Page 139 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

I opened my mouth, but Pheolix, watching me with unseeing steel eyes, answered before I could.

“His blood.”

“I do not like this.” Nori’s steps matched mine as I descended the stairs of the palace to the servant’s quarters, hard thumps behind me. Olinne, Diara, and Aitne followed, mouths pressed flat in agreement. “It’s not natural. It doesn’t follow Naiad laws.”

“What laws are those?” I prompted, a touch of impatience sharpening my tongue. Selena had once told me Naiad laws existed in our bodies. In our bones; in our blood. If we break our laws—our vows, our promises—our bodies answer. Your blood will always keep the score.

“When vowing loyalty, Naiads should always have a choice,” she hissed back.

I probably should have brought Kye down here with me instead. He growled and sulked whenever I did something he didn’t like, but in the end, he always supported me without question. But Hadrian had taken him and the other humans to the administrative offices to draw the terms of prisoner release. “Were you given a choice whether or not to live under Sidra’s rule?”

My second in command bit down on her tongue, her wine-red brows slung low.

We pressed against the wall as a scullery maid entered the stairs in the opposite direction, pretending not to stare curiously at the five of us. Diara fit down here well enough, a laundry maid and assistant secretary. But I’m sure the rest of us seemed oddly misplaced, a princess and three other women dressed in translucent black silk.

I waited until the maid turned the corner and disappeared before facing my attention back to Nori. “I will give him a choice. He’s free to remain where he is if he likes.”

“In the dungeon.”

“Yes.”

“In a cold cell with little food.”

I huffed. “If he so chooses, then yes.”

Nori didn’t respond, but I could almost hear her thoughts anyway, like an angry branch scratching against a window. A few steps from my father’s room, I halted. “What.”

She put her hands together, bowing her head. “I didn’t say a word, my Queen.”

“No, but you’re thinking them.”

The siren straightened. “You’ll be asking a Naiad who hates you, who is not loyal to you, to vow his body in blood in allegiance to your colony. Your throne.”

The smallest twinkle of doubt shone over her words like a glass shard lodged somewhere in my lungs. I knew where this was headed. Rotating from her, I paced to my father’s door, rapping my knuckles over the surface before whirling to face her. My arms folded over my chest. “Yes.”

Frustration burned in her eyes. “Does that not sound like someone else you know?”

A tick of blood thudded under my forehead. “Say what you need to say. Stop dancing around it.”

“All right, creature.” Nori didn’t bat an eye as Ano’s door opened behind me, Cebrinne and my father peering into the hall. “Imagine you take the blood of an enemy. Force him to serve you out of desperation instead of love. Tell yourself it’s the only way. But what’s next?”

“I don’t know.” My voice thinned to a sharp point. “What do you think might come next?”

“Oppression is a slope you don’t have to descend.” Nori stared back, unflinching. “Will you crawl into his mind when you ask a question that he refuses to answer? Call to his blood and force him to play puppet? Steal the years from him, his strength and sight and memories, because he is too valuable for you to release?”

Glaring at her, I felt like I’d drunk a flagon of boiling water. I swallowed, my throat tight and burning. It had been a long time since I’d been angry enough to hold back tears. “I didn’t realize you think so low of me, Nori.”

“I don’t.” She swallowed thickly, a livid red rimming her eyes. “This idea is beneath you.”

“What’s beneath her?” Cebrinne finally said, pushing past Ano.

I tamped down on my frustration, considering her words. From her view, I understood. Perhaps even agreed. But I’d sworn my blood to a Naiad out of coercion once. I knew what boundaries I wouldn’t cross. “Thankfully I have you,” I said softly, “to keep me on track.”

Cebrinne stepped among our circle. “What’s beneath Maren?” she asked again.

I turned to her. “I found the Naiad who was with Oberon when he died.”

My mother’s eyes widened. “And?” she asked, after a weighty moment of silence. Hopefully. Cautiously.