Lucy heard Torun snarl at the warrior to remove his hands. The force of his rage reached her. Oh, he was angry. She had never heard such spine-tingling fury.

Gasps silenced the arena. The warriors floated in shock, staring at her.

Her heart pounded. Her stomach squeezed. Her body trembled.

She tightened her hands into fists.

The purple-tattooed warrior, Malem, stared at her in awe. “A bride.”

Many voices spoke at once. “A bride is here. A bride has come! Torun was right. We have a bride—”

“She is not a bride. She is not a bride!” The evil, old head of the Council made his quavering voice carrying over the rabble, demanding silence. “Torun. You have damned us all with your flagrant disregard for the health and happiness of Sireno.”

“She is my queen,” he said.

Queen, the others whispered.

Malem repeated it aloud. His sarcasm fled. Belief filled his voice. “Queen.”

The old male shook with anger. The others around him continued to stare at her in awe. Torun was right. They would not hurt her. No, the true danger was still to him.

“She is not a queen! She is an unaltered, untransformed human of the basest kind.”

“She is transformed,” Torun snarled.

“She is no mer.”

“Look at her! She spills no bubbles. She is able to see. She moves as one of us, without the bulky cages and lights and air.”

The others agreed.

“Look at her hands,” the Council head said. “They are human hands.”

Uh oh. She spread her fingers. Were they supposed to be webbed or what?

“Look at her feet. If she were truly your queen, she would have fully transformed to our form. Instead, she hides in her own.”

Darn it. Lucy tried to flex her feet. It had almost, half-way, sort of worked the other day. “Well, I had it. I can do this. Just give me a few.”

They all gasped again. The two warriors closest to her backed off another few strokes, giving her a direct line of sight to Torun.

“She speaks.” Torun burned his faith and promise into her. “And she shines. She chose this of her own will. You cannot be blind to her light.”

They murmured.

Lassie crept free of the other, now unattended, net.

“This is madness,” the Council head said. “You cannot bind yourself to her. She is not of the sacred island. The covenant does not apply. You have brought a human to our city and you must be punished for your blasphemy.”

He ordered the closest warriors to grab Torun.

They refused.

“You,” he shouted at Malem in frustration. “Take away that human!”

“She is another warrior’s bride.” Malem dropped Torun’s house seed and backed away. “I cannot touch another warrior’s bride. Even if she did inexplicably choose Warlord Torun.”

The Council head shook his fist harder at their insubordination.

Lucy paddled forward and grabbed the sinking seed.

“Listen, my mer.” The Council head commanded silence. “You are confused. But the disgraced exile Torun threatens to destroy us. The last bride who chose out of turn killed Jolan’s rightful father. It nearly destroyed us.”

“Impossible,” Torun cried. “This never happened in my lifetime.”

“You were away. Jolan’s mother rejected the male who had earned his right. Her arrogance caused the deaths of two worthy warriors; one, death with dishonor.”

“I do not believe you.”

“Ask our former prince.”

Torun swung to Jolan. “It is not true.”

Jolan sighed heavily. “It is true, Warlord Torun. The king confessed it to me before passing into the blacknight sea. My intended father, who had earned the right to sire his son, was betrayed by his best friend, who stole my mother away. In the ensuing battle, both lives were lost. That is why I was raised by the king.”

“How have I not heard of this?”

“The years were troubled. Many wished to forget the dishonor, and many others did not know the details.”

“This tragedy happened because the bride chose,” the Council head intoned. “She broke the sacred covenant. She caused the Life Tree to wither. She caused another male to raise the orphaned young fry. Now, you bring another bride who chose you out of turn. She will be the death of the Life Tree!”

The others murmured. Warriors clenched their tridents. The rattling of armor overpowered the tinkling music of the Life Tree watching over them.

Fear curled in Lucy’s belly.

“I won’t,” she promised. “I don’t want to hurt anything.”

The warriors ignored her.

“See, my fellow mer?” The Council head crowed with victory. “The way of Torun lies madness. Cast him out.”

“Wait.” Torun’s deep bass commanded attention. “There is another way to understand what occurred.”

“Ignore his words. He has committed treason.”

