Soren left Aya in her castle, waiting for Ciran and Faier to escort her to the ancient ruin, and returned to Kadir’s castle with a heavy heart.

The one thing he never wanted to do was hurt Aya. But throughout his life, he hurt the ones he most cared about. By being born. By existing.

His mother rejected him without ever looking at his face. His father grew impatient many times with Soren’s childhood fights. The youths called him a black soul and punished him for being so large. He’d only ever wanted to be worthy of respect.

And now, he dimmed Aya’s brilliance.

Soren slammed into the side of the tunnel, skinning his elbow. She would never forgive him for ruining her. Transforming her against her will. Hobbling her to depend on him. And now, breaking her.

He found Kadir floating over Elan. Lotar and the other warriors stood back, watching. The castle water tasted like blood. Elan’s hobbles had come loose, but he didn’t bother to defend himself. He took Kadir’s threats, Kadir gripping his neck and shaking him, with nothing but a sneer.

“You should have known this would happen.” Elan laughed. His lip was split and bruises ringed his eyes. “No one defies the All-Council and survives.”

“So you are happy to curse us? Our young fry?”

Sadness catapulted across Elan’s face, followed by an attack. “I cannot help you. I cannot!”

Looking at him, Soren felt a deep welling of rage. Not at Elan. At himself.

“Cannot?” he roared, startling Kadir into dropping Elan. “Or are you afraid?”

“I fear nothing, demon!” He turned away and rubbed his neck.

“You value young fry. Yet you refuse to help us. But you know who would have helped us? Your bride!”

Elan jolted as though Soren had stabbed him in the spine. He turned slowly. “What did you say?”

“You are weak and easily led. But one who is ten times your worth would listen and fight. That is your bride.”

He flushed hot red. “Do not speak of Zara!”

Soren would. “Do you know what they did to her? Your elders, who you serve so faithfully. Did you know they trussed her like a prisoner of war?”

Elan’s chest heaved.

“You serve them,” Soren taunted. “Even now. The ones who tied your wife.”

“Lies!”

“They ordered me to drag her to the surface, still fighting and bleeding. And I obeyed.”

He bared his teeth. “I will make you regret that night.”

“I do regret it,” Soren snapped.

Elan blinked.

“Your bride cursed us to the darkest pit of the Blacknight Sea. I thought she would forget after reaching the comfort of the air world.”

Fear flashed in Elan’s eyes. He thought so also. It was what they’d all been taught. What they all believed, even their own elders.

Aya had proved to Soren the mer didn’t know human women at all.

“But now I realize the truth.” Soren spat at him. “I took the wrong warrior to the surface. The one who forgot his duty to his wife and child is you.”

Elan attacked Soren with a scream.

One hand latched around Soren’s neck. His other clawed at Soren’s eyes. Soren fended him off, growling. They tumbled backward across Kadir’s courtyard.

“How dare you!” Elan screamed. “How dare you?”

“How dare you float here and argue?” Soren flared in his chest, vibrating.

Elan thumped him, trying to break his sternum. “Die!”

Soren shoved Elan back. “Your bride would not have obeyed the All-Council. She would not have mindlessly obeyed the ones who took you.”

Elan stared at him. His chest heaved. “I cannot help you, Soren. No matter how much I should wish to.” He wiped his mouth. A trickle of blood dissipated in the water.

What? Elan wished to help them?

He did not hate Soren?

Kadir and the others watched with amazement. Kadir finally spoke. “You do wish to help us?”

“They took my son.” He glared through the wall of the castle, at the gathered army. “Our elders.”

They fell silent. The eerie hissing grew stronger.

“Because I had listened to your words, Kadir. Because Zara convinced me she wanted to stay. Because we had a dream of raising our family together. When she was taken from me, I fought to go to her—and was captured. My son was taken to ensure I remained.”

New shock hit the warriors.

“Has Dragao Azul fallen so far?” Kadir asked.

Elan wiped his mouth of blood again. “You do not know how it is in the cities. Your leaving, Soren, caused a huge rift. No one would take the First Lieutenant position. They forced me back into it. No one would lead this army at the request of the All-Council. Here I am.” He gritted his bloodied teeth. “One word from your old All-Council representative and my son dies.”

Since he stormed out of Dragao Azul, Soren had focused on Atlantis. His warriors. The city under siege. Kadir’s injuries and risks. Atlantis had to fight to survive.

He never considered the plight of males in other cities.

