“What don’t I know, Onyx?” My voice comes out more as a threat than a question.
She lifts her head slowly, and her onyx gem eyes meet mine—wide, dark, shaken like she’s seen her worst nightmare. Second worst nightmare if we count the beast of the depth.
“I—I don’t know much,” she mumbles, gills vibrating with nerves.
“Just that Queen Marcella… she can blind you. With one look. She turned my third brother—Prince Tylen—completely blind. Just for coming here with my father’s message. He entered the city without announcement.”
What?
So that’s their Queen’s power…
“Don’t look at her. Don’t meet her eyes. No matter what,” Onyx adds, her voice tighter now, the fear in her eyes even clearer through those black gem irises.
I turn toward Bay, who’s swimming back to us now, curiosity etched into the lines of her face.
Her chest pulses with soft purple, but Myko is quiet in my mind.
“Is it true?”I ask him.
He doesn’t respond.
And that silence says everything.
I don’t know how to feel about this new revelation.
I shouldn’t be worried—not with Bay and Myko beside me.
But the fear is still crawling its way around the edges of my mind like it’s been waiting for a crack.
Then I notice my hand’s still gripping Onyx’s. I release it quickly, shoving her touch away.
It’s not my fear.
It’shers.
Her gaze drops toward the tip of her tail, clearly ashamed now that she realizes how she must’ve looked.
I reach into my powers—just for a moment—to take a glimpse.
Her soul is pitch black, hugging her body like a wave.
All of her ancestors’ marks float inside it, shifting with its vibrations—strong ones. Fear.
Her bloodline isn’t one of the first five royal lines.
It was formed from a tangle of mixed royal alliances, stretched across ancient history—
and if I look deep enough, I can see all of them.
Every trace.
Like a map telling a story that never lies.
It makes sense.
“Marcella can harness the light of the stars.”
Myko finally breaks the silence, unfazed by what Onyx said.
