to be someone’s oath-brother?”

Neridia glanced up at John, and he knew that she was thinking of him and Griff. “I know it’s a close bond. And that oath-brothers will do anything for each other.”

The shark nodded curtly. “I was sworn to him, and he to me. I-”

“He is lying!” John burst out, unable to contain himself at this slur to the Emperor’s honor. “The Emperor would never have sworn an oath-bond with any shark, let alone this shark. Our people have been mortal enemies since tides began! The Emperor conquered the sharks!”

“No,” the Master Shark said, flatly. “But I will not waste air telling you the truth of the matter, for you would refuse to hear it. Suffice it to say, we were oath-brothers. I never called in his oath…but he called in mine. Just before his death.”

“Before you murdered him.” John could barely form human words, his voice warping with the melodies of vengeance.

Emotion flared in the Master Shark’s grey eyes at last. It was just the briefest flash of rage, but the sheer power behind it hit John like a punch to the gut.

The Master Shark blinked, once, and the moment was gone as if it had never been. “I did not.” He looked back at Neridia. “I say again, he was my oath-brother. I could never have harmed him. I would have died in his defense. My greatest shame is that I left him unguarded. I did not know, then, the danger that he was in.”

“I saw you there.” Neridia’s voice was thin, but brave. “At his house, the day before he, he—the day before the fire. Are you claiming you had nothing to do with it?”

“On my honor, I swear I did not.”

“The honor of a shark,” John growled.

The Master Shark’s impassive expression hardened. “I do not expect you to believe me, sea dragon.”

“I don’t believe you either,” Neridia said, to John’s relief. “You came after me with those assassins. You ordered them to set fire to my house, just like they set fire to my father’s.”

“No. I came to warn you. But even though I hastened to you as quickly as I could, I was still too slow. I arrived in the middle of the attack. I tried to get you to safety, but you fled before I could explain my intentions.” The Master Shark shot John the briefest glance. “I could tell that you had already been prejudiced against my kind.”

“I’m not buying it.” Neridia shook her head, but there was more uncertainty in her expression than John liked. “If you didn’t attack me, who did?”

The Master Shark’s lips drew back a fraction, revealing the gleam of sharp, jagged teeth. “If I knew that, they would be dead. But I do know that you must not go to Atlantis. A hidden enemy awaits you there.”

“So that is your ploy.” John’s own lip curled. “You are terrified of the Empress-in-Waiting claiming her true power, for you know it will be the end of your own. And since direct assault has failed, you resort to lying words to try to keep her from her throne. I would not have thought a shark would be so cowardly.”

The Master Shark ignored him completely, focusing only on Neridia. “I captured one of the assassins that attacked you, but he did not know the name of the one who had hired him. All that he knew was that the order had come from Atlantis. If you go there, you will be putting yourself in mortal danger.”

Neridia flinched—but then shook her head again, her mouth setting stubbornly. “John’s right. You’ve got far too many reasons to be lying. Why should I trust you?”

“You shouldn’t.” An ironic, white flash of teeth. “Who would trust a shark? But perhaps you will trust your father. Consider his actions. All your life, he hid you from the Sea Council. He even gave you his pearl of concealment.”

Neridia’s hand flew to her pendant. “You know about my pearl?”

“I made it for him, as I made my own.” The Master Shark parted the collar of his shirt, revealing an identical pendant resting against his muscular chest. “When we were young, we would sometimes use them to escape from our respective duties and adventure unobserved together. Later, of course, he used his to disappear permanently. I was the only person in the sea to know the truth. Before he left the ocean, I told him that if ever he had need of me, he had only to remove the pendant. For decades, I stayed alert for his blood-scent calling out to me.”

The Master Shark looked away, gazing into the depths of the tank as though seeing something quite different. “And four years ago, it did. I came immediately, as I told him I would. Your mother had died, and he could no longer deny the call of the sea. He wanted to finally return home.”

“So that was why he gave me his pearl,” Neridia whispered, her voice catching. “He was planning to go back to the Pearl Empire.”