“Jolan’s mother made her choice,” he shouted, as the nearest warriors converged on him. “Our warriors did not respect her! That is the lesson. The brides of the sacred island left us because we broke their covenant. They provided us with a bride. We denied her the male of her heart!”

Jolan’s jaw dropped. He swayed back, hands out, eyes huge. “Could it be?”

His unit shifted uneasily.

“Lies.” The elder pointed his trident at Lucy. “This false bride has led you astray.”

“She is not a false bride. We shared everything.” Torun’s teeth clenched. He flexed against his bindings. “She is the heart of my castle. She is my future.”

“As you no longer will possess either, that is of no importance.”

“You cannot deny our union. It is blessed by the Life Tree.”

“Then you are the reason for its unnatural cry.” His snarl grew. “You are the reason we ended the king’s remembrance ceremony early and returned here. Your blasphemy is killing our Life Tree. It withdraws its protection and caused our king to die.”

“No.”

“Warlord Torun, you are hereby stripped of your honors and essence.” He pointed his trident at Torun.

Warriors clamped their hands on him. The largest grabbed a long, wicked dagger. He slit Torun’s bindings. The others forced his legs apart, baring his genitals.

Torun fought them. “She is my queen!”

“Stop!” Lucy paddled for Torun. “Stop it!”

The Council head motioned for Jolan to arrest her.

Jolan did not move. His warriors hesitated with him.

She swam toward the violence. “Stop!”

Warriors loyal to the Council barred her way with their sharp tridents. She pushed on the metal. They shoved her back with the broad side of the blades. Even so, the sharp edges sliced her skin. Ow! She cried.

Torun bugled his rage. “Do not touch my queen!”

“She is no one’s queen.” The Council head stared right through her. “She is an air-breathing human from the ordinary mainland who cannot even transform. Do not covet this kind of bride, my kinsmen. She is unworthy.”

Torun screamed insults at the Council merman.

“Someone, silence him.”

They brought another bola and tied it around his diaphragm, silencing the vibrations.

“What about her?” one of the warriors asked. “She knows of us.”

“She does not matter. We will take her to the surface. She is broken and worthless.”

She is broken and worthless.

The words burned in her like acid.

What good are you? Blake had asked after the last failed fertility test. Her heart repeated those words with every slam to her self-worth. It repeated until Torun came and made her see the truth. His belief in her made her start to believe too.

Now some old fish stick who didn’t even know her, who just spouted whatever the heck he felt like, was going to call her worthless too?

Well, fine. They noticed her shining, right? She’d give them all a better sense of her worth.

“Let him go,” she said.

The warriors barring her way frowned.

Not bright enough?

Torun said the more she channeled her anger, the brighter her soul star shone. Those mermen threatened her love. The old fish stick called her worthless. She was stronger than that.

“Let him go!”

They shifted back and glanced at the Council head. He ignored her.

“Let. Him.” She grabbed their tridents and shook the metal. “Go!”

It worked. The two warriors dropped their tridents and shrank back.

The Council head shouted at the other warriors. “Carry on! Quickly, you must remove his essence!”

She paddled across the arena, stupidly slow. Where were her fins? “Don’t you dare hurt him!”

The warrior with the dagger looked back at her, then at the old Council head. Doubt warred with duty. “Proceed before the cauterizing is ready? The loss of blood will not stop. He could die.”

“Now! Do it now!”

The warrior knelt and gripped Torun’s masculinity. He positioned the knife to cut it all off.

But they hadn’t had a chance to try for a baby. They were supposed to prove his theory right, and save the city, and have a child. He needed to at least have the chance to try.

The warrior flexed to cut.

No. Not her love. Not her Torun.

Her scream ripped from the deepest part of her soul. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

A supernova exploded in her chest.

In her hand, Torun’s house seed cracked. Thick black lines criss-crossed its surface.

The supernova flared outward, traveling in blinding shock wave across the arena. The warrior scrambled backward. The knife fell from his hands. It was clean. He had not cut yet.

The others holding Torun shielded their eyes and dove away.

Crash!

Beyond the arena, glass shattered. The horrifying sound went on and on and on. An entire glass skyscraper collapsed.

The Life Tree shuddered. All its Sea Opals fell off. It split down the center and snapped off at the base.

The Life Tree of Sireno toppled from its dais and sank out of sight.