Iglanced at Selena, her eyes round at the Venusian Naiads. Pheolix laid a hand on each of our shoulders, drawing us in close, as I’m sure he’d been instructed to do. My back met the smooth taper of his chest, warm in the cool saltwater.
They forced us into the wind, our heads emerging from the waves. I shook my raven locks away as my eyes landed on Aegir. I’d seen sketches of Naiads born and raised in the sea before, but those did theVidereahead of me little justice. If I was cultivated from the realm of civilization, he was something wild and reckless, the sides of his head shaved and the hair that sat on his crown braided in untamed ropes. His face reminded me of an arrow, sharp and cruel, archer-green eyes pointed at the three of us before dropping to make note of our tails.
So. Ocean-borns looked at tails, too.
He sat upon the surface as though it were a raised throne, the rough tide around us falling flat. Faces popped up around him, a wide net of Naiads trapping us in place. I studied the distant cliffs, trying to gauge where exactly we’d wound up, but this stretch of rock wasn’t familiar.
“We mean no harm,” Pheolix announced, adopting an accent similar to the one I’d been trained to use. Rich and flowy, his pacing more even and elegant than common Calderian tongue. “Just passing through.”
“Naiads do not pass through colonies they don’t belong to.” Aegir’s voice rang low and resonant, a dangerous rumble against the waves. “Theysend scouts to wait at the edge of colony waters for guards to escort them to the colonyVidere, where they ask permission to cross.”
Pheolix nodded. “Our apologies.” I shook my shoulder from his grasp, but his fingers tightened almost protectively over me. They must have done the same to Selena. Her teeth clamped together.
Aegir’s expression didn’t warm. If anything, it cooled even more, a knife poised our way. “You came from the south, but there are no males in Sidra’s waters.”
“We come from the road. You might find tracks from our carriage in the sand, about a league from here. A snake bit the driver’s horse, and he had to turn back.”
Aegir stared at us for a long moment, then nodded to a Naiad behind Pheolix. The male sank under the waves. Aegir’s attention returned to our tails. Then lifted to meet mine. Curiosity wavered somewhere under the green blades. “Where are you destined?”
“To Merriam,” Pheolix answered. “To hail a ride east—”
“And who are you?” Aegir interrupted.
“I’m Pheolix—”
“You,” Aegir said, staring hard at me. “Who areyou?”
For some reason, Pheolix chuckled under his breath. I straightened, tightening my harsh stare on theVidere, though I schooled my words into the same lyrical rhythm Pheolix employed. Unlike Pheolix, I didn’t offer details of our faux journey. “Cebrinne.”
“And where are you from?” Aegir asked.
“North and east.”
The monarch smiled without humor. Behind him, his Naiads whispered amongst themselves. “That does little to answer my question. What brings you south and west?”
“Negotiations.”
“Negotiations with who? Sidra?”
I shook my head. “Thaan of Safiro.”
More whispers. Aegir didn’t move. He faced me, calm and hard as a mountain, eyes glinting with venom. Then shifted his gaze to the horizon at my back, where moon and sun had connected just hours before.
Moments passed. Distant waves battered the shores, a hum to my ears. Selena stole a quick glance at me, but I kept my eyes on Aegir. His hand curled around his chin as he studied me, the baked-sand color of his skin fading to a smoky gold where his tail began. I forced myself not to stare at it, nor the dusted metallic scales that lined the backs of his arms.
“Take the females,” Aegir finally said. “Kill the male.”
We’d planned to be taken. Had bet on it. But instinct reared from my arm to my fingertips, sending a blade of water into them. It struck one female hard enough to stun her, sending her to float unconscious in place. The rest darted from the attack.
Selena huddled into me. Pheolix latched once more onto our shoulders as I prepared to strike a second time—and the water deadened from my grasp.
It unlatched from my call. Like it suddenly couldn't feel me commanding it. A chill spread through the waves, sinking into my bones as though the cold itself had stripped my power. Fog bloomed from my mouth, frost gathering along the strands of my wet hair. The Venusian Naiads slowed, eyes wide as they too lost hold on the connection we shared with water.
Aegir’s liquid throne whooshed out from under him, rolling away with the tide. We rode the waves to stay on the surface as roughly as humans might, though they lashed at us from the side, throwing my hair wildly over my face and neck. Aegir lifted a hand, a stream following his call. It landed on something invisible.
Some wall that kept his water-call out.
Aegir smiled, though the sight sent a cold drip down my spine. He cocked his head. “Who sent Thaan two hive heirs accompanied by a gnat?”