The Master Shark nodded slightly, still staring into the water. “I would have accompanied him back immediately, but he needed a few more days to finish wrapping up his human life. He asked me to tell no one of his imminent return. And he asked me…he asked me to protect you. I think, even then, he knew that he had enemies who would kill to stop him from returning to his Throne. He made me swear on our oath-bond that if anything happened to him, I would make sure no one in the sea ever discovered your existence.”

“You spin tales like a seal,” John snarled. “Neri-Your Majesty, do not listen to him. He is only trying to feed your doubts. He would cripple you with words, since he cannot do so with his teeth. Come away. We have heard enough of his lies.”

The Master Shark turned on his heel, grey eyes hard as iron. “My last words to my oath-brother were that I would keep his daughter safe. I will keep my oath, sea dragon. I will eliminate any threat to her…regardless of whether such threats arise out of malice, or blind ignorance.”

John didn’t back down, matching the shark lord stare for stare. “As will I, traitor.”

“John, stop. This isn’t the time or the place.” Neridia glanced nervously around at the humans still milling unconcernedly about them, checking that they weren’t attracting undue attention. “Master Shark, why are you telling me all this?”

“To make you see the lengths to which your father went to keep you from the Throne.” The shark lord gestured at her pendant. “He gave his very life to ensure that you would not be found. His dearest wish was that you would live your life free, on land, happily unaware of your own heritage. Why do you think he never told you of your birthright?”

Neridia’s hand closed around her pearl pendant again, as if seeking comfort from the touch of the precious gem. “He, he thought I was only human. That I wouldn’t be able to shift.”

“He knew that you were only human,” the shark lord corrected, his cold voice pitiless. “He did not want you to seek the Throne. He knew you did not have the strength to claim it. Think. Think on everything he did for you, and tell me that I am wrong.”

Neridia’s fist was shaking on her pearl pendant. She bowed her head, and said nothing.

“You are wrong,” John’s own fists were shaking too, though with rage. It took all his control not to smash the shark’s teeth straight down his lying throat. “Neridia, my heart, my mate, do not listen-“

“Mate?” the Master Shark said sharply. “You are mates?”

“Yes.” Regardless of the breach of protocol, John placed a possessive, protective hand on Neridia’s shoulder. “I am the Empress-in-Waiting’s mate. And so I know, know, that you are lying. She is a true dragon.”

The Master Shark ran a hand through his close-cropped grey hair, his mouth tightening. “This is a complication I could have done without.”

Join the club, John’s inner human muttered.

The shark lord sighed, dropping his hand. “I had hoped to persuade you to escape your knightly keeper,” he said to Neridia. “To disappear permanently into the human world. But I suspect you will not be willing to abandon your mate.”

Neridia covered John’s hand on her shoulder with her own, squeezing it. “You’ve got that right.”

“Your cowardly plans come to nothing yet again, traitor,” John said to the shark. “You cannot separate us. Even your power is as nothing compared to our bond.”

“And so history repeats.” The Master Shark’s mouth twisted ironically. “And it seems I repeat my role.”

“What do you mean by that?” Neridia asked warily.

“As I helped your father, so do I help you.” The Master Shark pulled his pearl pendant out from beneath his shirt. “If you wish it, I will give you this.”

Neridia stared down at the gleaming pearl, slowly turning on its chain. “I thought you said that was another pearl of concealment. I’ve already got one.”

The Master Shark tilted his head at John. “But he does not.”

Neridia gasped. “We could both disappear.”

John was speechless with outrage. Only the thought of attracting the attention of the humans still surrounding them stopped him from snatching the pearl from the shark lord and crushing it under his heel, there and then.

How dare he? How dare he?

“I will give you a day to decide.” The Master Shark turned, starting to walk away. “Ignore my warning, go to Atlantis, swim straight down the gullets of your enemies…or hide. Live out your lives on land. Be happy together.”

“Like my father wanted,” Neridia whispered, barely audible.

“Yes.” The shark lord paused, glancing back over his shoulder. “He gave his life to keep you safe. Don’t let his sacrifice be in vain.”