“It’s a promise, Sirena. And I won’t just bring you, honey. There’s warm strawberry jam and creamy custard.” Iclosed my eyes. “You’ll try chocolate.”
“Oh, tell me more about chocolate,” Sirena said with a note of longing.
And so I did, until the anemones winked out, and I fell into a fitful sleep.
***
The cell door ground open with a dull clang, and a guard chained my hands behind my back. I looked up in surprise. They always shackled us from the front before leading us into the mines.
My gaze collided with Sirena’s. Silent communication passed between us. She pressed her fingers against her lips, then turned her palm outward in a quiet goodbye. A second guard dragged her away, leaving me alone in the dim passage.
The guard’s voice rasped in my ear. “You will have five minutes with the queen.”
Five minutes?
Great! My future would be decided in the same amount of time it took to soft-boil an egg.
I flattened my lips, my confidence bleeding out fast.
Beyond the prison walls, open water stretched endlessly, and the entrance to the mines towered in the distance. I’d never ventured in the other direction. But the guards pulled me along, entering a strong current that sped us away from Saltgrave.
Water rushed past, warming the closer we got to the palace. The fast-moving current blurred my surroundings, but I caught sight of coral buildings emerging from the mountainousterrain. Then the current slowed, and the palace emerged.
My eyes widened.
A shimmering fortress rose before us. Colossal towers topped with coral spires jutted from the glistening sand. We passed through golden gates capped with giant black pearls. Merman guards flanked the entrance, clutching iron spears in their grip.
It was almost exactly how my father had described it years ago, on that distant beach where I’d once dreamed of becoming a mermaid. That whimsical child was long gone. But awe still filled my chest. For a moment, I let myself imagine the shackles falling away. In my mind, the plain kelp wrap transformed into a jewel-encrusted bodice. My riotous hair was tamed and swept up with a comb made of tiny pearls.
A mermaid princess, instead of a prisoner.
I marveled as we entered a majestic hall. A glass-like dome appeared overhead, revealing an array of brightly colored fish darting past. The walls glowed, and fluorescent jellyfish hovered like shining lanterns in the water.
The guard forced me to the ground, and I landed prone in the shifting black sand. He jabbed a shockwave stick into my back, and pain radiated through my ribs. My shackled hands left me floundering. I blinked, and the dreamy wonder shattered.
This fake princess wore a tarnished crown.
I lifted my head, peering through the floating strands of my hair. At the far end of the hall, a crystal throne rose from the floor. Slithering sea creatures coiled around it, and seated between them was a stunning mermaid with gleaming ebony hair that flowed all the way to her scales.
They were a deep blue, glistening under the lights. Pearls andtiny shells adorned her chest, along with twinkling gemstones, rubies, and sapphires glinting behind gold filigree.
The queen’s voice was cold when she spoke, her obsidian eyes narrowing on my prone form.
“You are a prisoner accused of aiding Tivara. What could you possibly offer me besides lies?”
My five minutes had begun.
I clenched my shackled hands into fists. “You’re right, Your Majesty. I helped Tivara. But she tricked me and used me to start her war. I can’t undo what’s been done, and I don’t deserve mercy. But my penance isn’t best served in your mines.”
The guard pressed the shockwave stick between my shoulder blades. I braced for pain, but it didn’t come. So I kept going.
“I know where the shard was taken. That’s not a lie. And it’s true that you need someone with human blood to retrieve it. Send me. I’ve spent years hunting lost relics. Let me serve my sentence by saving your kingdom.” I raised my chin. “I want Tivara dead as much as you do, maybe more.”
The queen’s lips curled faintly. “Insolent mermaid. I know who you are, Marin—of the sea. Your bloodline is mixed with ours. You may have been tricked, but you’re not innocent of the damage she’s caused.”
An advisor leaned close and spoke in her ear. One of the sea creatures hissed, flicking a long, slithering tongue through the water.
I looked away and waited for judgment.