Alone, with no one to help, they were punished or exiled. Elan’s fate was as bleak and hopeless as the ones they faced now in Atlantis.

“You should have killed me when you met me at the ruin.” He glared at Soren. “Then I could have died without knowing my role in ending the lives of other warriors’ young fry.”

So he was giving up.

The warlord Soren had respected and then hated for so long was giving up.

Was that what he had done to Aya? She had begged him to marry her. Rather than help her in any way possible, he had turned her down because he didn’t like the frightened look in her eye.

Wasn’t that just him running away? Seeing disrespect where none was meant? Believing he was unworthy, when what he really needed to do was focus on being worthy for her?

The depth of his idiocy stunned him.

And so did Elan’s.

“You are an honorless coward who deserves to lose your son,” Soren spat.

Elan jolted. The others gaped. He turned on Soren with a fury. “They took him from me! What would you have me do?”

“Take him back.”

“I cannot leave. You heard what they will do once they know I have helped you.”

“Adviser Creo is about to have other things on his mind.” Soren nodded at Kadir.

Kadir jerked his chin at the other warriors.

“You are leaving me?” Elan floated in the middle of the empty courtyard, unbound and unbelieving. “Alive?”

“Go home, Elan,” Soren called over his shoulder.

His former First Lieutenant kicked, shooting up the tunnel after them. “You are mad. All of you. The megalodons have already seen your city. No lure can turn them aside now. And if I leave or fall, another male will lead the army. This attack will not disappear. The All-Council also will not turn aside.”

“We are not turning anyone aside.” Soren burst from the tunnel. “We are bringing them together.”

In the open water, the low, eerie sounds of the megalodons grew louder. In the distance, three shadows emerged from the direction of the trench. The current blew hard as a riptide.

Soren conferenced with the warriors lingering at the Life Tree — learning of Aya’s actions from Faier there — and then he fought to swim in the direction of the army.

They had to lure the megalodons away from the Life Tree. Gailen kicked beside him. Kadir flew in the middle, with the other warriors ranged around him. Behind them, the Life Tree’s lights pulsed white and gold.

Elan pulled up sharply beside them, kicking hard to tread water. “That army is mostly composed of dissidents like me. That is why the All-Council waited so long to attack. They had to gather the dissidents. The All-Council intends to purge the other cities and demonstrate their ruling power in one decisive victory.”

“Then we will not give them a decisive victory.” Soren kicked forward.

Elan shouted after them. “You do not care your city will be destroyed?”

“Our city will not be destroyed.” Kadir called back at him. “Do you not know? We have three queens.”

Elan frowned.

“The light you see is our Life Tree. Queens wield its power. A megalodon has no chance.”

Elan stared at the lights. “Can it be?”

Soren addressed his former First Lieutenant. “This is your only chance. Go now. Save your son.”

He blinked and straightened. The possibility of winning, despite the overwhelming odds of facing down the All-Council and the elders in Dragao Azul, filled him with a new glow.

Everyone knew it was impossible to defy the All-Council — and yet, Elan was looking at the warriors who had broken Kadir out of their impenetrable abyssal prison. It was impossible to fight a megalodon. And yet, the arrival of the large army had caused that action to become possible.

He hesitated, then finally spoke something useful. “These warriors are only supposed to hold you. They have not studied the battles of the past. None have fought a megalodon.”

“Even better.” Soren smacked his chest. “I have fought one. We will survive.”

Elan studied him. Belief filled his features. “You have done well, Soren. If our situation had ended differently one year ago, and my Zara had remained with me to raise our son together, I would not have been sorry to yield my First Lieutenant position to you.”

He flushed. His chest swelled. The tingling feeling of fleas biting him intensified. He wanted to slap it away and twitch or scream. But instead, he held himself still until the feeling seeped into his heart and throbbed there.

“With that thought, you may consider going to collect Zara first,” Kadir said. “You could use a woman of her powers to safeguard your son.”

“Powers?” He frowned at the flashing lights.

“Teach her to make her fins. It is the first step. She is more powerful than either of you know.”

If more brides knew their powers, Atlantis would be unnecessary because none would leave against their will ever again.

“And,” Kadir added, “she deserves to know her child.”

Elan twisted his lips thoughtfully.

The eerie inhaling sound intensified. The ocean floor groaned and shuddered. A chunk of rock the size of Soren’s head detached and flew past them.

Elan kicked hard. “Fight well, lords of Atlantis. The fate of the rest of the cities — of all freedom — rests now on your tridents.”