The word rings in my head like a tiny burst of warmth.
I nod, and for the first time in what feels like forever, I feel my lips lift into a genuine smile. Wide. Warm. One that actually reaches my eyes instead of getting stuck in my throat.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
Malec
"Istill can't believe The Depthborne kept his word," I hear Onyx whisper behind me. I’ve heard them gossiping the whole way to Kolox City, even under the roaring current I created to bring us here faster.
Bay is busy befriending everyone around me lately, and I can’t decide if I should be concerned or grateful she’s finally stopped nagging me.
It took us less than a day to reach Kolox. It isn’t as far as Sur-El, still in our ocean, but on the complete opposite side of Mal-El city.
We passed a few smaller cities on the way—ones so under-guarded we could see their entire city life through their half-finished gates.
Not everyone is born under strong leadership. Some royal lines only care about preserving their own blood and their powers, never mind their people. It pisses me off.
Those pods probably have to defend themselves every damn night from predators. A good mersnitcher could clear out those small homes in a single sweep while they slept.
Cities like that all pile their guards at the front of their fancy castle—usually the only luxurious building they own. The last one we passed was Sheel-Or, if I remember the name right. Their mark even glowed at the tip of my tail when we slipped by.
“They look pissed. I don’t think they welcome us,” Alessio growls beside me as Bay and Onyx swim closer.
At the grand gates of Kolox, guards point their spears toward us. Above them, archers crouch on the black-and-silver, round, armor-shaped gate, notching their waterbows—bows that could only be crafted with powers like my mother’s. Arrows drawn, aimed, waiting for any excuse to fly. Their pod crest is carved like a threat across the entire structure—arrow-shaped, gleaming.
"It’s because they saw Onyx. She’s banished." I don’t bother lowering my voice.
"Do you need me?"Myko growls in the back of my head. He hates being challenged. I can’t blame him—these gate games get old fast.
I tell Myko to hold for now and meet Bay’s gaze; she nods in understanding. I wonder if this is what she felt all the time when she was banished.
If it weren’t for me taking this role, my mother and my aunt would never have entered our city again. The thought pisses me off even more.
I raise my hand, forcing civility before violence, and swim forward, watching the archers like a cuttlefish watches prey.
"Lower your weapons," I command, my voice flat, irritation hidden behind a mask of calm.
"The Great Depthborne," the front three guards lower their spears immediately, bowing deeply.
I wave them up. That nickname again…
"Onyx, youngest daughter of King Volar and Queen Cortier, is banished andcannotenter," the lead guard announces.
My gills flare wide before snapping shut again. The three guards flinch, the nearest one swallowing so hard I hear it in the water.Good.
I’m tired of this bullshit.
"She’s entering—unless you don’t want your missing merfolk back." My voice is low, a warning buried under a razor edge of boredom.
"You came here for the missing merfolk?" one guard at the back blurts. Then he flicks a nervous glance at the lead guard before dropping his gaze to the ocean floor.
By the desperate look on his face, one of the missing merfolk must be important to him.
Should I start with him instead?
"Please, let us get permission from the royal house," the lead guard stammers, bowing again.
I nod once. He glares at the guard to his right, and without another word, he swims inside through a narrow crack in the gate. The archers hold their bows even tighter on Onyx.
